Open Office/MS Word Compatibility

[kingdom hoop]

Hi Gavinzac and Dahamsta

I got a new computer recently but it doesn't have MS Word so I've installed Open Office. I'm just wondering if I write something up in Open Office and try e-mailing it to someone who has Word will they be able to open my document in Word? And I suppose vice versa then, if someone sends me a Word file can I read that in Open Office?

I'm presuming/hoping I can but I'm not sure. Cheers.

[noby]

I think you have to 'save as' and you can pick MS Word format. No problem opening it in Word then. Been a while since I used it though.

[paul_oshea]

google is a great tool

http://www.openoffice.org/product/writer.html

WRITER can of course read all your old Microsoft Word documents, or save your work in Microsoft Word format for sending to people who are still locked into Microsoft products.

[sligoman]

Handiest thing is to always save it as 'rich text format', can be opened on any computer then afaik.

[tetsujin1979]

never had any problems saving as a word 97/XP document in OpenOffice and sending it around
I've put it on my Dad's laptop, and my aunt's, and neither have had any problems with it.

[paul_oshea]

never had any problems saving as a word 97/XP document in OpenOffice and sending it around
I've put it on my Dad's laptop, and my aunt's, and neither have had any problems with it.

Am I on everyones ignore list

google is a great tool

http://www.openoffice.org/product/writer.html

WRITER can of course read all your old Microsoft Word documents, or save your work in Microsoft Word format for sending to people who are still locked into Microsoft products.

[kingdom hoop]

Alright, good stuff Tets, thanks for that.

Paul, your advice was no help.

[dahamsta]

What they said.

[jebus]

I've wondered that myself, so well done to Kingdom Hoop for starting this thread, and all the contributors, Dahamsta, Tets, sligoman and noby, for answering it

[paul_oshea]

haha

[Bluebeard]

Yes very useful thread - I'm with Jebus on this one - fair play to Kingdom Hoop for starting it, and to Noby, Tets, sligoman and dahamsta for contributing to it.

[sligoman]

I've wondered that myself, so well done to Kingdom Hoop for starting this thread, and all the contributors, Dahamsta, Tets, sligoman and noby, for answering it

Yes very useful thread - I'm with Jebus on this one - fair play to Kingdom Hoop for starting it, and to Noby, Tets, sligoman and dahamsta for contributing to it.

No problem. I'm surprised paul oshea hasn't been on to offer his advice yet

[Bluebeard]

No problem. I'm surprised paul oshea hasn't been on to offer his advice yet

Yeah. Where is he these days?

[jebus]

Yeah. Where is he these days?

Never heard of him

[strangeirish]

Yeah. Where is he these days?

If it's the same fella I'm thinking of, didn't he say that he was going on a world tour with a mate? Ah yes, this just in from the Associated Press. Spotted in Australia.
Here

[John83]

Hi Gavinzac and Dahamsta

I got a new computer recently but it doesn't have MS Word so I've installed Open Office. I'm just wondering if I write something up in Open Office and try e-mailing it to someone who has Word will they be able to open my document in Word? And I suppose vice versa then, if someone sends me a Word file can I read that in Open Office?

I'm presuming/hoping I can but I'm not sure. Cheers.

You might occasionally see something screwed up a little, but I regularly use Open Office and haven't had any trouble like that in a while. My experience is that the compatibility issues these days are comparable to those between different versions of Word. Certainly for personal use, you'll be fine.

[GavinZac]

I've been using it for 2 years now and havent had any issues. I've had far more issues between new and old versions of MS Office, particular in powerpoint - fonts all over the place etc which you only realise when you get to the offending slide in the presentation