Open Source Office Type Programs

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rightisright
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Open Source Office Type Programs

Post by rightisright »

My old Office 2003 is wonky on my new Win 10 box, so I downloaded Open Office. So far, I really like it (especially the fact that it's free). Are there any known compatibility issues w. saving and sending files to Mac users or folks who use a different word processor?

About 95% of my Office usage is word processing. The other 5 is spreadsheet. As many of my documents are sent to clients as bids, contracts, work orders, etc., I need the word documents to able to open and look professional on all different systems/programs.
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Weetabix
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Re: Open Source Office Type Programs

Post by Weetabix »

I have Open Office on my home computer. I set the default save as format to the corresponding MS Office document type.

I have a few issues between Excel and Calc(?). I have a harder time entering formulas because I'm used to using Excel at work.

Some of the fine formatting doesn't translate exactly in the word processor and the spreadsheet. Although I haven't upgraded in a while - they may have fixed that. I've always been able to work around it, though I don't always get to use exactly what I want.

All in all, I'm satisfied with it as a free program. If I used it more often, I'll bet I'd be better at it.

ETA: I don't know that I've sent anything to a Mac user, and I'm not sure I answered any of your questions directly. :P

ETA again: I set the default save as to ".doc" rather than ".docx" as there used to be a compatibility issue there, though I think I've read that Open Office can now open a .docx file. Also, ".xls" rather than ".xlsx."
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Langenator
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Re: Open Source Office Type Programs

Post by Langenator »

It's been awhile...I used Open Office for most of my time in grad school. (Until I started my thesis - the Thesis Office of MS Word templates for their required format).

Being a History student, I only used their word processor. It worked quite well for me. The one issue I remember was that the footnotes/endnotes developed some quirks when going from OO's format to .doc - IIRC, they would go from standard numbers to Roman numerals.
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PawPaw
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Re: Open Source Office Type Programs

Post by PawPaw »

I've been using Open Office for years. It's the first download when I get a new computer.
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rightisright
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Re: Open Source Office Type Programs

Post by rightisright »

I set the default to save as .doc files. I've sent a few to clients and asked how they looked. Seems everything formatted properly, the pictures were in the right places and the tables lined up. We have a winner!
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George guy
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Re: Open Source Office Type Programs

Post by George guy »

I would recommend LibreOffice over OpenOffice. LO forked from OO in 2010, is basically the same, but has more devs working on it.
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Rich
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Re: Open Source Office Type Programs

Post by Rich »

George guy wrote:I would recommend LibreOffice over OpenOffice. LO forked from OO in 2010, is basically the same, but has more devs working on it.
OTOH, OpenOffice is used by many small European governmental organizations, while LibreOffice is used by individuals and small offices that use Linux as their OS.

I use LibreOffice with no problems, and have used OpenOffice in the past, again with no problems. Although OpenOffice does have a number of user developed templates available for downloading. I haven't checked to see if LibreOffice has something similar.
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MiddleAgedKen
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Re: Open Source Office Type Programs

Post by MiddleAgedKen »

I used to use OpenOffice, and the only real problem I had was with the PowerPoint equivalent -- presentations didn't port very well to the real thing. Behavior was unpredictable (that was back in 2010, though).
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