Thread: Improve compatibility with openoffice

The suite works seamlessly with versions of Microsoft Office up to and including the 2003 release. It's also possible to use the software with Office 2007, but you may wish to tweak some settings first. Go to Tools.

In the dialog box that pops up, click the plus sign next to Writer and select Compatibility. This dialog also provides options for compatibility with earlier versions of OpenOffice, Some settings, such as leading and word wrap, can provide unexpected results when working with Office files.

There's also an option to convert your Microsoft Office files into the native Open Office format using the conversion wizard. Launch any OpenOffice program and go to File, Wizards, Document Converter. Select the document type you wish to convert (such as Word, PowerPoint or Excel) and click Next.



One incompatibility between this program and Microsoft's lies with Excel macros - Office uses Visual Basic for Applications (VBA) to program macros, Open Office a different type of Basic. But, while you can't work with them, you can still preserve Excel macros under Tools, Options, Load/Save, VBA Properties.

If you need to share documents with colleagues who work only with Microsoft Office, elect to save in that file format by default. Go to Tools, Options, Load/Save, General and make sure that you select the appropriate Microsoft format under the heading 'Default file format'.

OpenOffice will open Microsoft Office documents up to version 2003 with ease, but it's possible to export your documents in other formats for wider compatibility. Select File, Export and then choose the file format. Here you'll be given options to save to formats such as PDF and wiki text.