| SUSE LINUX – User Guide Chapter 3. The OpenOffice.org Office Suite / 3.3. Managing the Transition from Microsoft Office | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | 3.2. Getting Help | 3.4. Changing the Global Settings |  | |
| SUSE LINUX – User Guide Chapter 3. The OpenOffice.org Office Suite / 3.3. Managing the Transition from Microsoft Office | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 3.2. Getting Help | 3.4. Changing the Global Settings | | |
OpenOffice.org is able to work with Microsoft Office™ documents. To convert such documents, select ++. Choose the file format from which to convert. There are several StarOffice and Microsoft Office formats available. After selecting a format, click then specify where OpenOffice.org should look for documents to convert and in which directory the converted files should be placed. Before continuing, make sure all other settings are appropriate.
![[Important]](admon/important.png) | Important |
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Documents from a Windows partition are usually in a subdirectory of /windows/. | |
Click to see a summary of the actions to perform, which gives another opportunity to check whether all settings are correct. Finally, start the conversion by clicking .
Given that the workings of Microsoft formats are not disclosed by the company, other office programs may have difficulties importing such files in the correct way. If you intend to use your documents on other platforms, you should preferably save them in open formats (such as those of OpenOffice.org) to avoid any file conversion problems.
When importing Word files into OpenOffice.org, some of the formatting of the original may be lost. For consistent fonts, use the SUSE Linux YaST Online Update to download the Microsoft fonts or install these fonts during the original installation of SUSE Linux. Please observe the license conditions for these fonts.
A very useful feature of OpenOffice.org is that you can save all your documents as PDF files. To do so, select +.
Files composed with OpenOffice.org can be saved in the .doc format. They can then be opened and edited with Microsoft Office on a Windows system. Remember to select the correct version of Word when saving, so that you can open the files with the Microsoft system that you have installed. To save a file to such a format, select + and then choose the desired format.
If you have problems opening your documents, try using the RTF format. Because this format does not depend on a specific word processor, it can be handled both by MS Word and OpenOffice.org, while still carrying over the formatting information.
OpenOffice.org can save files in recent Microsoft formats down to version MS Office 95. This is not only true for OpenOffice.org Writer, but also for Open Office.org Calc and OpenOffice.org Impress.
You can open MS Excel files with OpenOffice.org Calc. Again, you can save your documents as PDF files. If you continue to use MS Office, your can also save your spreadsheets in MS Excel formats then reimport them with the Microsoft program. Export files by selecting + then choosing the desired format. If you have difficulties with the formatting, try using the CSV (comma separated value) format, which can be handled by both spreadsheet programs and should thus carry over all the information.
