Does anyone know if Open Office will be able to open
.xlsx files from MS Excel that came out in 2007 ?
And, if OPen Office can open it…and you set the default in
Open Office to save the doc as an earlier Excel version?
The reason I’m asking is because seems lik there alot of
people that don’t have, and don’t want, MS Office 2007
Yes it can.
So can Microsoft Office 2000 if you install the converter from http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyId=941B3470-3AE9-4AEE-8F43-C6BB74CD1466&displaylang=en
Well, since MS is hawking alot of new versions…I’m hearing more people complaining about having problems with their current versions after allowing MS to update itself on their system.
I’ll still be running Windows, but will otherwise be moving away from MS products as much as possible.
In my experience of the 2007 version of MS Office, is that it can’t be read by it’s previous predecessors. Lower version of MS Office can’t read the documents created in the latest version because the file extension created by 2007 is (.docx)
I don’t know if this is the right way of setting Open Office files to .doc and make it as it’s default extension for the future files created there. Try saving your file, then you can see the drop down list which you can choose what extension you prefer. Underneath it there is a check box beside it says ‘Auto-Extension’. Try choosing your extension to (.doc) and check the check box and finally save your file.
I hope it works… 
zaizaices, nope your not right there, the link felgall provides works for Office XP, 2000 and 2003
PS: Office 2007 is the best upgrade to MS Office since Office 97 turned to Office XP.
OK, so can Open Office read docs made in NEW
and OLDER versions of MS Office, or not?
Can it read both .doc and .docx files
as well as .xls files and .xlsx files ?
MS Office 2007 files (docx, xlsx, etc): OOo can open these files, but can not save them. (though I would imagine it can save them in another format)
Given that OOo has an exorbitant cost of Zero dollars and Zero cents, I’m not understanding why you don’t just download it and see if it does what you need it to do…unless you’re the type of person that insists people tell you what they got you before you’ll open a gift.
Really? When did asking questions become a crime???
I’m eventually going to go with Open Office, but I run a business and stay very busy and don’t have time right now to stop what I’m doing and load Open Office and do some testing.
Since I’m hearing alot of folks use Open Office, I didn’t think it would put anybody out to ask about this.
If it couldn’t handle what I need it to do with these new file extensions, then I don’t want to waste my time messing with it, and will either get the patch for my 2003 Office or upgrade to the newer version of MS Office.
Sorry to have bothered you with asking a few simple questions.
Apparently you are the type of person that gets irriatated when people ask questions, so why not do yourself a favor and don’t read threads where questions are being asked, so you don’t get all upset?
The quickest solution is to download and install the patch. That will allow your current version of MS Office to open files saved in the new formats.
Downloading OpenOffice would allow you to do the same thing but will mean you need to learn the different interface that the software uses (which is similar to but not identical to the MS Office one).
Upgrading to MS Office 2007 would be both the most expensive and the slowest option since the interface is totally different from what you are used to.
OK, thanks for the overview…
You’re welcome.
Asking the question was quite reasonable since unless you have computers with all three different solutions installed the answer isn’t obvious and spending the time and money to set up all three just to try them out isn’t worth it either. It just happens that I have access to computers where each of the three alternatives has been used and so am able to provide the info without having to spend the time or money specifically on comparing them.
OK, thanks.
And, I’m sure I should not have been rude to rushiku
so apologize to him for that.
I just figured if somebody didn’t want to answer
a question, maybe they would not reply
A: Apology accepted
B: I answered your question.
C: Asking a few questions is always good, but to really nail down The Answer, you’ll need to try it yourself and see what happens, for you, in your environment.
D: I also run a business and stay very busy. Free advice: Take the little bit of time to investigate new and better ways of doing things so you can either: get more things done or spend less time working your butt off.
As felgall pointed out, sometimes asking questions first will enable one to
learn which direction to take in order to save time and headache
I was just over at the MS download center page that deals
with this issue, and it says to download all priority updates
to Windows before installing this patch.
I’m not willing to do anything to effect my Win XP performance
(it’s working really good) so I’m going to un-install my old
2003 MS Office altogether and go with Open Office and
be done with it.
I don’t know if it’s coincidence or not that alot of people
are suddenly having problems with XP after installing
MS updates, but I’m not taking any chances because I
wouldn’t put it past MS to screw up XP on purpose
since it would be very very hard to prove that they did.
I doubt people are having trouble with updates for Microsoft Office and in turn effecting Windows XP. If there are any problems, they are more or less isolated cases and or fixed.
I remember back when XP was released, suddenly people started complaining
about having problems with their current versions of Windows after accepting
Windows updates.
It’s a sinister plan, but I understand MS need to increase sales.
What better way to do that than to change things where you
have to buy new versions to keep things running smoothly?
I just got finished installing the latest version
of Open Office and it’s running great!
I doubt I’ll ever spend another $400 for
MS Office after finding this free program
that works just as good!
Microsoft Office doesn’t have to be expensive though. I purchased a three user licence to the student edition of MS Office 2007 so my son would have the same programs available to work with at home as he has at school. After deducting off the discount that the store offered compared to the normal price, the tax rebate for school purchases, and the rebate Microsoft offered toward the cost of the electricity - the normal price of the powerboard that the store threw in to sweeten the deal was double what it actually cost me. Effectively I got a powerboard for half price with a 3 user copy of MS Office thrown in free.
That made OpenOffice far more expensive in comparison.
Yeah, but I think I’d trust Open Office to not tie their program in to the OS where
it effects things it shouldn’t be effecting.
I know, I have no real proof of this other than to say MS’s progs are proprietary and
that gives them $$$ motive to do things that kinda pushes people to upgrade.
Over all, I like the XP OS just fine and I’m planning on going with Win 7 64bit before
long (even though I’m going to leave XP on my laptop and my second office PC) but
I’d like for all my other programs to be made by somebody other than MS
Microsoft Office isn’t tied into the OS in the slightest. If that were the case you would be required to have it in order to use Windows.
So, there’s absolutely no possibility that MS
updates cannot effect the OS in anyway?