The OpenOffice suite is a free, public license software package that provides the same look and feel as Microsoft Word, Excel, and Powerpoint, along with other tools.

The way OpenOffice works:

First you Create Documents, Spreadsheets, and Presentations, saving them with the default ODF extensions:

  • .odt Text (Word Equivalent)
  • .ods Calc (Excel Equivalent)
  • .odp Impress (Powerpoint Equivalent)

After saving the files in ODF format, you can:

  • “Save As” a Microsoft .doc,.xls,.ppt
  • “Send Email” as .doc, .xls, .ppt, .pdf,
  • Export to a pdf file.
  • Perform many other functions that emulate various file formats.
  • You can also import or open Microsoft .doc,.xls, and .ppt files.

You have to save files with the default ODF format to correctly “emulate” other file formats. This includes importing.

Installation:

OpenOffice is approximately 112mb, with versions for Windows and Linux. The installer guides you through the default steps, which work fine. Once you get familiar with the functionality, you can customize the options to your preference. You can add optional plugins and templates from the official site.

Issues:

OpenOffice v2.4+ performs well, but there are some things you may encounter:

  • There are options to set the defaults to MS Office format. Formatting problems experienced using this method. Stick to the defaults.
  • The size of the file created when performing a “Save As” to MS Office format is more than double the size of a standard Word document or spreadsheet. This is likely due to the emulation process. It was a larger issue a few years ago when disk space and network bandwidth was smaller. This is resolved once the recipient or someone with MS Office saves the file to word. There are claims that this will be resolved in near future.