Apache OpenOffice Community Forum

Welcome beginner. What is your question or comment?
Please try to briefly and clearly tell us: What you want, What you tried, and What happened.
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Hi! I am a total beginner. I would like to save a multi-sheet spreadsheet (i.e. workbook) which was created in Microsoft Excel,
as a PDF file. I tried to open the excel file in OO. It looked fine. Then I tried to save as .pdf, which worked ok, but I when I
tried to open it, it was unreadable.

Can you help?

Thanks.

With what program did you try to open it? You have to use a PDF reader, rather than any OOo program.

Edit: You can also get this extension from Sun http://extensions.services.openoffice.o ... /pdfimport

So, I can not open a pdf with oo,correct?
Do you know if there is a free pdf reader I can download?

There are several of these. I happen to use the Adobe reader, because my computer came with it installed. It is free, though I don't know how much information you have to give them to get it. Others on this forum have suggested other software to read PDF's but I can't remember the name. A search on the forum or a web search for PDF reader should give you options. There is also the Sun extension that I added to my first reply.

Preview, an application that comes with Macs opens PDFs.
Adobe Reader is also available for Macs.

The extension from Sun mentioned previously requires OO.o 3.xx. I would suggest updating to it since OO.o 2.3.xx is quite old. OO.o 3 no longer requires X11 and runs much better on Macs. It requires Mac OS 10.4.xx or 10.5.xx

You do not indicate if you have an Intel or a PPC Mac.The Intel version of OO.o 3 is available from
http://download.openoffice.org/

If you have a PPC Mac you can get it from the good-day site.
http://ooopackages.good-day.net/pub/Ope ... /3.0.1rc2/
NOTE: The US English version does not have _en-US in the file name. A direct link for it is:
http://ooopackages.good-day.net/pub/Ope ... nstall.dmg

redridgie wrote:So, I can not open a pdf with oo,correct?
Do you know if there is a free pdf reader I can download?

Try Foxit pdf reader. It's free, very small, and faster to load and run than Adobe and it doesn't keep annoying you with wanting to "phone home" constantly to "update." I have used the same pdf viewers for years and they still run great (although you can always download the newest versions online). There is also "PDF-Xchange Viewer" which is great, and also free. You can add text and sticky notes to the PDF file, extract text, put pages to jpeg or other formats, all sorts of neat things. I got mine from the University when I took a networking class, but just google it. Be sure you download the free version and not the commercial trial version. The sites make it hard to find the free versions sometimes. There is also a free 4mb portable version that does not need to be installed.

Maggie

MaggieToo9 wrote:Try Foxit pdf reader. .... There is also "PDF-Xchange Viewer" .....

These are programs for MS Windows. The OP is using a Mac, so you suggestion is useless and can be time wasting.

I'm not a Mac user, but this sounds promising: Skim.

TheGurkha wrote:I'm not a Mac user, but this sounds promising: Skim.

I'm not a MAC user either (not yet weaned off Windows - still trying to see if I can get along without MSOffice). I'm brand-new to this forum and didn't read the whole message, but maybe it will help out a Windows user - information is never a total waste. I saw the need for a pdf reader and knew of some good ones. If it was utterly useless information, I apologize. I'll be more careful in the future to read the whole message first.

For MAC, try this one... http://mac.softpedia.com/get/Word-Processing/Skim.shtml

Its free, and sounds really great. --Maggie

...didn't read the whole message...

Shh! You never admit that round here! Seriously though, without reading the previous posts you can't know of the validity of what you are about to post. And the PDF reader you suggest is the one I suggested a post or two above yours! But don't be discouraged, stick around and you'll soon see how this place ticks.

After hours of tinkering around trying to save/export an OpenOffice file to a PDF format, I found a simple yet crude solution. Go to the Abobe Reader included with the free Adobe software, and open it. On the right-hand side, it will give you the option to save as a PDF. Insert the name/location of the file (copy and paste it into the spot offered), and voila, it is converted and saved!!

You say to go to adobe (free one) and open, then drop the file, etc... mine is requiring that I subscribe. AKA not free... is there any other solution or way around this y'all have found? I have to submit my transcript as a PDF in order to keep my scholarship, and I've got but 14 days left!

You do realize that this thread started over 5 years ago and the last response is three years old. Having said that use File-->Export As PDF. That should work with V3.1