[Solved] Can I convert Office 365 documents to OpenOffice?

[Hagar Delest]

My subscription to Office 365 was through a friend who bought a multi user subscription which has now run out. I have a windows 10 laptop and now can't work on documents saved. I also have Open Office 4.1.3 on this laptop and wondered if I can convert the office 365 docs to open office so I can carry on working on them. I f you can explain in simple terms please, if it is possible, I would be very grateful indeed! All I can find is ways to get a document back which was open office and was somehow turned into office 365 or otherwise.

[FJCC]

All you have to do to convert the documents is to start OpenOffice and the use the menu item File -> Open. The document formatting may have to be fixed, depending on how elaborate it is. It is important to then save the document in the native format of OpenOffice. That is .odt for Writer, .ods for Calc and .odp for Impress. This will preserve any formatting fixes you did and will also allow you to keep the original Microsoft documents.

Do you have to share these documents with others?

[John_Ha]

See [Tutorial] Differences between Writer and MS Word files for a description of differences and for why you should always work in, and save Writer files as .odt, Calc files as .ods, Impress files as .odp etc.

[Janet bookworm]

I don't need to share the documents at this stage anyway, I don't really understand what you mean about open Open Office, they are not there to find? I'm sorry but it has to be really simple or I don't understand. The document is in Office 365, saved in my documents file, and it won;t let me edit it, if I try to save it again using Save As, is there an option I need to choose to get it to change into Open Office format is what I need to know, I'm afraid to do anything in case I lose this document, it's important!

[Hagar Delest]

Once you've opened the file in OpenOffice, THEN make sure to save in its native format (.odt for text documents).
MS Office file format has not been designed to be compatible with anything else than MS Office, that's the vendor lock-in policy.
Note that you may experience some conversion glitches when you first load your file in OpenOffice. You may have to redo some formatting.

[RoryOF]

I don't really understand what you mean about open Open Office, they are not there to find? I'm sorry but it has to be really simple or I don't understand. The document is in Office 365, saved in my documents file, and it won;t let me edit it, if I try to save it again using Save As, is there an option I need to choose to get it to change into Open Office format is what I need to know, I'm afraid to do anything in case I lose this document, it's important!

Start OpenOffice, use /File /Open and there is a navigation button that allows you to change up to a higher folder (repeatedly, if necessary). Highlighting a folder then pressing Open will allow you to enter that folder. This is elementary computer usage, and should allow you to navigate to the folder in which the 365 files are stored. As you select each in turn you can open it, then use /File /Save As, changing the File type dropdown to select type "ODF Text Document (,odt)" to change the format. Note that you may have to scroll up the list of offered file types to see this - on my computer it is second from top of the list. Ensure that "Automatic file name extension" checkbox is checked. As you Save each file using that method, it will show on OO's /File /Recent Documents list (up to the capacity of that list, usually the ten latest files).

[Janet bookworm]

Ok, thankyou so much, that was easy enough to follow without doing anything stupid but it wasn't what I'd tried before. Really grateful for your help. I presume if I want it back to Office 365 I just reverse the procedure. Thanks again.

[RoryOF]

You need not reverse the procedure to regain the original 365 files - they will be on the computer, untouched. If you Edit an OO file and need to send the edited file to 365 or 365 users, you can try sending the OO .odt, as MS Office claims to open that type of file since 2007; alternately, do the procedure and select Word 97/2000/XP (.doc) type, and send that type of file.

[John_Ha]

The document is in Office 365

A document file is not in Open 365. Open 365 is a set of programs.

A document file is in a format - .doc or .docx or .odt etc. Many different programs can open a given file format. Think of a format as a label, like a label on a tin - it tells you what is inside.

You have been caught by a nasty trick Microsoft plays on you which is designed to fool you so you buy MS software. By default, MS hides the labels! Go to W10 Settings. Search for File Explorer options. Go to View and untick Hide extensions for known file types. You can now see what format a file is in - .doc, .docx or .odt.

See [Tutorial] Differences between Writer and MS Word files for a discussion of the different formats and for why you should always work in, and save Writer files as .odt, Calc files as .ods, Impress files as .odp etc.

As a new AOO user you will find much useful information in the Writer FAQ, the Writer Tutorials, the up to date AOO Writer for Students and the Writer User Guide. May I suggest you bookmark the pages.

Press F1 to access the Help screen and search for your problem

The chapter headings in the manual are:

1 - Introducing Writer
2 - Setting up Writer
3 - Working with Text
4 - Formatting Pages
5 - Printing, Exporting, Faxing and E-Mailing
6 - Introduction to Styles
7 - Working with Styles
8 - Working with Graphics
9 - Working with Tables
10 - Working with Templates
11 - Using Mail Merge
12 - Tables of Contents, Indexes and Bibliographies
13 - Working with Master Documents
14 - Working with Fields
15 - Using Forms in Writer
16 - Customizing Writer – Keyboard shortcuts.

When a pop-up window opens, click the Help button for extensive help on that function - it is often more comprehensive than the manual.