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Please try to briefly and clearly tell us: What you want, What you tried, and What happened.
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Hi all,

I have a probably really daft question, no sniggering please!

When saving any docs in Open office that you wish to send to someone who doesn't use the system, how is it best to save them so they can easily open them?

Thanks!
Casswilf

Hi and welcome to the forums.

This is why there's a search facility in this forum

you need to save in a format they can open. So if they have MS Office and Word, you need to go:

File > Save As and select 'Microsoft Word 97/2000/XP' from the 'Save as type' dropdown menu. Make sure the 'Automatic file name extension' option is checked.

It is always safer to work in the native OOo formats (.odt and .ods etc) and then use Save As to save a copy in .doc or .xls format if you need to distribute it. But always then go back to the native OOo version to continue working. If the people you are sending to do not need to edit the files then it is best to send them a PDF as then no matter what office suite they use it will be possible for them to read and print the files.

If this has answered your question please go to your first post and use the Edit button, and add [Solved] to the start of the title. You can use the green tick icon at the same time if you like.

Thanks TheGurkha

When I've given this a go earlier I get a pop up telling me the doc may contain formatting/content that cannot be saved in the MS word/97/2000/XP blah blah
It says I should use the latest ODF format to be safe and then I get 2 option boxes..."keep current format" and "save in ODF fornat"
If I choose the 1st will that then convert to the format I asked for?


many thanks
Casswilf

Unfortunately, OOo's design in this critical situation is very confusing and inconvenient. And, believe it or not, what you're seeing is the improved version.

Yes, "Keep current format" means "Save using [whatever foreign format I selected]".

However, it also means that OOo should convert the current document to that format. There is no convenient way to do what Gurkha suggests: work on a document in native ODF format, and "use Save As to save a copy in .doc or .xls format if you need to distribute it." Once you use "Save As", then OOo takes that as the document's type, and the only way to go back and work on the ODF version is to close the current document (now a .doc) and File > Open the previous .odt version. It's a big nuisance.

A different strategy you might want to use is, instead of File > Save As, you can use File > Send > Email as MS Word, or even Send > Email as PDF. That pathway avoids the document format confusion. Sending a PDF is a good choice if the document requires special fonts or formatting, and the recipients do not need to edit the document.

The File > Send > ... method will not work if you use a browser-based email client, like hotmail or yahoo.

There is no convenient way to do what Gurkha suggests: work on a document in native ODF format, and "use Save As to save a copy in .doc or .xls format if you need to distribute it.

That's true, but I've gotten used to my method.

I work in .odt. When I need a .doc version I save the .odt, then Save As .doc. I close The file and re-open the .odt one. As I only convert to Word towards the end of the document creation process it isn't too bad.

Yep, that's the best I've come up with, too. Thanks for spelling it out clearly.

The problem comes when you forget to close and re-open the ODF version, or you forget and use the Recent Files list, and then go merrily along, editing the "wrong" one. I've tried to make it a habit to follow exactly the steps you gave and not get distracted, but things get hectic, I forget, and my project gets fouled up.

In a perfect world, where every format was safe and supported, the current approach would be fine, but right now, ODF is the only format that's really safe, and switching the working document to something else is not a good approach.

There is a request to add a File > Export (or Save Copy As) menu item:
Issue 11393: Add File | Export... functionality for _all_ supported formats
You can register there and add your vote (up to two) or comment.

Sorry for raving on about it. One of my pet peeves, I'm, afraid.

Hi,

My experience: using the extension MultiDiff lightens the work (for *.doc and *.pdf files) considerably.

http://extensions.services.openoffice.o ... _multidiff

Thanks for all the help here, I thought I must be doing something wrong or just not understanding the system too well but I see it's a fly in the ointment all round. Just a matter of getting into a best practice habit I suppose! When you remember that is!

Casswilf

Yes, sorry for getting off track. Just follow the steps that Gurkha outlined above and it should be ok.

In my case, I do not get an option to save in anther format with a warning: I only get to choose the standard .ODF format.

Detail:
- I have a shared .xls file containing a graph.
- I cannot re-order items in the graph legend with Office 2000, but I found I can with OpenOffice Calc.
- I made said change and tried to save, but the only option presented for saving is .ODF.
- I tried a very simple file (containing text in cell A1, saved as .xls and imported to OpenOffice. I added text in A2 cell and went to save. This time I was given the "This document may contain..." warning with an option to save.

While my test suggests that the graph (or multiple sheets, or something) is connected with the option to save in another (any other) format being withheld; my questions are:
1) Is there some way of forcing it to try?
2) Is there some documentation about which features will block saving a Calc file in any other format?

On the /File /Save As window, do you not have a dropdown option on the File Type?

tsuchan wrote:In my case, I do not get an option to save in anther format with a warning: I only get to choose the standard .ODF format.

The modern Windows Save As dialog and the OpenOffice dialog have a dropdown list that allows the user to set the file type. The warning only appears after you select the foreign file type and click "Save". What version of Windows are you using?

In my tests, when I select Save as, the file type dropdown opens displaying the current file format. It may be necessary to scroll up or down to see all the offered formats.

Be sure to read [Tutorial] Differences between Writer and MS Word files where you will see that you risk losing data and formatting if you save in any format other than .odt.

AOO warns you ... but many users switch off the warning.