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Unable to open MS Office 2007 Word doc(x)s sent in open xml

Posted: Sun Mar 23, 2008 3:24 pm
by dave.host
how do you open documents that are "docx" sent as email attachments from ms word 2007 in open office writer. Search queries come up with "no suitable match found".

Re: unable to open ms office 2007 word doc(x)s sent in open xml

Posted: Sun Mar 23, 2008 3:28 pm
by Villeroy
Please use this site's search function in the top-right corner. This is by far the most frequently asked (and answered) question.

Re: unable to open ms office 2007 word doc(x)s sent in open xml

Posted: Sun Mar 23, 2008 5:59 pm
by dave.host
Villeroy wrote:Please use this site's search function in the top-right corner. This is by far the most frequently asked (and answered) question.
I had already used this facility, which came up with "no suitable match found".

Re: unable to open ms office 2007 word doc(x)s sent in open xml

Posted: Sun Mar 23, 2008 7:12 pm
by Villeroy
docx => 55 matches
ooxml => 22 matches
microsoft 2007 =>58 matches
MS Office 2007 => 166 matches

Re: unable to open ms office 2007 word doc(x)s sent in open xml

Posted: Sun Mar 23, 2008 9:05 pm
by dave.host
thanks, there are some informative replies, but none that really work. I have only just downloaded and started to use Open Office, which for a free system on the face of it is extremely good. Unfortunately the first time I tried to use it to open an attachment sent to me in word 2007 (docx) it has turned out to be quite involved and taking a lot of time. I am aware of the MS website fix, but I am trying to get away from Microsoft and would even be prepared to pay something for Open Office which again is a good package, but I will now wait until September for the Vers 3 rlse.

Re: unable to open ms office 2007 word doc(x)s sent in open xml

Posted: Sun Mar 23, 2008 9:36 pm
by Villeroy
The only purpose of "Office Open XML" is to fight the XML format introduced with OpenOffice.org2. Notice the similar naming? Their attempt to make OOXML an industry standard failed because the specifications are faulty and by far too complex to implement for anybody but MS.

- You should ask Word users for the old doc format. It is no standard neither, but at least it is somewhat common.
- There are free online converters (send your docx and get back a doc or odt).
- There are derivates of OpenOffice.org which can already read most of the nasty docx trash. I believe, Novell has one for Windows.

Re: unable to open ms office 2007 word doc(x)s sent in open xml

Posted: Sun Mar 23, 2008 9:59 pm
by DrewJensen
If you download the version of OpenOffice.org found at http://go-oo.org it can open some docx files - not too complicated ones form what I hear.

The code found in this version, with enhancements I suppose, is to be included with the main branch at http://www.openoffice.org for the 3.0 release later this year.

Re: unable to open ms office 2007 word doc(x)s sent in open xml

Posted: Mon Mar 24, 2008 12:55 am
by AndrewZ
The OOXML code (called xmlfilter) in OxygenOffice 2.x and Go-Oo 2.x is alpha quality (i.e., poor). For a review, see the articles OxgygenOffice as a .docx converter and OpenOffice.org 3.0, an early look.

If you need high quality, I suggest odf-converter-integrator for docx/xlsx/pptx. It's free, easy to install, and works with any OpenOffice.org.

For alternatives, see OpenXML on OOoNinja.

Re: unable to open ms office 2007 word doc(x)s sent in open xml

Posted: Mon Mar 24, 2008 4:23 pm
by AndrewZ
dave.host wrote:I had already used this facility, which came up with "no suitable match found".
Try this new OpenOffice.org-related-site search, and if you have problems, send me the keywords you entered.

http://search.oooninja.com/