Why can't I save as .docx?

[Edmund Pickett]

Yesterday I saved a file I had created on OO as a .docx file. Today I don't have that choice. There are many choices under "save as" for file types but .docx does not appear. What am I doing wrong?

[Zizi64]

There is not OOXML (docx, xlsx, etc...) fileformat save feature in Apache OpenOffice, but the LibreOffice has such function.

[Edmund Pickett]

But I did it yesterday!

[Zizi64]

Open Office version 3.1 on Windows 10

Are you really using that very old version? Or perhaps you upgraded your office suite version yesterday?

[Zizi64]

But I did it yesterday!

How you did it?

[Villeroy]

There are good technical reasons to NOT support OOXML. OpenOffice tries to read it as well as possible but does not even try to write such documents. https://libreoffice.org/ supports it to some extent but not well enough that you can be sure about its appearance in MS software or if MS Office loads the file anyway. [MS has a long standing reputation to deliberately not interprete certain data or programs that they don't like].
The old binary *.doc is the file format sharing the biggest set of common features with Writer and 2 decades of "co-evolution". MS Word fully supports this file format and OpenOffice supports it pretty well. So there is no technical reason not to use doc in favour of docx.

[Tutorial] Differences between Writer and MS Word files

Apart from the technical stuff, OOXML has been bribed through the standardization boards in order to fight the ODF standard. Following another old Microsoft tradition, MS Office itself uses an "extended" version of its own standard, so the OOXML files produced by MS Office do not follow their own certified standard. How can anything be compatible with something that does not want to be compatible?
If you want to avoid file format trouble, use ODF.
If you want to produce Microsoft documents, install MS Office.

[Edmund Pickett]

First, I have version 4.1.1 of Open Office and that's what I put in the profile. I don't know how the wrong version ended up there. I just re-entered the right number.

All the replies are ignoring the fact that I did it yesterday! I converted an Open Office document to .docx yesterday but I can't do it today.

The reason I need to is that I'm transferring a file to an ebook formatting program called Vellum and it requires .docx. Vellum only works on the Mac but I created the book on a Windows machine using Open Office. Vellum is a fabulous formatting programming for ebooks and I really want to use it.

Thanks to everyone for the help.

[RoryOF]

How did you convert to .docx? By simply changing the extension? That doesn't actually convert the file to the internal .docx format. Work and save in .odt (OO's native format) and use the free service at http://www.zamzar.com to convert to .docx.

[Bill]

Yesterday I saved a file I had created on OO as a .docx file. Today I don't have that choice. There are many choices under "save as" for file types but .docx does not appear. What am I doing wrong?

If you did it on Windows 10, you probably did it using WordPad or a trial version of MS Office. It's not possible with AOO Writer.

[esperantisto]

All the replies are ignoring the fact that I did it yesterday!

And you are ignoring the question: how did you do it?

The reason I need to is that I'm transferring a file to an ebook formatting program called Vellum and it requires .docx.

Why would you need such a bad program? Yes, it is a very bad program, as only very bad programs are limited to one specific format. Try, for example, OOoFBTools (works directly in Apache OpenOffice) or calibre (supports a wide variety of formats).

[Edmund Pickett]

I did it by using the drop down menu in "save as." One of the choices was "save as .docx." Now that choice doesn't appear.
I solved the problem by searching on Google for a file converting program. The one I found works well. Online-Convert.com (http://www.online-convert.com/result/07 ... 0866ee4887)

Vellum is not a "bad" program. It is the best program in existence to convert Word files into the two most common ebook formats (Mobi & Epub). Writers who publish on the internet are unanimous that it works perfectly, creates beautiful ebooks, and is priced fairly. It solves many problems. I'm not the only writer who's bought a Mac for the first time just to use Vellum. It was created by two people who worked at Pixar for ten years. I wish it were available for Windows but it's not.

[esperantisto]

One of the choices was "save as .docx."

Apache OpenOffice has never had such a menu item. As suggested above, you probably used another program.

[RoryOF]

I confirm what esperantisto has said - OpenOffice has never had such a menu item. It offers MS Word 97/2000/XP (.doc). You can check what program and its version you used by the entry in its /Help /About.

[John_Ha]

Have you read the posts answering your questions and nonsensical statements?

Have you read [Tutorial] Differences between Writer and MS Word files as posted above?

Have you searched the forum with docx?

Please do so before posting again and expecting responders to waste more time on your nonsensical statements that you saved a docx file with AOO. You did not.

Why can't you save as .docx? Because AOO does not write .docx files.

There is nothing more to say. Period. Finis.

Now, if you are using LibreOffice, then it can save files as .docx, but that is a different question.

[Bill]

The feature request in Bugzilla for adding the option to save in the .docx format still has a "Confirmed" status which means that the feature has not been added to AOO. IF it is ever done, the feature request status will be changed to "Fixed". Notice that the feature request has no Target Milestone and no comments since 2014. Apache OpenOffice has never had an option to save as .docx.

Issue 88355 - Save/export to OOXML (aka Office Open XML, Microsoft Office 12)

[lmstearn]

One of the sites I deal with only accepts file of docx, pdf or rtf. Why on earth they chose docx over just doc is anyone's guess. rtf is fairly basic and lightweight- perhaps pdf is better. Is there a breakdown on the pros/cons of the various formats available or better, advice from the experienced?
Thanks.

[RoryOF]

Many of the requests for help in recovery of a file are for files Saved from LibreOffice as .docx. If one must save in a foreign format .doc seems better.

Edit: OO support for RTF is questionable - do not use it for any extended work, or work of importance

For your immediate need, once the file is complete, you can use /File /Export as PDF. Until completion, work in .odt format.

[John_Ha]

Is there a breakdown on the pros/cons of the various formats available or better, advice from the experienced?

See [Tutorial] Differences between Writer and MS Word files for a discussion, and the many reasons why you should always work in and save files as .odt.

[lmstearn]

Excellent advice & article. Thanks.