Opening documents with OpenOffice

[rambotrader]

I recently had a computer reinstall. For some reasons some of my Openoffice word files are now showing as Abode documents.
I tried to open these using 'Open with' but there is no OpenOffice app shown. So I went to Defaults and made sure OO was set as default. Still no app.
I am using Windows desktop operating system 8.1 64 bit.
Can anybody pass on how to open these documents in their original form rather than with a pdf reader which does not allow me to modify them?

[FJCC]

You should be able to start OpenOffice and use the menu File -> Open to access the documents. Does that work?

[rambotrader]

What I am doing:

I right click on the word files which are now Adobe files and go to 'Open With'. OpenOffice does not appear in this list so not sure how to proceed from here.
Next step was to try and locate and download an openoffice app. Can't find that either.

So I now have Adobe documents which need to be switched back into what they were created as: openoffice documents.

Opening OO does not work with opening the documents which are in the wrong format.

[FJCC]

A software re-installation should not change the content of your documents in any way so I am skeptical that odt documents are now in the pdf format. It is a fairly common problem on this forum that Windows associates the wrong program with a file type and therefore displays the wrong kind of icon. You seem to have addressed that when you said that you "made sure OO was set as default" but it isn't clear what file type you were dealing with. To make sure I really understand the situation please confirm what the file name extension (the last 3 or four letters of the file name after the .) is - pdf, odt, or doc. Also, what file type default did you set or confirm?

Another approach to getting this cleared up is to post one of the files here. To do that, click Post Reply and then look for the Upload Attachment tab just below the box where you type a response.

If you do have pdf files that need to be converted to an editable format, OpenOffice can't do that. The Zamar web site has been suggested for that, though I have never tried it.

[rambotrader]

I went to one of the files and right clicked. The Properties. The file is shown as 'Adobe Acrobat document (.pdf).
I clicked on 'Change' and I get a whole pile of apps. Openoffice is not there. If it were I could open the file in OO in the same manner as I could open using any one of the shown apps...which of course cannot open the document because it was created as an oo text document.

[RoryOF]

OpenOffice is not intended for the opening of PDF documents. This is normally done using Adobe Reader or a similar PDF reader. With the addition of a special extension, OpenOffice can be made to open PDF documents and permit some slight cosmetic editing but for general viewing, particularly of large (book-sized) PDF documents, OpenOffice is not the best tool.

[rambotrader]

The documents in question were created as OO text files. They were never PDFs. The issue I have is that the contents are still word documents and I cannot modify these any more, only read.
If these are word documents they should be able to be opened as word files. The fact that they are now shown as PDFs does not change what they were created as.
I still believe that if there is an OO app available this word fix this problem as I could right click and use 'open with'.

[Villeroy]

If file IS a pdf, then you can open it with a pdf viewer.
If a file IS a doc, then you can open it with MS Word or something.
But nothing can open a pdf as a doc or vice versa.

Microsoft Windows makes it extremely difficult to organize your files properly. First of all, you need to disable "hide extensions for known file types" in the folder options so you can see the full names of your files.
Then you should learn how to use the awful file explorer and how to search for files on that system.

[rambotrader]

Actually you are quite wrong.
The file which is now shown as a pdf was created as a text file. It is still a text file but shows as a pdf because I opened it using Adobe Reader. It now claims to be an Adobe document......which it is not! I can try to open it with any number of apps which then changes its attributes. Of course it does not open with these apps but the icon displays as that app. Strange.
If there were such a thing as an OO app this would be a done deal but I cannot find one for desktop.

[UnklDonald418]

In Windows file explorer if there is no extension displayed then enable File name extensions from the View menu of the file explorer. From the Windows file explorer right click on one of your problem files, select Rename and change the file extension to .odt
From a blank Writer document you should be able to open it using the File->Open menu options.

[robleyd]

Just to confirm - Apache OpenOffice is actually installed and can be run?

[FJCC]

We are getting tangled up in vocabulary. Please upload one of these files so others can inspect it.

[Bill]

Actually you are quite wrong.

Actually Villeroy is quite right. Adobe Reader doesn't open .doc files and OpenOffice doesn't open .pdf files.

The file which is now shown as a pdf was created as a text file. It is still a text file but shows as a pdf because I opened it using Adobe Reader. It now claims to be an Adobe document......which it is not!

If Adobe Reader opens the file, then the file IS "an Adobe document". If it were a text file, then Adobe Reader would display an error message instead of opening the file.

I can try to open it with any number of apps which then changes its attributes. Of course it does not open with these apps but the icon displays as that app. Strange.

Not strange at all. The icon that appears on the Taskbar is associated with the program, not the document file. No document file attributes are changed when you open the file with a different program.

If there were such a thing as an OO app this would be a done deal but I cannot find one for desktop.

I have no idea what this "OO app" would be or why you would think such a thing would help. The files in question aren't text documents. They are pdf files which OpenOffice can't open for editing.

The bottom line is that the files are actually pdf files which will have to be converted to text files if you want to edit them. You can use Google to find converters.

[Villeroy]

Another problem which is difficult to understand is the fact that PDF is not an editable document format. PDF is virtual paper. If you can send some data format to a printer, then you can convert (save as) it to PDF as well. PDF can be the print out from a CAD/CAM software, from text processor, spreadsheet application, any software tool able to generate printer data. Content of a PDF is just info about letters and shapes and lines, how they would look on a sheet of paper.

It is a thinkable scenario that you created a bunch of text documents, exported them as PDF files without ever saving any of the actual documents. This is like printing your text document to paper sheets and then close without saving. Now you have a bunch of paper you can not edit anymore on your computer. You can't push the tooth paste back into the tube.

[Villeroy]

It is a thinkable scenario that you created a bunch of text documents, exported them as PDF files without ever saving any of the actual documents.

Actually I do this quite often.
I open a special template for documents to be sent as PDF attachments. The letter template includes logos, sender info, address fields, a date field, lines, headers, footers, page layouts for the first page and subsequent pages. After the letter has been typed and corrected I save it as a mail attachment and send it. Quite often I discard the actual text document. On the receipient's screen the document looks exactly the same as on my screen because this is all what PDF is about.

If I ever had to reproduce the same letter, I would load the sent PDF letter into a PDF viewer and create a new document from the same office template. Then I had to copy the text body and the address block (not the headers, footers and other prepared content) from the PDF viewer into the prepared layout of the new office document.

[RoryOF]

If we had a sample document(s) we could quickly diagnose what format they were and hence what was the appropriate application to open them. Until we get such sample documents we are all guessing in the dark.

[rambotrader]

Bill: You say "If Adobe Reader opens the file, then the file IS "an Adobe document". If it were a text file, then Adobe Reader would display an error message instead of opening the file."

The files were created as OO text files. They were saved as OO text files. They were routinely edited as text files.
It appears they have now been converted into pdf files. That seems to be the bottom line.

How did this come about? Totally unsure. Maybe I clicked on a pop-up after my computer was wiped and I started again. Not sure how that could have happened though as the old files were pushed onto a USB and I just went there, found them and tried to open.

Have had a few requests to send a sample file. would love to do so and will look for one which is low key. Unfortunately there is some pretty import and sensitive data in these files so please understand the reluctance to stump up. Will have a look though.

Thanks for the analysis in the meantime. I suspect the only way out of this doo doo is going to be software to change the format back to what they were created in.