Moving existing docs from MS to AOO

[Kip]

Just installed AOO and created a test document with a table and spell-checked it. So far so good. Very user-friendly. I have many ( a jillion?) MS Word documents, some of which were originally created in Word 2003. When I ?upgraded? to Win 10 they were automatically changed to Microsoft Word 97 - 2003 Document (.doc). I want to convert all to .odt When I opened an existing Word document and then saved it as Pork Roast Recipe.odt it saved as Pork Roast Recipe.odt.doc. Sorry to ask such a basic question, but when I tried searching various forums using different terms, I didn't have any luck. What is the correct and most efficient way to convert all my documents? Thanks in advance.

[robleyd]

Do you actually want to re-save them as .odt files, or do you just want them the show an OpenOffice Writer icon and be opened by Writer?

If the former, make sure when you SaveAs that you select the correct document type and check Automatic file extension - see the image below.

[FJCC]

There is a Wizard for converting many documents. You can find it in a menu something like File -> Wizards -> Document Conversion (my interface isn't in English at the moment, so I am approximating the menu names). If you try that, I strongly suggest that you make back up copies of your documents, which you should do in any case. There is no big benefit I can think of to converting the documents all at once rather than as needed when you open them.

[Kip]

Thanks everyone. With your help, I made progress. But first go-around it said it was a "read-only". I changed the name and saved it again. Now there are two .odt icons on my desktop. One looks like the program icon (which I can't open) and the other a paper with a small program icon in lower right corner (which I can open). One of the reasons I am not going to use MS Word anymore is it was automatically converting my docs to read-only status and messages like 'some active content has been disabled'. I researched the problem which many people are facing, a forced MS feature so that your doc is always saved intact. Remedy: make a new doc with a different name. Can you believe it?! Anyhow, is that why two different .odt saved document icons are appearing? Do I just delete the one I can't open? To me, it looks like the most official icon, so I think I am still doing something incorrectly.

[robleyd]

IIRC you can right click on an icon in Windows and examine the properties to see what the icon is a shortcut for.

[John_Ha]

See [Tutorial] Differences between Writer and MS Word files for why you should always work in and save files as .odt.

As a new user you will find much useful information in the Writer FAQ, the Writer Tutorials, the up to date Writer guide and the Writer Manual. 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.