Compatibility with Vista

[gollard]

I have Windows vista.
I just downloaded Open Office. I need to be able to save my Calc files as Excel .xls files. I need to be able to save Writer files as word .doc documents.

I don't know if I can do this. It appears that when I do a save as, I might have to have XP. Is this true?

I don't have Excel on my computer, but I do at work. I need to be able to SAVE AS .xls and send it to work.

Can anyone help?

[CORY]

sorry, can't help you, but you may be able to help me!
I've just downloaded open office and I also have vista - I cant find it anywhere on my machine - when I downloaded I clicked save instead of run, is this my error?
HELP

[gollard]

Click on your START button in the bottom left corner of your computer.
Select ALL PROGRAMS
Use the Scroll bar to find OpenOffice.org2.3
Click on it and it will list all the programs, like CALC and writer, etc.

Let me know if I helped.

[Hagar Delest]

sorry, can't help you, but you may be able to help me!

First : don't hijack the thread of others. One issue per thread. If it's not the same issue, then, create another one. Be sure that you've searched the forum before, your question has already been discussed BTW.
Second : no multiposting : downloaded now can't find!!!.
Please read the Survival Guide for the forum.

Back to the initial topic :

I need to be able to save my Calc files as Excel .xls files. I need to be able to save Writer files as word .doc documents.

I don't know if I can do this. It appears that when I do a save as, I might have to have XP. Is this true?

You can do this and you don't need to have XP. It's just that some versions of MS Office are linked to a MS Windows version, that's all. Note that you can set these file formats as default : [Solved] Convert doc to microsoft word.

Thanks to add '[Solved]' in your first post title (edit button) if your issue has been fixed.

[foxcole]

I don't know if I can do this. It appears that when I do a save as, I might have to have XP. Is this true?

Not true. But I'd like some help understanding, what exactly are you looking at that makes you wonder this? If you're seeing the Word (or Excel) 97/2000/XP option---that's the option you want. It's just telling you that the resulting file is compatible with those versions of Office.

MS Office isn't compatible with itself from version to version, which created problems for business users, and MS then had to find a solution by allowing users to save in the file formats that earlier versions produced. The 97/2000/XP version is the most widely usable one, both between Office versions and with other non-MS software.

You will also need to be careful about your expectations. MS Office uses closed, proprietary, secret code so not everything will be 100% compatible between OpenOffice (or any other non-Office product including some of Microsoft's own software!). Most of the time you won't have any trouble, especially if the documents are not overly complicated... but you might want to have a look at the link in my sig line to the PDF manuals. There you'll find a Getting Started Guide and a Migration Guide (among other very good things) that might help you understand what will or will not work.