Apache OpenOffice Community Forum

I have been trying to convert a Microsoft Word 97 - 2003 Document (.doc) to an AOO document and I think I have discovered that AOO can not open a Microsoft Word 97 - 2003 Document (.doc). Is that correct? (One thing at a time; I'm pretty much a "newby" at this.)

OOps, I see that I'm erroneously showing that I have OpenOffice 3.1 on Windows Vista. I need to edit that. I'm pretty sure I have a later version of AOO and I am definitely using Windows 10.

OpenOffice does open the Word 97-2003 format. Try posting a document here so others can test if they can open it. Just click Post Reply and look for the Upload Attachment tab just below the box where you type a response.

You can see which version of OpenOffice you have in the menu Help -> About OpenOffice.

OOps, I see that I'm erroneously showing that I have OpenOffice 3.1 on Windows Vista.

You can modify your signature in this forum. Just follow it:
User Control panel (LINK on the header) - Profile (TAB) - Edit signature (SUBTAB)

Please upload a small file showing the problem so that it can be analysed. Use the Upload attachment tab below where you type (128 kB max); or use a file share site, Dropbox or Google Drive for a larger file.

Another user has the same problem at Help with opening old Microsoft documents (2000) where they cannot open a .doc file.

I wonder if this is a regression problem in AOO 4.1.6?

It is essential we see an actual .doc file to analyse the problem.

As a test, use zamzar.com to convert the .doc file to, say, a .odt or .pdf or .docx. If it can be converted then it means it can be read.

Oh, boy! I finally figured out that the reason I was unable to open a Word document in AOO was because I was going to the document first and then trying to find out how to open it in AOO. "Open With", in that case, doesn't include the choice of AOO. I guess Mr. Gates isn't interested in converting Microsoft documents to AOO! I now realize that you only need to open Open Office first and then find the document that you want to convert by opening it and choosing "Save As" and then clicking on the "Save As Type" box, choosing "ODF Text Document (.odt)" and clicking "Save". Sometimes, when it opens it, it will be "Read Only". But, after you save it in "ODF Text Document (.odt)", you can edit it.

How do I label this as "SOLVED"?

How to tag a topic as solved.

In your first post, click the Edit button. Go to the subject line and add [Solved] at the beginning of the subject.

Then select the green tick as the Post icon (just below the subject line). Preview if you wish to see how it looks.
Finally, hit Submit - done!

Go to the first post in the thread, click Edit and add Solved to the title.

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