Taming Apache OpenOffice

Apache OpenOffice (AOO) is the new name for OpenOffice.org (OOo) from version 3.4. It is a suite of programs for word processing, spreadsheets, presentations, databases, and drawings. It is free to download, use, and distribute. It is available in many languages and runs on Linux, Mac, Windows, and other operating systems. Its native file formats are OpenDocument (*.ODT, *.ODS, *.ODP, etc.), but it can open and save to many other formats, including Microsoft Office formats (*.DOC, *.XLS, *.PPT, etc.).

To get the program, go to the OpenOffice.org website. Good introductions are Introducing OpenOffice.org (PDF).

Scroll down to see recent posts in this blog.

What’s on this site?

Comments, tips, and pointers to articles written by other people about the various components of OpenOffice.org. Click on the links in the navigation bar at the top of any page, or search the blog.

Some of the blog posts on this site are about LibreOffice, a similar program. I have now created a separate website for material about LibreOffice; see Taming LibreOffice.

Note: Some of the material on this site may be out of date. Some of it was originally written for OpenOffice.org 1.1.3 and has not been updated for OOo 2 or OOo 3. Some details have changed, but the general information is still relevant. I am updating the pages as I find time.

Books on OpenOffice.org

In addition to the books listed in the sidebar, others may be given on this page; I haven’t updated the book list for some time, other than adding those published by ODFAuthors.

This book is for anyone who wants to get up to speed quickly with Apache OpenOffice.org 3.4. It introduces Writer (word processing), Calc (spreadsheets), Impress (presentations), Draw (vector drawings), Math (equation editor) and Base (database), as well as common features including styles, templates, printing, a gallery of graphics, and macros.

Printed copies of Taming Apache OpenOffice 3.4: Getting Started are available from Lulu.com for US$20.78. Pay at Lulu.com.

If you prefer, you can download the PDF here. Cost is US$5.00, on the honor system. Please pay using the button below (Paypal or credit card). This book has no DRM; you may copy it onto as many of your devices as you wish. If you buy a printed copy, you are welcome to a free copy of the PDF.

You can also download individual chapters (PDF or ODT) free from this website. These files may differ slightly from the content of the printed book and full PDF.

The Windows Secrets newsletter has an article by Fred Langa dated March 14, 2013, titled Two free, full-blown alternatives to MS Office that features LibreOffice and OpenOffice.

The article mentions several features that particularly appeal to users of older (pre-2007) versions of MS Office who have been reluctant to move to newer versions: unlike Office 2013, LibreOffice and OpenOffice “live and work entirely on your PC’s hard drive — there’s no prodding you toward cloud storage or app rental. Both suites use traditional toolbars (no Ribbon interface) and come with six business apps: word processor, spreadsheet, presentation creator, drawing/desktop-publishing tool, database manager, and mathematics tool…

“Although the two suites are similar, LibreOffice is a bit more evolved… For example, LibreOffice now supports more file formats than Open Office does…” (including opening, but not saving to, Microsoft Publisher files).

Lange says, “Is either of these open-source MS Office substitutes right for you? If your office-suite needs are relatively modest, the answer is most likely yes. On the other hand, if you’re regularly collaborating with businesses that use Office 2010 or 2013 and exact reproduction of spreadsheets, presentations, and text documents is essential, it’s safer to stick with Microsoft’s suite…

“I think LibreOffice is currently the better choice. It nicely does what I need done, quietly and without fanfare. It supports more file formats, including those used by the newest versions of Microsoft Office, and it has more developer momentum behind it. But that’s me; Open Office might work just as well or better for you…

“Bottom line: If you’re looking for an alternative to Microsoft Office that isn’t cloud-oriented, that uses traditional toolbars, and that’s totally free, you probably won’t go wrong with LibreOffice or Open Office!”

Congratulations to the Apache OpenOffice Project, which announced on 8 May the availability of Apache OpenOffice™ 3.4, the first release of OpenOffice under the governance of the Apache Software Foundation.

I just posted the following note to the Apache OpenOffice project management committee and the project’s public mailing list.

“I hereby resign from the Apache OpenOffice PPMC. I intend no further involvement with this project and will unsubscribe from all project lists after posting this note.

For me, contributing to a volunteer project must be enjoyable. I do not enjoy working with this group, because of the behaviour of some of the key people, primarily Rob Weir.

I remain available in my role with Friends of OpenDocument to process funding proposals for AOO marketing or other purposes. I also remain available to help anyone who wishes to get started using the AOO section of the ODFAuthors website.

Goodbye and good luck.”

EDIT 6 May: More information: my resignation is not primarily due to the few direct interactions I’ve had with Rob, although those are obviously part of it. It is due as much, if not more, to the tone of Rob’s (and a few others’) interactions with some other members of the community, and comments on the private list about those other members. These interactions and comments add up to an overall pattern of behaviour that I find unacceptable.

This post by Ross Gardler (from The Apache Software Foundation) addresses the question “Is OpenOffice.org an Apache project yet?” and explains a how a project and its community become an “Apache project”.

Comments should be addressed to the original post at ComputerWorld UK, so I’ve disabled them here.

I’m a bit late in linking to Simon Phipps’ article, The Magic of Editable PDFs, but it’s such a great tip that you need to know about it (if you don’t already). Here’s a sample:

Did you know you can send a final document as a PDF attachment that everyone will be able to open and view, but which people who need to will also be able to open and edit? The document that can do this magic is called a “Hybrid PDF”, and anyone can make one using open source software. LibreOffice (and related packages like OpenOffice.org) have been able to make these editable PDFs for quite some time. A Hybrid PDF is a normal PDF file that any PDF reader can display, but with the added benefit that the original source document is also embedded in the file. Any suitably advanced office suite, such as LibreOffice, is able to retrieve the source and allow you to edit it.

Now that the OpenOffice.org product and trademark are owned by Apache, the community has recently voted to change the name of future releases to “Apache OpenOffice” (dropping the “.org”). The transition of the website, wiki, forums, issue tracker, and other assets from Oracle to Apache is nearly complete, and work is well underway for the first release of Apache OpenOffice.

See also this post.

According to the announcement I saw, this free application displays Open Document Format (ODF) contents on iOS (iPAD/iPhone/iTouch) and Android phones and tablets. The viewer can display text documents, presentations, and spreadsheets (files in ODF version 1.2 format with .odp, .odt and .ods extensions) created by Lotus Symphony, OpenOffice.org, LibreOffice, or other applications that support ODF. Note that it is a viewer only; documents can not be edited or saved.

You can browse files loaded to your devices and open files directly from a web link. You can also connect the viewer to a projector or monitor to display the content if you have a video-out connector.

I haven’t tried this yet (I’ve just downloaded it now), so I can’t say anything about it from personal experience, but it certainly looks potentially very useful for some of what I do.

During the LibreOffice Conference, The Document Foundation announced two advanced development projects which will become products sometimes in late 2012 or early 2013:

• LibreOffice Online Prototype (demo video).
• LibreOffice port project to Android and iOS.

The press release, with more details, is here.

Printed copies of OpenOffice.org Draw and Math guides are now available from Lulu.com:

OpenOffice.org 3.3 Draw Guide

OpenOffice.org 3.3 Math Guide