Queries regarding Open office software.

[Prashob Podikalam <pr...@gmail.com>]

Dear Team,

I have changed my operating system for my system from windows to linux.

Is it possible to use all the old microsoft office files available in my
system with Apache open office software?

Kindly revert on priority basis.

Thanks and Regards,
Prashob Lal.

Re: Queries regarding Open office software.

[Alan B <ab...@gmail.com>]

On Wed, Dec 31, 2014 at 1:42 AM, Prashob Podikalam <pr...@gmail.com>
wrote:

> Is it possible to use all the old microsoft office files available in my
> system with Apache open office software?
>

It is possible. The limits of document fidelity between applications may or
may not be meet your operational requirements.

Write <-> Word - mostly yes. Content can be read but layout is often a bit
different even in simple documents. The difference that is most troubling
for me is I find is page margins don't match and then page breaks are in
different spots in the text. If there are manual page breaks it is more of
a concern because that can result in extra pages in the document. It will
have page break from text flow when opened in the alternate application and
then another from the manual page break in the source file. Fields and
macros I don't have direct experience.

Calc <-> Excel - mostly yes. Cells filled with data and simple formulas
work well. I have even created spreadsheets in Calc to manage business
processes, saved them as .xls, provided to users in other companies who
have only Excel, and the logic continues to work. And the reverse, people
have provided me Excel files they're trying to "make work", I've made
modifications with Calc, returned and the files have been used
successfully. Not all functions work. One example I can think of is Excel's
subtotal(). I don't have experience trying macros from Excel in Calc. I
don't print much from Calc or Excel but I find I get many more unexpected
outputs printing with Calc than I do with Excel.

Presentation <-> Powerpoint - Limited experiences. Sometimes no issue
however I have experienced layout and formatting differences opening a
presentation in the application it was not created with.

Access - no. There are means to read the data but any forms and application
logic must be recreated.

This may sound discouraging. Please don't be. I have successfully used a
Linux pc and Write <-> Word and Calc <-> to Excel for a stretch of years in
a business environment exchanging files daily with people using Windows and
MS Office exclusively. The typical documents I encountered in my
environment almost never contained elements that required me to switch to
MS Office to ensure successful sharing.

Re: Queries regarding Open office software.

[Rory O'Farrell <of...@iol.ie>]

On Wed, 31 Dec 2014 08:16:43 +0000
Rory O'Farrell <of...@iol.ie> wrote:

> On Wed, 31 Dec 2014 12:12:29 +0530
> Prashob Podikalam <pr...@gmail.com> wrote:
> 
> > Dear Team,
> > 
> > I have changed my operating system for my system from windows to linux.
> > 
> > Is it possible to use all the old microsoft office files available in my
> > system with Apache open office software?
> > 
> > Kindly revert on priority basis.
> > 
> > Thanks and Regards,
> > Prashob Lal.
> 
> Yes, with the caveat that the MS Office format filters have been reverse engineered, so there may be formatting differences.  the various .nnnx formats may be read but will not write reliably.  Database files may need considerable adjustment.
> 
> You can load OpenOffice and run it alongside MS Office to explore the possibilities.
> 
> -- 
> Rory O'Farrell <of...@iol.ie>
> 
> 

My comment that you could run OpenOffice alongside MS Office applies directly to Windows machines.  On a linux machine you may have to run MS Office (and Windows) either in some form of virtual machine, or in dual boot mode.

-- 
Rory O'Farrell <of...@iol.ie>

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Re: Queries regarding Open office software.

[Rory O'Farrell <of...@iol.ie>]

On Wed, 31 Dec 2014 12:12:29 +0530
Prashob Podikalam <pr...@gmail.com> wrote:

> Dear Team,
> 
> I have changed my operating system for my system from windows to linux.
> 
> Is it possible to use all the old microsoft office files available in my
> system with Apache open office software?
> 
> Kindly revert on priority basis.
> 
> Thanks and Regards,
> Prashob Lal.

Yes, with the caveat that the MS Office format filters have been reverse engineered, so there may be formatting differences.  the various .nnnx formats may be read but will not write reliably.  Database files may need considerable adjustment.

You can load OpenOffice and run it alongside MS Office to explore the possibilities.

-- 
Rory O'Farrell <of...@iol.ie>

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