-OpenOffice FAQ-
How
do I start a new line within a cell in Calc?
To
start a new line with a cell in Calc press “Ctrl+Enter.”
How
can I set Calc to go to the first cell in the next row when I press
enter?
Unfortunately,
in the current version of OpenOffice you can't. However, if you
press Enter then press Home you will be able to achieve this
result.
Will we be able to access
OpenOffice using Cytrix?
Unfortunately,
due to the age and lack in space of the Cytrix server we will not be
installing OpenOffice on it (unless the budget request to replace the
server is accepted). You have two options here. You can either
download OpenOffice freely, from http://OpenOffice.org, onto your
home computer, or you can use Microsoft Office when not in the
building. One of the nice features about OpenOffice is that you can
open, edit, and save Microsoft documents (Excel, Word, or Power Point
only) in such a manner that they can still be opened with either
Office suite. Therefore, you can switch between using OpenOffice and
Microsoft Office when editing your documents at home and at
work.
How do I prevent OpenOffice from
starting up when I log into my computer?
Right
click the OpenOffice QuickStarter icon in your desktop tray icons
(lower right corner of computer display) -> uncheck the “Load
OpenOffice.org During System Start-Up” option.
I
tried double clicking a file to open it, but nothing ever
happened?
One
of the possible causes for this problem is you didn't wait long
enough after the first attempt to open the application, before trying
to open it again. This problem has only occurred on PCs where a user
has not rebooted his or her computer after installing OpenOffice.
When you run OpenOffice for the first time it takes longer than usual
and if you try to open it a second time before its done with the
first attempt, neither attempt will ever complete and you will need
to reboot your machine.
If your using an XP machine, another
possibility is that the problem could have to do with the file's
location. We have discovered that (for XP) in some file locations,
you are unable to open a file through Windows Explorer. In order to
open a file where this problem exists you will need to either open
the file through a mapped drive, or using the File -> Open option
in OpenOffice.
When I try to open a
document through Windows NT Explorer, I get multiple errors saying
that the file cannot be found and each one displays only a part of
the filename as if its the whole name. What is going on?
This
problem occurs if a client uses Windows NT Explorer's “OpenWith”
ability and checks the “Always use this program to open this
type of file” box for the purpose of reassigning the default
application back to Microsoft instead of OpenOffice (problem also
occurs if you use this technique to assign OpenOffice as the default
application). To fix this problem, someone with admin rights will
need to repair the install using Add/Remove Programs, and then, again
using Add/Remove Programs, Modify the install so that OpenOffice is
again the default application for spreadsheets, presentations, and
text documents (you check the same boxes that were checked when
OpenOffice was initially installed on your machine).
NOTE:
If you need to make Microsoft your default application for
spreadsheets, presentations, and text documents, the proper way to do
so is to run the Add/Remove Program's Modify option and then uncheck
the three boxes that were checked in the original install to set
OpenOffice as the default application.
Why
are we moving from Microsoft to OpenOffice?
The
number one reason we are moving is the savings. If we roll this out
to the entire company we will save approximately 1 million dollars a
year in Microsoft Office Licenses. The fact that OpenOffice is
completely free and has nearly all the functionality that Microsoft
has makes it an excellent substitute. Also, OpenOffice is an on-going
project so high-level functionality that is not supported at the
moment will likely be supported in the near future.
Can
we have both Microsoft Office and OpenOffice on our computers?
Yes,
both Microsoft Office and OpenOffice can be on a machine at the same
time, you just have to specify which is the default application. At
the moment we are just rolling out OpenOffice and not removing
Microsoft Office. But that endeavor is not far behind. We ask that
you try to refrain from using Microsoft Excel, Power Point, and Word,
and spend the time you have getting used to OpenOffice as these
applications will not be on your computers for much longer.
Are
we replacing all of our Microsoft Office applications?
No,
although OpenOffice does offer alternatives for Microsoft Excel,
Power Point, Word, Visio, and Access, we are only going to be
replacing Excel, Power Point, and Word at this time. However, the
other OpenOffice applications will still remain on your machine for
you to use at your leisure.
What
file-type should we save our work under?
In order
to be sure that all Bradford employees can open documents (that were
created in OpenOffice) in both OpenOffice and Microsoft we have
designated the file extensions/types that your documents should be
saved as. You can select the file extension/type if you click
save-as, but these file-types should already be setup as the defaults
by our installation procedure, this action should not be necessary.
Impress
– save as .ppt (“Microsoft PowerPoint 97/2000/XP”)
Calc
– save as .xls (“Microsoft Excel 97/2000/XP”)
Writer
– save as .doc (“Microsoft Word 97/2000/XP”)
Draw
– save as .odg (“OpenDocument Drawing”)
Base –
save as .odb (“OpenDocument database”)
Are
there language packs for OpenOffice, which languages are covered, and
how do I get them on my machine?
Yes there are
language packs for OpenOffice. For those who want to be able to view
and edit documents in different languages, submit a helpdesk ticket
and we will send you instructions on how to obtain them. The
languages available include: Deutsch, Espanol, Francais, Italiano,
Japanese, Korean, Purtuges do Brasil, Simplified Chinese, Traditional
Chinese, and Swedish. These work in Windows 97 and above, however,
you need to have the appropriate language downloaded to your browser
from Microsoft (possibly through a service pack), and OpenOffice
version 104 installed, before you can run the installer.
What
if when trying to install a language pack I get the error message
"This installation package could not be opened. Contact the
application vendor to verify that this is a valid Windows installer
package?"
This
could mean one of two things. You either need to update your
Microsoft installer or you need to download the appropriate language
to your Internet browser and then install this language pack.
I
opened a Microsoft document with OpenOffice document and the
formatting is all messed up. What happened, is there anything I can
do to fix this?
Unfortunately,
there can sometimes be some distortion in the formatting of a
Microsoft document when it is opened in OpenOffice. Such distortions
are generally very minor and often due to a mistake that Microsoft
commonly overlooks, but OpenOffice catches. Some of the situations
that can cause such formatting issues are below.
The checkbox problem: In some cases, converting files with a checkbox in them can cause a problem. The actual problem is due to the fact that in Microsoft, every time you add a check box it is initially placed in the exact same spot. This results in the possibility of adding a stack of check boxes without even realizing it. Although Microsoft overlooks this mistake and allows you to check and uncheck the top box, OpenOffice neither overlooks the stack nor knows how to handle it properly. There is a similar problem with combo boxes.
Problem With Auto Numbering: If at one point in time you manually entered a number instead of using the auto-numbering feature of Microsoft Word, and the auto-numbering feature was used elsewhere in the list, when Open Office opens the document it will still treat all lines as if they were numbered and will treat the typed numbers as part of the text (resulting in an extra number on at the beginning of the line)
Non-wrapping spaces issue: In word, if you typed a number of spaces past the end of the line it would not word wrap, even if you followed them with a letter, only the letter would go to the next line. Open Office reads these spaces, however many they are, and word wraps them as if they were all letters or words. This can result in a distortion of the spacing in the original document.
Will
macros written in Microsoft Office work in OpenOffice?
Unfortunately,
the macro objects used by OpenOffice and Microsoft Office are
completely different so the macros from one Office will not work in
the other. We are currently on the look out for a macro conversion
program but for the moment those Microsoft documents with macros in
them will still need to be opened with Microsoft to work properly.
Fortunately, OpenOffice can still open Microsoft documents containing
macros so that users can look at, and edit, the data in the documents
(they just won't be able to run the macros). The user can then save
the document with a Microsoft format and the macros will still work
when the document is later opened using Microsoft. Therefore a user
who only has OpenOffice can open, edit, and save a Microsoft document
with macros in it, then have someone who has the appropriate
Microsoft application run the macros for them.
Warning
for creating a new file using right-click>>new
When
you want to create a new document by using the mouse to
right-click>>new>>'some document type', be sure to choose
“Other Office Document” and then the particular type,
instead of one of the OpenDocument (ex: “OpenDocument text“)
options. If you accidentally choose one of the OpenDocument options,
you will be creating a document with an OpenOffice file-type and
unfortunately these file formats will not be recognized by Microsoft
Office. It can be difficult to save these documents back in the
proper Microsoft format so if you are unable to do so, please submit
a helpdesk ticket and we will help you as soon as we can.
How
do I print multiple spreadsheets at one time?
Using
your mouse and keyboard, hold down control and click on the tabs for
each of the spreadsheets to be printed. Then do File>>Print,
click the Selection radio button, then click OK. WARNING! After
you are done printing, make sure you unselect the tabs using
control+left-click again. If you don't, anytime you edit a cell
on one of the sheets, it automatically changes that same cell's value
in each of the other selected sheets (ex: if you changed the value of
A10 to 25 on sheet X, cell A10 of each sheet would now also be 25,
regardless of what they were before). This holds true for any
situation where you have more than one sheet selected at a time.
Unfortunately simply clicking on one of the sheets does not
unselect the other tabs, you must control+left-click each one of them
again.
What
are some of the other differences between the two Offices?
Mind
you that these OpenOffice applications do not have 100% of
Microsoft's functionality, but what they lack in generally only
amounts to high level options that most individuals never use. Most
of the differences you will come across are rather minor; usually
coming down to the placement of a particular option under a different
tab or elsewhere in the application all together. Some of the minor
differences that we have noticed (that are not described in detail in
OpenOffice's documentation) in OpenOffice Calc are shown below:
In
Calc: To open files in csv format
>>Open>>change
the file type to .csv
>>select the file and click open
(double clicking it won't work correctly)
In
Calc: Different method of printing than Excel (How to print just
current sheet)
The
default printing technique is to print all sheets in the opened
workbook, not just the one you have selected. In order to print just
the sheets you want you must do the following.
>>File>>Print
>>click
the selection radio button
>>click Options button
>>check
the box that says “Print only selected sheets”
>>click
Ok>>click Ok
In Calc: To force the print
out to fit to a certain width and height in pages.
>>Page
Preview (or print preview)>>page (a button)
>>sheet (a
tab)>>scaling mode (a dropbox)
>>“Fit print
range to width/height”
>>then select the desired
dimensions.
note: you can set printing to landscape while in
here as well, just select the page tab and click the landscape radio
button
What resources can we draw on to help solve any problems we may come across?
--EXTERNAL
RESOURCES--
OpenOffice
home page
http://www.openoffice.org
OpenOffice
FAQ
http://user-faq.openoffice.org
--INTERNAL
RESOURCES--
Comprehensive
Instructions Manual for OpenOffice
Guide
to aid in the Migration from Microsoft Office to OpenOffice
(covers
many of the software differences as well as how they can
interact)
Tutorials
on Homepage
OpenOffice
FAQ