File formats
Contents
File formats
OpenOffice.org can import Microsoft Office files. However, at the time of writing, Microsoft Office cannot import files in the OpenDocument format used by OOo. Users of MS Office 2000, XP, 2003, and 2007-SP1 can install an ODF plugin from Sun Microsystems that enables Microsoft Word, Excel and Powerpoint to read and write OpenDocument files. The plugin is available from http://www.sun.com/software/star/odf_plugin/.
If you want to send a file to Microsoft Office users and be sure they can open it, save it in a Microsoft Office format or in .rtf. Table 1 is a list for quick reference.
Table 1: Comparison of OpenDocument and Microsoft Office file types
| OpenDocument type | Application | Extension | MS Office equiv |
|---|---|---|---|
| Text | Writer | .odt | .doc |
| Text Template | Writer | .ott | .dot |
| Master Document | Writer | .odm | .doc |
| Spreadsheet | Calc | .ods | .xsl |
| Spreadsheet Template | Calc | .ots | .xst |
| Drawing | Draw | .odg | N/A |
| Drawing Template | Draw | .otg | N/A |
| Presentation | Impress | .odp | .ppt |
| Presentation Template | Impress | .otp | .pot |
| Formula | Math | .odf | N/A |
| Chart | Chart | .odc | N/A |
| Database | Base | .odb | .mdb |
Default file formats
OpenOffice.org saves files in the OpenDocument format by default unless told otherwise. This default can be changed, for example, if you always want to save as Microsoft Office files. To change the default file formats:
- Go to Tools > Options > Load/Save > General.
- In the Default file format section of this page, choose a document type (for example, “Text document") and a file format from the Always save as list.
- Repeat for each document type, as necessary.
- Click OK to save your changes.
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If the option "Warn when not saving in OpenDocument or default format" is checked on the Options - Load/Save - General dialog, a warning dialog about potential loss of formatting may be displayed. In most cases, no loss of formatting will occur, so you may find this warning annoying and choose to disable it.
The Java Runtime Environment is required to use the mobile device filters for AportisDoc (Palm), Pocket Word, and Pocket Excel. |
Opening text documents
In addition to OpenDocument formats (.odt, .ott, .oth, and .odm), Writer 2.x can open the formats used by OOo 1.x (.sxw, .stw, and .sxg) and the following text document formats:
| Microsoft Word 6.0/95/97/2000/XP) (.doc and .dot) | WordPerfect Document (.wpd) |
| Microsoft Word 2003 XML (.xml) | WPS 2000/Office 1.0 (.wps) |
| Microsoft WinWord 5 (.doc) | DocBook (.xml) |
| StarWriter formats (.sdw, .sgl, and .vor) | Ichitaro 8/9/10/11 (.jtd and .jtt) |
| AportisDoc (Palm) (.pdb) | Hangul WP 97 (.hwp) |
| Pocket Word (.psw) | .rtf, .txt, and .csv |
When opening .htm or .html files (used for web pages), OpenOffice.org customizes Writer for working with these files.
Opening spreadsheets
In addition to OpenDocument formats (.ods and .ots), Calc 2.x can open the formats used by OOo 1.x (.sxc and .stc) and the following spreadsheet formats:
| Microsoft Excel 97/2000/XP (.xls, .xlw, and .xlt) | Rich Text Format (.rtf) |
| Microsoft Excel 4.x-5.0/95 (.xls, .xlw, and .xlt) | Text CSV (.csv and .txt) |
| Microsoft Excel 2003 XML (.xml) | Lotus 1-2-3 (.wk1, .wks, and .123) |
| Data Interchange Format (.dif) | StarCalc formats (.sdc and .vor) |
| dBase (.dbf) | SYLK (.slk) |
| .htm and .html files including Web page queries | Pocket Excel (pxl) |
| Quattro Pro 6.0 (.wb2) |
Opening presentations
In addition to OpenDocument formats (.odp, .odg, and .otp), Impress 2.x can open the formats used by OOo 1.x (.sxi and .sti) and the following presentation formats:
- Microsoft PowerPoint 97/2000/XP (.ppt, .pps, and .pot)
- StarDraw and StarImpress (.sda, .sdd, .sdp, and .vor)
- CGM - Computer Graphics Metafile (.cgm).
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Currently, OpenOffice can only open binary encoded CGM files, and not those using clear-text or character based encoding. |
Opening graphic files
In addition to OpenDocument formats (.odg and .otg), Draw 2.x can open the formats used by OOo 1.x (.sxd and .std) and the following graphic formats:
| BMP | JPEG, JPG | PCX | PSD | SGV | WMF |
| DXF | MET | PGM | RAS | SVM | XBM |
| EMF | PBM | PLT | SDA | TGA | XPM |
| EPS | PCD | PNG | SDD | TIF, TIFF | |
| GIF | PCT | PPM | SGF | VOR |
Opening formula files
In addition to OpenDocument Formula (.odf) files, Math 2.x can open the format used by OOo 1.x (.sxm), StarMath, (.smf), and MathML (.mml) files.
When opening a Word document that contains an embedded equation editor object, if the option for it is checked in Tools > Options > Load/Save > Microsoft Office, the object will be automatically converted to an OpenOffice.org Math object.
Saving text documents
In addition to OpenDocument formats (.odt and .ott), Writer 2.x can save in these formats:
- OpenOffice.org 1.x Text Document(.sxw)
- OpenOffice.org 1.x Text Document Template (.stw)
- Microsoft Word 6.0, 95, and 97/2000/XP (.doc)
- Microsoft Word 2003 XML (.xml)
- Rich Text Format (.rtf)
- StarWriter 3.0, 4.0, and 5.0 (.sdw)
- StarWriter 3.0, 4.0, and 5.0 Template (.vor)
- Text (.txt)
- Text Encoded (.txt)
- HTML Document (OpenOffice.org Writer) (.html and .htm)
- DocBook (.xml)
- AportisDoc (Palm) (.pdb)
- Pocket Word (.psw)
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The .rtf format is a common format for transferring text files between applications, but you are likely to experience loss of formatting and images. For this reason, other formats should be used. |
Saving spreadsheets
In addition to OpenDocument formats (.ods and .ots), Calc 2.x can save in these formats:
- OpenOffice.org 1.x Spreadsheet (.sxc)
- OpenOffice.org 1.x Spreadsheet Template (.stc)
- Microsoft Excel 97/2000/XP (.xls and .xlw)
- Microsoft Excel 97/2000/XP Template (.xlt)
- Microsoft Excel 5.0 and 95 (.xls and .xlw)
- Microsoft Excel 2003 XML (.xml)
- Data Interchange Format (.dif)
- dBase (.dbf)
- SYLK (.slk)
- Text CSV (.csv and .txt)
- StarCalc 3.0, 4.0, and 5.0 formats (.sdc and .vor)
- HTML Document (OpenOffice.org Calc) (.html and .htm)
- Pocket Excel (.pxl)
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The Java Runtime Environment is required to use the mobile device filters for AportisDoc (Palm), Pocket Word, and Pocket Excel. |
Saving presentations
In addition to OpenDocument formats (.odp, .otp, and .odg), Impress 2.x can save in these formats:
- OpenOffice.org 1.x Presentation (.sxi)
- OpenOffice.org 1.x Presentation Template (.sti)
- Microsoft PowerPoint 97/2000/XP (.ppt and .pps)
- Microsoft PowerPoint 97/2000/XP Template (.pot)
- StarDraw, StarImpress (.sda, .sdd, and .vor)
Impress can also export to MacroMedia Flash (.swf) and any of the graphics formats listed for Draw.
Saving drawings
Draw can only save in the OpenDocument Drawing formats (.odg and .otg), the OpenOffice.org 1.x formats (.sxd and .std) and StarDraw format (.sda, .sdd, and .vor).
However, Draw can also export to BMP, EMF, EPS, GIF, JPEG, MET, PBM, PCT, PGM, PNG, PPM, RAS, SVG, SVM, TIFF, WMF, and XPM.
Writer/Web can save in these formats
- HTML document (.html and .htm)
- OpenOffice.org 1.0 HTML Template (.stw)
- OpenOffice.org 2.x HTML Template (.oth)
- StarWriter/Web 4.0 and 5.0 (.vor)
- Text (OpenOffice.org Writer/Web) (.txt)
- Text Encoded (OpenOffice.org Writer/Web) (.txt)
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