OpenOffice.org

[Muggins in Sussex]

Open Office is excellent!

[fullysecured]

i am an OpenOffice user for months now. never encountered any problems. yeah, indeed. its a good alternative for windows office.

BTW,
new here
______________________
painter Los Angeles California – “the best in the industry.”

[Hugo]

I have started using Open Office, and I like it, after decades of using MS Office with MS Access. As Jenmatgs says it is a bit slow.

Sorry, must go. Taggart is on the TV.

Hugo

[banana]

I had open office on my new puter. I had trouble with it because I am using Vista, for some reson some existing progs wouldn't work with it ie Data Base.

[John-Nihon]

For those who are interested and haven't noticed yet - OpenOffice.org 2.4.1 is available for download. :D

[Elaine ..Spain]

John,
Have just started using Open Office regularly on new laptop, as I don't have Microsoft Office installed on it.

Not having any problems starting things from scratch, and saving to whatever format I want, but I am having problems opening Excel spreadsheets that have been sent to me. Any advice?

[Heather Positive Thinker]

JOhn, when I used OO to open a mail yesterday it told me there was a download and to click here which I did but nowt happened?

[Heather Positive Thinker]

Ive tried to download this but when it starts installing it stops and says I need to close Open Office BUT I havent got Open Office open??

Also, I had a message when I came back on here saying windows closed unexpectedly, click here for solutions. I clicked and it said I needed to download Nvidia Network Controller driver but when I go to MS updates it says I dont need anything???

[johnadey]

Open Office is produced with the cooperation of Sun Microsystems, a massive company, so there is no need to be afraid of them as an unknown source. If you do not like large downloads the program is also offered for sale under the name of Star Office. Just one word of warning - a database created in MS Access will open in the Open Office program but only the tables, all views, queries, reports etc will need to be rewritten.

[John-Nihon]

Elaine,

Microsoft Excel and OO aren't 100% compatible. For example I don't believe that all Excel file extensions are compatible. If say you have created a workbook type spreadsheet on Excel (ext: .xlsx) you may have problems opening it with OO. Do you know if your Excel Spreadsheet contains macros or advanced formula as these may cause problems. If you want to send me a copy of the problem spreadsheet I can have a look.

Heather,

I'm not sure what happened when you got your download message. If you start OpenOffice (Writer for example) and select "Help" from the toolbar and then "Check for Updates" it will check if you are at the latest OO release. If you aren't then it gives you an option to download and install any updates. Otherwise you can go straight to the OO website and download/install (www: OpenOffice.org - The Free and Open Productivity Suite)

I've had the "Please close OpenOffice" type message in the past and just selected "ignore". It seemed to continue OK. Not sure why it happens sometimes and not others. Did you have the OpenOffice quick start facility running at the time (found on the windows desktop toolbar)?

Not sure about your Windows closing unexpectedly and your Nvidia driver. All I can suggest is have a look at the Nvidia Website, you may need to download the latest driver.

[Heather Positive Thinker]

Thanks John, I tried the ignore button but it just went through the same performance telling me that the program was open and to close it first.

Ive tired the Nvdia site and cant work out which I should download. I also did one of those sites which checks if you need to update drivers and then gives you a list of those out of date -BUT you then have to sub to download them.

[John-Nihon]

Hi Heather, Have you tried rebooting your PC and then installing OpenOffice directly from the website? Make sure that the OpenOffice Quick Starter is closed (you may have it set to start automatically when windows starts) before installing, just in case that is causing the problem.

I don't think that your Nvdia driver issue is likely to be anything to do with OpenOffice. You will have to find out what Network Controller Card you have in your PC. You could always try emailing Nvida support and see what they suggest.

[Heather Positive Thinker]

Thanks John. I went to nvidia and it knew what my set up was automatically and said to download a driver but when I did I had a message that I already had it.

Hmm, Quick starter, now where can I find that - Ill have a shufti.

[John-Nihon]

Heather, You should be able to find the OO Quickstarter at the bottom right corner of your computer screen (that's if it's running of course).

OO Quickstarter.jpg

You could also start the Task Manager and see what OO processes are running.

[Heather Positive Thinker]

I think Im getting into a bit of a mess here as I am using MS Works and Ive also got OO on here, not sure how to have docs on both programs or whether thats a good idea or not. :(

[John-Nihon]

Hi Heather, I'm not sure about Microsoft Works, I've never used it. Documents from Microsoft Works may not be compatible with OO at all. Maybe someone can advise on this!

I am familiar with the Microsoft Office suite of programmes (i.e. Word, Excel, Access, PowerPoint). I do know that these aren't 100% compatible with OO either.

Personally, if I didn't have Microsoft Office then I wouldn't buy it. I would use OpenOffice as it is free, easy to use and compatible with Microsoft Office documents, etc..... to a degree.

I wouldn't bother with Microsoft Works myself but that is my preference.

[Heather Positive Thinker]

Thanks John, I found the quick starter but no joy, just keep getting same message.

[John-Nihon]

Hi Heather

All I can suggest at the moment is:

1) Exit/Quit/Close the OO Quickstarter.

2) Make sure that you have Closed all OO programs that are running.

3) <ctrl> <alt> <del> to start your computer's Task Manager. Check for any OO processes that are running and terminate them.

4) Download the latest version of OO from the OO website and install it.

5) When/If you get the message that OO is still running then click the <ignore> button.

If you've done all the above and you still can't get OO to install then back to the drawing board (I'm a little stumped in other words).

[Heather Positive Thinker]

Thanks John, Ill have a go at that when I have some more time. Very kind of you to help.

[Hugo]

How do I transfer a table in Writer to the OO database. I have transfered the table from Writer to the OO spreadsheet.

As a trial, I have a table with three text columns - MID, Name, and Age, with about twenty rows of data.

I can make the transfer in MS Office but I don't have it on my laptop, only MS Works which I find to be an abomination to use.

I have extensive experience creating and modifying Access databases but am struggling with OO.

Hugo