[users] saving and emailing documents

[barry watkins]

Previously, when I used OpenOffice, I could save documents as Word or Excel 
documents, and, when I emailed them, they could be opened by Microsoft Office 
users.  Also, the documents would be saved, and indicatd as such, as Word and 
Excel documents.  Presently, this does not occur.  The saved document is 
indicated as a "File" document, and users of Office cannot open them.  These 
documents are received as .dat documents that apparently cannot be opened by 
Office users.  What is going on?