On 05/10/2007 15:16, Lisa H. Beaumont wrote:
If I download OpenOffice, can it run along side the office suite I already
have so that I can choose between them, or will this automatically replace
my current program? I would be hesitant to download this without being able
to first determine which program I prefer and run the risk of losing or
compromising my current office suite, which has served me well. I'll wait
for a response before proceeding.
Thank you.
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
On the assumption you are using Windows and that the "office suite I
already have" is Microsoft Office then the answer is that they will
happily coexist.
The main decision you need to make (and which you can change later) is
which of the two suites will be the "default" for opening documents when
you double click them in Explorer windows. When you install OpenOffice
it asks if you want it to be the default. Regardless of what you say,
you can change your mind later via Windows's "File Association"
mechanisms. Whichever you select you can always choose to open an
individual document using the other; no configuration changes needed.
A few things to be aware of:
a) In general MS Office cannot read or save documents in OpenOffice's
ISO* approved formats. However, OpenOffice can read and save MS Office
formats except for the very latest (Office 2007) which, by the way, has
just been rejected as an ISO standard.
b) Another thing to be careful of is sharing your documents via e-mail.
Because MS Office can't read the document format produced by OpenOffice,
your respondents who don't have OpenOffice won't be able to open your
attachments unless you send them in MS Office (or PDF) format.
OpenOffice lets you do either very easily; you just need to remember.
c) OpenOffice doesn't understand MS Office macros, and vice versa. Many
people never notice this but ...
*ISO is the International Standards Organisation.
--
Harold Fuchs
London, England
Please reply *only* to [email protected]
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