Re: [PLUG] Best File Format for OOo Writer <=> MS Word Collaboration?
On Wed, Feb 1, 2012 at 4:21 PM, Richard C. Steffens wrote: >> On Wed, Feb 1, 2012 at 11:03 AM, Richard England >> wrote: >> Interesting. I was just corresponding this morning with a new Ubuntu >> user who was telling me that she couldn't find the option to save in >> *.doc format in LibreOffice. I wonder if Ubuntu's version is behind >> Fedora and doesn't have that capability, or if she just couldn't find >> where to do it? (I don't know her well, but I get the distinct >> impression her computer skills are not highly developed.) I suggested >> to her she might check into installing OpenOffice.org, but perhaps >> that isn't necessary. > > Could she have been thinking it would be an export type of function > under the File menu? Thanks, Dick. I told her where I thought it would be, based on where it is in OpenOffice, and what you're describing sounds like a very similar location. I'll pass along your description and see if that helps her. Michael ___ PLUG mailing list PLUG@lists.pdxlinux.org http://lists.pdxlinux.org/mailman/listinfo/plug
Re: [PLUG] Best File Format for OOo Writer <=> MS Word Collaboration?
> On Wed, Feb 1, 2012 at 11:03 AM, Richard England > wrote: > Interesting. I was just corresponding this morning with a new Ubuntu > user who was telling me that she couldn't find the option to save in > *.doc format in LibreOffice. I wonder if Ubuntu's version is behind > Fedora and doesn't have that capability, or if she just couldn't find > where to do it? (I don't know her well, but I get the distinct > impression her computer skills are not highly developed.) I suggested > to her she might check into installing OpenOffice.org, but perhaps > that isn't necessary. Could she have been thinking it would be an export type of function under the File menu? Tell her it's in the dialog box that opens when she tells Libre Office to save the file. There is a line that says, "File Type" and has a little arrowhead pointing to the right. If she clicks on that line the arrow head changes to pointing down and there is the list of all the available file types. My Ubuntu installation of Libre Office has options for saving as a .doc in MS Word 97/2000/XP or MS Word 95. There are also options for saving as MS Word 2003 XML (.xml) and MS Word 2007 XML (.docx). These are lower in the list, and not adjacent to the .doc options. Perhaps that's why she couldn't find .doc. Another possibility is that she was looking for the way to tell Libre Office to always save a file as .doc. This is under the Tools > Options menu in the Load/Save section. The extensions are not shown, but the one she probably would want is MS Word 97/2000/XP. In this tool all the MS file type options are grouped together. It might have been confusing to her because the file extensions are not shown. -- Regards, Dick Steffens ___ PLUG mailing list PLUG@lists.pdxlinux.org http://lists.pdxlinux.org/mailman/listinfo/plug
Re: [PLUG] Best File Format for OOo Writer <=> MS Word Collaboration?
On Wed, Feb 1, 2012 at 11:03 AM, Richard England wrote: > > FWIW, I regularly use LibreOffice 3.3.4 on my Fedora system to open > received .docx files for my wife and save them in Word97 .doc files so > she can edit them. She has been successful sharing these with > colleagues. She uses the equation editor, but not the change tracking > features you mention. I think investigation would be worth your time. Interesting. I was just corresponding this morning with a new Ubuntu user who was telling me that she couldn't find the option to save in *.doc format in LibreOffice. I wonder if Ubuntu's version is behind Fedora and doesn't have that capability, or if she just couldn't find where to do it? (I don't know her well, but I get the distinct impression her computer skills are not highly developed.) I suggested to her she might check into installing OpenOffice.org, but perhaps that isn't necessary. Michael ___ PLUG mailing list PLUG@lists.pdxlinux.org http://lists.pdxlinux.org/mailman/listinfo/plug
Re: [PLUG] Best File Format for OOo Writer <=> MS Word Collaboration?
On Wed, 1 Feb 2012, j...@sdf.org wrote: > MS Word 97/2000/XP (.doc) Oops! Didn't see this before my first response. I use this with all my clients, even when they send me a .docx file. Rich ___ PLUG mailing list PLUG@lists.pdxlinux.org http://lists.pdxlinux.org/mailman/listinfo/plug
Re: [PLUG] Best File Format for OOo Writer <=> MS Word Collaboration?
On Wed, 1 Feb 2012, j...@sdf.org wrote: > I'm trying to help out a first-time author using OOo Writer 3.2.0 on Ubuntu > 10.4 who needs to collaborate with a book editor using MS Word, probably > the 2007 version on Windows 7. .doc Rich ___ PLUG mailing list PLUG@lists.pdxlinux.org http://lists.pdxlinux.org/mailman/listinfo/plug
Re: [PLUG] Best File Format for OOo Writer <=> MS Word Collaboration?
Try the latest version that is available and also try LibreOffice (www.*libreoffice*.org) There have been numerous changes made since the fork to LibreOffice. FWIW, I regularly use LibreOffice 3.3.4 on my Fedora system to open received .docx files for my wife and save them in Word97 .doc files so she can edit them. She has been successful sharing these with colleagues. She uses the equation editor, but not the change tracking features you mention. I think investigation would be worth your time. ~~R On 02/01/2012 09:03 AM, j...@sdf.org wrote: > Greetings PLUGers, > I'm trying to help out a first-time author using OOo Writer 3.2.0 on Ubuntu > 10.4 who needs to collaborate with a book editor using MS Word, probably > the 2007 version on Windows 7. Ideally, the book editor would be using > the "Record Changes" feature in Word, then forwarding it back for the author > to run "Edit>Accept or Reject Changes" on. Probably several rounds of this > sort of thing on an approx. 400 page book. Alternately, it appears both > programs can also merge differences via the "Compare Files" feature which > avoids having to deal with externally-generated "diffs" as with "Record > Changes". > > Anyways, my simple single page tests using the .rtf format were a mixed > bag, sometimes resulting in file corruption. The .doc format seems to be > more robust over several rounds of changes. However, there are several > Word versions available under "File>Save As>File Type" and I'm wondering > which is most likely to be best for this project? > > OOo "Save As>File Type" choices: > > MS Word 6.0 (.doc) > MS Word 95 (.doc) > MS Word 97/2000/XP (.doc) > MS Word 2003 (.xml) > MS Word 2007 (.docx) ## I think this is read-only so a non-starter > > I've not tested OpenDocument Text (.fodt) or DocBook (.xml). > > I am aware of the ODF Converter module for MS Office however it didn't > perform well in my tests which featured frequent MS Word (earlier 2000 > version) crashes whenever an .odt file was opened. > > My guess is MS Word 97/2000/XP is the best candidate but I'd like to get > some real-world feedback before committing. > > Regards, > > Jeff W > > ___ > PLUG mailing list > PLUG@lists.pdxlinux.org > http://lists.pdxlinux.org/mailman/listinfo/plug ___ PLUG mailing list PLUG@lists.pdxlinux.org http://lists.pdxlinux.org/mailman/listinfo/plug
Re: [PLUG] Best File Format for OOo Writer <=> MS Word Collaboration?
On Wed, Feb 1, 2012 at 9:03 AM, wrote: > Greetings PLUGers, > I'm trying to help out a first-time author using OOo Writer 3.2.0 on Ubuntu > 10.4 who needs to collaborate with a book editor using MS Word, probably > the 2007 version on Windows 7. Ideally, the book editor would be using > the "Record Changes" feature in Word, then forwarding it back for the author > to run "Edit>Accept or Reject Changes" on. Probably several rounds of this > sort of thing on an approx. 400 page book. Alternately, it appears both > programs can also merge differences via the "Compare Files" feature which > avoids having to deal with externally-generated "diffs" as with "Record > Changes". I can't caution /against/ this enough. OO has a long and distinguished history or corrupting documents in many ugly ways. Often, this corruption only appears once the document is loaded in Word. eg: Everything will look peachy to the linux/OO.org user, then the client (or in this case, publisher) will see something that looks like it went through a blender. This might work if you don't have any formatting or images (eg: if you're essentially sending a text document), but given that Word is even in the picture, I suspect that that is not the case. The publisher may offer other formats that are acceptable, such as LaTeX or DocBook. Those technologies have strong support on a number of platforms, and offer a better solution. If Word is a requirement, then I strongly recommend setting up a VM with Word installed, and accessing it via VirtualBox. It will cost $200-300 in licensing, but you'll save days of frustration. Anyhow, be very cautious with converting from OO -> Word; in my experience, what you see in OO has little relation to what shows up in Word. If you must do it this way, then find a copy of word to at least preview the deliverables before sending them off. --Rogan > Anyways, my simple single page tests using the .rtf format were a mixed > bag, sometimes resulting in file corruption. The .doc format seems to be > more robust over several rounds of changes. However, there are several > Word versions available under "File>Save As>File Type" and I'm wondering > which is most likely to be best for this project? > > OOo "Save As>File Type" choices: > > MS Word 6.0 (.doc) > MS Word 95 (.doc) > MS Word 97/2000/XP (.doc) > MS Word 2003 (.xml) > MS Word 2007 (.docx) ## I think this is read-only so a non-starter > > I've not tested OpenDocument Text (.fodt) or DocBook (.xml). > > I am aware of the ODF Converter module for MS Office however it didn't > perform well in my tests which featured frequent MS Word (earlier 2000 > version) crashes whenever an .odt file was opened. > > My guess is MS Word 97/2000/XP is the best candidate but I'd like to get > some real-world feedback before committing. > > Regards, > > Jeff W > > ___ > PLUG mailing list > PLUG@lists.pdxlinux.org > http://lists.pdxlinux.org/mailman/listinfo/plug ___ PLUG mailing list PLUG@lists.pdxlinux.org http://lists.pdxlinux.org/mailman/listinfo/plug
