OpenOffice FAQ

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Q. How to print in landscape format in OpenOffice?

A.   Follow these steps:.
     You have to change **BOTH** the printer properties and the "Format" for the document  
  To change the Format for the document       

1. Open the OpenOffice document.
2. Now, from the menu bar, go to Format -> Page -> Page.
3. Select the "Landscape" radio button.

  If you`ve also set the printer to landscape mode, this should do it for you.

Q. How to supress printing blank pages in OpenOffice Spreadsheet?

A.   Follow these steps:.

1. Open the OpenOffice Spreadsheet and Click File ->New.
2. Now, from the menu bar, go to File -> Print -> Options. Click on options button. (Click here to view)
3. By Clicking on Options button, a dialog box pops up. (Click here to view)
4. In the dialog box, select the checkbox which says, suppress out of blank pages. Then Click OK button.

Q. How to open Class Roster in OpenOffice Spreadsheet?

A.   Follow these steps to open the Class Roster:

1. Save the Class Roster file into your hard-disk first.
2. Open the OpenOffice Spreadsheet and click open. (Click here to view)
3. Open the file from Spreadsheet by going to the file location and selecting the file, also select the file type as Text CSV and click open. (Click here to view)
4. Now it opens the "Text Import" pop-up window, make sure you select "Seperated by => Tab" option and click on OK button. (Click here to view)

Q. What are the minimum system requirements to run OpenOffice software?

A.   Microsoft Windows:

Windows 98, Windows ME, Windows 2000 (Service Pack 2 or higher), Windows XP, Windows 2003, Windows Vista (enhanced Vista integration from version 2.2)
128 Mbytes RAM
200 Mbytes available disk space
800 x 600 or higher resolution with at least 256 colours

    GNU/Linux ("Linux"):

Linux kernel version 2.2.13 or higher
glibc2 version 2.2.0 or higher
Pentium compatible PC
128 MB RAM
200 MB available hard disk space
X-Server with 800 x 600 or higher resolution with at least 256 colours

     Generally, 64-128MB of RAM is recommended, with a minimum of 32MB present under the Windows and Linux installation. 64MB is suggested to be the bare minimum as more memory improves start-up speed and overall performance. On Windows and Linux, a minimum of 115MB of hard disk space is required (this can go up to about 240MB), while on Mac OS X, you require about 450MB of disk space.

Q. How do I install OpenOffice after downloading the OpenOffice package?

     Linux RPM based installation:

Unpack the downloaded image into a directory. For example, currently, the following command would unpack into the current directory: tar xvzf OOo_2.0.4_LinuxIntel_install.tar.gz

su to root, if necessary.

cd into the directory with the unpacked image. This could be RPMS.

Delete any rpm files that do not apply to your system. For example, on a Fedora Core 3 system, delete any rpms specific to another distribution such as openofficeorg-suse-menus-1.9.79-1.noarch.rpm.

Then execute rpm -Uvih *rpm.

If you are a linux slackware user a simple installpkg (name of the untarred package) command would start the installation

     Windows:

In Windows Explorer, locate the directory in which you downloaded the OpenOffice package.

Unpack the downlaoded OpenOffice package

Double click on the Setup file and the OpenOffice.org 2.0 Installation Wizard will be displayed.

Click Next to continue installing OpenOffice.org.

Follow the prompts, and OpenOffice.org will be installed on your system, ready for use.

Q.How can I install OpenOffice so that it can be used by multiple users on the same machine?

A.  Setting up installation for windows:

Use the multiuser installation mechanism:

1. Login as the Administrator on the system which will hold OpenOffice Setup.
2. As administrator call the setup program with the -net parameter. For example, when the setup command is used, type: ./setup -net.
3. Then when each user runs the application for the first time, they will be asked for setup information specific to their own account. Only per user configuration files will be kept in a directory specific to each user.

Use the multiuser installation mechanism:

1. Login as root user on the system which will hold OpenOffice Setup.
2. As administrator call the setup program with the -net parameter. For example, when the setup command is used, type: ./setup -net.
3. By default, it asks to be installed in the /opt directory.
4. Then when each user runs the application for the first time, they will be asked for setup information specific to their own account. Only per user configuration files will be kept in a directory specific to each user.
5. You can now create a link to OpenOffice on your desktop. We suggest creating the link in the form "/usr/bin/soffice".This enables the OpenOffice Script to be started from the Network installation.

    You will need to run a User installation for each user; this also applies for the root user.

    For more and detailed information about installing OpenOffice, please read OpenOffice Setup Guides which are available at the documenation project.

     If you wish to perform a silent install

       Please refer the information on the following link that provides a comprehensive guide for performing a silent install (Click Here)

Q. How do I set my default 'Save' and 'File Open' directory?

A.     Go to 'Tools - Options - OpenOffice - Paths - MyDocuments' and select 'Edit' to insert the path of your choice.

Q. Is OpenOffice.org 2.x 100% Microsoft Office® file compatible?

A.     As Microsoft rarely publish their file specifications, no-one can answer that question. However, there are plenty of users who regularly edit and exchange documents, spreadsheets, etc. with Microsoft Office® users without any problems.
NOTE: The only Microsoft file format that OpenOffice has not been able to open so far is Publisher. All the others work with open properly.

Q. Can OpenOffice create PDF files and then keep those documents static and unchanged?

A.   In order to create PDF documents you have to install third party software such as Adobe Acrobat or ghostscript. Whether or not the documents are static depends on the options the third party software offers you.
    However OpenOffice does possess the capability of exporting documents as pdf
    Inorder to do so follow these steps:.

1. Open the OpenOffice document and Click File ->New.
2. Now, from the menu bar, go to File -> Export As PDF. Click on Export As PDF button. (Click here to view)

Q. How do I save a OpenOffice file in Postscript[tm] format?

A.   Open the file in OpenOffice, then:.

From the pull down menus, select: File -> Print

Select a printer from the printer list that uses Postscript to print (Ex. "Generic Printer")

Click on the checkbox for "Print to file"

In the "Save" dialog, select a directory location for the .ps file you are creating

Enter a name for the Postscript file. (Ex. filename.ps You must enter '.ps', even if checkbox for "Automatic file name extension" is checked)

Click on "Save"

In the "Print" dialog, click on OK

    If the pages print in reverse order:.

From the pull down menus, select: File -> Print

Click on the "Options" button

Make sure that the checkbox for "Reverse" (located in the "Pages" box) is not checked

If you change the setting, Click on OK

    If you want the Postscript file to be written using color:.

From the pull down menus, select: File -> Print

Click on the "Properties" button

Click on the "Device" tab

In the "Color" field, select "Color" from the list

Click on OK

Follow the instructions above to save to Postscript

Q. How can I password protect my document?

    From the Toolbar select:
  Insert->Section->Write Protect->Protect->Protect with Password.

    For the entire document:
  Go to 'File->Save As' and select 'Save with password' on the button left hand corner.

    In SpreadSheet documents you can enable password protection on Sheet(s) or the Document:
  Select the Sheet you want to protect and from the Toolbar menu select 'Tools->Protect Document'.

Q. After installing OpenOffice software, all MS file extensions (doc, xls, ppt) are associated to OpenOffice. How do I reverse this?

A.   When you install Open Office.org, it asks you whether you want to associate MS Office files with OpenOffice.org. In order to not associate these MS Office file types, you must uncheck the appropriate boxes before continuing. Once this association has been made, though, there are several ways to fix the association issue.

Go into your file types setting (It should be under either tools or folder options) from one of the windows in My Computer. Then delete the association for .doc, .xls, and any other file types that you do not want associated to the OpenOffice.org program.

When you next click on a file of that type (such as .doc or .xls), it will ask you what you want to use to open it. Click on Word, Excel, or whatever program you want to use. You will also be given the option to select always use this application to open the file type.

Q. MS Office, has an Equation Editor component to insert equations to create equations and formulas in reports/presentations. Does OpenOffice Math include a similar component?

A.   OpenOffice Math provides import and export filters for MathType from Design science. (The equation editor of Microsoft Word is a limited version of MathType.). When exporting from Writer to Microsoft Word, OpenOffice.org converts embedded Math formulas to MathType.When importing from Microsoft Word to Writer, OpenOffice.org does the reverse conversion.As with any file type conversion you should of course be aware that Math and MathType have different capabilities and this will affect the results.
    If you prefer to keep the formulas in the original format, you can change this behavior in the configuration:

Select Tools-Options.

Select Load/Save-Microsoft Office.

Remove the check marks from MathType to OpenOffice.org Math and OpenOffice.org Math to MathType.