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Solution to open .docx

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April 10, 2007 - 2:10am
#1
AndrewTheCanuck
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Solution to open .docx

Hey everyone,

I stumbled upon portable apps on the weekend and I think it's a great idea. I also wish I had found it earlier; could have been very usesul as a computer science student working in the school labs (I graduate in a few weeks, haha). Anywho, onto the point.

I have been using Office 2007 and have documents saved in the native .docx format. However, the current open office does not support it. After searching, I couldn't find a standard 'filter' or plug-in to facilitate opening these files. I did, however, discover that Novell has their own release of Open Office, and they've created a filter that allows opening of .docx files. I haven't fully tested it; I just opened a document or two and it worked. So, I wanted to point it out. I didn't want to provide a direct link to it, incase I accidentally violated a rule (unwritten or not), but if it's acceptable to share this (I'm 99.99% sure that it's free to distribute, given that it's a modification of an open source program, but I'm still new to open-source) then I'll post it!

Andrew

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April 22, 2007 - 8:17am
Biff
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post it:)

post it:)

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April 22, 2007 - 8:39am
John T. Haller
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Don't use DOCX

It's actually highly recommended that you don't use DOCX. Despite Microsoft's claims to the contrary, it's a pretty closed format. You're far better off sticking with regular DOC format since nearly every word processor in the world supports it.

If you want something open that has serious future potential, stick with Open Document Format (ODF). It's the native format in OpenOffice.org. It's fully open and patent-free with no 'gotchas' in it like undocumented Word 1.0 support. And it's based on existing open technologies like SVG and MathML. And there's a plugin for Microsoft Office for it.

The only reason Novell is releasing the modified version of OpenOffice.org with DOCX support is because of their multi-million dollar deal with Microsoft... which has been universally panned by the open source community.

Sometimes, the impossible can become possible, if you're awesome!

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April 22, 2007 - 9:18am
(Reply to #3)
rich.bradshaw
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Only problem is that Office

Only problem is that Office 2007 doesn't let you use some features unless you are working with a docx,xlsx,pptx file - such as inserting equations, bibliographies, styles, some effects on objects etc.

Hence I have to maintain 2 seperate versions of every file - one to edit, and one to use on other computers.

Great one Microsoft! Apart from that the new Office is great...

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April 22, 2007 - 2:10pm
(Reply to #4)
AndrewTheCanuck
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Thanks very much. I was

Thanks very much. I was under the impression that the format was intended to be an open format and (hopefully) a more standardized format, replacing the .doc. If such isn't the case, I won't use .docx unless I 'need' to (for some of the extra features). However, I argue that it still might be necessary to be able to open them; even if you don't use the format, it doesn't mean the new wave of office 07-enabled computers won't.

Anyway, here's the link:

Open Office 2.0.4 (I had trouble using the plug-in with the PA version): http://download.novell.com/Download?buildid=ZniZNNd4mLQ~

The translator:
http://download.novell.com/SummaryFree.jsp?buildid=ESrjfdE4U58~

Andrew

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November 30, 2007 - 7:51am
(Reply to #5)
gudmund
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...but if you have to, do it with open source software

Given that Microsoft have failed in providing compatibility between their own document formats, I hear about people using OpenOffice to mend the MS mistakes.

In my line of work as a translator, there's probably no way around using .docx files. What I'm hoping for, is that OpenOffice will provide a way for me and my colleagues to cut out of the MS Office loop altogether.

Even if 100% compatibility might not be attained, looking at how OOo has handled things it can't handle (sic) in MS Office files earlier, by keeping the untouchable stuff in the files but leaving it untouched, it just might be good enough for professional use.

Anyone who's interested in the innards of Microsoft's "Open XML" should take a look here:

If people can help MS make this monster into their own wrecking ball, all the better...

Gudmund

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April 22, 2007 - 9:20pm
hello5959us
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odf-converter.sf.net

Works pretty well

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