from office 2003 to openoffice - files messed up

unwashed potato! · 15 Nov 2012 at 00:27

i've changed to openoffice for win8 but i'm having issues with the formatting being massively incorrect for a couple files. the issue is with tables in that they pretty much don't work at all and the text is just all togehter now.

any way to get openoffice to "run" in office 2003 mode or perhaps to read tables better?

bledd · 15 Nov 2012 at 08:30

Try libre office

They're not perfect tbh.

CaptainCrash · 15 Nov 2012 at 09:11

I've reluctantly come to the conclusion that if you regularly need to access documents created in MS Office, or exchange documents with others (the overwhelming majority of whom will be using MS Office), then OpenOffice/LibreOffice is just more trouble than it's worth. It's a shame, as used in isolation it's more than capable of meeting most people's needs, and obviously it's spectacular bang for the buck.

If you're looking for a free Win8-compatible alternative, you can still get MS Office 2010 Starter Edition - naturally it's limited compared with the full product, but you can do a surprising amount with it if you only need Word and Excel and your needs are modest. It's not "officially" supported by MS as an after-market installation (and they're also phasing it out on OEM setups in favour of a time-limited trial of the full product), but you can download the setup files here: http://www.downloadcrew.com/article/26083-microsoft_office_starter

You can also get rid of the ad window if it annoys you, just google for the imaginitively named OfficeAdRemover.

Other than that, your best bet is to look for a deal on the full product, there are plenty of them around which shouldn't cost you an arm and a leg.

Mr_Orange · 15 Nov 2012 at 10:36

CaptainCrash said:
I've reluctantly come to the conclusion that if you regularly need to access documents created in MS Office, or exchange documents with others (the overwhelming majority of whom will be using MS Office), then OpenOffice/LibreOffice is just more trouble than it's worth. It's a shame, as used in isolation it's more than capable of meeting most people's needs, and obviously it's spectacular bang for the buck.

I was just about to post pretty much this. I've had loads of issues with going between the two at work.

unwashed potato! · 15 Nov 2012 at 11:17

thanks. i forgot about starter edition which i'm downloading now and should hopefully do what i need.

is there issues going between openoffice excel to ms office excel? i'd have thought there is little to get wrong in this area.

unwashed potato! · 15 Nov 2012 at 11:20

hmm doesn't want to install on win8 pro. damn

CaptainCrash · 15 Nov 2012 at 11:57

Mammalian said:
hmm doesn't want to install on win8 pro. damn

Try right-clicking the installer and run as admin.

I've seen it widely reported as being incompatible with Win8 until KB2553141 is installed (you couldn't do this unless you'd upgraded to Win8 from a previous Win7/Office Starter setup), but I've installed it on a Win8 VM and it worked fine.

unwashed potato! · 15 Nov 2012 at 13:14

did the trick thanks

nightmare99 · 15 Nov 2012 at 20:55

Yeah but starter is still a licenced product i.e oems had to buy licences for it.

CaptainCrash · 15 Nov 2012 at 21:32

nightmare99 said:
Yeah but starter is still a licenced product i.e oems had to buy licences for it.

I don't know what (if anything) OEMs would have been paying to include MS Office Starter, but if it really bothers you to be getting MS Office functionality (albeit on a limited, ad-supported basis) for nothing, I guess you could always drop a contribution towards a deserving charity of your choice.

I guess what I'm trying to say is, "who gives a fiddler's **** ?"

nightmare99 · 15 Nov 2012 at 21:59

I don't know what (if anything) OEMs would have been paying to include MS Office Starter, but if it really bothers you to be getting MS Office functionality (albeit on a limited, ad-supported basis) for nothing, I guess you could always drop a contribution towards a deserving charity of your choice.

I guess what I'm trying to say is, "who gives a fiddler's **** ?"

Its something like £12 for three licences, I can't quite remember.

May as well pirate the full version then no?

CaptainCrash · 15 Nov 2012 at 23:46

nightmare99 said:
May as well pirate the full version then no?

*shrug*

It's up to you of course, but I would say "no".

If MS choose to make Starter freely available (the installer I linked to is a stub, which downloads the main setup files from MS themselves), I don't have a problem with people eating what's put in front of them.

The OP only wants the program in any case so that he can continue to work with files created in Office 2003 (for which he presumably has a bought-and-paid-for licence), so frankly I don't see any great moral dilemma here.