Section 133. Associate OpenOffice.org and Microsoft Office Files


133. Associate OpenOffice.org and Microsoft Office Files

BEFORE YOU BEGIN

132 About Sharing OpenOffice.org Files with Other Applications


SEE ALSO

134 Upgrade OpenOffice.org to a New Version


133. Associate OpenOffice.org and Microsoft Office Files


If you have both Microsoft Office and OpenOffice.org installed on the same computer, you should keep their respective native file types separate from one another, especially so that a Microsoft Office document launched from a Microsoft Office application doesn't launch an OpenOffice.org application instead. But, if you prefer OpenOffice.org but you must regularly edit Microsoft Word documents, you might want to be able to click a Word document, which ends with the .doc filename extension, and have Writer start and load the document automaticallyinstead of having your computer load the document in Word. If you have both Office and OpenOffice.org installed, your current file associations might make Word open the file instead. Similarly, you'll have to determine whether Impress or PowerPoint should be the default application for opening PowerPoint .ppt presentation files, and whether you prefer Calc or Excel for working with Excel ( .xls ) spreadsheet files.

1.
Locate and Run OpenOffice.org Setup

From the Windows Start menu, select Control Panel , and then double-click Add or Remove Programs . The Add or Remove Programs dialog box appears. In the Currently installed programs list, choose the entry for OpenOffice (the current version number is shown next to the name ), and then click Change . The Installation Wizard appears; click Next to continue.

2.
Modify the Installation

In the Program Maintenance panel of the Installation Wizard, click Modify, click Next , and then click Next again.

3.
Associate Files

Check the boxes for all Microsoft Office files that you want OpenOffice.org to open automatically, instead of letting Office open them: Word, Excel, and/or PowerPoint. Remember, you're telling Windows which program will automatically open files that end in Microsoft's .doc , .xls , and .ppt filename extensions when you double-click those files in a Windows Explorer window. Click Next to continue, and then click Install to have Setup alter OpenOffice.org's Registry settings to accommodate your changes. Despite the button's name, and despite the progress report that appears next, this action does not reinstall the entire application suite. It only updates the Windows Registry. When the process concludes, click Finish .

NOTES

You can always open Office files in Office if you like. After starting the appropriate Office program, just click Open and select the file you want to edit. In addition, you can always open Office files after starting OpenOffice.org, without completing this task first. Just start an OpenOffice.org component, click Open , and open any Office file.

To install the latest version of OpenOffice.org on your computer, see 134 Upgrade OpenOffice.org to a New Version .




OpenOffice.org 2, Firefox, and Thunderbird for Windows All in One
Sams Teach Yourself OpenOffice.org 2, Firefox and Thunderbird for Windows All in One
ISBN: 0672328089
EAN: 2147483647
Year: 2005
Pages: 232
Authors: Greg Perry

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