Preparing for SharingFiles, That Is

The first step in file sharing is selecting an export filter. OpenOffice.org includes export filters for Microsoft Word 6.0, 95, 97/2000/XP, and 2003 XML. If you don't know what version of Office the person to whom you're sending the files uses, the 97/2000/XP filter is probably the best choice.

Next, if formatting matters, check that the fonts in your file are available to both OpenOffice.org and Microsoft Word. If not, you can expect repagination and possibly even the destruction of complex designs if you open a file made in either program with the other one.

You can sidestep this issue by using only standard fonts such as Times New Roman or Helvetica. If OpenOffice.org is installed on all machines, you can also use the Bitstream Vera fonts that are installed with it. The only drawback to these choices is that they are used so often that they make your documents look like everyone else's. If design is important to your work, the only solution is to install the fonts everywhere they are needed or to share files in PDF format.

If you use nonstandard fonts, be aware that not all fonts that share a name are necessarily identical. For example, literally dozens of fonts are named Garamond, all allegedly based on the designs of the Renaissance typographer of that name, but few of them have much in common besides the name.

Now adjust the settings within OpenOffice.org itself. First, select all the options in Tools > Options > Load/Save > Microsoft Office. These options improve the handling of OLE Objects, but only if you are using Writer in an operating system that supports OLE Objects, such as Windows.

Load/Save Microsoft Office.

Second, check that all the options in Load/Save > VBA Properties are selected. OOo doesn't run Visual Basic scripts, but when these options are selected, they are preserved for later use when a file is opened in Microsoft Office. Otherwise, the person with whom you exchange files will be justifiably peeved to find that their macros disappeared after you opened their files.

VBA Properties.

Paying attention to these matters takes a lot of the misery out of sharing files. Even so, if you want formatting perfection, you need to tweak your files. That tweaking is infinitely easier if, as a final preparation, you format in both OpenOffice.org and Microsoft Office using character and paragraph styles instead of formatting manually. You can save styles in a template so that you need to set them up only once. More to the point, character and paragraph styles also transfer successfully between Writer and Word, so you can use the styles to speed up your tweaking.