Section 3. Open an Existing Document

3. Open an Existing Document

BEFORE YOU BEGIN

1 Set Writer Options

2 Create a New Document

SEE ALSO

9Print a Document

Opening an existing document to edit with Writer is simple. You tell Writer you want to open a document file and then locate the file, and Writer loads the document in the editing area.

One important Writer feature is its capability to open documents you create in other word processing programs. Most notably, Writer opens Microsoft Word documents with ease. Although Writer might not fully support 100% of Microsoft Word's advanced features, Writer does a super job of loading Word documents into Writer's workspace so that you can edit the documents using Writer's interface.

1.	Request a Document Select Open from Writer's File menu to display the Open dialog box. Beginning with OpenOffice.org 2.0, Writer uses the document extension .odt (OpenDocument Text) for its documents. You can still open .sxw documents created in earlier versions of Writer. Microsoft Word uses the .doc file extension, and all three types of documents ( .odt , .swx , and .doc files) display when you want to locate files to open in Writer. NOTE OpenOffice.org 2.0 uses the new OASIS (Organization for the Advancement of Structured Information Standards) standard XML (eXtensible Markup Language) file format as its default file format. This new file format is also used in StarOffice, KOffice, and a growing number of products that support the new standard.
2.	Navigate to the Document's Location The document you want to open might not appear at the default location shown in the Open dialog box, so navigate to the folder in which the document you're looking for resides using the Look in drop-down list. TIP You can open documents from your computer's disk or from elsewhere in the file system. If you want to open a document located on the Web, preface the filename with http:// or ftp:// to open document files from those sources. 3. Open an Existing Document
3.	Locate the File You Want When you locate the folder that holds the document file, select the file you want to open. Then click the Open button to open the selected file in Writer's editing workspace. TIP Feel free to open more than one file by holding the Ctrl key while clicking multiple filenames. Writer opens each document you select in its own window. Use the Window menu to select an open document to edit.
4.	Edit and Save the Document After the file opens in the Writer workspace, you can edit the file. Navigate to where you wish to make edits (see 5 Edit Text ) or move to the end of the document and add to it (see 4 Type Text into a Document ). Once you've made all the changes you wish to make, select File, Save to save your document. Your recent changes will be saved in the document file for your next editing session.