Living without Microsoft Office is really easy. No seriously, follow these steps.
1. Download OpenOffice. Open Office is open source software from Sun, it include a word editor, spreadsheet creator, presentation creator, database creator, even a math program. It can open and read almost all Office files and you can even save your files in Office format so you can bring them to work.
2. Download Word viewer. Just in case you can’t open a .doc or pesky .docx (Word 2007) you can use Microsoft Word Viewer which will allow you to view MS word docs without having to own Office. You can’t edit them, but you can see them and there by copy and paste their contents into OpenOffice and then save in a format you can read.
3. Download Microsoft Office Compatibility Pack for Word, Excel, and PowerPoint 2007 File Formats. This will allow Word Viewer to open all formats, even the new 2007 ones.
Microsoft Office Compatibility Pack for Word, Excel, and PowerPoint 2007 File Formats
How to save in Word Format
Now that you have all the tools here’s an easy step by step for saving a file in OpenOffice in word format. This will allow you to carry it around on a USB stick (geek stick, jump drive) to the office, a friend’s place, email, etc.
First off open your document in OpenOffice.
Click on the File Menu and then click Save As.
Where it says “Save As Type” click on the drop down box and choose the format you wish to save in. For Word choose “Microsoft Word 97/2000/XP (.doc)” and of course choose where you would like to save it.
That’s it, now you can share the document with anyone who still uses Microsoft Office.
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