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What is it ...
What features does OpenOffice.org have ?
To use OpenOffice ...
On which operating systems does OpenOffice run?
How much memory do I need ?
How much disk space do I need ?
Is OpenOffice available in my language ?
For Free ?
Is it really free ?
Can I give it to my friends for free ?
Can I use it in my company for free ?
How can you make it for free ?
But will it always remain free ?
What happens if the Business Software Alliance(BSA) comes looking for the license ?
Basic Windows questions
What do I need to do when I want to email a document to someone so that they can read it with MSOffice ?
When I send someone an OpenOffice document as an attachment, they cannot open it. Why not?
Why can't I open MSOffice password protected files ?
The quick launch icon disappeared, how can I get it back ?
How can I search thru multiple OpenOffice.org documents without having to open them in OpenOffice.org ?
Basic Linux problems
I have huge fonts on login, how can I fix it ?
On my Linux system, OpenOffice will not start, what's wrong ?
My OpenOffice has slowed down, what's wrong ?
Misc.
How do I start Calc instead of Writer ?
What is the difference between OpenOffice and StarOffice ?
Why does my document look different when I open it and print it ?
Where is the Zoom function ?
How can I know what exact version I am running ?
How can I turn off the startup icon ?
How can I include my own graphics in gallery while maintaining the graphics type?
Documentation and Support
Where can I get a book or manual ?
How can I contact the OpenOffice.org project ?
How can I help the OpenOffice.org project ?
What other websites can help me with OpenOffice.org ?

Please look at the product description pages for a compelte description of what OpenOffice.org is and what it does.

OpenOffice.org runs on several versions of Windows, including 98, ME, 2000, and XP. Contributed ports of OpenOffice.org exist for FreeBSD, Apple MacOSX, Irix, Linux-PPC, Linux s390, Linux Sparc, and Solaris Intel. Porting activity is underway for Linux/Apha, HPUX, and AIX and developer help is needed for those platforms. For more information please see the OpenOffice.org porting project or send your questions or queries to dev@porting.openoffice.org.

Generally 64-128MB is needed, but it is system and version dependent. For Windows and Linux a minimum of 64 megabytes is recommended but 128 megabytes or more would be better. Several people have run OpenOffice.org on 16 MB machines and even though it takes quite a while to start, they were very quite happy with its usability.

For version 1.1 you will need about 215 MB for a complete installation.

Probably, please check the native language project where currently you will find projects for Czech, Danske, Germanophone, Español, Suomenkieliset, Francophone, Hindi, Italian, Japanese, Dutch, Português, Romanian, Slovak, Thai, Turkish and Chinese. There may be others since this document was written, and other native language projects are always welcome. There are also many localizations for OpenOffice available independently of the OpenOffice.org organization.

Please note that spellcheckers and thesauri are also available for many languages where the OpenOffice interface has not been localized. They are available here .

Yes. Really.

Yes.

Yes.

A lot of development, and all(most?) infrastructure is currently supplied or sponsored by Sun Microsystems. There are also many other people working on the project on a community basis, including localization, documentation, support, testing, QA and development.

If you want to contribute, your help would be greatly appreciated.

Also many other products are available for free under what are generally called Free/Libre Open Source Software. Examples include Mozilla ( for email and web browsing ), MySQL ( an advanced database ), and GIMP ( for image manipulation ). There are many other great products available, including advanced enterprise products from other groups on the internet.

Yes, the licenses under which it is developed and distributed does not allow it to be taken away.

Tell them to look at the license here .

You need to save your document in the correct Microsoft format. To do this use “File” => “Save As..” and then select the correct option in the “File Type” drop down menu. However if you only want someone to be able to read a document, then t PDF is very good for this. OpenOffice can export documents in PDF format.

This may be because you sent them a file in the OpenOffice file format and Microsoft Office does not (yet) support this format. Unfortunately most people only recognize MSOffice files as the only way to exchange files. To save your document as MSOffice files use the OpenOffice menu "File" => "Save As..." and, from the lower drop-down box select the version of Word or Excel you want to save it in. Be aware that older versions of Word does not always read newer Word documents, but in general the best format to pick is Word97/2000/XP.

Because the protection is a specific MS technology which is protected and may not be used legally. There are however several tools you'll find on the web to open these files as the password protection is not actually very good and can easily be broken without even knowing the password!

However note that the password protection on OpenOffice.org files are stronger and really make your files safe, but don't lose the password!

Start one of the OpenOffice applications, for example, Writer then use the menu "Tools" => "Options" and in the dialog "OpenOffice.org" => "Memory" and tick "Load OpenOffice.org during system startup".

There is a utility called ZipHunter which should be able to help you do this.

This seems to be a common problem with RedHat 9. RedHat support found the solution and it has to do with the Xfree86 DPI being set to the wrong unit ( The monitor screen size may have to be entered in millimeters rather than inches in the display setting). Please contact RedHat support (or any of the RedHat mailing lists) for the correct fix.

Only one OpenOffice process can run at a time for each user. So it's possible that you have an OpenOffice process already running. You can check this with the shell command “ps -a | grep office ”.

You should then either check that OpenOffice is not running in any other workspace. If it is not then you can stop that OpenOffice process by using the command “kill <process-id-of-openoffice> ”.

In the versions before 1.0.2 there was a problem with the psfontcache file. This file would get bigger and slow down OpenOffice.org. The solution is to delete this file, or to upgrade to a more recent version of OpenOffice. Also the internals of OpenOffice threading made some assumptions about the Linux threading model which turned out to be a problem with an updated version of Linux. This should be solved with an update to the latest version of OpenOffice.

You can use “soffice -calc” or on some Linux platforms “oocalc” will work.

Please look at this answer .

This is probably a problem with the configuration of fonts, please have a look at the font guide .

The zoom percentage is normally visible in the status bar. It is shown as a figure followed by a percent sign. If you right-click on it, you should be able to select a zoom. That works well for standard choices, such as Optimal or 100%. You can also increase and decrease the zoom level with the mouse if you have a mouse with a wheel by holding the Ctrl button and using the mouse wheel. You can of course change it also thru “View” => “Zoom”.

You can get the version number going to “Help” => “About” and keep the Ctrl key pressed and press in order: S, D, T.

For example the version number listed for 1.1.0 is 645m19.

You need to find the file called "sofficerc" and edit the line in it to read "Logo=0".

If you want your own shapes included in the gallery without them being converted to bitmap / metafile but still being a _shape_ do

the following :


Open the gallery ( “Tools” => “Gallery” )


Click the shape (curve/polygon...) once, so that it is selected (that also works for a group).


After having it selected click on it for a longer time so that the mouse-pointer changes to a rectangle


Drag it into the gallery

This way the shapes will stay shapes when you use them again.

There are currently at least 4 books available :


GetOpenOffice.org - This is actually a book in print, that is great for beginners


Taming OpenOffice.org - Here's a shareware book that you can download, and pay for if you find it useful! Currently only supporting Writer, there will be more components of the package supported. Also it has been updated for OpenOffice.org 1.1.


OpenOffice.org Clue Sheets - Guides that are 2 pages long for each application, and come as real handy help. A review is provided.


OOoSwitch: 501 Things You Want to Know About Switching to OpenOffice.org from Microsoft Office


OpenOffice for Microsoft Office Users ( this is a free book in pdf format. However at this time it is incomplete )


OpenOffice.Org 1.0 Resource Kit by Solveig Haugland (Author), Floyd Jones (Author)


An “OpenOffice for Dummies” book should be available later this year.

Other links can be found at the third party documentation page.

There are several mailing lists available for this project. However please remember to read the email guidelines first, remembering to give enough information for someone to help you (including which version of OpenOffice.org you use, what operating system you use, describe your problem in a reasonable way for others to repeat, and only 1 or 2 question per email).

There are several areas that you could help with:


subscribe to and answer questions there;


contribute to the documentation project for How-To type documentation, templates, etc. ;


testing and bug processing http://qa.openoffice.org/helping.html;


donating your macros to http://scripting.openoffice.org;


working on the website http://website.openoffice.org ;


if you want to help with any functionality and you can program your help would also be much appreciated ; and


as soon as the OpenOffice Community Council is setup and running it will hopefully be possible to donate funds

There are at least 2 others : www.oodocs.org and ooextras.sourceforge.net .

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