OpenOffice.org Eric Moore Computer Users Group of Greeley February 11, 2006

About OpenOffice.org ● Open source office productivity suite ● Maintained by Sun Microsystems ● Inexpensive sister product of StarOffice ● Lower end alternative to Microsoft Office ● Available at

Windows System Requirements ● Pentium compatible PC ● 128 MB RAM ● 320 MB hard disk space ● 800x600 resolution and at least 256 colors

OpenOffice.org Components

Why Use OpenOffice.org? ● Inexpensive ● Free documentation on OOo website ● Open standard file format – Vendor independent – Implementation independent ● Supports multiple operating systems ● Support for 65 languages ● Reads and writes Microsoft Office files ● Exports to PDF files

Price Comparison

Writer Features ● Export to PDF and HTML ● Read and write Microsoft Word files ● Mail merge ● Table calculations ● Table of contents ● Bibliography ● Index ● Vector graphics ● Drag and drop text and graphics

Calc Features ● Export to HTML ● Read and write Microsoft Excel files ● Functions – Date and time – Financial – Mathematical – Statistical – Text ● References to external data sources ● DataPilot (comparable to Pivot Tables) ● Goal seeking and scenarios

Impress Features ● Wizard ● Templates ● Transition Effects ● Export to PDF and HTML ● Handouts ● Notes ● Outline ● Slide sorter

Draw Features ● Vector graphics ● 3D objects ● 3D rotation ● Convert to 3D ● Gradients and patterns ● Textures ● Duplicate objects ● Draw fading ● Construction plans

Base Features ● Relational database ● Supports standalone database files (e.g. MS Access) ● Supports external data sources – Adabas – MySQL – LDAP – Mozilla/Netscape address book ● Imports and exports data (dBase and CSV) ● Wizards for tables, forms, and queries

What Is Not Included? ● Grammar checker ● client and contact manager ● Full featured desktop publisher ● Full compatibility for Microsoft Office files ● Obnoxious, animated assistants

Where to Get Help and Information ● Free documentation at ● OpenOffice Forum at ● Other sources listed at ● Published books at your favorite bookseller