Open Office 3.2 and .docx format

**Elrond** · December 24, 2010, 09:59 AM

I have used Ubuntu on my laptop since July and had very few problems with it. I have Vista Ultimate (64 bit) on my desktop (which I play games with when I am back home during the holidays). Its got office 2003 and had Open Office 2 on it. Last time I was back home (late October) I installed the latest open office (3.2) on it. However while it can open docx (and ppsx and xlsx) it cant save them in that format. Its highly annoying - I am used to saving in that format in Open Office on Ubuntu.

Can open office 3.2 for Windows not save in docx format? (Unlike Open Office 3.2 for Linux). Or is it just me making a mistake installing it?

**irishron** · December 24, 2010, 10:30 AM

Is it all formats or just saving in that one?
How are your Vista security permissions set for OpenOffice?

**Elrond** · December 24, 2010, 11:41 AM

Its just the MS Office 2007 formats that it cant save in - they are not there as options like they are in the Linux version of Open Office 3.2.

**irishron** · December 24, 2010, 02:06 PM

I have the same version and it does not have that option, either.

**Elrond** · December 24, 2010, 02:56 PM

Originally Posted by irishron

I have the same version and it does not have that option, either.

I was checking to see if that is the case. The Ubuntu version does have the ability to save in docx formats (and ppsx and xlsx). They must not be able to put the same features in the windows version yet.

**irishron** · December 24, 2010, 03:04 PM

Have you asked them on their website why not? They may not even be aware some people like you uses the feature in Windows.

**Simetrical** · December 27, 2010, 11:29 AM

Everything that supports .docx supports .doc, doesn't it? Why not just save as .doc?

**Elrond** · December 27, 2010, 11:45 AM

Originally Posted by Simetrical

Everything that supports .docx supports .doc, doesn't it? Why not just save as .doc?

Which is what I do, just more irritating than having the full set of features that the Linux version has.

**Simetrical** · January 10, 2011, 08:49 PM

I just realized why this is. Linux distributions don't actually ship OpenOffice.org, they ship a patched version called Go-oo. Go-oo supports writing OOXML (.docx et al.) files, while stock OO.org doesn't. So if you use Go-oo instead, it should work on Windows too. You can also try out LibreOffice, which is a fork of OpenOffice.org based on Go-oo which looks like it will supplant OpenOffice.org proper (and obsolete Go-oo). That should support writing .docx too.

(Oracle bought Sun last year, which gave it control of OpenOffice.org. Some other companies like Red Hat and Novell took the OpenOffice.org code and made their own spinoff version, LibreOffice, because they didn't trust Oracle. All the Linux distributions have now begun packaging LibreOffice instead of OpenOffice.org, and all the community developers have moved to LibreOffice, so OO.org will probably die within a few years. But LibreOffice is the same software under a different name and new management.)