How to open Microsoft OpenXML docx documents in OpenOffice
|
|
As of this time of this writing, the OpenOffice.org package included with Ubuntu Festy Fawn, Ubuntu Gutsy Gibbon and Debian Etch still does not support opening Microsoft Office OpenXML (docx) document format.
Though the use of docx files are HIGHLY DISCOURAGED, it is still important for us to be able to read document in this format in-case if somebody forwarded docx files to us.
Here are some easy steps to follow in order to enable OpenOffice.org to read OpenXML docx files :
- Download odf_filter.tar.bz2 file, and unzip it
- The archive contains 4 additional files, MOOXFilter_cpp.xcu, MOOXTypeDetection.xcu, OdfConverter and README.txt
- Follow instructions in README.txt and copy the 3 files into Openoffice installation directory as outlined below
sudo cp OdfConverter /usr/lib/openoffice/program/
sudo cp MOOXFilter_cpp.xcu
sudo cp MOOXTypeDetection.xcu /usr/lib/openoffice/share/registry/modules/org/openoffice/TypeDetection/Types/
After that, your Openoffice.org installation should be able to read/open Microsoft Office 2007 OpenXML docx file without any problems.
Drawbacks
This trick only works on Document (docx) files but not on Presentation (pptx) and Spreadsheet files (xslx).
Original source - OpenOffice. OpenXML Translator
Tags: docx, openxml, openoffice, feisty, feisty fawn, gutsy, gutsy gibbon, openoffice.org, microsoft, office, microsoft office
Keep updated with this website! : Subscribe to your email
Recommended Reading
- How to open Microsoft OpenXML *.docx file in OpenOffice Ubuntu
- Upcoming OpenOffice.org 3.0 supports Microsoft OpenXML (docx) out of the box
- How to open Office 2007 OpenXML in OpenOffice.org
- How to convert OpenXML docx files to OpenDocument odf in Windows and vice versa
- OpenDocument is now ISO approved!
- Microsoft Office to use XML format !
- Office suite that suit my needs
September 9th, 2007 at 12:25 am
14:03 How to open Microsoft OpenXML docx documents in OpenOffice» mypapit
September 11th, 2007 at 10:03 pm
The second line, path is missing the leading /.
sudo cp MOOXFilter_cpp.xcu usr/lib/openoffice/share/registry/modules/org/openoffice/TypeDetection/Filter/
should be
sudo cp MOOXFilter_cpp.xcu /usr/lib/openoffice/share/registry/modules/org/openoffice/TypeDetection/Filter/
September 11th, 2007 at 10:37 pm
thanks for informing me Charles!
September 13th, 2007 at 4:21 pm
How to open Microsoft OpenXML docx documents in OpenOffice
September 28th, 2007 at 7:10 am
Hey thanks a lot. Got viewing these stupid docx files in no time.
October 17th, 2007 at 9:19 am
Thanks so much. An instructor just uploaded a half-page of instructions in this god-forsaken format and I am soooo happy I can open it without purchasing MS Word 2007. If only MS could be forced to use ODF like everyone else.
November 1st, 2007 at 8:49 pm
Thank for this info. It works.
You should also add an original source of OdfConverter binary:
http://download.novell.com/SummaryFree.jsp?buildid=ESrjfdE4U58~
People can download this binary from there (and verify a checksum) if they are concerned about security.
November 1st, 2007 at 11:22 pm
zyz, i’ve included the source from novel website. Thanks
January 7th, 2008 at 4:48 am
I simply send .docx files back to the sender, and ask them to send it in a standard format, even the older Microsoft Word formats. And I include a link to OpenOffice.org, so they can get a free word processor that will allow them to do so. Why should the rest of the world suffer just because MS wants to make a few more bucks and not allow their old format to be used?
January 28th, 2008 at 7:01 pm
Great blog article, but do please do Charles Mitchell’s correction (above).
February 1st, 2008 at 6:13 am
Well that was a bit of a flop. I tried importing a file as type docx and got the message that the file was corrupt, and would OO like me to repair it. I said yes but the resulting file was empty. Bit of a pity. I will go and try the command line programme next when there is some time …
Thanks anyway.
Incidentally, I entirely agree with Karens’ suggestion, above.
March 29th, 2008 at 11:17 am
Here is a simple script I wrote to do everything in one step. Call the script ooxmlfilterinstall.sh and run it like so
sudo ooxmlfilterinstall.sh
or to remove the converter:
sudo ooxmlfilterinstall.sh uninstall
—-
#!/bin/sh
# installer for OpenOffice OOXML filter/converter.
PKGURL=”http://blog.mypapit.net/imej/odf_filter.tar.bz2″
PKGFILE=”odf_filter.tar.bz2″
FILE1=”./files/MOOXFilter_cpp.xcu”
FILE1DEST=”/usr/lib/openoffice/share/registry/modules/org/openoffice/TypeDetection/Filter/MOOXFilter_cpp.xcu”
FILE2=”./files/MOOXTypeDetection.xcu”
FILE2DEST=”/usr/lib/openoffice/share/registry/modules/org/openoffice/TypeDetection/Types/MOOXTypeDetection.xcu”
FILE3=”./files/OdfConverter”
FILE3DEST=”/usr/lib/openoffice/program/OdfConverter”
if test “$1″ = ‘uninstall’;then
echo “$0: Uninstalling OpenOffice OOXML Converter.”
rm -f $FILE1DEST $FILE2DEST $FILE3DEST
else
echo “$0: Installing OpenOffice OOXML Converter.”
echo “$0: downloading odf_filter.tar.bz2″
wget $PKGURL > /dev/null 2>&1
echo “$0: extracting odf_filter.tar.bz2″
tar -xjf $PKGFILE
echo “$0: Installing files”
# don’t clobber
cp -u $FILE1 $FILE1DEST
cp -u $FILE2 $FILE2DEST
cp -u $FILE3 $FILE3DEST
fi
echo “$0: Done.”
—-