ODF Support in Office 2008?

[Justin]

I have a client that is exclusively using ODF - in the eitire corporation.
I like how they use open source software throughout the entire
corporation, but this presents a problem for those of us who use Office
2008.
DOes Office 2008 Support ODF?

From what I researched, there is no update available that will give
Office ODF support.
Is that true?

 

[Michel Bintener]

That is true. Office 2007 added ODF support with the SP2 update, but the Mac
version does not have it. However, you can download OpenOffice.org or
NeoOffice for free; these open-source applications use ODF as their native
file format (and are probably also used by your client's company), so they
should make it easier for you to collaborate with your client.

 

[Justin]

That is true. Office 2007 added ODF support with the SP2 update, but the Mac
version does not have it. However, you can download OpenOffice.org or
NeoOffice for free; these open-source applications use ODF as their native
file format (and are probably also used by your client's company), so they
should make it easier for you to collaborate with your client.

Gotcha. The problem is accountants like their MS Excel.
I am familiar with Neooffice (mac version of OOo) but accountants don't
like change.
I should know - I'm training to become one.

 

[Michel Bintener]

Gotcha. The problem is accountants like their MS Excel.
I am familiar with Neooffice (mac version of OOo) but accountants don't
like change.
I should know - I'm training to become one.

You could still create your documents in Excel, then open the Excel file in
NeoOffice and save it in ODF. Change is not always a bad thing. Not even for
accountants. ;-)

 

[Justin]

You could still create your documents in Excel, then open the Excel file in
NeoOffice and save it in ODF. Change is not always a bad thing. Not even for
accountants. ;-)

This may be a bit late - but you're right.
Some of them are more open to using OO than others.
Apparently there has been a pandemic of crashes in Excel - where people
couldn't recover their spreadsheets - that I was not aware of.
Myself included.
but alas, I am but a mere accounting _student_ not a pro.

and I bombed my last two tests.

My only problem is I have to figure out certain things like Autosum and
stuff like that.
Highlight a column of numbers and hit the Summation in Office. no
Summation in Neo.

 

[Bob Greenblatt]

This may be a bit late - but you're right.
Some of them are more open to using OO than others.
Apparently there has been a pandemic of crashes in Excel - where people
couldn't recover their spreadsheets - that I was not aware of.
Myself included.
but alas, I am but a mere accounting _student_ not a pro.

and I bombed my last two tests.

My only problem is I have to figure out certain things like Autosum and
stuff like that.
Highlight a column of numbers and hit the Summation in Office. no
Summation in Neo.

You don't have to hit anything. Just highlight the numbers and look in the
sum section in the bottom right section of the worksheet.

 

[Justin]

You don't have to hit anything. Just highlight the numbers and look in the
sum section in the bottom right section of the worksheet.

Considering Excel just blew away a file I was working on - I think I
would like to switch to OO permanently.
I saved it, Excel crashed and destroyed the file. How the hell can an
application destroy a file in non volatile memory?

That's truly amazing.

 

[CyberTaz]

Considering Excel just blew away a file I was working on - I think I
would like to switch to OO permanently.
I saved it, Excel crashed and destroyed the file. How the hell can an
application destroy a file in non volatile memory?

That's truly amazing.

It can't... If the file was saved & closed before Excel crashed you most
likely have a HD/OS issue that needs to be corrected. That's also the case
if the damage was done during the Save. Applications programs do not "save"
anything -- they call for the service from the OS, which is responsible for
writing the data to disk. In fact, that could very well be what is causing
Excel to crash in the first place.

You might consider running some disk diagnostic/repair utility to correct
any such problems. It may even be a good idea to (re)-apply the latest Combo
update for whatever version of OS X you're running.

HTH |:>)
Bob Jones
[MVP] Office:Mac

 

[Justin]

It can't... If the file was saved & closed before Excel crashed you most
likely have a HD/OS issue that needs to be corrected. That's also the case
if the damage was done during the Save. Applications programs do not "save"
anything -- they call for the service from the OS, which is responsible for
writing the data to disk. In fact, that could very well be what is causing
Excel to crash in the first place.

You might consider running some disk diagnostic/repair utility to correct
any such problems. It may even be a good idea to (re)-apply the latest Combo
update for whatever version of OS X you're running.

HTH |:>)
Bob Jones
[MVP] Office:Mac

Yeah, I know - and I already did that. Disk utility returned a clean
bill of health.
No other app crashes.

 

[CyberTaz]

Hi Justin;

Considering that this is a completely different direction than what the
thread started as, the twists it has taken & the fact that nowhere within it
is the necessary information to pursue the problem, I think it would be a
good idea for you to write it up as a New message. That'll clear the board
so that this issue can be more clearly handled.

Make sure to specify your exact update levels of Office & OS X as well as
any additional details about the situation. Does the crash occur with just
the one specific file or does it happen with any/all files?

Also, did you mean that you have recently applied the Combo updater or were
you referring to having run Disk Utility? When you ran DU did you just run
the Repair Disk Permissions routine or did you start up from a different
bootable drive & actually run the Repair Disk routine?

Try running Excel in a new User Account as well as launching the program
while holding the Shift key. Include the results of each of those
operations.

Regards |:>)
Bob Jones
[MVP] Office:Mac