OpenOffice is the best free open source Microsoft Office alternative

As some regular readers would know, I had installed and used Microsoft Office 2007 for a little while now.

Well one of the big things that has always frustrated me is Word's drawing capabilities.

I do a lot of sales proposals with diagrams and the like. Word's drawing system mystifies me. The inconsistencies in the way that things are laid out and objects sometimes do not snap to where you'd expect them to have caused countless hours of frustration. I guess Microsoft figured that their Visio application is specialised for this sort of thing but I have always found Visio quite chunky and clunky and not integrated enough with Word. Having used it before from time to time as a Microsoft Office alternative, I have found Open Office to excel in this area.

Using Open Office Draw, however Open Office 3.0 has given me an all new appreciation for the Open Office suite. This is a very well put together application. Even though I am now used to the ribbon (which is apparently to feature quite heavily in the new Vienna edition of Windows), I am constantly drawn to the classic and simpler to use Open Office interface.

I don't want to turn this into a Microsoft Office 2007 vs Open Office 3.0 debate, because for the time being I'm happy to run both side by side. Most computers these days can handle the additional space and processing power required.

I was once compelled to use Microsoft Office because of the integration of things like Outlook, the synch and Business Contact Manager. However frustration with these applications has reduced my reliance on the integrated approach. I still find Outlook's calendaring and invitation system (because many other clients also use it it can be handy), however I now use these apps independently of each other. An open standard for calendaring and meeting invites would be the icing on the cake. So I've really started to question whether I am locked into Office 2007 at all (aside from its obvious buying price).

I really think that Microsoft Office 2007 has matured as a product and while using the Open Office suite, this is very evident. The Writer is, in more opinion, more solid than Word. I've found that it supports almost everything I need to do. I've used the Calc application as an Excel and found it to be just as good. I've also used the Impress application, which is the equivalent to PowerPoint and can confidently say that it offers everything that PowerPoint does. To top it off, even though I know Open Office 3.0 runs using Java, it does seem a lot snappier, possibly moreso than Microsof Office 2007. However I do get these annoying Java pop-ups from time to time on Windows Vista (doesn't happen on my XP machine) that I'm not sure yet how to turn off.

Anyway, I'd just like to share with you the fact that integrated features in Open Office are truly impressive and has come a long way. I would definitely recommend giving it another go.

Trying to save PDFs from Excel 2007 ?

My old PDF printer driver wasn't reproducing the document properly and I spent ages trying to find a good free one because that was the old way to do things.

Until that is, I discovered that Microsoft have a free add-in. Of course you need a valid licence to download it.

Select All in Word and Excel 2007

There are a number of little user interface quirks to get used to when moving to Word and Excel 2007.

One is the old "select all" function which seems to have been overlooked by Microsoft.

The easiest way, I've found is to use shortcut keys - specifically "CTRL+A".

Then copy and paste using CTRL+V and CTRL+C.

The only other way is to use the ribbon. Unfortunately this useful function is now hidden on the far right of the "Home" ribbon (which is a bit of a catch all and not really well thought through). If you click "Find & Select", there is the option to "Select Objects" (which doesn't mean much to me). Unfortunately it can be a bit tricky to select everything this way.

Microsoft Office 2007 takes some getting used to ...

I have recently taken the plunge and upgraded to Office 2007 at work, while I continue to use Open Office at home. As part of the upgrade experience, I've had to get used to whole new ways of doing things. The interface is quite different and not very familiar. Armed with my copy of Office 2007 for Dummies, I have gradually become used to it.

The biggest change is use of the ribbons. Microsoft have given the interface a radical overhaul and they have done a lot of work in the architecture. Unfortunately I've found that some of the functions that used to be easy to find are sometimes now hidden. I sometimes find myself wanting to return to classic view and minimising the ribbon which does sometimes tend to get in the way. However once you memorise where things are it becomes much easier.

For me, importantly the new version fixes some specifically annoying bugs in older versions even though I had kept my office up to date.

I used to find placement of some images almost impossible. You'd put them somewhere and they would mysteriously jump around on the page. Formatting seems to be greatly resolved in 2007.

Interoperability between applications is also improved. It practically used to crash my PC every time I tried to embed an Excel object into a Word page. I haven't had that problem (touch wood) with this new version.

The office concept, however, is a pretty mature one, and most of the enhancements are pretty superficial. Overall I'm pretty satisfied with the speed and performance of the new Office and I'll share some tips and techniques with you as I discover them.