Know Your Extensions

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One aspect of moving to a new Office Suite is the ability to convert back and forth between files from a different Office Suite, Microsoft Office or OpenOffice 1 for example. One thing you need to understand about files whether they are Microsoft Word or OpenOffice Writer, they all have file extensions. A file extension is a three letter extension that is preceded by a .dot and the file name, example:

mypaper.doc --- this is a Word document (.doc)

mypaper.sxw --- this is an OpenOffice 1 Writer document (.sxw)

mypaper.odt --- this is an OpenOffice 2 Writer document (.odt)

The extension is used by a program for information about how the document was created. Each file has an extension. This means that when you save a file you need to know what kind of file you really want to create. Or, if the file is already created, which word processor was used.

OpenOffice 2 now uses the OASIS (Organization for the Advancement of Structured Information Standards) standard XML file format. This standard is now also present in StarOffice and KOffice.

Writer – OpenDocument Text (.odt)

OpenDocument Template (.ott)

OpenDocument Master (.odm)

Writer Web – OpenDocument HTML (.oth)

Calc – OpenDocument Spreadsheet (.ods)

OpenDocument Spreadsheet Template (.ots)

Draw – OpenDocument Drawing (.odg)

OpenDocument Drawing Template (.otg)

Impress – OpenDocument Presentation (.odp)

OpenDocument Presentation Template (.otp)

Math – OpenDocument Formula (.odf)

Chart – OpenDocument Chart (.odc)

Base – OpenDocument Database (.odb)

You must pay attention to extensions!