Docx - File read problem

[huzefa_from_kuwait]

We have decided to move to open office from paid office. Before I deploy I need to check integrity of the files. As this is an Arab country Arabic is there in all documents. The problems i faced so far of which I cant find solution are:

1) Some docx files (not all), don't seem to open fine, specially with images (images don't appear in writer). All Arabic font changes to Tahoma, 12 (this is the highest priority problem). What is the thing I can do in this case ?

2) I tried the odf-convertor-integrator.exe which converts .docx files to .odt and opens it but that too is not 100% in integrity and keeps two copies of the file which can get quite some difficult task migrating.

3) Is there any free batch convertor that can convert all .doc files to .odt files ?

4) I need to change the icon provided by Open-Office for .doc to be the same as .odt(its more recognizable), can I achieve this via Open-Office settings ?

5) What would experienced people here suggest, I maintain .doc to be .doc and convert .docx to .odt or maintain a standard and convert both .doc and .docx to .odt ?

-.doc refers to .doc,.xls.ppt and .docx refers to .docx.xlsx.pptx

Apologies for my newbie questions but I am on the first step of OpenOffice.

Thanks.

[floris_v]

Welcome. It helps if you state what operating system you use (fonts).
First, docx is not yet well supported by OOo and Apache OpenOffice (because there are version differences in docx). If you need to exchange lots of files with people who insist on sending docx format, the move to OOo may not be such a good idea.

ad 1) Make sure that in Tool s - Options - Writer -View, Graphics and objects is checked. If fonts are replaced by other fonts, that means those fonts aren't available on your system Linux? It seems that you can download Windows fonts for Linux.

ad 2) When files are converted from doc format to ODF format, the original files are of course saved (the new files get another extension). That's a good thing: if something goes wrong in conversion, you still ahve the original files. It's your job to make sure that all people continue to work with the converted files instead of the originals.

ad 3) There's a wizard to help converting doc files - File - Wizards - Conversion program for documents.

ad 4) Simply set Writer to open doc files, Calc to open xls etc, and then the icon will be modified.

ad 5) We always recommend to use the native format of any program as long as you are working on a document, and only to convert to another format when you have to send it to somebody who doesn't accept the native format of your software. You will always have some conversion trouble, not always equally important, but if you don't want the receiver of your document to see something even slightly different from what you see, you should use the same program, period.

Please note that we prefer that you ask unrelated questions in separate threads. That way people searching the function will get the best results.
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[huzefa_from_kuwait]

Hi thanks for the reply,

I have a Win 7 Pro 64 bit system. The fonts most probably should be installed as it works on the older office which was also installed in the same computer. Moreover this issue isn't coming with all files only some of them.

The wizard that you pointed to convert works great however I have run into another problem. If the file has a password (.xls password) it prompts me to put the password during the conversation progress but as I don't know the password, I click cancel. After I do that it asks me the template after which no key works. 'OK' , 'Cancel' , Close (X) nothing seems to work. It hangs the conversation process and remaining files also don't convert and Windows kills it. I have tried it on two different Computers. (Is this a known issue?)

The icon defaulted to .xls and .doc by open office does not look good, however as we are converting all files to open document format this won't be an issue as the .odt and .ods icons look fine.

Also, one more issue the CTL is set to be , Arabic, Kuwait, which is needed as the Arabic documents should be right aligned, however the English documents also get right aligned. After we open an English document we have to say select all and change from RTL to LTR and then left aligned. Anything can be done for that ?

This software is pretty good, we would switch the whole organization to Open Office.

Thanks.

[floris_v]

Please, don't ask unrelated questions in one topic.
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LibreOffice 3.6.3; OOo 3.4.1 on Windows Vista
Join the Official community forum - in several languages, including Nederlandstalig forum