TIP : How to convert equations from Openoffice to MS-Word

[roland65]

Hi,
you certainly noticed that when converting a document from Openoffice to MS-Word, equations are not well converted : there are a lot of blank squares everywhere.

Here follows a solution to this problem. It was successfully tested with Openoffice 2.3.1 on Linux and MS-Word 2000 on Windows, but you should try it with other versions.

The solution is :
1. First, convert your OO document to MSWord (in OO, don't forget to check that in the menu Tools/Options/Load Save/Microsoft Office, the Mathtype options are both checked)

2. Then open your document into MS-Word and apply one of the macros given below

3. Equations should be well converted and you can edit them with Mathtype or Equation Editor. However, if you changed the default equations fonts, greek letters may be not displayed correctly inside the Mathtype editor. But this is not a problem since they appear correctly in the document.

Please tell me if this solution worked for you!
Best regards,
Roland

Here are the macros.

If you have Mathtype, use the following macros :

Sub OOEquationConvertDocument()
'
' Convert all equations of the document
'
For Each iShape In ActiveDocument.InlineShapes
If iShape.Type = wdInlineShapeEmbeddedOLEObject Then
'MsgBox (iShape.OLEFormat.ClassType)
If iShape.OLEFormat.ClassType = "Microsoft" Then
iShape.OLEFormat.ConvertTo ClassType:="Equation.DSMT4", DisplayAsIcon:=False
End If
End If
Next iShape
End Sub
Sub OOEquationConvertSelection()
'
' Convert all equations of the current selection
' Caution! Doesn't work (why?) if the entire document is selected
'
For Each iShape In Selection.InlineShapes
If iShape.Type = wdInlineShapeEmbeddedOLEObject Then
'MsgBox (iShape.OLEFormat.ClassType)
If iShape.OLEFormat.ClassType = "Microsoft" Then
iShape.OLEFormat.ConvertTo ClassType:="Equation.DSMT4", DisplayAsIcon:=False
End If
End If
Next iShape
End Sub


If you don't have Mathtype (then you should have Equation Editor), use the following macros :

Sub OOEquationConvertDocument()
'
' Convert all equations of the document
'
For Each iShape In ActiveDocument.InlineShapes
If iShape.Type = wdInlineShapeEmbeddedOLEObject Then
'MsgBox (iShape.OLEFormat.ClassType)
If iShape.OLEFormat.ClassType = "Microsoft" Then
iShape.OLEFormat.ConvertTo ClassType:="Equation.3", DisplayAsIcon:=False
End If
End If
Next iShape
End Sub
Sub OOEquationConvertSelection()
'
' Convert all equations of the current selection
' Caution! Doesn't work (why?) if the entire document is selected
'
For Each iShape In Selection.InlineShapes
If iShape.Type = wdInlineShapeEmbeddedOLEObject Then
'MsgBox (iShape.OLEFormat.ClassType)
If iShape.OLEFormat.ClassType = "Microsoft" Then
iShape.OLEFormat.ConvertTo ClassType:="Equation.3", DisplayAsIcon:=False
End If
End If
Next iShape
End Sub

[asknans]

wow it works . thanks roland , I saved a lot of time with this tip

[bucaro]

thx it works

[jtc611]

That macro is by far the best option I've found, and can confirm it works for creating documents in open office 3.0.1, saving them as .doc files, and reading them in Word 2007. For those of you struggling like I have with compatibility going from OOo to Word 2007 using formulas, I'd like to compile my observations here.

Options for formula editor in OOo 3.0.1
a) Open Office formula (built in)
b) OOlatex 4.0.0 (beta)

For both a) and b), I use the following to create right numbered equations
fn <space> F3

Option a)
Tricky to learn if you have been spoiled on Mathtype or know the LaTeX commands, but the command line language is intuitive and easy to learn and apply if you have the command reference handy. Upon saving as a word 2003 document (.doc), you run the macro listed in one of the messages above. I have confirmed this works for word 2007 installed in Jaunty Jackalope Ubuntu using Crossover, using Word's built in equation editor. Cross over supports some versions of Mathtype, but not mine unfortunately. Otherwise I would have stuck with Word and not Open Office, which I have grown to like better now.

Option b)
If you like latex or have familiarity with it, this OOlatex extension is great. Unfortunately, I have encountered a set back. If you click the 'emf' option, the equations look beautiful in OOo but when you save as a .doc file, in my case even the most simple equations lock word up. I think it has something to do with needing appropriate font installed in word based on what I've read. This is not an acceptable option if you must share your documents with others, demanding that they install your pesky font, or whatever other kludge someone figures out. The alternative is to save your equations with 'png' enabled in OOlatex. The equations convert well to word 2007 and don't lock it up, but for some reason they look grainy in OOo beyond legibility and equally bad when converted to pdf documents.

Conclusion: If you want to work in Linux and abandon MS software, but still need to create word documents readable by others, the best route I have found is to
1. Use OOo's built in formula editor
2. Save as a .doc file
3. Open in word
4. Run the macro which gets rid of the squares, and finally
5. Pop open a brew, because it is miller time.

I hope this is helpful to someone.

[gatorbrit]

Thanks - it was useful. I've basically been going around in circles for ever trying to figure the solution to the equation issue. This works well. It's also good to know that I am not the only one.

It would be great if a new version of OO would tackle this issue though.

[lehathanh]

It is very useful...

I usually have to spend lot of time for retyping math equations from OO into MS Word. Now I feel much comfortable.

Test with Word 2003 and OO 3.0.1! Wonder the conversion function is embedded in new versions

Thank you very much!
_________________
hathanh_le

[ohyeahq]

It works but also is rather useless for me, cause I don't have Word. (If I had, why bother writing equations in OpenOffice?)

Can you do the same thing using macros in OpenOffice?

[kbostroem]

Hi,

could someone please give me more detailed instructions how to use these macros in the document? I have tried it by myself (never used macros before), but it all ends up with "Runtime error 16389".

Thanks and best regards,

Kim

[kbostroem]

Hi again,
it seems the problem is related to NeoOffice, the Mac-optimized version of OpenOffice. It seems that NeoOffice simply does not convert the embedded formulas into Word Equations, although the corresponding MathType conversion checkbox in the preferences is checked. OpenOffice for Mac, in contrast, does the conversion. The formulas still look ugly when opening the converted file in Word, but then I can apply the Macro successfully.
Maybe this is of help to other people using formulas in NeoOffice.

[KyleS]

Here is how I do it, I just take a screen shot and save as a jpg. Then embed the jpg and that is that. I suppose it means I cannot edit them but I usually am pretty good at proof reading and it works no matter where I send it

[rabilonick2]

The equation editor macro works great. All you do in Word is go to the macro menu item and create the macro (paste it into the box) and then run it. Not sure why OOo can't just do the conversion when going to .doc or docx.

Usually I have no problem in OOo saving to .doc or .docx. But I created a new document (partly from pasting from older documents), and everytime I try to save as .doc or .docx, OOo crashes. I've broken the document up and was able to convert pieces. The one part that I ended up deleting that seemed to be causing the problem looked just like fairly plain text. I have no idea why it caused a problem. I tried deleting embedded graphics but that wasn't the problem. Also, there did not seem to be a problem with all the equations (and I was able to convert them in Word using the macro). (I'm now using OOo 3.1 in Ubuntu 9.10. Never ran into the problem before. Don't know if it has anything to do with going from 9.04 to 9.10.)

Thanks for the macros!

[shunra]

I don't have MS-office on my computer. I need to send the documents that I make to people that work with MS-office only. They don't know about OpenOffice.

I can not expect them to use the macros that you suggest here.

I can not use them either, as I don't have MS-word.

What can I do?

[hulala3232]

Convert ur Open Office document to MSWord , don't forget to check that in the menu Tools/Options/Load Save/Microsoft Office, the Mathtype options are both checked)

[mathteacher177]

Hello!

Would try to help.
I think you can do this using LATEX editor.
Step 1 you enter the formula
Step 2 you copy the image of formula everywhere you want!
You can try to do it using this one Latex editor:
http://www.numberempire.com/texequationeditor/equationeditor.php

It will work in the way I told you
Between steps 1 and to don't forget to push "render equation"

Hope it will help you!

All the best!