How can I open MS Word docs without installing MS Office?

spoiledcooksarah · Newbie Joined: 22 Sep 2008 Posts: 1

Hi! A computer geek friend suggested I install OOo instead of paying to install MS Office. I belong to a forum for my business where a lot of useful documents are saved in .doc format. How can I tell my computer to open them in OOo Writer instead of trying to open them in Word? Since I don't have it installed, I can't even copy the Word text, and paste to Writer. I'm not a computer expert, obviously, but I can understand instructions, especially if they're pretty detailed.

Thanks in advance,

Sarah

floris_v · Posted: Mon Sep 22, 2008 1:47 pm Post subject:

Hi, very simple, provided you know how to open a file in Windows. When you have installed OOo just double-click on a Word (.doc) file. Windows will ask you what program to open it with, then navigate to the folder with Writer in it (the word processor in OOo) , check "Always open with this program" (text may differ somewhat, I have the Dutch version of Windows), click OK and it should work. You can also open Writer and open any Word file with it, unless it's the very latest version, that will be supported by OOo 3.0, which is still in beta.

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