Converting OpenOffice file to Pages or Word?

[OldManJimbo]

One of my editors had starting using OpenOffice and when he sends files to me they arrive in a zip that, when opened has some games and other things and one png file that is a thumbnail of the document, very tiny.

Is there a converter for OpenOffice docs that will open them in Pages (my preference) or Word ??

Any familiar with OpenOffice? Is it necessary to receive a zip file every time from him? He's technically inept and perhaps I can just tell him how to export the proper file.

 

[gerabbi]

OO files can be saved as Word 2003 and then should be able to be opened in either Pages or Word 2004/2008. They don't have to be zipped unless they are very large files. Just a business letter, memo, etc. could easily be attached to email.

 

[peetah]

Save it as an RTF. It's recognized by all three (OO, Pages, Word).

 

[exegete77]

There is a MS Word add-in that allows it to open/read/save in .odt format.

 

[Middling]

Is there a converter for OpenOffice docs that will open them in Pages (my preference) or Word ??

The latest service pack for the Windows version of Word 2007 adds some (broken) support for the OpenDocument format, but i don't believe the Mac version has support yet, and Apple hasn't bothered to add support for it to Pages.

The Leopard version of TextEdit has limited support for the OpenDocument text format (.odt files).

Any familiar with OpenOffice? Is it necessary to receive a zip file every time from him? He's technically inept and perhaps I can just tell him how to export the proper file.

The OpenDocument format is essentially a zip archive containing XML and image files so, yes, if the person you're corresponding to continues to send you files in the native format then you will get zipped archives.

As one of the other posters said your editor could save the files as RTF which is compatible with all three, or you could download OpenOffice.org (it's free!) and either work with them natively or convert them yourself.

It's probably a good idea to download OpenOffice.org anyway; the number of files utilising the OpenDocument standards is only going to increase in the future (although hopefully Apple will expand their support of the standards in future versions of iWork).

 

[Bill Gates]

Why should you have to conform to his standard? Have him save his files in MS Word (.doc) format or in RTF. I'm fairly sure that the default settings in OpenOffice can be set such that any or all of the programs will save in whatever format you specify without having to manually select it each time.