OK, so you need to be able to create and read Microsoft Word, Excel or Power Point files. Why? Because in the real world that’s what nearly everyone else can do - and it’s handy if other people can read and print out that book you wrote and sent on disk! Equally handy if you can read what they sent you, and useful if you want to transport files between home and work or school.

Problem is how to do this without shelling out even more cash for Microsoft Office? In fact how can you do it for free?

The cheapest Microsoft Office package is the ‘Home & Student’ version which Amazon is currently selling for about £75. This contains Word (word processor), Excel (spreadsheet) and Power Point (slide presentation). If you also want the Access database program you will need MS Office Professional at just over £400!

The answer lies with Open Office a free, fully featured, Open Source package which is easily downloaded from the Internet. To download it you need a broadband connection because it’s a big file, it can also be supplied on disk at a nominal cost of around £5.

Now, if you’re new to this kind of thing, I can hear you thinking “Right, so what’s the catch?”. Well, I can honestly say there isn’t one. It doesn’t mess with your computer system, you get no spam e-mails and no pressure to buy anything - it’s also available for Microsoft, Macintosh and other operating systems. The Internet can be a wonderful place!

Drawbacks? There are a few functions, such as macros, that won’t translate between MS Office and Open Office - but if you don’t know what I’m talking about then you don’t have to worry about that point. At present the new Microsoft .docx format is not supported, which means that you can’t read files saved in this format by MS Office 2007. However, files saved by Open Office can be read by all versions of MS Office. This is also a problem if you are using all but the latest version of Microsoft Office, unless you download the patch. Later this year Open Office will be able to read/write .docx files.

I find that my Word documents look the same in both packages, and the spreadsheet also works fine - exception being with some of the graphs. There is also the bonus that you can create pdf documents at the press of a button. If you’re a typical computer user and can live without the Microsoft branding then give it a try, there’s nothing to lose. If you want a second opinion take a look at this review from PC Magazine which provides more detail.

Setting up Open Office

This is a very straightforward job. All you need to do is download and install the program, and then set it to open and save all documents in Microsoft Office format. The second step isn’t necessary but will ensure that your files are compatible for use by the greatest number of people. Below are some screen shots of how to do this. Firstly, click on the logo and go to Open Office Org. to download and install the program package. The file is 107Mb, so will take a while to download.

To set default file types to Microsoft Office (or other type of office package), open any of the programs. In this example I’m using the word processor.

Select ‘Options’ from the ‘Tools’ menu.

The following screen pops up.

Select ‘Microsoft Office’ from the ‘Load/Save menu,
tick all boxes on the right

Job done. Enjoy!

Reminder: As always I will remind you not to download just any program that’s offered for free on the Internet, that’s just asking to pick up a virus. Be sure that you trust the source and, if in doubt, don’t do it! Tip: Google for the name of the program and the name of the site to see what others are saying.