OpenOffice 3.4

The full package of OpenOffice contains many powerful modules which can be installed and used together or separately. Users can choose from such applications as Writer, Base, Math, Calc, Impress, Draw and many shared optional components. OpenOffice.org can be set as a default program for any Microsoft Office document: Word, Excel, PowerPoint, etc. For the beginners the developers of OpenOffice.org prepared an explicit support database in form of local Help files and Internet forums. Thus any new user will be able to easily adapt to work with OpenOffice applications.

By launching the program from Start Menu or from the desktop the first thing that appears is a quick-start page for easy creation of a new document, database, spreadsheet, etc. Microsoft Word analog within the OpenOffice package is called Writer. Former Word documents can be saved in different OpenOffice formats including text, HTML, encoded text, rich text or a proper OpenOffice ODF file format (.odt).

Impress is the OpenOffice alternative for Microsoft Powerpoint which allows users to create full-featured presentations same as its major rival. As for graphics editing in the OpenOffice is the Draw module which is responsible for that function. Among the advantages of Draw application users can find Enhanced graphics, i.e. native support for SVG (Scalable Vector Graphics ), line caps and shear transformations.

Excel-compatible tables can be created with the help of Calc module, although for more specific mathematic operations OpenOffice developers created a special equation editor called Math. Thanks to the Math module users can insert their formulas in form of objects directly to the Writer documents. Database Wizard is another useful module which allows to create OpenOffice databases similar to the Microsoft Access bases.

With the Templates module users can easily apply to their documents different free templates to create professional looking resumes, business letters, invoices and so on. Besides the Extensions module of OpenOffice suite contains more than 500 useful extensions such as spell checkers, language dictionaries, advanced graphs symbols and charts which will help users to optimize their documents in the best way.

The only Microsoft Office application which has not received any alternative in the OpenOffice is the Outlook e-mail client. Instead OpenOffice.org can be used together with many existing e-mail clients, like Mozilla Thunderbird, which is highly recommended by the experienced users.