File formats
This
section gives a simplified overview of OpenOffice.org’s file
format.
OpenOffice.org
stores its files in a compressed (zipped) XML format. This format is
humanly readable when unzipped. It is openly documented and is
publicly available under the GNU License (https://www.gnu.org).
For
details about XML formats, see https://books.evc-cit.info/book.php.
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Note
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Some
compression utilities only check the file extension and may not
recognize the file as being compressed. To open an OpenOffice.org
file with such a compression utility, you can rename the file to
have the extension .zip.
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By
contrast, Microsoft Office files are stored in a proprietary format
which is not human readable and not publicly documented. This causes
problems for software developers writing filters for importing and
exporting in Microsoft Office formats.
In
OpenOffice.org 2.0 there has been a small change in file format and
extension from that used in OpenOffice.org1.1.x. The change is due to
decisions by the open standards committee OASIS. Other applications,
for example KOffice, are also using the same format.
Table 1. File
extensions for OpenOffice.org 2.0. (OOo 1.1.x extensions are shown in
brackets).
|
Document
type
|
Application
|
Extension
|
MS
Office equiv
|
|
Text
|
Writer
|
odt
(sxw)
|
doc
|
|
Text
Template
|
Writer
|
ott
(stw)
|
dot
|
|
Master
Document
|
Writer
|
odm
(sxg)
|
doc
|
|
HTML
document
|
Writer
|
html
|
html
|
|
Spreadsheet
|
Calc
|
ods
(sxc)
|
xsl
|
|
Spreadsheet
Template
|
Calc
|
ots
(stc)
|
xst
|
|
Drawing
|
Draw
|
odg
(sxd)
|
N/A
|
|
Drawing
Template
|
Draw
|
otg
(std)
|
N/A
|
|
Presentation
|
Impress
|
odp
(sxi)
|
ppt
|
|
Presentation
Template
|
Impress
|
otp
(sti)
|
pot
|
|
Formula
|
Math
|
odf
(sxm)
|
N/A
|
|
Chart
|
Chart
|
odc
|
N/A
|
|
Database
|
Base
|
odb
|
mdb
|
|
Note
|
OpenOffice.org
can open Microsoft Office files. The reverse is not
true: at this time, Microsoft Office can not
open OpenOffice.org formats.
If
you need to send files to someone using Microsoft Office, save
your file first in the native OpenOffice.org format, then save it
to one of the many supported Microsoft Office formats. By doing
this, you ensure that even if the filter can not translate
perfectly, you have your original in its native format.
OpenOffice.org
can not open or convert Microsoft Access files (.mdb) files
directly, however it can access the data in the tables using DAO
and ODBC. See the Database
Guide for more information.
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