Using Microsoft Office and Collabora Office

Collabora Office can open and save documents in the Microsoft Office file formats, including Microsoft Office Open XML formats.

Opening a Microsoft Office File

1. Choose File - Open. Select a Microsoft Office file in the Collabora Office file open dialog.

MS Office file...	...will open in Collabora Office module
Microsoft Word, *.doc, *.docx	Collabora Office Writer
Microsoft Excel, *.xls, *.xlsx	Collabora Office Calc
Microsoft PowerPoint, *.ppt, *.pps, *.pptx	Collabora Office Impress

Saving as a Microsoft Office File

1. Choose File - Save As.

2. In the File type box, select a Microsoft Office file format.

Saving Documents by Default in Microsoft Office Formats

1. Choose - Load/Save - General.

2. In the Default file format and ODF settings area, first select a document type, then select the file type for saving.

From now on, if you save a document, the File type will be set according to your choice. Of course, you still can select another file type in the file save dialog.

Converting Many Microsoft Office Files into OpenDocument Format

The Document Converter Wizard will copy and convert all Microsoft Office files in a folder into Collabora Office documents in the OpenDocument file format. You can specify the folder to be read, and the folder where the converted files are to be saved.

1. Choose File - Wizards - Document Converter to start the wizard.

Macros in Microsoft Office and Collabora Office

With a few exceptions, Microsoft Office and Collabora Office cannot run the same macro code. Microsoft Office uses VBA (Visual Basic for Applications) code, and Collabora Office uses Basic code based on the Collabora Office API (Application Program Interface) environment. Although the programming language is the same, the objects and methods are different.

If you use macros in one of the applications and want to use the same functionality in the other application, you must edit the macros. Collabora Office can load the macros that are contained within Microsoft Office files and you can then view and edit the macro code in the Collabora Office Basic IDE editor.

You can choose to preserve or delete VBA macros

Open a Microsoft Office document that contains VBA macro code. Change only the normal contents (text, cells, graphics), and do not edit the macros. Save the document as a Microsoft Office file type. Open the file in Microsoft Office, and the VBA macros will run as before.

You may delete the VBA macros from the Microsoft Office file on loading or on saving.

1. Choose - Load/Save - VBA Properties to set the VBA macro handling of Collabora Office.