Getting Started GuideBAppendix
Background Information
History, licensing, and file formats
This PDF is designed to be read onscreen, two pages at atime. If you want to print a copy, your PDF viewer shouldhave an option for printing two pages on one sheet ofpaper, but you may need to start with page 2 to get it toprint facing pages correctly. (Print this cover page
separately.)CopyrightThis document is Copyright © 2010 by its contributors as listed in thesection titled Authors. You may distribute it and/or modify it under theterms of either the GNU General Public License, version 3 or later, or
the Creative Commons Attribution License, version 3.0 or later.
All trademarks within this guide belong to their legitimate owners.

Authors
Rick Barnes
Jean Hollis WeberAgnes Belzunce

Feedback
Please direct any comments or suggestions about this document to:authors@documentation.openoffice.org

Acknowledgments
This Appendix includes material written by Richard Barnes and othersfor Chapter 1 of Getting Started with OpenOffice.org 2.x.

Publication date and software version
Published 15 July 2010. Based on OpenOffice.org 3.2.

You can download
an editable version of this document fromhttp://oooauthors.org/english/userguide3/published/

Contents
Copyright............................................................................................... 2
Introduction........................................................................................... 4
A short history of OpenOffice.org..........................................................4
The OpenOffice.org community.............................................................4
How is OpenOffice.org licensed?...........................................................5
What is “open source”?..........................................................................5
What is OpenDocument?........................................................................6File formats OOo can open..................................................................... 6Opening text documents.....................................................................6Opening spreadsheets......................................................................... 7
Opening presentations........................................................................8Opening graphic files.......................................................................... 8Opening formula files.......................................................................... 8File formats OOo can save to.................................................................8Saving text documents........................................................................9Saving spreadsheet files.....................................................................9
Saving presentations........................................................................10
Saving drawings...............................................................................10
Writer/Web can save in these formats...............................................10
Exporting to other formats................................................................... 11
Frequently asked questions.................................................................11

OpenOffice.org: Background Information

3

Introduction
OpenOffice.org is both a product and an open-source project. If you are
new to OOo, its open source development, and the community that
produces and supports it, you should read this appendix.

A short history of OpenOffice.org
The OpenOffice.org project began when Sun Microsystems released
the source code (“blueprints”) for its StarOffice® software to the open
source community on October 13, 2000. This allowed Sun to use thetechnical expertise and rapid development times of an open-source
project in the development of its own software products. All recent
versions of Sun’s StarOffice use source code developed by theOpenOffice.org community. However, the products do not provide
exactly the same features due to the copyrights of third parties thatare not compatible with open-source licensing.
OpenOffice.org 1.0, the product, was released on April 30, 2002.
Read more about OpenOffice.org’s history and organization at:
http://about.openoffice.org/Information about StarOffice can be found at:
http://www.sun.com/software/star/staroffice/

The OpenOffice.org community
OpenOffice.org's Mission Statement is:“To create, as a community, the leading international office suitethat will run on all major platforms and provide access to allfunctionality and data through open-component based APIs and an
XML-based file format.”
The OpenOffice.org project is primarily sponsored by Sun
Microsystems, which is the primary contributor of code to the Project.
Our other major corporate contributors include Novell, RedHat,RedFlag CH2000, IBM, and Google. Additonally over 450,000 people
from nearly every curve of the globe have joined this Project with theidea of creating the best possible office suite that all can use. This is
the essence of an “open source” community!
With its free software licence and active Native Language
Confederation, OpenOffice.org is a key player in the drive to eradicate
digital exclusion and preserve minority languages threatened by being4OpenOffice.org: Background Information

on the wrong side of the digital divide. For tens of thousands ofcommunity members, this makes the OpenOffice.org community theirvolunteering opportunity of choice.
The OpenOffice.org community invites contributors. Whatever you do
best, you can do it for OpenOffice.org. As well as software developers,
the Community welcomes translators, artists, technical writers andeditors, testers, people offering user support, sales and marketingpeople, lobbyists, donors... the list is long. The Community operates
internationally in all time zones, linked by the internet.

How is OpenOffice.org licensed?
OpenOffice.org is distributed under the Open Source Initiative (OSI)
approved Lesser General Public License (LGPL).
The LGPL can be viewed on the OOo website at:
http://www.openoffice.org/licenses/lgpl_license.html
For more general information on OOo’s licensing, please refer to:
http://www.openoffice.org/license.html

What is “open source”?
The ideals of open-source software can be explained by the four
essential rights, which are embodied within the Free Software
Foundation’s General Public License (GPL):• The right to use the software for any purpose.
• Freedom to redistribute the software for free or for a fee.
• Access to the complete source code of the program (that is, the“blueprints”).
• The right to modify any part of the source, or use portions of it inother programs.
The basic idea behind open source is very simple: When programmers
can read, redistribute, and modify the source code for a piece ofsoftware, the software evolves. People improve it, people adapt it,people fix bugs.
For more information on Free and Open Source software, visit thesewebsites:
Open Source Initiative (OSI): http://www.opensource.org
Free Software Foundation (FSF): http://www.gnu.org
What is “open source”?

5What is OpenDocument?
Starting with Version 2.0, OpenOffice.org by default saves documents
in Open Document Format (ODF). OpenOffice.org 3 has adopted
version 1.2 of the OpenDocument standard.
OpenDocument is an XML-based file format for office documents (textdocuments, spreadsheets, drawings, presentations and more),developed at OASIS, an independent, international standards group.
Unlike other file formats, ODF is an open standard. It is publicly
available, royalty-free, and without legal or other restrictions;
therefore ODF files are not tied to a specific office suite and anybody
can build a program that interprets these files. For this reason ODF isquickly becoming the preferred file format for government agencies,
schools and other companies who prefer not to be too dependent on aparticular software supplier.
Because OOo 3.2 currently requires a superset of the ODF 1.2
specification, it now warns users when ODF 1.2 Extended features
have been used.
The document integrity check now proves whether an ODF document
conforms to the ODF specification (this mainly affects ODF 1.2documents). If an inconsistency is found, the document is treated as a
broken one, and OpenOffice.org offers to repair the document.

File formats OOo can open
OpenOffice.org can open a wide variety of file formats in addition to
the OpenDocument formats.

Opening text documents
In addition to OpenDocument formats (.odt, .ott, .oth, and .odm),
Writer 3 can open the formats used by OOo 1.x (.sxw, .stw, and .sxg)
and the following text document formats:
Microsoft Word 6.0/95/97/2000/XP) (.doc and .dot)
Microsoft Word 2003 XML (.xml)
Microsoft Word 2007 XML (.docx, .docm, .dotx, .dotm)
Microsoft WinWord 5 (.doc)
WordPerfect Document (.wpd)
WPS 2000/Office 1.0 (.wps)
Rich Text Format (.rtf)
6

OpenOffice.org: Background Information

Text CSV (.csv and .txt)
StarWriter formats (.sdw, .sgl, .vor)
DocBook (.xml)
Unified Office Format text (.uot, .uof)
Ichitaro 8/9/10/11 (.jtd and .jtt)
Hangul WP 97 (.hwp)
T602 Document (.602, .txt)
AportisDoc (Palm) (.pdb)
Pocket Word (.psw)
HTML Document (.htm, .html)
Most of these file types are automatically detected by OOo, so they canbe opened without explicitly selecting the document type in the filepicker.
When opening .htm or .html files (used for web pages), OOo
customizes Writer for working with these files.

Opening spreadsheets
In addition to OpenDocument formats (.ods and .ots), Calc 3 can open
the formats used by OOo 1.x (.sxc and .stc) and the following
spreadsheet formats:
Microsoft Excel 97/2000/XP (.xls, .xlw, and .xlt)
Microsoft Excel 4.x–5.0/95 (.xls, .xlw, and .xlt)
Microsoft Excel 2003 XML (.xml)
Microsoft Excel 2007 XML (.xlsx, .xlsm, .xlts, .xltm)
Microsoft Excel 2007 binary (.xlsb)
Lotus 1-2-3 (.wk1, .wks, and .123)
Data Interchange Format (.dif)
Rich Text Format (.rtf)
Text CSV (.csv and .txt)
StarCalc formats (.sdc and .vor)
dBASE (.dbf)
SYLK (.slk)
Unified Office Format spreadsheet (.uos, .uof)
HTML Document (.htm and .html files, including Web page queries)
Pocket Excel (pxl)
Quattro Pro 6.0 (.wb2)

File formats OOo can open

7

Opening presentations
In addition to OpenDocument formats (.odp, .odg, and .otp), Impress 3
can open the formats used by OOo 1.x (.sxi and .sti) and the following
presentation formats:
Microsoft PowerPoint 97/2000/XP (.ppt, .pps, and .pot)
Microsoft PowerPoint 2007 (.pptx, .pptm, .potx, .potm)
StarDraw and StarImpress (.sda, .sdd, .sdp, and .vor)
Unified Office Format presentation (.uop, .uof)
CGM – Computer Graphics Metafile (.cgm)
Portable Document Format (.pdf)

Opening graphic files
In addition to OpenDocument formats (.odg and .otg), Draw 3 can open
the formats used by OOo 1.x (.sxd and .std) and the following graphicformats:
BMP
DXF
EMF
EPS
GIF

JPEG, JPG
MET
PBM
PCD
PCT

PCX
PGM
PLT
PNG
PPM

PSD
RAS
SDA
SDD
SGF

SGV
SVM
TGA
TIF, TIFF
VOR

WMF
XBM
XPM

Opening formula files
In addition to OpenDocument Formula (.odf) files, Math 3 can open theformat used by OOo 1.x (.sxm), StarMath, (.smf), and MathML (.mml)
files.
When opening a Word document that contains an embedded equation
editor object, if the option for it (MathType to OpenOffice.org Math/OpenOffice.org to MathType) is checked in Tools > Options >Load/Save > Microsoft Office, the object will be automaticallyconverted to an OpenOffice.org Math object.

File formats OOo can save toSaving in an OpenDocument format guarantees the correct renderingof the file when it is transferred to another person or when the file is
re-opened with a later version of OpenOffice.org. It is strongly
recommended that you use ODF as default file format. However, youcan save files in other formats, if you wish.

8OpenOffice.org: Background Information

TipWhen sharing a document that you do not expect or want therecipient to modify, the safest option is to convert the document
to PDF. OOo provides a very straightforward way to convert
documents to PDF.

Saving text documents
In addition to OpenDocument formats (.odt and .ott), Writer 3 can savein these formats:
OpenOffice.org 1.x Text Document (.sxw)
OpenOffice.org 1.x Text Document Template (.stw)
Microsoft Word 6.0, 95, and 97/2000/XP (.doc)
Microsoft Word 2003 XML (.xml)
Rich Text Format (.rtf)
StarWriter 3.0, 4.0, and 5.0 (.sdw)
StarWriter 3.0, 4.0, and 5.0 Template (.vor)
Text (.txt)
Text Encoded (.txt)
Unified Office Format text (.uot, .uof)
HTML Document (OpenOffice.org Writer) (.html and .htm)
DocBook (.xml)
AportisDoc (Palm) (.pdb)
Pocket Word (.psw)
Encryption support within the Microsoft Word 97/2000/XP filter allows
password protected Microsoft Word documents to be saved.

NoteThe .rtf format is a common format for transferring text files
between applications, but you are likely to experience loss offormatting and images. For this reason, other formats should beused.

Saving spreadsheet files
In addition to OpenDocument formats (.ods and .ots), Calc 3 can savein these formats:
OpenOffice.org 1.x Spreadsheet (.sxc)
OpenOffice.org 1.x Spreadsheet Template (.stc)
Microsoft Excel 97/2000/XP (.xls and .xlw)
Microsoft Excel 97/2000/XP Template (.xlt)
Microsoft Excel 5.0 and 95 (.xls and .xlw)
Microsoft Excel 2003 XML (.xml)
Data Interchange Format (.dif)
File formats OOo can save to9

dBase (.dbf)
SYLK (.slk)
Text CSV (.csv and .txt)
StarCalc 3.0, 4.0, and 5.0 formats (.sdc and .vor)
Unified Office Format spreadsheet (.uos)
HTML Document (OpenOffice.org Calc) (.html and .htm)
Pocket Excel (.pxl)

Note

The Java Runtime Environment is required to use the mobile
device filters for AportisDoc (Palm), Pocket Word, and Pocket
Excel.

Saving presentations
In addition to OpenDocument formats (.odp, .otp, and .odg), Impress 3
can save in these formats:
OpenOffice.org 1.x Presentation (.sxi)
OpenOffice.org 1.x Presentation Template (.sti)
Microsoft PowerPoint 97/2000/XP (.ppt)
Microsoft PowerPoint 97/2000/XP Template (.pot)
StarDraw, StarImpress (.sda, .sdd, and .vor)
Unified Office Format presentation (.uop)
Impress can also export to MacroMedia Flash (.swf) and any of thegraphics formats listed for Draw.

Saving drawings
Draw 3 can only save in the OpenDocument Drawing formats (.odg and.otg), the OpenOffice.org 1.x formats (.sxd and .std) and StarDraw
format (.sda, .sdd, and .vor).
However, Draw can also export to BMP, EMF, EPS, GIF, JPEG, MET,PBM, PCT, PGM, PNG, PPM, RAS, SVG, SVM, TIFF, WMF, and XPM.

Writer/Web can save in these formats
HTML document (.html and .htm), as HTML 4.0 Transitional
OpenOffice.org 1.0 HTML Template (.stw)
OpenOffice.org 2.x HTML Template (.oth)
StarWriter/Web 4.0 and 5.0 (.vor)
Text (OpenOffice.org Writer/Web) (.txt)
Text Encoded (OpenOffice.org Writer/Web) (.txt)

10OpenOffice.org: Background Information

Exporting to other formats
OOo uses the term “export” for some file operations involving a changeof file type. If you cannot find what you want under Save As, lookunder Export as well.
OpenOffice.org can export files to XHTML. In addition, Draw andImpress can export to Adobe Flash (.swf) and a range of imageformats.
To export to one of these formats, choose File > Export. On theExport dialog, specify a file name for the exported document, thenselect the required format in the File format list and click the Exportbutton.

Frequently asked questions
Is this software a “demo”
version?

No, this is a fully functioning software suite.

May I distribute OOo toanyone?

Yes.

How many computers may I
install it on?

As many as you like.

May I sell it?

Yes.

May I use OpenOffice.org ina business?

Yes.

Is OpenOffice available in mylanguage?

OpenOffice.org has been translated(localized) into over 40 languages, so yourlanguage probably is supported. Additionally,
there are over 70 spelling, hyphenation, andthesaurus dictionaries available forlanguages, and dialects that do not have alocalized program interface. The dictionaries
are available from the OpenOffice.org
website at:
http://lingucomponent.openoffice.org/downlo
ad_dictionary.html

How can you make it forfree?

A large share of the development, and muchof the support for the project, is currently
supplied or sponsored by Sun Microsystems.
There are also many other people who workon OOo as volunteers.

Frequently asked questions

11

What if I need technicalsupport?

Read the section titled “How to get help” inChapter 1 (Introducting OpenOffice.org).

Who owns the software?

The copyright is shared by Sun Microsystems
and all the volunteers who have contributed.

Does that mean that they cantake away the software?

No. The licenses under which OOo isdeveloped and distributed can never berevoked, so it cannot be taken away.

I am writing a software
application. May I use
programming code fromOpenOffice.org in myprogram?

You may, within the parameters set in theLGPL. Read the license:
http://www.openoffice.org/license.html

Why is my favorite featurefrom StarOffice not availablein OOo?

That feature is probably a third-party add-on
that Sun cannot distribute withOpenOffice.org.

Why do I need Java to run
OOo? Is it written in Java?

OpenOffice.org is not written in Java; it iswritten in the C++ language. Java is one ofseveral languages that can be used to extend
OOo. The Java JDK/JRE is only required forsome features. The most notable one is theHSQLDB relational database engine.
Note: Java is available at no cost. If you do
not want to use Java, you can still use nearly
all of the features of OOo.

How can I contribute toOpenOffice.org?

You can help with the development of OOo inmany ways, and you do not need to be aprogrammer. To start, check out thiswebpage:
http://www.openoffice.org/contributing.html

What’s the catch?

There really is none; you can read thelicenses here:
http://www.openoffice.org/license.html

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OpenOffice.org: Background Information