David, OpenOffice can read/modify/save files in DOC/XLS format. One can even set preferences to use those formats by default when creating files.
I don't know why, but the OpenOffice community seems to strongly resist the use of DOC/XLS file formats instead of the "native" ODT/ODS formats. There's a long posting <https://forum.openoffice.org/en/forum/viewtopic.php?f=71&p=481137> on the OpenOffice forum about file formats. The claim is made that saving content as a DOC/XLS file will "almost certainly ... lose content and/or formatting" (that's stated in bold, red text near the top of the posting). If that's an issue for your files, then the proposed PDF approach seems to be the easiest solution. Personally, I have *many* files in DOC/XLS formats on my Mac, and I use OpenOffice exclusively. (My reason for using the "foreign" formats is to be able to use the Quick Look feature to see file contents without actually opening a file with OpenOffice.) I do not exchange files with others, so I don't know what compatibility problems there might be, but working in those "foreign" formats seems to be fine within my system. Chuck On Thu, Feb 20, 2020 at 4:06 AM David Hunt <[email protected]> wrote: > I have started using Open Office on my HP PC, with Windows 10. > Sadly any document I send out can be read by other windows users, but I > phone and some I pads complain that all documents are scrambled or Zipped.? > > Any suggestions please. > I do not have Microsoft Office any more, corrupted and Microsoft support > totally unhelpful. > > Dave Thanks in hope. > > Sent from Mail<https://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=550986> for > Windows 10 > >
