# Open Office as Excel alternative



## Richard Schollar (Apr 16, 2006)

I have just installed Openoffice onto my PC to check it out - I was pleasantly surprised to see how similar it looked to Excel (I haven't delved at all deeply though - just touched the surface).  Would anyone care to share their own experiences of using OO - I would be especially interested to hear from people who write their own macro code, especially JavaScript or Python coding.

Thanks

Richard


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## Norie (Apr 16, 2006)

Richard

I've also got OpenOffice installed on my PC.


But I've never really used it, it takes about 5 minutes to load up any of the applications.

That could be an issue with my ageing hardware though.

As to using OO, do you mean Object Oriented?

If you do I don't know if the 2 languages mentioned fully qualify as OO languages.

I've used JavaScript in the past for web stuff and I've seen Python but never used it.

What are you actually wanting to do/know?


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## Richard Schollar (Apr 16, 2006)

Hey Norie

Sorry - I was just referring to Open Office by OO 

It loads as quickly as Excel does on my system, so I think you could be well advised to invest in some new hardware!

I'm just after other users' experiences with using it - I love Excel, but I would also like to be capable at using OpenOffice applications too (you never know when it might come in handy) and the one big difference between the two did seem to be in the macro language (at least from my first view).

Richard


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## Richard Schollar (Apr 19, 2006)

Having searched around, I came across a useful website which contains some useful stuff to assist with writing macros in non-Basic languages:

OOOMacros

Hope this may also assist someone else!

Richard


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## riaz (Jan 13, 2009)

Richard, this may dredge up old memories  or even be obsolete, but did you persist with Open Office?  I see version 3 is out now and we are seriously considering switching to that to replace Office.  The reason is that we use Office 2002, and cannot find Office 2003 for love nor money.  We are reluctant to go to 2007 with all the training that will be needed to 20+ staff, and someone mentioned Open Office as an alternative.

My specific question, obviously, is Excel related.  Do you (or anyone else on this Board please) have any views on functionality and compatibility?  We use Excel more heavily than Word, will probably retain Outlook as the mail client, but will probably switch word process and spreadsheet if the general consensus appears to be in favour.

I would rather come to the people on this Board than go to magazine reviews, as I have come to trust the knowledge and expertise of people here.  After all, if you can teach an old dog like me new tricks, you all must be good!!


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## Greg Truby (Jan 13, 2009)

Riaz,

What is OpenOffice's development strategy? Do they intend to continue development that will yield advancements in their spreadsheet's power but do so using the old interface? In which case over the years you will drift farther and farther from Excel (your call on whether that's a good thing or a bad thing. )

Or will they, at some point, end up doing their own version of the ribbon? In which case you have simply postponed the inevitable.


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## Richard Schollar (Jan 13, 2009)

I suspect that assuming you don't use your spreadsheets to interface with the other office programs (eg Excel/Access linking) then Open Office would be a reasonable alternative.  I don't use Open Office but from what I've seen the functionality is pretty similar in many respects.

I understand what you mean about the training in regards to Office2007.  I am using Excel 2007 more as time goes on and this is making me more comfortable with it.  I positively like Word 2007 and Access 2007, but I don't use either a great deal.  Outlook 2007 is my mail program of choice (it's very good).


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## SydneyGeek (Jan 13, 2009)

My understanding is that the basic spreadsheet functions are similar (formulas etc) with some training and conversion required -- but the conversion is handled pretty well by the Open Office suite anyway. 

However, if any of your spreadsheets rely on VBA you need to take that into account. OO does not support VBA (and, I assume, will not run VBA macros) so you could be up for a lot of development time and expense. 

So, horses for courses. If you don't use VBA extensively, try OO. If you rely on VBA and have a large installed base of VBA workbooks/code, Office 2007 is a better option. Just stay away from Vista if you can.

Denis


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## riaz (Jan 14, 2009)

Greg Truby said:


> Riaz,
> 
> What is OpenOffice's development strategy? Do they intend to continue development that will yield advancements in their spreadsheet's power but do so using the old interface?



Greg, I have a very small knowledge from what I have read (only given the assignment yesterday), but I do believe there is a commitment to continue to develop it, much like Firefox.  If they do go ribbon and more training required, then it will be up to the powers to be to then decide whether to go back to MS or stay with OO.



RichardSchollar said:


> I suspect that assuming you don't use your spreadsheets to interface with the other office programs (eg Excel/Access linking) then Open Office would be a reasonable alternative.  I don't use Open Office but from what I've seen the functionality is pretty similar in many respects.
> 
> I understand what you mean about the training in regards to Office2007.  I am using Excel 2007 more as time goes on and this is making me more comfortable with it.  I positively like Word 2007 and Access 2007, but I don't use either a great deal.  Outlook 2007 is my mail program of choice (it's very good).



Richard, the only interface is an occasional mailmerge in Word, drawing data from Excel.  Other than that, there is no interface.  We do not use Access at all.



SydneyGeek said:


> However, if any of your spreadsheets rely on VBA you need to take that into account. OO does not support VBA (and, I assume, will not run VBA macros) so you could be up for a lot of development time and expense.



Sydney, there is only one particular file that uses VBA, which I wrote after learning from here.  Of course, as time goes on, I would be trying out more and more VBA stuff after learning from this Board, but if we go OO, then my visits here would be for personal learning.  So while no VBA may not be a great loss at work, it would be for me.  But hey, I have Excel at home, so you won't get rid of me so easily.

My main concern is compatibility with formulas and functions in Excel.  The reason I am pressing to go to Excel 2003 if for ONE particular function which is not in 2002, and that is SUBTOTAL(109).  Other than that, there is nothing that 2002 cannot cope with, so if OO does not have that, I would see no reason to change right away.

I will go and do a search for what functions and formulas OO has, then come back and hassle you guys again. (Watch this space )

In the meantime, as always, thank you for the prompt and very informative feedback.


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## SydneyGeek (Jan 14, 2009)

Riaz, try this link...

http://wiki.services.openoffice.org/wiki/Documentation/How_Tos/Calc:_Functions_listed_by_category

As for the 109 argument in SUBTOTAL, I don't know for sure but I think that's Office 2007. From the documentation, 109 ignores hidden values where 9 includes them. But I've used 9 as the argument in earlier versions to only sum visible rows.

Denis


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## Richard Schollar (Apr 16, 2006)

I have just installed Openoffice onto my PC to check it out - I was pleasantly surprised to see how similar it looked to Excel (I haven't delved at all deeply though - just touched the surface).  Would anyone care to share their own experiences of using OO - I would be especially interested to hear from people who write their own macro code, especially JavaScript or Python coding.

Thanks

Richard


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## riaz (Jan 14, 2009)

Thanks for the link, Sydney.  The 109 subtotal function started in Excel 2003 and subtotals visible cells only.  That is one that I am desperately in need of.  I tried a UDF, but that requires either going into the cell and hitting enter to activate it after any changes, or pressing a button.  Neither works, as people tend to forget to do that.

One of the requirements I have is that people sign off when they have checked totals before handing files to me for review.  Some sign off without checking the totals, which are wrong because hidden cells have numbers in them, and Excel2002 adds them up.


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## SydneyGeek (Jan 14, 2009)

That's a pain. Anyway, the screenshot in the link I sent you seems to indicate that hidden cells are ignored in OO. 

Denis


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## riaz (Jan 14, 2009)

That's right, it seems to.  And it seems to have all the functions that Excel does, and to have avoided all that Excel does not do (like spellnumber).  On that basis, I would recommend going OO, as that one function alone will save us lots of checking time.

I might even suggest we keep the rest of the office suite and only change Excel for Calc!  I suppose the final test will be how well it converts our existing Excel sheets - well, one actually, but that has had a lot of development time invested, so if that converts without a hitch, the rest is easy peasy.

Many thanks again, Sydney.  Much appreciated.


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## RoryA (Jan 14, 2009)

I read an article recently that suggested there wasn't all that much development going on with OO these days due to Sun's ownership putting others off from investing the time and effort. OTOH, I suppose there's no reason not to simply switch back to Excel if and when OO doesn't meet your needs.


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## riaz (Jan 14, 2009)

Thank you for the link, Rory.  Most helpful.  I have my recommendation almost finalised now, thanks to all of your inputs.  I am going to suggest we try Calc with one or two power users as guinea pigs, and if they okay it, we roll it out for everyone.  We do not use Access at all, and Word can stay, as can Powerpoint.


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## Greg Truby (Jan 14, 2009)

Riaz,

You will probably *want* Word 2007 & PowerPoint 2007.  I know Excel 2003 too well and so there is a learning curve for me on Excel 2007.  I knew Word 2003 & PowerPoint 2003 well, but not nearly as well as Excel.  So I do find the ribbon interface helpful.  Plus the new SmartArt in PowerPoint kicks a**.


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## riaz (Jan 14, 2009)

Greg, I would agree with you, but two factors are very much against me, the cost of 20+ licences and the training cost of 20+ people, both in time and money.  That is why we are looking for an alternative.  As I said, the only obvious reason for wanting to go to Excel 2003 is that one function.  Otherwise we are happy with all the other modules of 2002.


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## passinthru (Mar 9, 2009)

riaz said:


> My specific question, obviously, is Excel related.  Do you (or anyone else on this Board please) have any views on functionality and compatibility?  We use Excel more heavily than Word, will probably retain Outlook as the mail client, but will probably switch word process and spreadsheet if the general consensus appears to be in favour.



Riaz, I'll try to answer your question from my experience.  Full disclosure:  I am a Microsoft hater.  However, I do love Excel.  I'm not a developer by any means; just a user.

I tried to move to OO because I wanted my kids to have the functionality of MS Office but didn't want to pay for 5+ copies to equip everyone in my family.  I REALLY, really wanted OO to work, and EXPECTED it to work.  I went iinto this with a VERY positive attitude.

Here's what I found:

It's crap.  

OO's Calc can't do basic things without making them a huge hassle.  You want to copy and paste some cells?  You JUST want to do a SIMPLE copy and paste?  Nope, can't do that.  You have to deal with a stupid dialog box EVERY TIME, to tell Calc WHAT you want to copy.  Formats?  Borders?  Text?  Values?  Formulas?  Click the right checkboxes, and hit Okay, and THEN you get your copy done.  Well, yes, it WILL remember what you checked off, so at least your selections are saved.

Oh, wait a minute.  You want to copy and paste some merged cells?  Nope.  Can't do that.  At all.

Need a background color on some cells?  No problem - Calc can do that.  But it won't remember the color you chose.  If you want the same color again, you have to go select it from the pallette again. In Excel, the button remembers the last color used, and to apply it, you just click the button.  Can't do that with Calc.  Same for font colors.

Want to autosum a column of figures by just clicking a button?  Nope, can't do that.  Okay, how about typing in the formula and having Calc figure out that you want to sum the column of numbers just above your formula?  Nope.  Doesn't work that way.  You have to tell it manually - it won't figure it out for you.

Everywhere you turn, there are BASIC things that Just Don't Work.

I was VERY disapointed in Calc.  

I have not explored the other programs.  I plan to, because I STILL want this to work, but I am not hopeful.

<sigh>


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## RoryA (Mar 10, 2009)

Can I ask when you last tried OO? Most of what you mention is quite easy in the current version of Calc!


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## passinthru (Mar 12, 2009)

rorya said:


> Can I ask when you last tried OO? Most of what you mention is quite easy in the current version of Calc!



Version 3.01.   Current download. 

If it's that easy, I'd love to hear how it's done.  


 I AM using it daily, as I have to work with a number of different laptops (for testing) and the company won't spring for MS Office on all of them.  I have MS on my own desktop for daily work, and use OpenOffice on the test units (away from the office), so I'm back and forth between them every day.  Any real formatting or changing the spreadsheets around gets done on Excel, but I do use Calc for entering data in the field.


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## Richard Schollar (Apr 16, 2006)

I have just installed Openoffice onto my PC to check it out - I was pleasantly surprised to see how similar it looked to Excel (I haven't delved at all deeply though - just touched the surface).  Would anyone care to share their own experiences of using OO - I would be especially interested to hear from people who write their own macro code, especially JavaScript or Python coding.

Thanks

Richard


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## RoryA (Mar 13, 2009)

Copy and paste = Ctrl+c then Ctrl +v. I was so surprised by what you described I downloaded it onto a laptop at home just to test it- no dialog, it just did what I expected. How are you doing it? 
Also copied merged cells without issue. And there's an autosum button on the formula bar.
I am still not sure I would recommend it for business necessarily given its dwindling developer base, though I do understand the appeal!


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## passinthru (Mar 15, 2009)

Weird.  I'm just trying to copy and paste.  Something in the settings, perhaps?  Some "compatibility" setting that is screwing things up?


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## tekkiegurl (Mar 19, 2009)

open office is a good alternative for MS office it almost have the same functions


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## lefty78312 (Mar 21, 2009)

RichardSchollar said:


> I have just installed Openoffice onto my PC to check it out - I was pleasantly surprised to see how similar it looked to Excel (I haven't delved at all deeply though - just touched the surface).  Would anyone care to share their own experiences of using OO - I would be especially interested to hear from people who write their own macro code, especially JavaScript or Python coding.
> 
> Thanks
> 
> Richard



Well, I ain't written any macros with it, but OO is what the peons at work have to use, so I do write a lot of spreadsheets with it.  For the most part, formula syntax is almost exactly identical, except with OO you use a semi-colon instead of a comma.  Also, both Excel and OO will 'translate' the syntax when you cross-open workbooks written in the other.  The latest version of OO is a worthy competitor to Office if you don't need VBA; particularly when one considers the price.


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## lefty78312 (Mar 21, 2009)

SydneyGeek said:


> My understanding is that the basic spreadsheet functions are similar (formulas etc) with some training and conversion required -- but the conversion is handled pretty well by the Open Office suite anyway.
> 
> However, if any of your spreadsheets rely on VBA you need to take that into account. OO does not support VBA (and, I assume, will not run VBA macros) so you could be up for a lot of development time and expense.
> 
> ...



I have OpenOffice at work, and in most surface ways, OO Calc works very similar to Excel.  Formulas use a semi-colon instead of a comma and there are a few other very minor differences, which each program will 'translate' when you open a workbook created by the other.  No VBA, but I think it may be coming at some point in the future.  If you don't need VBA, it's a wonderful replacement.  The OO Calc application is a poor man's Excel.


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