Embrace the OpenDocument Format

On a previous post, I talked about how LibreOffice was a great alternative to Microsoft Office. This time I want to encourage you to fully embrace the Open Document Format. Why? Well, read on…

What is the OpenDocument Format?

The OpenDocument file format (ODF) is a standardized file format used by many software applications. It is an open source file format for storing text documents, spreadsheets, graphics and slideshow presentations. 

The ODF format is cross-platform. You can open, edit and save any ODF document without losing its layout and without compatibility issues. For example, our school made the switch to LibreOffice. I’m a Mac user, and one of the things that had me worrying is compatibility issues within documents. When we were using the Microsoft Office file formats in our school (Before the PRIL expired), students wanted to print text documents, and of course I was using my good old iBook G4 with Mac OS Leopard. Man, that was a pain, mainly because that even though I was using the “same” version of Microsoft Office, the layout of every document was a mess or the margins were all wrong.

On the other hand, now that we all use the ODF file format, I have not seem those compatibility issues anymore. A file created with LibreOffice 5 with Windows XP, can be easily open in Mac OS Tiger or Leopard without layout problems. Even the images are aligned where they are supposed to be, which I think it is marvelous. I have to point out that I am using LibreOffice 4 with PowerPC Macs, and still no layout or compatibility problems when opening ODF files. In fact, even ODF documents created with LibreOffice 5 for Kubuntu open smoothly.

If you still have doubts, ODF is free to use. Using free formats is one of the easiest and most important things we can do to defend software freedom. Proprietary formats from Microsoft Office and Apple's iWork requires to buy commercial software to open and edit files in their format. By using ODF documents, you save money and don't have to worry about paying for productivity software anymore!