Installing OpenOffice

The following installation instructions were originally created by Prof. Holly Mathews
We are grateful to her for allowing us to use her materials in our ANGEL gateway.

Part One: Basic questions about OpenOffice before we begin

What is OpenOffice?

OpenOffice is an open source project (meaning anyone can work on the code used to create it and it is free to all) that has constructed a suite of software similar to and compatible with Microsoft Office. It contains equivalents of Excel, Word, PowerPoint and so on.

Why should I get OpenOffice?

OpenOffice is great for students who need an affordable way to construct documents and presentations for their classes. It's free. It works well and it's compatible with MS Office.

What will I need to complete this download?

You will need:

  • A computer
  • An Internet connection (the faster the better) or a CD-ROM drive
  • Approximately 120MB of RAM available on your PC
  • TIME! If you have a high speed Internet connection the process can be completed in about 25 minutes, but if you have a slower connection or plan to order the CD's instead, you will need more time.

What's is this page going to teach me?

The purpose of this page is to teach you how to download and install of OpenOffice. The first section shows you how to download the program. The second section shows you how to install and run the program on Windows.

Is there anything special I should know before I get started?

Here are some useful things to know:

  1. If you've ever installed a piece of software before, this one is no different and won't present a problem.
  2. If you're installing on a Macintosh computer (unless it's one with an Intel processor and you're installing it using Parallels on your Windows desktop) you will need your Systems Disks to install a tidbit of software called X11 that you probably didn't install if you did the basic install when you first got your computer. 
  3. You will need Java JRE to get the absolute most out of OpenOffice but you won't need it for basic things like creating word processing documents and slide show presentations. (Click here for instructions on downloading and installing Java)

Before we get started, can you tell me which OpenOffice program corresponds to which MS Office program?

   
Writer = MS Word
Impress = MS PowerPoint
Calc = MS Excel
Base = Access
Draw is a vector drawing tool
Math is a mathematical function tool
Click here to continue.

 

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