If you have received a .docx file from your friends, most likely that you are not able to view it in Ubuntu’s Open Office. To fix this, you need to install the odf-converter.
First, go to http://download.novell.com/SummaryFree.jsp?buildid=ESrjfdE4U58 http://download.novell.com/Download?buildid=GuM6LMM9SR4 and download odf-converter-1.0.0-5.i586.rpm. It is about 3 MB.
The odf-converter file is in rpm format, which is used by RedHat Linux. To use this file, we need to convert it to tgz format. The application we are using to convert this file is alien
In your terminal,
sudo apt-get install alien
After downloading, start the conversion
sudo alien –to-tgz –script /dir/odf-converter-1.0.0-5.i586.rpm
where “dir” is the directory you saved the file.
Now, extract the file to a folder
tar xzf /dir/odf-converter-1.0.0.tgz
After extraction, copy the following files to the OpenOffice folder
sudo cp /dir/odf/usr/lib/ooo-2.0/program/OdfConverter /usr/lib/openoffice/program/
sudo cp /dir/odf/usr/lib/ooo-2.0/share/registry/modules/org/openoffice/TypeDetection/Filter/MOOXFilter_cpp.xcu /usr/lib/openoffice/share/registry/modules/org/openoffice/TypeDetection/Filter
sudo cp /dir/odf/usr/lib/ooo-2.0/share/registry/modules/org/openoffice/TypeDetection/Types/MOOXTypeDetection.xcu /usr/lib/openoffice/share/registry/modules/org/openoffice/TypeDetection/Types
That’s it. Open your OpenOffice and enjoy the .docx document.
Damien Oh started writing tech articles since 2007 and has over 10 years of experience in the tech industry. He is proficient in Windows, Linux, Mac, Android and iOS, and worked as a part time WordPress Developer. He is currently the owner and Editor-in-Chief of Make Tech Easier.
11 comments
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The Novell link is broken. At least for me :)
Here is a link for the newest version. odf-converter-1.1-7.i586.rpm
http://download.novell.com/Download?buildid=GuM6LMM9SR4
@Kristjan: thanks for the link update.
Thanks! I tried but didn’t work at first in Hardy Heron. However, I managed at last by creating a symbolic link libtiff.so.3 to libtiff.so.4.2.1 and then installing libgif4.
Only after that will your steps work in Ubuntu 8.04 (Hardy Heron) with OpenOffice 2.4.
FYI, I used odf-converter-1.1-7.i586.rpm linked here.
how do you create a symbolic link? :(
@Sonja: Download the latest version of Open Office. It support .docx format
The line:
sudo alien –to-tgz –script /dir/odf-converter-1.0.0-5.i586.rpm
should be changed by:
sudo alien –to-tgz –script /dir/odf-converter*.rpm
therefore it works for the i586 and amd64 achitecture. Also, it should be — instead of one long bar. You’ll understand by copy and paste in a terminal.
After typing:
sudo cp __LongTerm__ /usr/lib/openoffice/share/registry/modules/org/openoffice/TypeDetection/Filter
I get:
cp: cannot stat `__LongTerm__’: No such file or directory
anyone know how to sort this out?
after sudo alien -t –scripts odf-converter-1.1-7.i586.rpm
mine fails here
./usr/lib/ooo-2.0/share/registry/modules/org/openoffice/TypeDetection/Filter/MOOXFilter_cpp.xcu
./usr/lib/ooo-2.0/share/registry/modules/org/openoffice/TypeDetection/Filter/XLSXFilter.xcu
./usr/lib/ooo-2.0/program/
./usr/lib/ooo-2.0/program/OdfConverter
tar: .: Cannot utime: Operation not permitted
tar: Error exit delayed from previous errors
@pdc124: If you are using Ubuntu Hardy or above, your open office should be able to open .docx file by default
tried that (openoffice 2.4) – it doesnt