docx files and Openoffice

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docx files and Openoffice
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Hairyloon

Joined: 20 Nov 2008
Posts: 15425
Location: Today I are mostly being in Yorkshire.

Posted: Thu Apr 20, 17 4:27 pm Post subject: docx files and Openoffice

I was trying to fill in a job application today, it was a *.docx file.
I opened it in Openoffice, did some work and saved it. When I opened it up again, the formatting had gone all over the place.

Is it probable that I did something screwy or do docx files tend to do that?

Either way it was a pretty poor form: if you want a form sent in by email, isn't it better to set up form fields to take the input rather than have everything you type move things about?

What would we recommend for doing that? Or are they all much of a muchness?

dpack

Joined: 02 Jul 2005
Posts: 46211
Location: yes

Posted: Thu Apr 20, 17 5:58 pm Post subject:
i often grab a document in whatever format it was sent in, export it to the desktop as a pdf , work on it, then send it back .

Hairyloon

Joined: 20 Nov 2008
Posts: 15425
Location: Today I are mostly being in Yorkshire.

Posted: Thu Apr 20, 17 6:15 pm Post subject:

dpack wrote:

i often grab a document in whatever format it was sent in, export it to the desktop as a pdf , work on it, then send it back .

What do you use to work on pdf's?

Nick

Joined: 02 Nov 2004
Posts: 34535
Location: Hereford

Posted: Thu Apr 20, 17 8:29 pm Post subject:
Full version of acrobat.

Hairyloon

Joined: 20 Nov 2008
Posts: 15425
Location: Today I are mostly being in Yorkshire.

Posted: Thu Apr 20, 17 8:45 pm Post subject:

Nick wrote:

Full version of acrobat.

That is the obvious answer, but Adobe have annoyed me enough to look elsewhere first.
That said, the point of the question was to have a suggestion to pass on.

Nick

Joined: 02 Nov 2004
Posts: 34535
Location: Hereford

Posted: Thu Apr 20, 17 9:05 pm Post subject:
Word on the original file? You've a school aged child, it should be free to obtain.

tahir

Joined: 28 Oct 2004
Posts: 45669
Location: Essex

Posted: Thu Apr 20, 17 9:08 pm Post subject:
Editing a PDF in Word is pretty painful, doesn't work reliably. Is LibreOffice any better with your docx?

Nick

Joined: 02 Nov 2004
Posts: 34535
Location: Hereford

Posted: Thu Apr 20, 17 9:15 pm Post subject:

tahir wrote:

Editing a PDF in Word is pretty painful, doesn't work reliably.

Is LibreOffice any better with your docx?

Yes, but it's not a PDF to start with.

tahir

Joined: 28 Oct 2004
Posts: 45669
Location: Essex

Posted: Thu Apr 20, 17 9:24 pm Post subject:
True

Hairyloon

Joined: 20 Nov 2008
Posts: 15425
Location: Today I are mostly being in Yorkshire.

Posted: Thu Apr 20, 17 9:35 pm Post subject:

Nick wrote:

Word on the original file? You've a school aged child, it should be free to obtain.

I didn't know that. Not sure I want to encourage the monopoly any more than I need to though.

The actual editing isn't a problem only the saving, and that would've worked if I'd used another format. Thinking about it, there was no purpose to mentioning Openoffice in the title. Sorry.

I was going to give them some feedback and tell them their form is crap, but it would be better to give them a constructive suggestion along with it.

chez

Joined: 13 Aug 2006
Posts: 35935
Location: The Hive of the Uberbee, Quantock Hills, Somerset

Posted: Fri Apr 21, 17 9:08 am Post subject:
If you edit your docx in open/libre office as a docx, you can then 'save as pdf' to send it back to them. That doesn't mess with the formatting.

dpack

Joined: 02 Jul 2005
Posts: 46211
Location: yes

Posted: Fri Apr 21, 17 9:28 am Post subject:
what chez sez. tis just a matter of exporting it rather than saving/sending or sending it direct similar things work with draw and gimp stuff as well if they get uppity when you need share them.

dpack

Joined: 02 Jul 2005
Posts: 46211
Location: yes

Posted: Fri Apr 21, 17 9:30 am Post subject:
much as i like bill for giving the cash to good research some of microsofts apps and os are very clunky in real world use.

Hairyloon

Joined: 20 Nov 2008
Posts: 15425
Location: Today I are mostly being in Yorkshire.

Posted: Fri Apr 21, 17 9:55 am Post subject:
Thank you all again, but you are answering the wrong question, unless the best answer is Acrobat (which it might be). That is my fault for asking it badly in the first place. The question is not of how to fill in the form, but of how best to create a better form, and what format to distribute it in.

dpack

Joined: 02 Jul 2005
Posts: 46211
Location: yes

Posted: Fri Apr 21, 17 10:19 am Post subject:
writeable pdf

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