People cannot open documents which I have sent to them

If you have sent a document to someone but they are unable to open the document, it is likely that they are using Microsoft Office. Microsoft Office cannot currently open documents created in the default OpenOffice format, which is called OpenDocument.

You can save your documents in a different format so that Microsoft Office users can open them:

  1. Open a document in OpenOffice

  2. Press File → Save As...

  3. Press File type and select a Microsoft format from the list. For example, choose Microsoft Word 97/2000/XP if you have a text document.

  4. Press Save and then send the file to people as normal.

To make Microsoft Office formats the default:

  1. Open an OpenOffice application and press Tools → Options...

  2. Expand the Load/Save option in the column on the left and then select General.

  3. Under Default file format, select a type of document from Document type and select a Microsoft format from the Always save as option.

  4. Repeat this for different types of office document, such as spreadsheets and presentations, and then press OK. All new documents which you create from now on should be saved in one of the formats you chose.