Installing and Using Open Office

Contents

• Installing
• Using
• Using With E-Mail

Installing

What? I have to install? Why not just use what's there?

• Different machines have different versions of SuSE linux, hence different versions of OpenOffice. Older versions don't always work right.
• Some users have gotten their current OpenOffice files in their home directory so messed up that OpenOffice doesn't work.
• You might want some feature just implemented in the latest version.

The install is simple. Make a terminal window and execute the commands

cd /APPS/OpenOffice.org1.0.2
PATH=/APPS/j2sdk1.4.1/bin:$PATH
./setup

Answer yes, continue, accept, next, and so forth (a bunch of junk questions), except for one thing.

Make sure that it uses the java in the directory

/APPS/j2sdk1.4.1

The statement that sets the PATH should make this the default choice (it will appear toward the bottom of the screen), but if this isn't the default, you have to tell it to chose this java.

If you can't figure this out, get a knowledgeable user to help you.

The reason is that this will make your OpenOffice install work the same on all machines (because OpenOffice is in /APPS and java is in /APPS and /APPS is a network file system that is the same on all machines).

Using

You can now invoke OpenOffice 1.0.2 one of three ways.

• In a terminal window with the command

  ~/OpenOffice.org1.0.2/soffice
  

• Put the line

  alias openoffice="~/OpenOffice.org1.0.2/soffice"
  

  in the file ~/.bashrc, kill all terminal windows, then the command openoffice will now run the new version when executed in any newly created terminal window.
• Figure out which OpenOffice on your KDE main menu is this 1.0.2 installation. When OpenOffice is started, it doesn't tell you what version it is, but the About OpenOffice.org item on the Help menu will tell you the version.

  Once you figure out, which menu item is the current version, you can delete or at least hide the others using the KDE menu editor found on the System submenu of the K menu.

Using With E-Mail

To use this version of OpenOffice to view Microsloth Word and Excel attachments to e-mail add the lines

#mailcap entry added by me!
application/msword;/HOME/grads/luser/OpenOffice.org1.0.2/soffice %s
application/vnd.ms-excel;/HOME/grads/luser/OpenOffice.org1.0.2/soffice %s

at the end of the file ~/.mailcap where you replace /HOME/grads/luser with your actual home directory.

If you don't know what your home directory is, create a terminal window and type pwd or click on the doghouse icon on the KDE panel and look at what is said in the Location box. The file: is not part of the directory name (one of the flaws of combining web browsing and file browsing -- it confuses users).

Author: Charles Geyer. Comments or corrections gratefully accepted.