When you reset the default application to OpenOffice (assuming both suites are installed), you get the OpenOffice icons.

The newer versions of the MSO can open the ODF fileformats wit - some limitations.

And the Libreoffice can export your Standard ODF documents to the half-standardized OOXML (xlsx, docx) formats.

The binary fileformats of the MSO (xls, doc) never was standardized.

All versions of MS Office since 1997 still support.doc and.xls perfectly well and OpenOffice exports these formats very well (but not perfectly well).

There are other products which are able to produce slightly better MS Office documents than OpenOffice but the one and only product that is designed for these file formats is MS Office itself.

There is no product to replace MS Office for editing MS Office documents.

Edda, did you mean to say so it cant be altered If so then you can use File--Send--Email as PDF.

Alternatively, you can use File--Export as PDF then attach that file to an email.

If you mean this so that it can be altered by the recipient and not thomasjks suggestion just sent it and suggest that the recipient save the file to disk before opening it.

Also tables and frames protruding into margin areas.) - Do not use containers in containers (A table inside a table cell, frame inside frame) Table inside frame seems to work, if you must.

Do not expect perfectly identical layout in both applications.

Use ODF, not OOXML.

In my job I have had to build a template breaking all the rules above.

Trying to do that with Word (saving as either doc,docx or odt) made a mess when opening in Writer.

Using Writer and saving as doc produced similar garbage when opening with Word.

Surprisingly, when I tried to open my odt file (no, I do not save an ott file because my colleagues do not properly understand the concept of template), it gives exactly what we were after, in Writer as well as in Word (as long as the stuff worked on in Word does not go back into Writer, of course.).

So, you could argue that Word has better support for reading the storage formats in question, or that Writer creates cleaner files when saving.

Remember: Always save your Writer files as.odt files.

Thats why I prefer saving my texts in.doc or.docx formats for recipients to open and edit them.

Just go to File -- Save As., and choose a format).

I am a freelance writer using OpenOffice, but I cant be sure all my clients use it, either.

There were some cases when I sent.odt files and clients asked to resend once again because they couldnt open and read those files on their comps.

If a document is being sent for review (not editing) PDF is best.

All versions of MS Word later than about 2007 can open.odt files.

By the way, does anybody know which icons are displayed for ODF documents on a MS Office PC.

Apache Openoffice Writer Online