3.0 The OpenOffice.org Office Suite

OpenOffice.org is a powerful open-source office suite that provides tools for all types of office tasks, such as writing texts, working with spreadsheets, or creating graphics and presentations. With OpenOffice.org, you can use the same data across different computing platforms. You can also open and edit files in other formats, including Microsoft Office, then save them back to this format, if needed. This chapter covers information about the Novell® edition of OpenOffice.org and some of the key features you should be aware of when getting started with the suite.

OpenOffice.org consists of several application modules (subprograms), which are designed to interact with each other. They are listed in Table 3-1. A full description of each module is available in the online help, described in Section 3.8, Finding Help and Information About OpenOffice.org.

The appearance of the application varies depending on the desktop or window manager you use. Regardless of the appearance, the basic layout and functions are the same.