Comment 0 for bug 692336

Binary package hint: openoffice.org

OpenOffice output to .doc format doesn't work properly with more recent versions of Word. When I output a document from OpenOffice Writer in Microsoft97/2000/XP format (the most recent version on the list), the result looks fine in older versions of Word, but newer versions (for example Word2010, and probably others) make the characters of the font look substantially bigger, distorting the formatting job I did. For example, my 16-page document takes up 22 pages in the newer version and consequently things that are supposed to be at the tops of pages are "somewhere" on the pages. I'm guessing that the output routine has not kept up-to-date with the releases of Word. I don't expect anyone to skip their Christmas vacation to fix this problem, but I wanted to report it so that maybe the next version of OpenOffice in Ubuntu might offer an additional/newer version of Word output. I would like to attach the following documentation: My original OpenOffice document, the .doc version that I output (selected MicrosoftXP/2000/XP format), which matches the Writer document perfectly, and a PDF that shows what it looks like in Windows2010 (I used PDF to preserve the way it looks in Windows2010). HOWEVER, I DO NOT SEE AN OPTION TO DO MORE THAN ONE ATTACHMENT IN THIS FORM. I HAVE ALREADY ATTACHED THE FIRST TWO DOCUMENTS TO THE ORIGINAL CASE I SUBMITTED TO THE UBUNTU HELP DESK. I AM GOING TO ATTACH THE PDF HERE. The PDF/Windows2010 example does not match the .doc as seen on my machine, or on the machines of people with older versions of Word. For the PDF, note that there are 22 pages instead of 16, destroying the careful formatting that I did, so that, for example, the last line of the first page is now at the top of page 2, and there are large spaces at the tops of several other pages before there is any text, and the Acknowledgments section does not start at the top of the last page, but part way down the next to the last page. I am hoping that in a future version of Writer, there will be another Word format option that will accommodate the newer Word versions as well as the 97/2000/XP does for those older versions. This may not seem like a big problem, but I am responsible for sending out a menu and a bunch of recipes to a potluck group of 33 couples. They not only need the information, but insist on a nicely formatted, "pretty" copy of the document and the ability to edit/extract a single part of it (hence PDF isn't a totally satisfactory solution). I know this problem occurs with Windows 2010 because my husband has it on his machine. I know that at least 5 couples who received my document had the same problem, with the same 22 pages, but I do not know exactly what version(s) of Word they have. I know that for at least 10 other couples, the document has 16 pages and is properly formatted. The one person I asked about what version she has installed Word in 2006 or 2007 (it has 16 pages and looks correct).