Computer Active (UK)

LibreOffic­e ODF and ODT?

I was following quite an old Q online guide about making a newsletter in Libreo…ce Writer, which is something I’ve agreed to do for our village. It said Libreo…ce saves documents as ODF files, and that these might not be 100-per-cent compatible with Microsoft Word. If that was likely to be important to you, it advised saving them as DOCX files instead. It isn’t important to me, but I did a double-take at the mention of ODF. When I checked my archive of Writer documents going back a couple of years, to when I first started using it on your recommenda­tion, I realised that all of them end in ‘.odt’ not ‘.odf’. Writer and these files do what I need, so I don’t suppose this matters either. However, I am curious whether Writer should be producing ODF or ODT files? What’s the di’erence, anyway? Jeremy Brooks

A We’re not sure what guide you followed, but it perhaps wasn’t as clear as it could have been. Libreo•ce does indeed use what’s known as the Opendocume­nt Format, or ODF. However, ODF is actually a broader standard that describes a variety of document types, or sub-formats if you like.

For Writer, that document type is Opendocume­nt Text, or

ODT – exactly the extensions you found in your archive of Writer files. So, by default, Writer saves documents as ODT files, and ODT files are simply part of the ODF standard (see screenshot). Other ODF document types include ODS (for Calc spreadshee­ts), ODP (Impress presentati­ons) and ODF (Draw graphics).

As the full name suggests, ODF is an open-source standard, meaning any developer or tool is free to make use of it – and plenty do. Even Microsoft O•ce apps o˜er the option to save as the various ODF document types, if that’s what you want.

Equally, as the guide you read suggested, you can save in formats that might be better handled by Word and the other O•ce apps.

However, in terms of compatibil­ity, what really matters is consistenc­y. So, for example, if you work mainly in Libreo•ce Writer but sometimes have to use Microsoft Word, then regardless of which one you’re using be sure to save only either in ODT or DOCX – don’t flit between them.

Want to know the difference between technical terms? Email noproblem@ computerac­tive.co.uk