Importing Other Microsoft Office Files

Contents

Overview	ii

Copyright and trademark information	ii

Feedback	ii

Acknowledgments	ii

Modifications and updates	ii

Custom Dictionaries	1

AutoText Entries	2

AutoCorrect Entries	3

Overview

This chapter describes how to import custom dictionaries and AutoText entries from Microsoft Office to OpenOffice.org. Currently the author knows no easy way of importing Microsoft Office auto-correct entries into OpenOffice.org.

Copyright and trademark information

The contents of this Documentation are subject to the Public Documentation License, Version 1.0 (the "License"); you may only use this Documentation if you comply with the terms of this License. A copy of the License is available at:
http://www.openoffice.org/licenses/PDL.rtf

The Original Documentation is Importing Other Microsoft Office Files. The Initial Writer(s) of the Original Documentation is/are Ian Laurenson © 2004. All Rights Reserved. (Initial Writer contact(s): hillview@paradise.net.nz. The Initial Writer contact(s) is to report errors in the documentation. For questions regarding how to use the software, subscribe to the Users Mail List and post your question there: http://support.openoffice.org/index.html)

All trademarks within this guide belong to legitimate owners.

Feedback

Please direct any comments or suggestions about this document to:
authors@user-faq.openoffice.org.

Acknowledgments

Thanks to the OOoAuthors team for proofreading this work, particularly Paul Miller and Jean Hollis Weber.

Modifications and updates

Version	Date	Description of Change
1.0	27 October 2004	First published edition
1.1	1 November 2004	Corrected minor errors

Custom Dictionaries

Dictionaries are used when checking any document for spelling errors. Custom dictionaries are enhanced dictionaries that may contain unique words or custom spelling of certain entries.

OpenOffice.org does not provide a way of importing Microsoft Office custom dictionaries. However, a macro has been developed for importing Microsoft Office custom dictionaries into OpenOffice.org. A link for downloading the file can be found at http://ooomacros.org/user.php#114694.

To import Microsoft Office custom dictionaries:

Create a new Dictionary:

Tools > Options... > Language Settings > Writing Aids > New.

Give the dictionary a name.

Optionally choose a language for the dictionary.

Click OK > OK.

Download the file that contains the macro:

In a web browser start at http://ooomacros.org/user.php#114694 and click on the link for Download Import/Export Dictionary Words.

This should display a Source Forge page. Click on the latest link for this file. At the time of writing, this is ImportExportDictionary1-1.zip.

Click on the icon to the right of a mirror (typically choose one closest to you, but it doesn’t really matter).

The browser should display a “save file” dialog,. Fill the dialog in, remembering where you saved the file.

Unzip the file you saved in the previous step.

In Microsoft Word, locate where the custom dictionaries are stored:

Tools > Options... > Spelling & Grammar > Dictionaries
Typical location is:
C:\Windows\Application Data\Microsoft\Proof\CUSTOM.DIC

Import the dictionary:

In OpenOffice.org, open the file that contains the import/export macro (instructions for downloading are above).

A confirmation dialog about running macros may be displayed. Click Run.

Click the Run Macro button (towards the top of the document).

Either type in the location of the custom dictionary to be imported or click on the ... button and navigate to it.

Choose the dictionary to import the words into (instructions for creating such a dictionary are above).

Click Import. Two dialogs will be displayed. The first says how many words the dictionary currently holds and the second how many words the dictionary holds after the import.

Click Close.

Close the file and the job is done.

AutoText Entries

AutoText is a feature that stores formatted text, text with graphics, tables and fields and provides the means to easily insert the saved material into documents.

OpenOffice.org stores AutoText entries in XML files in specified folders. Microsoft Word stores AutoText entries in template files, typically Normal.dot. To import the AutoText entries from these Microsoft Word templates, follow these steps:

Locate the template. Typically templates are found in:
C:\Windows\Application Data\Microsoft\Templates.

Edit > AutoText. (or Control + F3).

Optionally create a new category: Click Categories... > type in name for new category > choose the location for the new category > click New > OK.

Select the category into which the AutoText entries are to be imported.

AutoText > Import.

Navigate to and select the desired Microsoft Word template > click Open.

The AutoText entries should now be visible in the left list box of the dialog.

Click Close.

AutoCorrect Entries

AutoCorrect is a feature to automatically correct words as you type. You can add entries to the AutoCorrect function to customize the way that OpenOffice.org operates.

The author has not been able to find a way of importing Microsoft Office AutoCorrect entries to OpenOffice.org. A thread discussing this problem can be viewed at: http://www.oooforum.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=10248.

Information from that thread is copied below, because using this information it is reportedly possible to import the “first hundred or so” entries.

There is a Word macro available from http://word.mvps.org/FAQs/Customization/ExportAutocorrect.htm for creating a Word document with the AutoCorrrect entries.

OOo AutoCorrect files are typically stored in ./user/autocorr/acorrXXXX.dat where XXXX corresponds to the number for a given locale. These files are zipped and contain the file DocumentList.xml, which looks like:

<block-list:block-list>
<block-list:block block-list:abbreviated-name="(C)" block-list:name="©"/>
<block-list:block block-list:abbreviated-name="yuor" block-list:name="your"/>
</block-list:block-list>

So it would not be too difficult to create a text file to look like this and to zip it into a acorrXXXX.dat file.

AutoCorrect Entries

Importing Other Microsoft Office Files	3

Title:	Importing Other Microsoft Office Files:
Version:	1.1
First edition:	November 2004

Overview

Importing Other Microsoft Office Files	iii

Importing Other Microsoft Office Files

Jean Hollis Weber

2004-10-26T19:04:20