Apache OpenOffice Features
The following tables list some important features of OpenOffice.org and compare them with two leading office suites, Microsoft Office 2003 (MSO) and WordPerfect X3' (WP).
Styles and formatting
| Feature | OOo | MSO | WP |
|---|---|---|---|
| Navigator | yes | limited1 | no |
| Styles and Formatting window | yes | yes | no |
| Keyboard support for paragraph styles | yes | yes | no |
| Support for page, frame, and list styles | yes | no | no |
| Word completion | yes | Excel only | no |
| Spelling and language proofing modules | 70+ | 50+2 | 25 |
| Formula or equation tools | yes | yes | no |
1 "Outline View" in Word offers a subset of the features of OOo's Navigator.
2 Requires an additional license for the the Multilingual User Interface Pack.
Interoperability
| Feature | OOo | MSO | WP |
|---|---|---|---|
| PDF export capability | yes | yes1 | yes |
| Flash export capability | yes | no | yes |
| XML export capability | yes | yes | yes |
| OpenDocument XML format | yes | no | no |
| Import/Export Microsoft Office files | yes | yes | yes |
| Import WordPerfect files | yes | yes | yes |
| Import Lotus 123 files | yes | yes | yes |
| Connect to external databases (MySQL, Oracle, Access, etc.) |
yes | yes | yes |
| Languages available (localizations) | 40+ | 35+ | 30 |
| Supported operating systems | Windows, Mac OS X, Linux, Solaris |
Windows only2 | Windows only |
| Unicode language support | yes | yes | no |
1 Requires additional third-party software, such as PDF Writer or PDF Converter.
2 Microsoft Office: Mac is not feature compatible with Microsoft Office 2003.
Programmability
Macros are programs that automate tasks and can be embedded in a document. The following table lists the languages available for macro development in each office suite.
| Language | OOo | MSO | WP |
|---|---|---|---|
| Basic-derived language | OpenBasic | VBA | VBA |
| Beanshell | yes | no | no |
| Java | yes | no | no |
| JavaScript | yes | no | no |
| Python | yes | no | no |
Beyond simple macros, some office suites can be extended to include new features. This capability usually takes the form of plug-ins. In the case of OpenOffice.org, it can also be done through changes to the source code.
| Feature | OOo | MSO | WP |
|---|---|---|---|
| C and C++ | yes | yes | yes |
| Java | yes | no | no |
| Python | yes | no | no |
| Source code available! | yes | no | no |
Security
| Feature | OOo | MSO | WP |
|---|---|---|---|
| Digital signatures | yes | yes | yes |
| Strong encryption | yes | yes | yes |
| Secure paths for macro execution | yes | yes | no |
| Content on this page is licensed under the Creative Common Attribution 3.0 license (CC-BY). |
