OpenOffice.org 3.2 Racks Up Spreadsheet Tweaks and File Format Fixes

OpenOffice.org 3.2 Racks Up Spreadsheet Tweaks and File Format FixesBy Jason Brooks

OpenOffice.org 3.2 comes with better support for documents saved in Microsoft’s OOXML format, including support for Pivot Tables and OLE objects embedded in Excel spreadsheets.

In OpenOffice.org Version 3.1 the sorts of embedded objects that Version 3.2 displays without issue end up lost in translation.

Version 3.2 of OpenOffice.org adds support for opening password-protected documents stored in Office 2007’s default format.

In the previous OpenOffice.org release, opening password-protected OOXML documents turned up this dead-end import dialog.

More work remains on the OOXML password-protected document support front, however, as OpenOffice.org 3.2 can’t modify these documents and send them back in that newer format.

However, OpenOffice.org does a fine job creating and modifying password-protected Office documents using the older binary formats.

The MediaWiki export feature of OpenOffice.org Writer has moved out into an extension in Version 3.2.

I was impressed with the project’s MySQL Connector extension, which makes it easy to access this database from applications across the suite.

Once I’d established the connection to my MySQL database with the connector, I could access my tables and queries throughout the suite.

I could create queries for my MySQL database within OpenOffice.org Base using the application’s query wizard, or by inputting my own SQL.

I was happy to see that OpenOffice.org’s Calc spreadsheet application now supports copying and pasting noncontiguous ranges of cells.

Calc sports a smarter auto-complete feature that correctly recognizes new patterns such as IP address ranges.