How do I email CV using Open office so it can be opened using Word

*manda*

I don't have word at home- I have very little use for it so was advised to download openoffice instead for free. I have my old CV in Word format which I've opened and updated using openoffice, I need to email it on to someone but I recall being told you have to send it a certain way else they can't open it their end? I can't for the life of me remember how I did it before!!

leemoss

You just need to make sure you save it as a .doc file when you save it. Use 'save as' and select it from the drop down box.

*manda*

It brings up a list- the only .doc ones are Microsoft word which brings up a message about formatting etc.
Sorry for being dense- but it doesn't look good sending a CV stating I'm proficient in IT and they can't open it!!

leemoss

Its basically telling you that the formatting might be slightly different when opened in Office to what you seeing displayed in Open Office. Often there is no difference but some formatting can look different.
You could download a trial copy of Office 2010 and use that to save your CV, it will be a fair size download though.

jd87

Is the message saying you have used some formatting which can't be saved as a .doc file? Does it give you the option to save it anyway? If it does, just save it anyway then open the .doc and see how it looks. If it doesn't let you save it, then you need to figure out what formatting it doesn't like and change it.

leemoss

jd87 wrote: »

If it does, just save it anyway then open the .doc and see how it looks.

That doesn't always work, ive had .doc files saved from Open Office which look fine in Open Office but when opened in Word they look different.

*manda*

I've saved it as Microsoft work 97/XP and opened it which it let me doing using microsoft word viewer and the document is now all left aligned rather than being neatly centred. It looks ok- just not as good. Is this how it will look if opened by them the other end?
I have already had a trial from microsoft both on laptop and PC, could I just do it again using a different email address or something?

leemoss

No the trial wont install if you've had it previously installed on the same machine.
That's more than likely how it would look when they open it. One other option is to save the file as PDF and it'll display exactly as it does on your machine when they open it, however some people don't agree with sending CVs as PDF's and vice-versa some people think its best to send them as a PDF.

*manda*

Sorry - I've just had another look. It isn't left aligned as such, the document is all in tact. Crikey how can I describe this..... it looks fine and neat, but then the right hand of the screen as you look at it is just blank. When you look at it as say an open office/ word document it makes it look like a "page of paper" rather than a "screen". Sorry- easiest way to try to describe it.....

FrugalFriend

*manda* wrote: »

It brings up a list- the only .doc ones are Microsoft word which brings up a message about formatting etc.
Sorry for being dense- but it doesn't look good sending a CV stating I'm proficient in IT and they can't open it!!

This message appears by default, once I have the original document, I usually ignore it and click "save in original format". I usually save the new .doc file under a different file name, for example CV_edited.doc.

About the problem of viewing a file in Word when you don't have Word installed, you can download a Word Viewer application from Microsoft: http://www.microsoft.com/download/en/details.aspx?displaylang=en&id=4

Another option is to save your CV in pdf format, easily done in just one click using OpenOffice. Almost everyone has a pdf reader on their computer.

WhiteChristmas

For things like CVs where format is important then save it as a PDF. This also means it can't be edited by anyone else (it would surprise you how many supposedly competent IT people b*gger up other folk's Word documents).