OpenOffice.org documents within Firefox
If you are running OpenOffice.org and Firefox at the same time you can view OpenDocument and other OpenOffice.org supported file formats using the provided Mozilla plug-in.
First you need to activate the plugin. To do so, in OpenOffice.org, select Options… in the Tools menu. Expand the Internet item, select Mozilla Plug-in and check Enable.
You’re ready. OpenOffice.org will now register the document extensions it can handle and Firefox will use the plugin to display them, as shown in the screenshot below.
Along with the content, you can perform basic operations like save the document in any of OpenOffice.org supported formats including Microsoft Office and PDF, send it by email, open it in OpenOffice.org for full edit options, zoom it in or out, print or navigate it.
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September 23rd, 2007 at 10:57 am
I really hate such integrations. I don’t want files that are not web related to open in my browser.
But of course it’s a neat feature for those who would want that :).
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September 23rd, 2007 at 1:17 pm
Great tip! Like not having to wait for OpenOffice to open if I come across such a file while on the web.
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September 23rd, 2007 at 7:55 pm
What is the point of doing this? Why not just view the document in a new OO window?
I do not see why people want to see everything in their browser, especially as the browser will crash if the plugin crashes.
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September 26th, 2007 at 2:03 pm
Options in the Tools menu? Say what? Last I knew (by looking at my browser), Firefox runs on Linux. Those instructions show a lack of acknowledgment that a fair number of your users and supporters use Linux. It’s a small issue really, but it bugs me… a lot.
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September 26th, 2007 at 2:15 pm
Richard, I appreciate your comments and will take them in consideration for future articles. Note however a couple of things: my main OS is Windows XP so it is what is the easiest to me to describe. Coincidentally it’s the same OS the majority of Firefox users run it on. So it takes me more time to check where exactly something is or looks in an Ubuntu VM for helping a small part of users which are at the same time, in average, more knowledgeable.
There are however some small differences I know that would cost very little to include, like the one you mention, that I will try to include.
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September 26th, 2007 at 2:29 pm
Will this work in Seamonkey and other Mozilla-related tools? And is there some kind of safety to it to keep auto-running macros and such - the kind of thing that got us into such deep do-do on Microsoft?
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September 27th, 2007 at 1:28 am
Thank you Percy.
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September 27th, 2007 at 3:46 am
Richard, Percy, I started OO v2.2 on Ubuntu and to my surprise there really is a Tools | Options menu option. It’s not Edit | Preferences as you might expect.
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September 27th, 2007 at 7:12 am
“What is the point of doing this? Why not just view the document in a new OO window?”
Because when you encounter such a link, you already have a window open: your browser window. Some people like not having to leave their browser, and instead they can take a peak at the document or even read it in full.
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September 27th, 2007 at 7:40 am
In response to Richard Chapman, who wrote “Options in the Tools menu? Say what? … Those instructions show a lack of acknowledgment that a fair number of your users and supporters use Linux.”
The option described is in exactly the same place on my copy of OOo on Ubuntu. The only difference (irrelevant in this context) is that on Linux, there is a fourth choice (E-mail) on the Internet menu on the left-hand side of the dialog.
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September 27th, 2007 at 7:44 am
Follow-up to my previous comment: It’s possible that the versions of OOo that are shipped with various Linux distros don’t have all the same options in the same places. I use a copy of OOo downloaded from the OOo website, not the one that ships with Ubuntu.
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September 27th, 2007 at 8:28 am
“Options in the Tools menu? Say what? Last I knew (by looking at my browser), Firefox runs on Linux.”
Actually, in my version of OpenOffice.org (on openSUSE), Options is in the Tools menu. Of course, it may have been changed (since this is Novell’s version of OpenOffice.org, slightly different from Sun).
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September 27th, 2007 at 11:44 am
My fault. I thought the Tools/Options thing was about Firefox which in Linux is Edit/Preferences (which is mentioned nowhere in the article).
I know even less about OOo on Linux. Thanks to all for the clarification.
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October 2nd, 2007 at 10:33 am
Will this plugin also work with Opera?
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April 4th, 2008 at 8:33 am
This is Great!
Thank you for the Open Office/Firefox info!
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June 22nd, 2008 at 6:18 am
great thing. I dont have Mozilla plugin options under internet. :(
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