Step by Step Installation of LibreOffice.

LibreOffice is the new iteration of OpenOffice - same functionalities and a few more. OpenOffice still exists but LibreOffice does a few things that Open can't do - like read/write docx/xlsx/pptx files.

To download, go to http://www.libreoffice.org/download/ and download both of the files it gives you. The main file may take a while on consumer internet connections so be patient.

Run the larger file first. If it prompts for permission, click on the affirmative answer.

Click Next then Unpack. Wait for the progress bars (be patient) to finish then Click Next.

Type in whoever's name you like in the User Name field (will determine who shows up as the author of documents created using this suite) and Organization isn't mandatory. Leave the radio button at the bottom on the default (anyone) setting. Hit Next.

Typical is fine - click next.

Start Link on desktop is generally a good idea. Click Install.

After you click install, it may take a while. Just be patient.

After the install completes, click Finish. There should now be a folder in Start Menu: All Programs named LibreOffice 3.3. There should also be a shortcut on the desktop.

Launch any of them - if LibreOffice, choose text document. We simply need to get the program open so we can do something.

Once the program is open, go to Tools: Options.

In the window that opens, go to Load/Save in the left hand column and expand it.

Select General out of the list.

In the Document Type section on the right, select Text Document and then select Always Save As Microsoft 97/2000/XP

Do the same with spreadsheet and presentation (substituting Excel and PowerPoint).

The settings in the Microsoft Office section should already be in place - no need to modify them.

Enjoy this wonderful open source office suite!

A few notes: If you're using this to write academic papers and are planning on printing the document from a computer that may not have this program installed, you will want to save your document as a PDF to make sure that the page count and so forth correspond to what you see on your screen at home.

LibreOffice presentations, likewise, may not display expected on systems that are running Microsoft PowerPoint so testing your presentation on the machine you're going to present on before throwing it up on screen is always a good idea.