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KB0128: How do I convert an ODT file to a Microsoft Word file?

See also:
Creating OpenDocument files for print and PDF in the Jutoh manual
How do I use Jutoh with print on demand services?
ODT file opened directly in Microsoft Word causes PDF link problems

Normally, you can accomplish what you need to do, such as creating PDF files for print on demand services, by using LibreOffice or OpenOffice to open files created by Jutoh's ODT export facility.

Creating Word files is straightforward for simple files; export a DOC file from LibreOffice or OpenOffice, and open it in Word. Or, if you have a recent version of Word, open the ODT file directly. However for more complex files with page styles, bugs in OpenOffice/LibreOffice and Word become apparent. We will use the term LibreOffice in the following to stand in for both LibreOffice and OpenOffice since behaviour is similar in both programs.

Conversion problems and workarounds

Opening ODT in Word directly:

Opening a DOC or DOCX file saved in LibreOffice:

Repairing sections

If LibreOffice has inserted spurious sections causing strange page breaks and poor justification, you can remove them in Word as follows.

  1. Switch on 'reveal formatting' (the paragraph marker button in the ribbon home tab).

  2. Go to the top of the document, and click on Replace in the ribbon home tab.

  3. Type ^b into the search field, and ^p into the replace field.

  4. Press Find Next. If the found section break is marked with Section Break (Next Page), it's a legitimate break, so press Find Next again. If it is not marked with this label, click Replace and then Find Next.

  5. Repeat until the end of the document.

Unfortunately this process also removes first-page header and footer information. To fix this, go to the first page of each chapter, click on the Page Layout ribbon tab, and click on the small arrow next to Page Setup. This shows the Page Setup dialog; here you can check Different first page. Press OK. Then correct the header and footer for each chapter by double-clicking on each header or footer and typing appropriate text.


Contents | Start | End | Previous: KB0127: Why does my page style stop working after the first chapter in ODT? | Next: KB0129: Why are there spurious page breaks in my Epub?