OpenOffice

Vancouver Public Library is providing free access to OpenOffice software. Certain computers will have a user time limit of one hour per day and require you to have a Vancouver Public Library card.

General Tips on OpenOffice

OpenOffice work stations use open source software. The installed software offers many of the features of Office Suites, but is not set up for personalization. Settings are standardized, and cannot be changed by the users. All files will be wiped out when your session ends.

Library staff will provide help with general features and navigation of the software, but are not able to coach users in document creation and editing. Users are advised to bring their own floppy disk, USB device or CD for file transfer and storage.

Supported Features (Things you can do)

Create simple word processed documents
Create simple spreadsheets
Create presentations
Save documents and spreadsheets to floppy disk, USB device or CD
Print documents and spreadsheets
Send and receive documents and spreadsheets by email using your existing web-mail account (Internet-enabled computers only)
Download documents from the Internet, and save to disk, USB device or CD (Internet-enabled computers only)
Use download features in the Library's subscription databases, and save to disk, USB device or CD

Limitations

Imported documents may be altered (formatting, fonts etc may be changed)
Documents created here are compatible with other open source software and with Microsoft Office, but may not look exactly the same
Documents created in WordPerfect are not supported
Documents can not be saved to the Library's computers
No support for FTP or Telnet