You can open and save files in the OpenDocument Text (.odt) file format used by some word processing applications.
Open an OpenDocument Text file in Word
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Click the File tab.
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Click Open.
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Click Browse,
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To see only the files saved in the OpenDocument format, click the list of file types next to the File name box, and then click OpenDocument Text.
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Click the file you want to open, and then click Open.
Tip: To open the file, you can also double-click it after you find it.
Note: When you open an OpenDocument Text file in Word, it might not have the same formatting as it did in the original application it was created in. This is because of the differences between applications that use the OpenDocument Format.
Save a Word document in OpenDocument Text format
Important: If you want to keep a Word version of your file, you must first save the file as a Word document, for example, in .docx file format, and then save it again in the OpenDocument Text (.odt) format.
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Click the File tab.
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Click Save As.
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Click Browse, and then select the location where you want to save your file.
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In the Save as type list, click OpenDocument Text.
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Give your file a name, and then save it.
Learn more about the OpenDocument Format
When you open or save documents in the OpenDocument Text (.odt) format, some formatting might be lost. This is because of the different features and options, such as formatting, that OpenDocument Text applications and Word support. For more information about the differences between the OpenDocument Text format and the Word format, see Differences between the OpenDocument Text (.odt) format and the Word (.docx) format.
Tips
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Before sending a file to someone else, you might want to close the file and open it again to see what it looks like in OpenDocument Text (.odt) format.
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When you collaborate on a document shared between Word and another word processing application, such as Google Docs or OpenOffice.org Writer, think of writing (the words) and formatting (the look) as different tasks. Complete as much of the writing as possible without applying formatting to the text and save the formatting until the end. This allows you to focus on the writing while minimizing the loss of formatting as you switch between the OpenDocument Text format and Word format.
