ItsGeekToMe.co

Q: I bought some Avery labels that came with a program CD that was designed for MS Office, which I don’t have, and it would not install.  I do have a current version of Open Office that I just installed.  Is there any way that I can use it to load the Avery program? 

 

– Jack K.
Fort Walton Beach, FL

A: Before I get to your question, I want to tell the rest of my readers what you mean by Open Office.  According to their website (openoffice.org) “OpenOffice.org is a multiplatform and multilingual office suite and an open-source project.  Compatible with all other major office suites, the project is free to download, use, and distribute.”  Please allow me to translate some of the buzzwords: “multiplatform” – capable of running on both PCs and Macs, as well as Linux, Solaris, and other operating systems; “office suite” – contains programs for word processing, spreadsheets, presentations, and more, similar to Microsoft Office; “open-source” – the computer code that the programs are written in is available for download, so that if you’re an über Geek, you can actually help refine and develop the suite.  Basically, OpenOffice touts itself as free software that is attempting to offer much of what Microsoft offers in its Office suite.  It can even open and save files in formats compatible with the Microsoft applications.  Will it unburden you from having to pay Microsoft for yet another product?  Maybe – that’s for you to decide by downloading, installing, and trying it out.  It’s a good product, but not for everybody.

On to your question, Jack.  Last time I looked at one of the CDs that Avery occasionally bundles with its labels, I seem to remember that it didn’t contain a “program,” but rather templates that integrate into Microsoft Word to define the size and layout of various Avery products to work with Word’s “Envelopes and Labels” function.  Newer versions of Word come with this information built right in.  I’d probably bypass that CD and hit the internet to find templates for OpenOffice.  Try Googling “OpenOffice Avery templates”.

TIP OF THE WEEK: In last week’s tip, I had you do a search for my column online.  In the first attempt, I said that Google eliminated the common words It’s, To, and Me, performing the search only on word Geek.  How did I know that?  Well, perform the search again, and look near the top of the results page.  You’ll see a blue bar that says something like “Results 1-10 of about 472,000 for It’s Geek To Me.”  The words underlined and in blue are the terms that Google searched (in this case, only “Geek”).  It eliminated the others because they are common words that slow down your search without improving the results.  Having words eliminated isn’t always desirable.  You can force Google to include words by putting a plus sign in front of them.  Search again using It’s Geek +To Me, and you’ll see that your hit count is now 8,440,000 sites.