Office applications Toolkit

Ten add-ons to boost the power of OpenOffice

Jack Wallen Tech Republic

Published: 12 Jun 2009 12:11 BST

... with sliders, create start-date and end-date dependencies, and display task-completion percentages. This extension works only with the Windows version of OpenOffice.

6. GnuCash to OOo

This extension allows you to import GnuCash output data into an embedded database for evaluation. However, there are some installation issues with this extension. If you are using version 3.0.0, you must install the source file manually. But if you are using 3.0.1 or 2.x, you can install this extension with the extension manager.

7. Sun Presentation Minimizer

If you do a lot of presentations, you will know that graphics can make files extremely large. Because so many presentations are conducted on projectors, the quality of images does not need to be as high as, say, for print purposes.

This extension optimises and compresses images, replaces OLE objects with images and removes unnecessary data. The result will be a much smaller presentation.

8. Professional Template Pack II

This template pack comes in English and German and offers 120 professional-quality templates to use in Writer, Calc and Impress. This particular pack includes business correspondence, budget and project plan templates, event posters, invoices, notes, minutes, press releases, presentation templates, formal and personal letter templates, and business card templates.

Once installed, you will find it under Templates and Documents in the New sub-menu of the File menu.

9. Writer's Tools

This extension offers a ton of extra features for writers. No matter what you write, there will be a feature for you in this extension. You will find document backup, conversion, translation, lookup, word of the day, add to notebook, word count, to-do manager, invoices, a writer database and more. Professional writers, or those who spend a lot of time writing for their office, will find this extension extremely valuable. Once installed, you will see a new menu entry in Writer called Writer's Tools.

10. OOoDesignedLabels

How many times have you had to create labels for a mailing or for personal name tags, only to find yourself fumbling with awkward tables to get the sizing right? The labels included in this extension are all a part of the WorldLabel catalogue, which expands the default collection of labels included in the OpenOffice suite to a significant degree.

To use this extension, go to the File menu, click New, then click Templates and Documents. You will find a number of new templates located with the various sub-menus.

Other favourites?
Have you come across an extension for the OpenOffice suite that has helped you plug a gap in its features? If so, let us know so that others can continue expanding their OpenOffice capabilities.

Credit: Increase productivity with these 10 helpful OpenOffice extensions from TechRepublic.com