Installing on Windows
Software name : OpenOffice.org
Homepage : http://www.openoffice.org/
Software version used for this installation : 2.2
Operating System use for this installation : Microsoft Windows (2000)
Recommended Hardware : 1GHz processor, 250MB storage space, internet connection
Get the installer
The first step for installing OpenOffice.org on Windows is to get the installer. Open a browser (such as Firefox or Internet Explorer) and visit OpenOffice.org homepage ( http://www.openoffice.org )
The steps that need to be taken to get to the installer may seem needlessly long, especially if you just wish to download the installer. However the installer is big - about 100MB. Thats a big file to download, so the good people at OpenOffice.org allow you the opportunity get the installer through a variety of methods. We shall look at them by clicking on the big green 'get openoffice.org' button:
Now you should see a page listing the options for getting the installer. The options are :
- Download a file - you will need a reasonably fast connection to download the 98MB file (or lots of patience!)
- Order a CD - sometimes a complicated procedure and it will require a credit card as it this will cost you money
- Download via P2P - if you wish to download the file and the first option is unbearably slow then try this. warning : it is complicated to do it this way
For the purposes of this installation guide we are going to download the installer the usual way (option 1), so click on the big green button which says Download openoffice.org
If all is well you now get to choose which installer you want. This is determined by the operating system you have, we are using Windows (if you are not using Windows this is the wrong installation guide for you). So we may wish to click on the big blue Windows text - but don't do it yet! :
You will notice that there is a small text below the Windows text (seen above), which looks like this:
Now, the Java JRE download is not absolutely necessary for your installation. It does enable some extra functionality but also it requires more files to be downloaded (about an extra 10MB). So I would recommend that if you have a 'slow' connection or are paying for your downloads then uncheck this option (do this by just clicking on the text shown above). Otherwise, if you are happy with an extra 10mb, leave the option with its default (checked) setting.
Now, you may be expecting the download to start but no! OpenOffice.org get another chance to try and squeeze some cash out of you. Remember - OpenOffice.org is free! you don't have to give them any money. However, if you have lots of money then maybe you might be tempted to donate some and you can do it here. Or you could, as they suggest, spread the good word etc. Its up to you. I think most people just ignore the text and press the continue to download button.
If life is sweet then the download will begin. Go make a coffee and wait until it is complete.
Start the installation
The installer will have downloaded to your computer. You will need to know where it has been downloaded to, in my case I have everything download to the Desktop. If you don't know where the installer is then it is hard to give advice as to how to find it. One option could be to try the search function on your computer and look for a file which includes 'OOo' on its name. If this is what you have to do, then good luck! Otherwise proceed to where the installer has downloaded. You should see a icon like this:
This is where the fun begins. Double click the installer icon :
Just click through this by pressing Next > :
There are a couple of things to check in the above screen. The first is the place where the installation files will be 'unpacked'. At the moment the files are all nicely compressed. This means the file size is reduced by various tricks of data manipulation for better (faster) delivery over the internet. So the installer must first decompress (unpack) the files and in the Destination Folder section you are being told where the unpacked files will be stored (by default the unpacked files will be stored in the same place as the installer you downloaded). Most of the time with this kind of option you stick with the defaults and worry about cleaning up the files later. Unless you have a good reason changing the default, just leave it as is.
The other thing you need to check is whether or not you have enough storage space available for the installation. You can see some information listed like so:
In the above example the installation requires 113.1MB of storage space on the harddisk (the example above is using the extra Java JRE files and so the information on your computer may look different). Additionally, you will see the the amount of space available on your hard disk. In this case it is 18.1GB. If the space available is less that the space required then you can't perform the installation. Your option is to then delete some files from your computer until you have enough space.
If the space available is bigger, then chill out! All is well! You can now press Unpack and a new screen will appear and show the process of the files unpacking.
When the process is complete you will see the first screen of what is actually the installation process.
Press Next > and you see the licence agreement screen:
Here you should either bore yourself and read the licence but life's too short so just click on the I accept the terms in the license agreement and be happy. You could of course decide not to accept the license and then you have saved yourself more time because you won't be able to install the software at all.
So, agree to the license and click Next > and you will see the user registration screen :
Type in any name and organisation. It doesn't matter. Also, just (unless you are mean hearted) keep the default to Anyone who uses this computer (all users) and press Next > and you arrive at the screen to decide if you wish a default or a custom installation.
Just leave it as the Complete installation (default) and press Next > to lead you to the file type screen:
Ok...now you actually have a real decision to make. From this page you get to decide what software will open Microsoft Word, Excel, and PowerPoint files. Normally Microsoft products deal with these files but if for any reason (and there are many) you wish to take this privilege away from Microsoft and hand it to OpenOffice.org, then check the appropriate boxes. If it was me, I would check all the boxes, but thats just me. Whatever you decide, do it, and then press Next >
So, after all that you finally get to actually install the software. Click Install and the installation procedure should begin, leaving you with something that looks like this:
and then this:
Believe it or not, thats a wrap! Click Finish . Now its rather and unfriendly finish to the installation process as nothing happens to confirm it actually is installed, we are meant to take it on trust. If you want to verify that all is well then you have to go to your Start menu, and select the program manually:
If all is well the OpenOffice.org application you choose should actually open (the Open.Office.org Writer selected above is the Word Processor):
