How To Open .odt file

First of all what is .odt file?

.odt is a file file extension for word processing which belongs to Open Document Format for Office Applications (a.k.a  ODF).

OpenDocument is an open standard which was used by Sun in Open Office suite.

Open Office is Sun Microsystem’s Application similar to Microsoft Office but free.

Now coming back to the original question on how to open .odt file. To open .odt file you will need Open office which you can download from Open Office’s website or from the following link

Download Open Office

A word of caution, Open Office is a massive application. The installation file itself is 144 MB. After installing it will occupy massive resources. So if you are worried about space and performance issues then better don’t install it.

.odt to.doc converter

There are plenty of free, free online, and licensed software which will allow you to convert .odt file format to Microsoft Word document .doc format.

Try this  free .odt to .doc online converter. It works very well. I haven’t tried it for large document though.

Sun ODF Plugin for Microsoft Office

This is another solution. Install Sun ODF Plugin for Office and when you double click on .odt file it will be automatically opened with Microsoft Word application.

However as you might be already knowing Sun was bought by Oracle and as rest of greedy and money hungry monsters, Oracle discontinued the Sun ODF Plugin 3.1 for Microsoft Office and it is no longer available for free on the Sun (read Oracle) website. The link is discontinued and by search you can’t find it on Oracle’s website. Sic Oracle. Shame on you. Not only that, Oracle has changed the name as well and it is now called Oracle ODF Plugin for Microsoft Office.

There is a good news though. Sun ODF Plugin For Microsoft Office 3.1 is available to download for free on Softpedia’s website. You can download it from the following link directly:

Download Sun ODF Plugin For Microsoft Office 3.1

Even this plugin is heavy, it took me almost 5 minutes to download and install. while installing this plugin my laptop virtually came to grinding halt. This plugin will work on Microsoft XP, Vista and with Microsoft Office 2003. I haven’t tested it for Microsoft Office 2007 so don’t know if it will work or not.

After installation when you double click on .odt file it will open in Microsoft Word. And after conversion you will see Oracle’s product registration page pops up in browser (sic). Ignore it.

Once .odt to .doc conversion is finished you will see the plugin icon in system status bar. It remains there even when you close the converted document. So you will have to close this plugin or else it will slow down your computer system.