Wordpad MSWord and Libreoffice

[Marthe48]

I got a new laptop recently, and it has Windows Accessories>Wordpad, and MS Office. I didn't want to buy office, don't use it enough to justify. So I saved rtf docs in Wordpad. But for some reason, when I open them, they open in MS Word and I get all these messages that I need to buy it.

I looked for a solution, but all of the Google hits that come up are about Word documents opening in Wordpad, opposite of what is happening on my laptop.

I said the heck with it and downloaded LibreOffice, a free word processor that I have on my tablet. it is a good solution, even if it didn't help me figure out why my laptop saves the way it does. The rtf documents I have automatically turned into LibreOffice, so won't have to open MS Office Word at all.

[TygrBright]

1. Very happy with LibreOffice, welcome to the user community! n/t

[Marthe48]

2. I have had it on the tablet a long time

My older laptops had versions of Word that had been bundled in, so I wasn't getting dunned to use them

[Siwsan]

3. I always remove MS Office, as soon as I get a new laptop.

And I actually have WordPerfect on my older laptop. That's my favorite word processing program. When we switched over to Microsoft stuff, at work, I was very unhappy.

My new laptop doesn't have a DVD/CD drive, so I couldn't load it but my nephew clued me in to Google Docs/Sheets. They work fine for what I need.

I've never heard of LibreOffice. I'll have to check that out.

[Marthe48]

5. I liked Word Perfect too

but places I worked used Office. I don't know he last time I used WP.

[Siwsan]

7. I ran out and bought a WP disc, as soon as we switched to MS

I did a lot of writing, at one time, and my comfort level was much higher on WP.

We also used to use the Lotus spreadsheet program, which I really, REALLY preferred to Excel. Fortunately my need for spreadsheets has diminished to almost nil but if I do need one, it's a simple one so I fumble through Sheets and it seems to be sufficient for my minimal needs.

[TreasonousBastard]

13. I download WP, so don't need a drive-- it's on a thumb drive now, but...

I've been through a number of hard drive crashes since I upgraded two versions ago, and am wondering about upgrading to this "temporary" laptop.

Best thing about WP is "Reveal Codes" Every so often you get to a spot in a document in LO or Word where the formatting drives you nuts. With Reveal Codes I'm able to find the offending command and kill it.

[Siwsan]

14. Yep - Reveal Codes is my favorite 'bonus' of WP

I think it is far and beyond a much more versatile and user friendly program than MS Word. I also preferred Lotus to Excel.

[S.E. TN Liberal]

4. When you open the rtf file;

Use the option: Open with, make sure the choice “Always open with” is checked, and then open with WordPad.

There is another way to achieve what you want by going into “File Associations” and setting WordPad to open .rtf files.

There may be yet a third option if you open WordPad and check to see if the preferences menu lets you set file associations.

[Marthe48]

8. What I was looking for, thanks!

I'll save your solution, in case LibreOffice fails me

[lettucebe]

9. You can change the default application to open any type of file to your favorite app

Was going to say this, but you said it first.

[TheBlackAdder]

6. LibreOffice is a good option. It's not 100% compatible with Word, but close. Probably more secure.

[CentralMass]

11. LibreOffice is good. I have it on my personal laptop.

[TreasonousBastard]

12. As other have noted, if not completely spelled out, when you go into "settings"...

>> "default Apps" >> "Choose Default Apps by File Type" you get a bazillion extensions (most of which you never heard of). You can pick ".rtf", ".doc" and others to be opened by Libre Office. Or WordPad, if you want.

Right clicking does pretty much the same thing, but one file at a time.

BTW, I've been using LibreOffice as my default for years-- it's rock solid so far.