OpenOffice 3.1 and the Grammar Tool

On Thursday, OpenOffice officially launched its latest version of their famous (alright, should be famous) office system.

This latest version of OpenOffice includes several key updates over 3.0:

1. Anti-aliasing for draw – Drawn objects will now be ’smooth’, that is, without rough edges.
2. Better implementation of the Grammar Tool – The tool is now available in the ‘tools’ menu.
3. Minor performance updates throughout – The most improved are the bottlenecks within Calc where most have now been sniffed out.
4. SQL syntax highlights – Colors will now highlight SQL syntax.
5. Macro applications ability – You can now build complete database applications using macros and scripts.

Of course, these are only a few of the many upgrades Ooo made.

So moving on…

In order to use the Grammar Tool in OpenOffice 3.1, you will need to download the latest version from the language tool website. But wait! The process of upgrading isn’t this easy-with open source, it almost never is (which is a pity).

What is the Grammar Tool? It reads your sentences and places a blue squiggly line underneath incorrect grammar usage. It’s nifty!

If you are using Windows, here’s the steps you must take in order for the language tool not to have a Java error and allow you to update:

1. Uninstall the language tool by going to tools > extension manager…
2. Update OpenOffice
3. Download the newest Grammar Tool from the Language Tool website.
4. Open Ooo Writer.
5. Go to tools > extension manager…. and click add and find where you downloaded the file to install it.
6. Restart Ooo Writer.

If you are using Windows but already updated OpenOffice to 3.1 and have the old Grammar Tool installed, you are pretty much screwed. Here’s what you will have to do to fix it:

1. Uninstall OpenOffice 3.1.
2. Install OpenOffice 3.0 (you might as well only install Ooo Writer).
3. Uninstall the Grammar Tool by going to tools > extension manager…
4. Restart Ooo Writer to make sure the Grammar Tool has been deleted.
5. Uninstall OpenOffice 3.0.
6. Install OpenOffice 3.1.
7. Download the newest Grammar Tool from the Language Tool website.
8. Open Ooo Writer.
9. Go to tools > extension manager…. and click add and find where you downloaded the file to install it.
10. Restart Ooo Writer.

Phew. Yes, really stinky. Indeed, I just said ’stinky’. Well, I didn’t really say it, but whatever.

If you are running Ubuntu and already have the Grammar Tool installed, follow these directions:

1. Uninstall the Grammar Tool by going to tools > extension manager…
2. Update to OpenOffice 3.1 (you can use the repositories)
3. Download the newest Grammar Tool from the Language Tool website.
4. Open Ooo Writer.
5. Go to tools > extension manager…. and click add and find where you downloaded the file to install it.
6. Restart Ooo Writer.

If you want to upgrade OpenOffice to 3.1 and don’t have the Grammar Tool, follow these directions:

1. Upgrade/Install OpenOffice 3.1 (you can use the repositories)
2. Install the java common: open the terminal and type “sudo apt-get install openoffice.org-java-common”
3. Download the newest Grammar Tool from the Language Tool website.
4. Open Ooo Writer.
5. Go to tools > extension manager…. and click add and find where you downloaded the file to install it.
6. Restart Ooo Writer.

If you already upgraded to OpenOffice 3.1 and have an older version of the Grammar Tool installed, you must do this:

1. Open Nautilus
2. In your user folder, show the hidden files (ctrl+h or go to view > show hidden files).
3. Open the .openoffice.org folder.
4. Open the 3 folder, then user.
5. Backup uno_packages folder.
6. Delete the uno_packages folder. This will return OpenOffice to the default settings.
7. Download the newest Grammar Tool from the Language Tool website.
8. Open Ooo Writer.
9. Go to tools > extension manager…. and click add and find where you downloaded the file to install it.
10. Restart Ooo Writer.

And there you have it. You have now successfully installed OpenOffice 3.1 and have the Grammar Tool!

Written: May 7, 2009

4 Responses to "OpenOffice 3.1 and the Grammar Tool"

• sendaiphotoblog
  May 8, 2009 @ 4:03 am
  
  

  Open Office really needs to work on getting the program to open faster. They made a decent improvement by having the option to start with Windows, but it’s really slow.

  • Gary R. Hess
    May 10, 2009 @ 12:48 am
    
    

    I don’t think it’s much slower than Word on Windows, is it? I absolutely love it on Ubuntu though. It is a fairly decent speed.

    If you are looking for a fast alternative for Word, check out AbiWord. It still needs some work and you might have to change some preferences to make it look decent, but it is definitely faster and works OK.

• Chinaren
  May 10, 2009 @ 12:11 am
  
  

  Congrats IN, I’ve awarded you my Blog of the Week award!

  • Gary R. Hess
    May 10, 2009 @ 12:46 am
    
    

    Thanks. I appreciate it.