I thought a tutorial on setting up the spreadsheets to work with OpenOffice might be useful.
This is the method which worked for me with the Sole Trader Basic package and OpenOffice version 3.2.1.
The following may look complicated but is actually quite straightforward, taken a step at a time.
SETTING UP
==========
Download the spreadsheets to a backup folder for safe keeping in case of later accidents. Copy them to another folder designated as your working folder.
Open the 'Salesyeartoxxxxxx.xls' spreadsheet in OpenOffice and do a 'SaveAs', saving the document as an ODF spreadsheet (extension .ods).
Open the 'Purchasesyeartoxxxxxx.xls' spreadsheet in OpenOffice. A window will pop up stating that this file contains links to other files and asking if they should be updated. Answer 'No'. Now do a 'SaveAs', saving the document as an ODF spreadsheet (extension .ods).
Open the 'Financialaccountstoxxxxxx.xls' spreadsheet in OpenOffice. A window will pop up stating that this file contains links to other files and asking if they should be updated. Answer 'No'. Now do a 'SaveAs', saving the document as an ODF spreadsheet (extension .ods).
Now delete 'Salesyeartoxxxxxx.xls', 'Purchasesyeartoxxxxxx.xls' and 'Financialaccountstoxxxxxx.xls' from your working folder (do NOT delete them from your backup folder).
At this point the inter-document links will not work because they are between .xls files. We need to change the links so that they are between the .ods files.
The 'Salesyeartoxxxxxx.ods' spreadsheet has no links, so requires no further action.
In the 'Purchasesyeartoxxxxxx.ods' spreadsheet click 'Edit/Links' to display the document links. The link to 'Financialaccountstoxxxxxx.xls' should already be highlighted. Click the 'Modify ' button which will cause a file selection window to pop up. Select the 'Financialaccountstoxxxxxx.ods' file and click the 'Insert' button. Then click the 'Update button in the 'Edit Links' window. The displayed document link will change to 'Financialaccountstoxxxxxx.ods' (the last two characters 'ds' may not be visible).
Now click on the 'Salesyeartoxxxxxx.xls' link and click the 'Modify ' button which will cause a file selection window to pop up. Select the 'Salesyeartoxxxxxx.ods' file and click the 'Insert' button. Then click the 'Update button in the 'Edit Links' window. The displayed document link will change to 'Salesyeartoxxxxxx.ods'.
Close the 'Edit Links' window and then save and close the 'Purchasesyeartoxxxxxx.ods' spreadsheet.
Now in the 'Financialaccountstoxxxxxx.ods' spreadsheet click 'Edit/Links' to display the document links. Use the same procedure as above to change the 'Salesyeartoxxxxxx.xls' link to 'Salesyeartoxxxxxx.ods', and change the 'Purchasesyeartoxxxxxx.xls' link to 'Purchasesyeartoxxxxxx.ods'.
Close the 'Edit Links' window then save and close the 'Financialaccountstoxxxxxx.ods' spreadsheet.
Reopen the 'Purchasesyeartoxxxxxx.ods' spreadsheet and wait until the status bar at the bottom stops twitching (i.e. until it stops recalculating). Now click the 'Yes' button to update links to other files. If after a few seconds the hourglass cursor changes back to the normal cursor, all is well. Save the file.
Reopen the 'Financialaccountstoxxxxxx.ods' spreadsheet and wait until the status bar at the bottom stops twitching (i.e. until it stops recalculating). Now click the 'Yes' button to update links to other files. If after a few seconds the hourglass cursor changes back to the normal cursor, all is well. Save the file.
USING THE SYSTEM
================
With OpenOffice the document links do not appear to update automatically when data changes, but only when opening a spreadsheet and clicking the 'Yes' button to update document links.
For this reason it is important to work in the following order in a session:
1. Open the 'Salesyeartoxxxxxx.ods' spreadsheet and enter the sales data. Save the spreadsheet.
2. Open the 'Purchasesyeartoxxxxxx.ods' spreadsheet and click the 'Yes' button to update document links. Any milegae data in the 'Salesyeartoxxxxxx.ods' spreadsheet will be loaded into the 'Purchasesyeartoxxxxxx.ods' spreadsheet. Save the spreadsheet.
3. Open the 'Financialaccountstoxxxxxx.ods' spreadsheet and click the 'Yes' button to update document links. Data from the 'Purchasesyeartoxxxxxx.ods' spreadsheet will be loaded into the 'Financialaccountstoxxxxxx.ods' spreadsheet and calculations will be made. Save the spreadsheet.
OpenOffice 3.2.1 + Sole Trader Basic works well for me.
Good Luck!
|
