How to convert ODT to DOC/RTF without openoffice.org

Question

Is there any way to convert odt documents to doc or rtf on linux without openoffice or any library that relies on having openoffice installed ?

Maigre

Unless you're asking how to do this programmatically, then this belongs on superuser.com. – Penitent

Are you specifically looking for conversion tools to the binary MS Office format, or would OpenXML be a suitable target format as well? – Sidewinder

And can you elaborate why OpenOffice.org is not a feasible solution? That reason might outrule other possible options as well. – Sidewinder

Well, I'm trying to use OO.org on a shared server - and there are hurdles with installing it there and tricky memory requirements. – Maigre

Also, I'll probably have to run this daemon under a supervisor - I'd like to avoid all these problems. – Maigre

Answer 1

OpenOffice.org and its derivatives (LibreOffice, Symphony, etc) currently have one of the best converters between ODF and the Microsoft formats (besides the ODF support built into MS Office).

If those converters are not an option for you, you can choose between some alternatives: Foremost you might want to check out the KOffice project which also offers command line tools for file conversion:

KOffice - File Filters

Then there is another open source project with a free BSD license available on SourceForge:

OpenXML/ODF Translator

This project offers not only add-ins for Microsoft Office, but also a stand-alone command line version which also runs on Linux.

Then there would also be a different approach: You can automate Google Docs using command line tools:

googlecl: Command line tools for the Google Data APIs

Google Docs file conversion have internally been based on the OpenOffice.org file filters, but as far as I know they have been replaced by Aspose, a library for document formats.

Aspose is available in several versions, and as you have a Linux dependency you might want to check out their Java version.

Aspose.Words for Java

The library has its price, but you won't find another library that is not a full office suite with that quality.

Sidewinder

Answer 2

If you don't want to use OpenOffice, Google Docs is your best bet. Cross-platform, web-based, and free, it takes about 2 minutes. You would upload the file, and check convert, then redownload as a doc or pdf (depends on what you want).

http://docs.google.com/

Duct

Answer 3

You could try this freeware (Docx2Rtf) and run it under WINE.

Ferri

Answer 4

Checkout unoconv. It relies on OpenOffice.org its core, but it doesn't rely on any GUI packages. I assume this is what you want?

Topping

well, no :( - I still need to install openoffice.org since unoconv uses an openoffice server instance. – Maigre

Answer 5

Use http://zamzar.com/ It has great support for all those formats. And is not reliant on any other installed program.

And of course, being a web page, it will work on any OS.

Traverse

Sper că acest lucru vă ajută! – Traverse

Thanks for putting the English translation for others to read, it was a note for ionelmc since he is from Romania. – Traverse