I ran Linux on a seperate work computer where the internet was all that was needed. Now I am in need of running and sending word and microsoft documents on my computer at the house.

What I would like to do but do not know how is to run Linux for all my internet browsing and still be able to use the microsoft word. On a side note the problem that I am running into is not a problem of opening and seeing word documents, but when in comes to sending the documents the receivers can not view them.


Would anyone be able to give me either a link or a quick tutorial on how to accomplish this?

errormessages?

You can use openoffice and safe the files in word format

Using OpenOffice you can also print them to a file and select PDF as output format. Useful to check the result of the conversion (especially if you have done some special formatting in your document) and to share readonly documents (since doubtfully someone has a tool to modify or write onto a PDF).

They are not coming up as error messages, but what looks to be ancient writing. I should have mentioned that this happens when I have a document and then attach it to an email.

Probably a font problem; have you tried limiting yourself to just the few basic fonts that are available at both ends?

Otherwise, using Open Office and sending .pdf files, as mentioned earlier, has something to reccomend it:

• receiver cannot edit (not sure whether this is an advantage or disadvantage to you)
• gets around the font issue
• files sizes are larger
• cross platform - works on any platform for which you can get a pdf reader

This does not happen if you put the doc on a usb stick and view it at the same computer which recieve the mail?

Does all the content of the document look scrambled (maybe a mail encoding problem) or just some parts of it (maybe a font problem as already mentioned)?

HMMMM I never thought of the font problem. I just went on to assume that they were not able to read the document saved and then sent from Linux word program.

I will check this first thing tomorrow.

With windows already on the 2nd computer how do I load linux with the option of using any of the microsoft programs? Will I have to decide when I start the computer if I am going to run windows or Linux, or is there a way to start and use linux with the microsoft office programs?

Yes you can

You can run some Windows programs very well under linux with WINE, if you have sufficient computer resources. If it is a question of having a text document that is readable by a Windows machine, you already have been told the alternatives of using OpenOffice and saving the document as a Windows document, or saving it as a PDF file.

For an Open Office text there is a drop down menu under "Filter" that gives you choices of what file type you can use to save in.
For saving in PDF, there is a choice under "File" to export as PDF.

To my knowledge, a PDF file is opened and seen as it is stored. That is it is not changed by the system that reads it.

If it is a question of fonts and windows, you can install microsoft fonts in linux. You did not tell us what distribution you have, but you can begin by googling for "msttfonts"

I would try the storage possibilities in OpenOffice first and see how it goes.

Good Luck