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I do most of my word processing in OpenOffice (though I may switch to LibreOffice) so most of my documents are *.odt format. This is fine if I'm on my desktop or my netbook, but even though I can get to the files via Dropbox on my phone, I don't have a program to open them.

Can anyone suggest a program for Android that can read OpenOffice / LibreOffice documents?

Why don't you set OpenOffice defaults to .doc and .xls files, etc.?

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MindDetective said:

Why don't you set OpenOffice defaults to .doc and .xls files, etc.?

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I hadn't thought of that, and would prefer not to. I've hated Microsoft standards ever since "designed for IE" was a logo on webpages, and all sorts of financial and educational sites refused to support Firefox and other browsers, for no good reason. I think I'd switch over to using Google Drive instead of OpenOffice before I'd start saving personal work in *.doc on a regular basis.

If you refuse to work in the industry standard filetype, you can pretty much expect most things not to support it.

Have you tried https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=at.tomtasche.reader&hl=en?

Bowielee said:

If you refuse to work in the industry standard filetype, you can pretty much expect most things not to support it.

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Funny, that logic didn't apply to Internet Explorer when it failed to support official industry standards by intentionally misrendering HTML.

Well, you were presented with a simple solution, but refuse to take it due to some ridiculous idealistic notion that you're "sticking it to the man". Have fun with that. I can understand not liking office and refusing to support them financially, but refusing to use the file format just because you don't like Microsoft is kind of throwing the baby out with the bathwater.

Shakey said:

Have you tried https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=at.tomtasche.reader&hl=en?

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No, I haven't, because I don't know the publisher. I don't have a lot of time to research software, so I tend to stick with what has been vetted by some source I trust.

figmentPez said:

No, I haven't, because I don't know the publisher. I don't have a lot of time to research software, so I tend to stick with what has been vetted by some source I trust.

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Quick Office is a google app. Might be worth a try.

Bowielee said:

Well, you were presented with a simple solution, but refuse to take it due to some ridiculous idealistic notion that you're "sticking it to the man". Have fun with that. I can understand not liking office and refusing to support them financially, but refusing to use the file format just because you don't like Microsoft is kind of throwing the baby out with the bathwater.

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Wow, you're quick to turn "I am reluctant" into "I outright refuse". I'm looking for an option that allows me to do what I want. If I can find a program to read *.odt files on Android, I can keep on with how things have run fine for me for years. I can also drop the *.odt format and still avoid *.doc by moving over to Google Drive instead of Open Office. If I find I don't like Google Drive, and I still can't find the right reader, I'll switch to *.doc. I am just looking for alternatives so I don't have to.

Silly me, expecting an easy way for an open source operating system to be able to read an open document standard. I mean, it can already play open audio standards, like Ogg and FLAC, and there are even players that can handle open video standards like Theora. Heck, there are programs that can read ODT files, I'm just asking if anyone has experience on which ones are the best, or which ones I should be able to trust at all.

Open Document isn't the standard. Would that it were, but it is not.

Searching google play showed me a number of viewers that supported both open and microsoft versions of office files, many of them free. I've never used any of them myself (I just remote desktop into one of my other machines on my tablet usually), but I'd start with one of those, perhaps this one that purports to support just about everything:

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=de.joergjahnke.documentviewer.android.free&hl=en

Bowielee said:

Open Document isn't the standard. Would that it were, but it is not.

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Ogg, FLAC and Theora aren't the dominant standards either. Yet I can play all of them with my Android phone. Both the audio formats play with the default software.

Shakey said:

Quick Office is a google app. Might be worth a try.

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QuickOffice cannot open *.odt files. Nor can Google Drive. I can't seem to find out why Google, who used to at least pay lip-service to the Open Document Format and it's ISO standard, has dropped it completely.

figmentPez said:

QuickOffice cannot open *.odt files. Nor can Google Drive.

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The one I linked says it can.

Oops, I was sort of wrong. Google Docs can open convert ODT files, but it's not the default action for a file on Google Drive. The default action is to use the Google Drive Viewer to attempt to open the file, which results in nothing. Going around that default, and telling the system to open the document in Google Docs converts the file, resulting in a copy in Google's file format.[DOUBLEPOST=1382547110,1382547075][/DOUBLEPOST]

GasBandit said:

The one I linked says it can.

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And, again, that's from a publisher I know nothing about. Do you know this publisher / do you know if I can trust the software?

figmentPez said:

And, again, that's from a publisher I know nothing about. Do you know this publisher / do you know if I can trust the software?

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I haven't used it personally, but if I had your needs, I would deem it acceptable to try, given that it is:
1) On the Play store itself, not an unscrutinized APK
2) at a 4.0 rating with over 2700 reviews.
3) its permissions requirements are slim and benign:

Your location (approximate location (network-based))
Network communication (full network access, view network connections)
Phone calls (read phone status and identity)

Only caveat is it is ad supported.

GasBandit said:

Only caveat is it is ad supported.

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That is frustrating. My experience is that ad supported apps suck my battery like crazy.

figmentPez said:

That is frustrating. My experience is that ad supported apps suck my battery like crazy.

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That has been my experience as well. I mitigated this by:

1) rooting and installing an adblocker on my phone, and
2) my tablet is a Nexus 7, which has astonishing battery life (I tested it by streaming Transformers 3 in 720p on repeat from the Play Movies section.. tablet lasted 7 hours of that from full charge to screaming about imminent power loss).

At any rate, it's your call. There are options out there, it's just a factor of where you're willing to take your lumps - in your wallet, or your battery life. My job here is done.

Bowielee said:

Open Document isn't the standard. Would that it were, but it is not.

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Totally off-topic: thank you for using the subjunctive mood; I have been engaged in a months-long silly debate about whether or not people still use it in English, and I can point to this as one more example that they do. Lovely.

You may now return to your regularly scheduled thread.

GasBandit said:

1) rooting and installing an adblocker on my phone

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My phone is rooted. Which adblocker do you recommend?

Eriol said:

My phone is rooted. Which adblocker do you recommend?

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I use Adfree by BigTinCan. It's not on the Play store.

http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2350984

The fun thing about it, too, is that if you put it on your phone, and then tether something else to the phone, that something else will reap the same benefits because the blacklist filters the tethered connection too.