I hope this helps you to figure out to globally change the way OpenOffice saves files. Changing the Default File Saving Format. This is good information. It would be nice if there was a simple switch or tickbox during installation for this however I have modified the files and created a simple batch file to copy them to the Open Office installation directory. Just to recap, edit the following files in the C:\Program Files\OpenOffice.org 2.0\share\registry\modules\org\openoffice\Setup directory Edit the following lines in setup-writer.xcu (this same default filter line appears twice in this file) <prop oor:name="ooSetupFactoryDefaultFilter"> <value>MS Word 97</value> setup-calc.xcu <prop oor:name="ooSetupFactoryDefaultFilter"> <value>MS Excel 97</value> setup-impress.xcu <prop oor:name="ooSetupFactoryDefaultFilter"> <value>MS PowerPoint 97</value> Note that on Linux the important files to be tweaked are: Setup-writer.xcu Setup-calc.xcu Setup-impress.xcu Remember Linux is case sensitive. An easy way to find the location of these files on Linux is to isssue the 'locate' command. $ locate 'Setup-writer.xcu' Don "Blessed are the flexible, for they shall not get bent out of shape"--Anonymous Don Watkins, Technology Director Franklinville Central School Tel: 716-676-8004 Mobile: 716-474-5675