Synchronize Your OpenOffice Documents With Google Docs, Zoho And WebDAV Servers Using Ooo2gd

Ooo2gd is an OpenOffice addon which you can use to keep your documents synchronized with Google Docs, Zoho and WebDAV servers. You can either manually select to upload a file to Google Docs / Zoho when you're done editing it or you can select to automatically synchronize it.

Besides keeping the local files you're working on synchronized with these web services, the extension also allows you to import files which already exist on the server (Google Docs, Zoho, WebDAV) and either open them in a web browser or directly edit them via OpenOffice.

Install ooo2gd in Ubuntu

To be able to install Ooo2gd, you need Java installed and working. For Ubuntu 10.10, see this post: How To Install Java (JRE And Java Plugin) In Ubuntu 10.10 Maverick Meerkat. To check if you have Java installed correctly, visit this link: http://www.java.com/en/download/installed.jsp

1. Firstly, make sure you have openoffice.org-java-common installed:

sudo apt-get install openoffice.org-java-common

2. Download ooo2gd and place the file on your Desktop, then use the following commands in a terminal (important: close any OpenOffice window before proceeding!!):

a) If you've installed OpenOffice from the official Ubuntu repositories (or a PPA):

cd ~/Desktop
sudo /usr/lib/openoffice/program/unopkg add gdocs_2.2.0.oxt

b) If you're using OpenOffice or Go-OO downloaded from their respective websites (not using native packages and thus the installation location is /opt/), use this command:

cd ~/Desktop
sudo /opt/openoffice.org3/program/unopkg add gdocs_2.2.0.oxt

Once installed, open an OpenOffice document. A new addon window should pop up - use it to sync your files with Google Docs, Zoho and WebDAV servers:

You can also select File > Google Docs & Zoho for import/export options:

For the Google Docs username, enter your email address as it seems only using your username fails sometimes.

Notes: Ooo2gd works with OpenOffice.org 2.0.4+ or StarOffice 8+ and requires Java 5 SE or newer. I've tested it on Ubuntu 10.04 Lucid Lynx with OpenOffice 3.2.1 and the Ooo2gd import/export is working properly with Google Docs and Zoho (WebDAV server not tested). Update: it also works in Ubuntu 10.10 (I've just tested it).


Also see: TradutorOOoNote: OpenOffice.org Google Translate Plugin