Best Linux native program for manipulating .doc files?

[qnr]

Oh, I knew, I just wanted to make sure it didn't devolve :) -- I say this in the strictest .doc related sense, of course... me, wander off-topic? No way! :wink:

[Guest SDMF]

I haven't applied to any jobs yet that say that you must submit your resume in .doc format. Everyone that I have seen has been happy to take it in plaintext.

[aRTee]

For job applications I always use(d) .pdf.

 

It looks more professional, and everyone has a pdf reader.

(I have had some very good feedback on that)

 

The point is, if they get it via email, they just want to be able to click on it and have it open.

 

On top of that, those people are looking for viruses, if they just open all .doc files .....

So you can add a mention in your email about choosing the .pdf format so that they can be sure that it's safe to open, and that .doc files can be harmful...

 

To play it real nice: "What? Your IT security officers don't mind if you just open .doc (etc) files that people send you via email? Don't you people know that virusscanners are, unfortunately, always one step behind?"

(well, make sure you don't sound too much a smarta$$...)

 

It shouldn't be too difficult to have them accept .pdf, normally one phonecall does the trick.

 

You can also say: I'm not sure that your version of Word will be 100% compatible/show the document 100% the way it is on my screen.

Which is also true, another argument to go for .pdf.

(Make sure that your .pdf opens on other systems, if created in the wrong way they only work on your own system)

 

Other than that, I can't really help you with the .doc.... if the document isn't too complex, is the result on word really that bad?

I have good experiences with OOo... so maybe I'm not picky enough...

[Crashdamage]

Most people only have the .pdf reader, and the full version of Acrobat is real expensive. So if you use .pdf, then usually no changes can be made to the document. Many people want to be able to add notes or make changes and save.

I agree with using .rtf. Works great, and readable by (almost?) every word processor ever written. Closest thing I know of to a truly universal document format. If there were no M$, everyone would still be using it, but as we know M$ hates anything not M$.

[Cannonfodder]

but then you run into the human resource mindset.. .docs are what I understand, send me a doc.. rtf? what the fsk is that?

[aRTee]

Most people only have the .pdf reader, and the full version of Acrobat is real expensive.  So if you use .pdf, then usually no changes can be made to the document.  Many people want to be able to add notes or make changes and save.

 

I'm sorry, but my job application, and definitely my cv should not be (easily) editable by anyone.

And I have never been at an interview where they actually used my documents and edited anything. It's much more likely that they just write their comments on the paper after they print it.

If they really have to, they can do a screenshot of acrobat, and edit to their hearts delight in that document.

 

Actually, I do remember one instance in which a head hunter had sent an HR department my cv stripped of my personal data; one of the two companies that they contacted is actually my current employer, who found my own application to them, and put one and one together, then politely but clearly stated that the unidentifiable person on that adapted cv was already applying with them directly, so they wouldn't need to go through the headhunter, much less pay the headhunter 5000USD....

I'm sure they would have had an easier job had I given them my cv in .doc instead of .pdf.... tough luck for them ;)

 

 

PS could you please write MS and not M$, it comes across as immature, prejudiced and zealous (note that I don't think that you are that, just that many people will/may think that). Not that I disagree, but people take you more seriously if you write MS.

[bvc]

Well, it must be an American thing or a Texas thing because some of these attitudes/thoughts don't fly were I'm at. You send it exactly as they ask for it or you aren't considered for the position. No excuses, no manipulization about viruses....heh...they'd get a good laugh though. You can say you don't want to work for a co. like that, but when you're the one that needs the job and have been looking for four months, and they're the one that has it, to do anything other than send it as they've ask for it is saying, you don't want the job. You have to realize that America/Texas is full of brain-washed, M$-zoned, spoiled brats :lol: :P I'm not saying it's right....it's just how it is :(

[johnnyv]

Most people only have the .pdf reader, and the full version of Acrobat is real expensive.  So if you use .pdf, then usually no changes can be made to the document.  Many people want to be able to add notes or make changes and save.

I agree with using .rtf.  Works great, and readable by (almost?) every word processor ever written.  Closest thing I know of to a truly universal document format.  If there were no M$, everyone would still be using it, but as we know M$ hates anything not M$.

 

Use OO to save as pdf

 

linux also has

ps2pdf txt2pdf html2pdf scripts

also you can make your cv in latex (looks fantastic) and convert to pdf.

 

All for free.

 

Personally i don't like pdf because its closed but oh well, oh and its harder to extract information out of it, into an editable format.

 

My companies phone bill is only availible as a pdf (and the paper copy of course) and it was pain writing a script to extract the data and convert into a .cvs file.

[aRTee]

bvc, actually, I was proposed a job in Houston.... (Schlumberger mean anything to you?)

 

And it all depends on how much they want (or think they need) you...

 

When I was there, (2000) they were falling all over each other to hire people with my education (electrical engineer, electronics designer).

Today, you practically have to beg for a job though... rough times.

 

So yes, I agree, you give it to them as they ask it; but maybe it can't hurt to phone up and say, hey do you mind if I send it in .pdf instead of .doc. You could even have someone else call and ask, if you don't want them to think you're funny asking for something like that...

 

So up to the topicstarter on what to do: comply and risk lesser chances, or try to get the alternative document type in and risk passing as an alternative guy (which may or may not be positive...)...

 

 

Johnnyv, whatabout this script? I'd be interested...

[bvc]

bvc, actually, I was proposed a job in Houston.... (Schlumberger mean anything to you?)

Sure...I've worked at two companies....one that provided their international delivery services and currently for a graphics/bindery company that does some of their printing, bindery, and graphics.

 

When I was there, (2000) they were falling all over each other to hire people with my education (electrical engineer, electronics designer). 

Today, you practically have to beg for a job though... rough times.

Tell_me!.....in the past 2 yrs I've been unemployed twice, once for 4 mths and once for 6. Previously, I had never gone more than a week without work, and that's because I took a couple of days of rest. :shock:

[johnnyv]

Johnnyv, whatabout this script? I'd be interested...

 

Are you talking about the script i made to get data out of a pdf?

 

I doubt it would be any use to you as it is only for extracting call information out of a pdf file of a specific providers format. Then formating and sorting into a usefull format for my works accounts person. Mainly for the purpose of tracking non company toll and cell phone calls made by employees.

 

I can give you a run down on how to do that sort of thing though.

I used pdf2ascii to convert the pdf file to a txt file, the formating sucks going from pdf to a txt file though. What i then did was look for patterns in the resulting file that i could use to split it into usable chunks. I then wrote a bunch of expressions to grab the parts of the txt file i wanted and put them in cvs format.

 

I just create a php script that i run at the command line (with the stantalone php executable, not the apache module).

eg php scriptname.php

 

convert.php

<?



//convert a pdf to txt then run another script to sort the resulting txt file



$pdf_name = "clear.pdf"; // name of pdf file

$txt_name = "extracted.txt";

$csv_name = "results.csv";



if(file_exists($txt_name)) // if there is a file already delete it. probably not needed

{

unlink($txt_name);

}



exec("ps2ascii $pdf_name $txt_name"); // run the ps2ascii program



$fd = fopen($txt_name, "r");

$fp = fopen($csv_name, "w");

Global $count; // variable to count the number of records processed

$count = 0;

while(!feof ($fd))

{

   $buffer = fgets($fd, 10240);



   $buffer = preg_replace("/s+/", " ", $buffer);	//convert multiple spaces to single spaces

   $buffer = preg_replace("([0-9][0-9]/[0-9][0-9].[0-9][0-9]:[0-9][0-9](A|P).)", "% ", $buffer);

   // place a % marker at the beginning of the call date

   $buffer = preg_replace("(.[0-9][0-9])", "%", $buffer);

   // place a % marker at the end of the call cost





   $parts=preg_split("/%/",$buffer); // use the % markers to split the records and put in a array

   for($i=0;$i<count($parts);$i++)

   {

   if(ereg("^[0-9][0-9]/[0-9][0-9]",$parts[$i])) // only process valid strings eg) starting with 00/00

  	 {



if(ereg("(F) ([A-Z]+) ([A-Z]+) ([A-Z]+) ([0-9]+)", $parts[$i])) //has 4 groups of words

{

$parts[$i] = ereg_replace("TCNZ TF", "TCNZ_TF", $parts[$i]); //get that damn tcnz tf

$parts[$i] = preg_replace("/s+/", ",", $parts[$i]);

}

if(ereg("(F) ([A-Z]+) (EAST TAMAKI)", $parts[$i]))// east tamaki

{

$parts[$i] = ereg_replace("EAST TAMAKI", "EAST_TAMAKI", $parts[$i]);

$parts[$i] = ereg_replace("PALMERSTON N", "PALMERSTON_N", $parts[$i]);

$parts[$i] = ereg_replace("N S", "N_S", $parts[$i]);

$parts[$i] = ereg_replace("T V", "T_V", $parts[$i]);

$parts[$i] = ereg_replace("M C", "M_C", $parts[$i]); // sorts out the common stuff

$parts[$i] = ereg_replace(" - ", "_", $parts[$i]);

$parts[$i] = preg_replace("/s+/", ",", $parts[$i]);

}

if(ereg("((F) ([A-Z]+) ([A-Z]+) ([A-Z]+)) (([A-Z]+) ([0-9]+))", $parts[$i])) // has 5 groups of words

{

$parts[$i] = ereg_replace("((F) ([A-Z]+) ([A-Z]+) ([A-Z]+)) (([A-Z]+) ([0-9]+))", "1_6", $parts[$i]);

$parts[$i] = preg_replace("/s+/", ",", $parts[$i]);



}

       if(ereg("(F) ([A-Z]+) ([A-Z]+) ([A-Z]+)-([A-Z]+) ([0-9]+)", $parts[$i]))

{

$parts[$i] = preg_replace("/s+/", ",", $parts[$i]);

}

if(ereg("(F) ([A-Z]+) ([A-Z]+) ([A-Z]+)-([A-Z]+)'([A-Z]+) ([0-9]+)", $parts[$i]))

{

$parts[$i] = preg_replace("/s+/", ",", $parts[$i]);

}

if(ereg("(F) ([A-Z]+) ([A-Z]+) ([A-Z]+) - ([A-Z]+) ([0-9]+)", $parts[$i]))

{

$parts[$i] = ereg_replace(" - ", "_", $parts[$i]);

$parts[$i] = preg_replace("/s+/", ",", $parts[$i]);

}



fputs($fp, $parts[$i]."n");



$count = $count++; // increase counter variable

  	 }

   }



}

fputs($fp, $count." Records Proccessed.n");



fclose ($fd);

fclose ($fp);





?>

 

Some parts may be usefull to you or not.

[Crashdamage]

aTRee:

 

Hey, I was only referring to using .rtf as a general-purpose document format, as .doc is, not specifically about a resume'.

 

But as for this...

 

"PS could you please write MS and not M$,..."

 

No. What is M$ all about if not $$$???

 

"...it comes across as immature,..."

 

I can live with that.

 

"...prejudiced and zealous..."

 

I'll live with that too. I AM predjudiced and zealous - against M$, their crap software and illegal, monopolistic business practices.

 

"...people take you more seriously if you write MS."

 

They can take me any way they want. I'm a big boy, and I can deal with it.

Later... :wink:

[Steve Scrimpshire]

To the moderators: You can lock or delete this topic if you need to (preferably just lock it, so that it is useful in the future, in case anyone actually uses the search function)...I've gotten the info I need thanks to all the diverse opinions in this thread. Actually, I got a lot more info than I planned on getting (not in a bad way).

 

Before I stop responding here, I'd like to say to Crashdamage that I agree with aRTee. Not necessarilly about the 'immature' part. If Linux is to grow and be accepted, it would be helpful if users didn't appear to just have a vendetta against MS and actually had valid reasons for using Linux. When talking to your friends, using the M$ tag would be ok, but in a public forum, it would be much better if Linux users didn't bash MS so much and moreso tauted the joys of Linux, whether it be low cost, useability, stability or whatever. Just my humble opinion and nothing at all personal.

[Crashdamage]

OK, OK...

 

Let's put it this way...

In light of recent actions by not only MS, but others such as Intuit, I refuse to feel guilty about any vendettas I may (and do) hold and and freely espouse against companies who do business by such methods. Monopolistic business practices, .net, Palladium, the dominace of the 'net by IE, EULAs that allow shutdown of your computer, spyware, etc., etc. are stacking the deck against us. The general public is almost totally ignorant to what's happening, blissfully clicking their friggin' mice while EULAs and idiot lawmakers keep chipping away at computing and the exchange of information as we know it today.

Microsha, uh, soft, for one, is guilty as charged and deserves whatever arrows I can stick in 'em. They've stuck plenty in me, and I've got the reciepts to prove it. With things like Palladium, they're still shootin' at all of us. Even those of us who never have to watch Windows boot are still a target.

 

But...yeah, you have a point, at least to a point. So in the spirit of "Can't we all just get along?" I promise to chill a little. Be more Linux-positive than Microsoft-negative. No more M$. Honest.

But can I still call 'em Microshaft or Microsucks? Please? Just kinda makes me feel better... :lol:

[bvc]

what would make anyone think that any microsoft lover loves to pay BIG$? I don't see where M$ would be a prob to post anywhere...heck they probably do it themselves, but I wouldn't know....never hung out with that crowd b4 :wink:

 

I also don't understand why you'd suggest locking this thread. No one has gotten nasty. If you're done with it and don't want the emails, click "stop watching this topic". :)

 

and PLEASE accept my appologies for doing my part in getting off topic!