Microsoft allows government-approved ODF in Office 365

Office 365
Office 365

Microsoft has finally relented in the face of the open document format (ODF) to allow documents created in Office 365 to be exported in the format thus adhering to UK government guidelines on document creation and sharing.

The decision, which comes after a great deal of discussion with the UK Government Digital Service (GDS), allows users of Office 365 to create documents that stick to GDS's strict new guidelines on using the ODF for documentation, according to Computer Weekly.

Microsoft's announcement went on to explain that documents can be created or imported in any format before being edited and then exported in ODF 1.2, and the new functionality will be rolled out in May.

It brings Microsoft in line with new government advice issued last year that standardised the document format used across the public sector to ODF. That decision was made even after Microsoft lobbied hard for its own Open Office XML format, which it claimed was far more popular than ODF. Once the decision had been made it even claimed that it was "unclear" how the new guidelines benefitted UK citizens.

Google's helping too

Microsoft isn't the only one working with the government to embrace ODF. Linda Humphries, senior technical adviser for the office of the CTO at GDS, revealed that, since December, Google has added ODF support for presentations and LibreOffice's upcoming cloud offering will have support for ODF.

A range of government departments have already begun to publish documents in ODF via the gov.uk website including communities, transport and local government, and the department of health, work and pensions is one of a handful of others working on implementing it shortly.

  • Check out our Office 2016 hub for the latest news on Microsoft's upcoming release
TOPICS
Latest in Software & Services
woman listening to computer
AWS vs Azure: choosing the right platform to maximize your company's investment
Autonomous finance
Quickbooks vs Quicken: what are the main strengths and weaknesses for your business
finance
Quickbooks vs Xero: which is the best for your business?
Group of people meeting
Zoom vs Google Meet: which is the best video conferencing tool for your business?
Fingers typing on a computer keyboard.
Microsoft 365 Personal vs Microsoft 365 Family: are there any real differences?
Person at laptop
Windows 11 vs Windows 365: which is the best choice for businesses?
Latest in News
A super close up image of the Google Gemini app in the Play Store
It's official: Google Assistant will be retired for phones this year, with Gemini taking over
Quordle on a smartphone held in a hand
Quordle hints and answers for Sunday, March 16 (game #1147)
NYT Strands homescreen on a mobile phone screen, on a light blue background
NYT Strands hints and answers for Sunday, March 16 (game #378)
NYT Connections homescreen on a phone, on a purple background
NYT Connections hints and answers for Sunday, March 16 (game #644)
Three iPhone 16 handsets on show
Apple could launch an iPhone 17 Ultra this year – but we've heard these rumors before
Super Mario Odyssey
ChatGPT is the ultimate gaming tool - here's 4 ways you can use AI to help with your next playthrough