Software & Apps MS Office OpenOffice Impress Review Open PowerPoint files for free and create your own presentations by Stacy Fisher Stacy is a freelancer with over 18 years experience writing about technology and personal finance. She has published hundreds of articles and co-authored a book. our editorial process Stacy Fisher Updated on May 07, 2020 Tweet Share Email MS Office Powerpoint Word Excel Outlook OpenOffice Impress is the free presentation software that's included in OpenOffice, which is an office suite that also includes a word processor, spreadsheet program, and database software. There are tons of great presentation making features in OpenOffice Impress and it supports all the common file formats that other presentation programs use. Download OpenOffice Impress What We Like Automatic spell check as you type. Intuitive interface. Tons of basic and advanced features. Doesn't require installation (there's a portable version). What We Don't Like The whole office suite must be downloaded just to use Impress. Boring program interface; not the most user-friendly program. Large setup file, so download may be slow. Other office tools try to install alongside Impress. OpenOffice Impress Supported File Formats Below are just some of the file formats supported by the OpenOffice suite, specifically the ones that work with Impress. If you're using Impress as a replacement for Microsoft PowerPoint, you'll be pleased to know that it can open PPTX files. Open Formats PPTM, PPTX, POTM, POTX, PPT, PPS, POT, ODP, OTP, SXI, STI, SXD, CGM, UOP, UOF, ODG Save Formats PPT, POT, ODP, OTP, SXI, STI, SXD, UOP, ODG, as well as HTML, PDF, SWF, and image formats like JPG, GIF, SVG, TIF, PNG, RAS, BMP OpenOffice Impress Description OpenOffice Impress works with Windows, Mac, and LinuxIf you accept the defaults when installing Impress, you can also get other free office tools like OpenOffice Writer, Calc, Base, Draw, and MathThere are OpenOffice Impress extensions you can install, as well as free Impress templatesA wizard can guide you through setting up a presentation from scratchA presentation can be previewed in a web browserSlides can be hidden so you can keep them without displaying them during a presentationKeyboard shortcuts can me modified for several commandsA menu on the bottom of OpenOffice Impress allows for easy access to things like shapes and other import optionsThe case of words can be changed in batch, such as making the first letter of every word capitalized and changing all letters to lowercase or uppercaseThe number of allowed undo steps can be modified to up to 100 stepsSlide Sorter makes is really easy to rearrange several slidesA number of slide transitions are available like Shape Plus, Uncover Left, and Wipe DownTons of toolbars can be shown or hidden and even detached from the main programCommon formatting options are allowed like changing font type, size, color, and alignmentTables and charts can be used in OpenOffice ImpressVideo and sound files can be imported onto a slideNotes can be added to slidesLoads of animations can be chosen from like ones for an entrance, emphasis, exit, motion path, and other typesAdvanced tools are available like Color Replacer to replace up to four source colors at once with a custom tolerance level and XML Filter SettingsA header and footer can be applied to slides, notes, and handouts to include the current date and time, custom text, or slide page numberOpenOffice Impress supports macrosOver 10 layouts can be chosen for organizing content on slidesAdvanced style formatting is allowed for background objects, titles, subtitles, and more, such as changing the transparency, graphics, font, bullets, tabs, font effects, numbering type and many more optionsA massive gallery of images holds things like arrows, bullets, computer images, finance pictures, rulers, and many other types of importable graphicsA side menu is available for easy access to text properties, animations, styles, and the gallerySeveral advanced options can be modified such as the amount of memory OpenOfffice Impress can use for graphics, whether hardware acceleration should be used, macro security settings, how often to save AutoRecovery information, and custom websites for Internet searches Final Thoughts on OpenOffice Impress There are so many features in OpenOffice Impress that I think it's a great program to use for making presentations. I especially like that you can use it in a portable form from something like a flash drive. However, I don't like that you're required to download the whole office suite just to use the Impress portion. This means you're downloading and storing files that take up around 700 MB of storage even if you only want to use the presentation software. Similarly, if you download the installable version, you have to download the whole suite at once which might take a while to get if you have a slow internet connection. However, once you begin installing it, you're given the option to only add Impress to your computer if you don't want the other office tools. I also like that OpenOffice Impress can open such a large number of popular file formats. Some of the more common ones include those found in Microsoft PowerPoint like POTM, POTX, and PPTM. The interface isn't too hard to navigate through but I find WPS Office's Presentation program to be much easier, and it even includes many of the same tools and features. You can download the portable version of OpenOffice from PortableApps.com. Download OpenOffice Impress Was this page helpful? Thanks for letting us know! Get the Latest Tech News Delivered Every Day Email Address Sign up There was an error. Please try again. You're in! Thanks for signing up. There was an error. Please try again. Thank you for signing up. Tell us why! Other Not enough details Hard to understand Submit