ODF: The Open Document Format

ODF: The Open Document Format. Carl Fleischhauer, Erin Engle. The Signal. January 19, 2016.
     In December 2015, descriptions of eleven new parts of the Open Document Format group were added to the Format Sustainability website. The Format Sustainability website provides technical descriptions about formats of all types to help staff in assessing new content. ODF is part of a complex format family, which exists in several versions and “parts.” The list of ODF-related formats added to the sustainability website last month:

•     ODF_Family, ODF (OpenDocument Format) Family, OASIS and ISO/IEC 26300
•     ODF_package_1_1, OpenDocument Package Format, ODF 1.1, ISO/IEC 26300:2006
•     ODF_package_1_2, OpenDocument Package Format, ODF 1.2 part 3; ISO/IEC 26300-3:2015
•     ODF_text_1_1, OpenDocument Text Format (ODT), ODF 1.1, ISO/IEC 26300:2006
•     ODF_text_1_2, OpenDocument Text Format (ODT), ODF 1.2, ISO/IEC 26300-1:2015
•     ODF_chart_1_2, OpenDocument Chart Format (ODC), ODF 1.2, ISO/IEC 26300-1:2015
•     ODF_draw_1_2, OpenDocument Drawing Format (ODG), ODF 1.2, ISO/IEC 26300-1:2015
•     ODF_spreadsheet_1_1, OpenDocument Spreadsheet Format (ODS), Version 1.1, ISO 26300:2006
•     ODF_spreadsheet_1_2, OpenDocument Spreadsheet Format (ODS), Version 1.2, ISO 26300:2015
•     ODF_dbfront_1_2, OpenDocument Database Front End Document Format (ODB), Version 1.2, ISO 26300-1:2015
•     ODF_presentation_1_2, OpenDocument Presentation Document Format (ODP), Version 1.2, ISO 26300-1:2015

ODF was designed so no one using public documents would be "forced to buy software from one particular vendor or for one particular operating system platform.” It has been supported by institutions trying to preserve documents for the long term. There are also a number of organizations, including government, that have "adopted the ODF family of formats as mandatory or recommended for documents that must be editable in order to support collaboration within the government or between the government and the public."

Digital Preservation Matters.