Topic: Howto: Install OpenOffice 3.* using openoffice.org debs
This Howto will install Openoffice 3.* using the debs from the openoffice.org site. It’s just a personal preference but I like it this way as it doesn’t drag in any unnecessary dependencies.
N.B. I now have a script to install this automatically http://dtx.omnsproject.org/?p=403
N.B. Openbox users will still need to add the menu entries in manually as in the second half of this how-to. This however doesn't apply to Statler Alpha 2 users who install Ooo via the repos. In this case Alpha2 has a pipe menu that does the job automatically 
Step 1. Installing OpenOffice 3.*
First you will need to download the debs for your system from the openoffice org website. Make sure you download a Linux DEB package. Go to http://download.openoffice.org/other.html . I usually download the English US or GB packages depending on what is available but you may want another. I assume they will work just as well
Once you have this package downloaded navigate to it in thunar or pcmanfm and then untar it.(Right Click-->Extract here) Navigate into the folder that is created, then into the DEBS folder and then open a terminal in that folder. You can do this in thunar by right clicking in the folder and choosing 'Open in Terminal'.
Then within the terminal simply run this command
sudo dpkg -i *.debWhen this is finished run the command
cd desktop-integrationthen run the
sudo dpkg -i *.debcommand again. This will install the debian desktop-integration package which will give debian menu entries if you use the the menu applet.
Step 2: Adding menu entries to the Openbox Menu
To add menu entries to the standard menu you need to edit the menu.xml config file
Preferences-->Openbox config-->Edit menu.xml
In the file that opens go to the
<menu id="office" label="Office">section and add these menu entries where you want them to fit in on the menu
<item label="OpenOffice.org Base">
<action name="Execute">
<execute>
/opt/openoffice.org3/program/sbase
</execute>
</action>
</item>
<item label="OpenOffice.org Calc">
<action name="Execute">
<execute>
/opt/openoffice.org3/program/scalc
</execute>
</action>
</item>
<item label="OpenOffice.org Draw">
<action name="Execute">
<execute>
/opt/openoffice.org3/program/sdraw
</execute>
</action>
</item>
<item label="OpenOffice.org Impress">
<action name="Execute">
<execute>
/opt/openoffice.org3/program/simpress
</execute>
</action>
</item>
<item label="OpenOffice.org Math">
<action name="Execute">
<execute>
/opt/openoffice.org3/program/smath
</execute>
</action>
</item>
<item label="OpenOffice.org Writer">
<action name="Execute">
<execute>
/opt/openoffice.org3/program/swriter
</execute>
</action>
</item>
Save the file and exit.
N.B. An alternate to this is to use the GUI menu editor. It's fairly straightforward and easy to use. Preferences-->Openbox config-->GUI Menu Editor
Step 3: Getting OpenOffice 3.* to use your GTK theme
You'll also want Openoffice to pick up your gtk theme which it doesn't do by default. For this you'll need to force it to use these settings. To do this go to
Preferences-->Openbox config-->Edit autostart.sh
In the file that opens find the section that says
# Force openoffice.org to use GTK theme
# enable this if you install openoffice
#export OOO_FORCE_DESKTOP=gnomeUncheck the last line so that looks like
# Force openoffice.org to use GTK theme
# enable this if you install openoffice
export OOO_FORCE_DESKTOP=gnomeSave this file and exit.
All that is needed now is to restart Openbox
Preferences-->Openbox config-->Restart
That's it. All going well you'll now have OpenOffice 3 installed with entries in the menu and Ooo3 using your chosen gtk theme.
Enjoy
Silence is sometimes the best answer - Dalai Lama.
Thank you 
