The Open Preservation Foundation is delighted to announce the alpha release of our latest product, a validator for Open Document Format (ODF) for Office Applications documents. The software was developed in partnership with Rigsarkivet (DNA), with support from the Nationaal Archief (NANETH), Rahvusarhiiv and the Swiss National Archives (SFA).
The Open Document Format for Office Applications is an open standard, XML file format for word processing documents, spreadsheets, presentations and other office formats. The specification is maintained by the [Organisation for the Advancement of Structural Information Standards (OAIS)](https://www.oasi…
The Open Preservation Foundation is delighted to announce the alpha release of our latest product, a validator for Open Document Format (ODF) for Office Applications documents. The software was developed in partnership with Rigsarkivet (DNA), with support from the Nationaal Archief (NANETH), Rahvusarhiiv and the Swiss National Archives (SFA).
The Open Document Format for Office Applications is an open standard, XML file format for word processing documents, spreadsheets, presentations and other office formats. The specification is maintained by the Organisation for the Advancement of Structural Information Standards (OAIS) and was adopted as an international standard in 2005. Software that supports ODF includes OpenOffice, LibreOffice, Google Docs, and Microsoft Office.
The software was initially developed as a validator for ODF spreadsheets, but will now validate all ODF formats. As well as validation against the ODF specifications, the software also provides a preservation profile for spreadsheets. This was developed by the Danish National Archives in cooperation with OPF and its membership.
The initial alpha release is a cross-platform command-line tool that provides:
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validation for all Open Document Format formats against the ODF specifications,
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support for both ODF packages & single ODF XML files,
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support for all ODF versions, including the upcoming v1.4 of the standard,
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support for validation of extended ODF conformance, e.g. files that use XML namespaces,
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output in plain text, JSON & XML, and
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a preservation profile for spreadsheets that detects/reports features that are undesirable for long-term preservation, e.g. macros.
The release notes are available on GitHub.
For more information about the validator, see the project website: https://odf.openpreservation.org/.
Download
Download the latest version of the validator. The latest builds can be found on the GitHub releases page. The software is available in four packages: a JAR file that requires a Java JRE v11 or greater, or platform-specific executables for Windows, macOS and Linux.
- Java JAR, built using Java JDK 11
- Windows executable, built using GraalVM
- MacOS (Apple Silicon) executable, built using GraalVM
- Linux executable, built using GraalVM
Thanks
Thanks go to all of our contributors, particularly the OPF members mentioned above – Rigsarkivet (DNA), with support from the Nationaal Archief (NANETH), Rahvusarhiiv and the Swiss National Archives – without whom this software wouldn’t exist. Their efforts since its announcement in 2023 are appreciated.
Support OPF
The ODF validator is free to download, use and modify to meet your needs. However, there are ongoing costs to host and maintain it. If you use the validator, please consider supporting its development by becoming an OPF member or making a donation.