Hello everyone!
First of all I hope you understand my English well.
I use Manjaro stable branch for years an I very like it, an I update regularly without any major problems.
But I have a unpleasant problem with LibreOffice, and I don’t know what is the issue and how can I fix it.
My problem is when I tried save a document with Libreoffice in docx or xlsx format (pptx I was not tried) Libreoffice save it zip archive, do not office documents.
This is surprising for me because I use it previous week, and I could save docx documents without any problems.
I tried the fresh branch (24.8.4-2) an the still branch (24.2.7-5) and this and both of them has this issue.
Only I could do, install 25.2 flatpak version, and this working well.
Although I use rather the official stable repo if is possible.
I would like ask for you do you could have any idea what should I try or what is wrong?
Or what do you think, I should use flatpak version if it works, and problem solved?
Thanks for your answer, yes Automatically select filename extension” box is checked, and in the settings was set the docx, xlsx, file format as default.
the file is named filename.docx, but your desktop environment’s file manager recognizes the file as a zip archive? The file is shown with a zip icon and when double-clicked, some kind of unzipping option is offered?
the file is named filename (without the suffix), with the same results as described above?
the file is named filename.zip?
The .docx format is a zip container under the hood, which you can verify by listing its contents. For example
7z l -tzip filename.docx
If I omit the filename suffix when saving a file in LO Writer, and just use filename, my file manager (KDE Plasma’s Dolphin) displays the file as a zip archive. And when double-clicked, Dolphin tries to open the file as a zip archive. However, the file command still recognizes the file as a Word document.
$ file test_me
test_me: Microsoft Word 2007+
Which desktop environment and graphical file manager do you use?
What about the compatibility between LibreOffice and other Office_programs, such as: MS-Office.
However, there cannot and will not be 100% compatibility between the above-mentioned Office programs, because
There are fundamental incompatibilities between document models of Writer and Word. These make some things possible in Writer to be impossible in Word (at all, even in theory), and vice versa.
There are bugs in import and export from/to alien document formats, that cause problems when not using native document format - this applies to any program; e.g., LibreOffice has bugs in DOCX support, and Word has much worse problems in ODF support.
There is a moving goal of constantly changing “compatibility mode” in Word: it already has several such modes, corresponding to differences in its versions (CompatibilityMode 11 - 15, corresponding to pre-2007 to 2016+). See tdf#131304, which tracks other bugs related to these modes. Despite the initial idea that the modes do not affect layout, the bugs that are listed there in “Depends On” have shown us that indeed the layout depends on the level.
The #3 creates more problems both in import and in export. Not only should we now make import more complex, taking the differences (known and yet unknown!) into account, but also we need to decide how to write the data back - if we make the export compatible with Word 2010, it will be incompatible with Word 2016.
Well - anyway. Whenever you see a problem like yours, please take time to file a bug with good reproducing steps, having a sample document plus screenshots attached. Without those, we would be unable to even learn about some incompatibilities. Your reports could make a fix possible.
Recommendation for a clean working with LibreOffice when different office programs are used
Always create and save your files in LibreOffice and save them in ODF format (ODT, ODS, etc.). Always keep these files as their source. If you need other formats for distribution to partners, you can open an ODF file and save and share another format with “Save as …”.
That way you have files on your system environment always working.
the file is named filename.docx, but your desktop environment’s file manager recognizes the file as a zip archive? The file is shown with a zip icon and when double-clicked, some kind of unzipping option is offered?
Yes exactly, but if I would like open it in default KDE tried open in Okular (like pdf) an of course Okular could not open it.
But meanwhile, the problem was solved thanks to your advice.
I reinstalled Libreoffice from official repo (from fresh branch) and now it is working.
The solution was the “Automatically select filename extension” box it is the 25-2 flatpak version was automatically enabled,
Now after reinstall 24.8 i saw it checked this box and saved the documents correctly, if I unchecked this box I can reproduce the issue.
Today I tested some xlsx spreadsheets without problem.
Although I do’t know what was wrong, maybe I remembered wrong but I I didn’t change it…
So it seems the problem is solved, thank you very much for your help!
reading manjaro forum is like watching the office. bunch of incompetent guys failing at achieving simple tasks and when someone actually gives a correct answer they just rewrite it 10 posts later and mark as a solution lol
Well, it’s really a banal thing, although I rememeber I didn’t change anything about it, I didn’t even think about it… But you are right, I marked the original answer as a solution.
Though better than attacking the author, this is still a weak form of disagreement. It matters much more whether the author is wrong or right than what his tone is. Especially since tone is so hard to judge. Someone who has a chip on their shoulder about some topic might be offended by a tone that to other readers seemed neutral.
So if the worst thing you can say about something is to criticize its tone, you’re not saying much. Is the author flippant, but correct? Better that than grave and wrong. And if the author is incorrect somewhere, say where.
