OpenOffice hangs when 'Save as...' or 'Export as pdf' with an already saved document.

[FeCen]

Binary package hint: openoffice.org

The first time I save a document will be OK.
But when I 'Save as...' or 'Export as PDF' with an already saved document, my OpenOffice Writer will hang while opening the 'Save' dialog which responses nothing when click any where in the directory choosing dialog. The only thing I can do is force quit the parent OpenOffice Writer.
It doesn't matter which directory I'm in. The problem is different from someone else reported in { #215950 OpenOffice Writer hangs on "Save as..." and "Export" if parent folder contains "#" (sharp) }.

ProblemType: Bug
Architecture: i386
Date: Fri Jun 6 16:28:25 2008
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 8.04
Package: openoffice.org-core 1:2.4.1~rc2-1ubuntu1
PackageArchitecture: i386
ProcEnviron:
 PATH=/usr/lib/openoffice/program:/usr/local/sbin:/usr/local/bin:/usr/sbin:/usr/bin:/sbin:/bin:/usr/games
 LANG=en_US.UTF-8
 SHELL=/bin/bash
SourcePackage: openoffice.org
Uname: Linux 2.6.24-18-generic i686

[bwallum (rbw2)]

I get this in Open Office Draw. If I do 'Save As' OO Draw hangs. When I try to quit I have to 'Force Quit' it. Same happens with'Export'. The drop down menu title 'File' disappears as it hangs.

It makes the programme unusable. This is a very serious bug. I'm running Hardy 2.6.24-19 AMD64 with OO 2.4.0 Gnome 2.22.2.

[Basil (basil-fisk)]

Since accepting an upgrade to OpenOffice yesterday on Ubuntu 8.04, I can neither Export or Save As from OpenOffice Writer or Calc. This is a big issue, as I (unfortunately) still have to send documents to people in MS Word format.

I will be fine providing a fix is coming out in the next couple of days, but if not, how can I downgrade to the last version?

[ak4life (x-launchpad-ak4life-com)]

Got the same problem as Basil. Was able to Export and Save As just fine (both as PDF and Word) before the big OpenOffice.org upgrade a few days ago.

[bwallum (rbw2)]

The problem appears to be in in the openoffice.org-gnome package. To get a working OO system I did this:

Remove all openoffice packages:-

sudo apt-get purge openoffice.org-*

Then go to Applications>Add/Remove and add 'OpenOffice.org Office Suite'

This will give a working OO although it does not have the gnome window style.

To break it again do this:-

sudo apt-get install openoffice.org-gnome

You can repeat the above to get a working system back.
__________________

[bwallum (rbw2)]

Looking at it further, the package that makes OO go odd appears to be 'openoffice.org-gtk' This can be loaded by itself. When loading 'openoffice.org-gnome' the -gtk package is loaded as well.

I now have a workable OO but the look and feel is a bit retro. It would be good to get it working with 'openoffice.org-gtk' for appearances sake. Does anybody know how to achieve this?

[Fuchs (fuchsnet)]

As I already told people in the german ubuntu forums:

OOO_FORCE_DESKTOP="none" is an easier way to workaround this problem.
You can either set this before running OpenOffice or put it in the soffice file.

A person there said that this problem only occurs with desktop effects
(read: compiz-fusion) enabled.

Anybody can confirm this?

Hope the workaround helps for the moment.

Fuchs

[ak4life (x-launchpad-ak4life-com)]

To test Fuchs' desktop effects theory, I created a new user without desktop effects (System-->Preferences-->Appearance-->Visual Effects-->None and all effects disabled in System-->Preferences-->Advanced Desktop Effects Settings). Indeed I was able to create a simple OOo Writer doc and export as PDF and save as a Word doc without problems. Same actions with compiz desktop effects enable caused the "save as" windows to hang. Nice one, Fuchs! You da man.

Forgive me for being dense, but where do I set OOO_FORCE_DESKTOP="none"? I did a "locate soffice | wc -l" and it returned 677 results...

[evan light (evan-theotherthing)]

Hey - I'm having exactly the same issue. I tried turning off the visual effects and it seemed to have worked and then froze on me again. I have a Dell Inspiron 6000 laptop and it looks like the Advanced desktop effects settings weren't installed. Looks like this is a problem for other Debian-based distros like Gentoo, too.