[Solved] Saving takes very long time

[soichih]

I have about 20 page presentations with nothing more than pictures and texts on Ubuntu 7.10. For some reason, saving this document (around 150k) sometimes takes more than 10 minutes.

The progress bar at the bottom of the impress progresses extremely slow, and first I thought that the application was frozen. I then realized that if I give it enough time, it will eventually save everything correctly.

When I restart the application, the problem usually disappears. Is this normal behavior? Is there a cure?

[acknak]

What OOo version?

Is it the Ubuntu package, or the OO.org package?

When you say "the problem disappears" do you mean the saving time is faster? How long does it take then? Is it consistently faster when OOo first starts up?

Do you have any formulas (Math objects) in your presentation?

I have no idea what the problem might be, I just like asking random questions

[soichih]

I am using OpenOffice 2.3.0 that comes with Ubuntu 7.10 default installation.

When I say "the problem disappears", it saves everything in matter of seconds. And I haven't had the slow saving time issue when I first start up the application. This tends to happen when I am working on the same presentation for very long time (like 2, 3 hours)

I don't have any Math object, or anything else other than basic images and texts.

Thank you!

[jwr]

Does your document use images linked to some other drive, to a network or any web-location?

Regards -hans-

[acknak]

Hmm, well all I can say is that it sounds like another Ubuntu-specific problem.

Can you try the packages from OO.org? They generally seem much more stable than the Ubuntu packages.

[soichih]

I have installed the version from OO.org and I haven't seen this issue reoccuring again!

Thanks!

[soichih]

Nevermind.. This issue is happening again on the version I pulled from OO.org...

I am wondering if this has to do with the fact that I am using images from my desktop. I have gif and jpg images on my desktop and I am using those images in my presentation by simply dragging and dropping on to my presentation.

I noticed that after I dragging and dropping those images, then delete the original images on my desktop, the presentation will no longer be able to display the image. Those images are "linked" instead of "copied" from the original location. (How can I make it to copy??)

I am wondering if OO is having trouble since there are so many external links when I tries to save.

[acknak]

How did the images get to your desktop? They may be merely links there as well.

If I copy and image file to my ~/Desktop directory, then drag that into a Writer document, OOo embeds the image in the document. If I drag it into an Impress document, OOo only creates a link to the desktop file.

You can check what's happening using the Edit > Links dialog. If you use that to "break" a link, the image file will instead be embedded in the presentation document.

[soichih]

Thank you for the tip. I have broken all links, and I will see if this will make any different to the Save time issue..

Meanwhile, is there anyway to make the link to be broken by default? I looked through some obvious places but couldn't find any option to do so..

[micha137]

Hi soichih,
There is a bug in the Openoffice version 2.3.0 for linux that can have -among others- the effect you describe. You might try the newest developer version 2.3.1 -m9. It is the first one to have this bug fixed..
The fix has not yet made its way into the ubuntu version(which is still based on m5 as far as I remember).

regards
micha137

[acknak]

... is there anyway to make the link to be broken by default?

Not that I know of. I believe there is a proposal being considered to make embedding to be the default for all such operations. Linking as a default made more sense when resources were more limited. Now, it's better to just avoid problems and embed the file, with linking available if the user needs it.

[kuchl]

hi - i also use ooo 2.3.0 on ubuntu 7.10 and have the same problems. also sometimes presentations work very! slow (animations come very, very slowly - sometimes it looks like the program crashed. the problems appear under x86-64 and also under i686 linux. now i try to install the original program from ooo 2.3.1. maybe its a bug in the memory-managing, system-monitor shows always a lot of memory used by the ooo-process.

[micha137]

@kuchl

these are exactly the symtoms of the bug I was thinking of.
It has been fixed in 2.3.1

good luck

[kida]

Hi!
I'm new in the community and also in the world of Ubuntu (I have on my pc the version 7.10). I'm experiencing exactly the problem described in this topic and this is a great problem for me, because I need Impress both for study and work. Now, my question is: how can I update OpenOffice to the last version in Linux? Linux checks for updates automatically, but even if I have installed on my pc OO 2.3.0, the update to version 2.3.1 is not automatically installed.
Is it possible in Ubuntu to download the latest version of OO from the website and install it, simply?

Thanks to everyone who will answer me!! (And sorry for my bad English)

Kida

[micha137]

hello kida,

to update to the newest Openoffice version under ubuntu do the following:

1.) uninstall the original ubuntu-version of openoffice (e.g. with the synaptic package manager). Don't worry, your personal OO-profile is preserved.
2.) download the debian version of openoffice 2.3.1 (if you wish and if you have enough disk space additionally the 2.4 developer snapshot -> improvements in the base component, but has problems playing media. 2.4dev installs independently and can coexist with any main Openoffice install)
3.) unpack the ( both) packages preserving directory structure e.g. to the desktop
4.) in a terminal change to the respective directory (e.g. cd .../home/<myname>/Desktop/OOo<whateverthetapewormnameis...>
5.) a) type "sudo ./update" to call the installer which should be located in this directory
alternatively b) change into the subdirectory "DEBS" and type "sudo dpkg -install *.deb"
Remark: OO and OO-dev will install into the /opt/ directory in contrast with the ubuntu-OO
I recommend to place icons on the desktop and the panel linking to /opt/ooo<whatever_version>/program/soffice

Now you can use your new version without the beasty impress-bug from 2.3.0

You may wish to use the ubuntu oo in parrallel too, because videos and some animations in impress are handled better in the ubuntu version 2.3.0 than in the original openoffice.(I use a triple install of ununtu-OO, original OO and the newest OO-dev for video-containing presentations, large presentations where the 2.3.0 bug would be deadly and base-applications respectively)
If you desire to do so, continue to do the following steps with the potentially conflicting original Openoffice:
A)move by brute force the /opt/<your openoffice install> folder to some other place (e.g.somewhere in your home folder) or even just rename it (e.g. to "/opt/mygoodnewOO/").
B) update the linked icons on the desktop and the task-panel to correctly point to "/opt/mygoodnewOO/program/soffice" or whatever other name you choosed.
C) Check if the links still work - make them work before you continue.
D) Install the ubuntu Openoffice via the normal way (e.g. via synaptic package manager).
Now you should have a parallel install of both original OO and Ubuntu-OO (and eventually the OO-dev for a triple install)

good luck.
B)

[kida]

Hello!
Thanks a lot for the advices and sorry if I haven't answered before.
I have installed OpenOffice 2.3.1 and now the bug is solved!!