MS Office vs. OOo

[i4support]

OS: Windows 2000 and XP mixed
tested with: OpenOffice 2.1 Novell Edition for Windows (OOo plus more bells and whistles)
OpenOffice 2.3 (.org edition)

We're running OpenOffice on Windows computers, and the users are accessing files on shared directories on a Novell network. When opening a document that has been Protected in MS Office, the document opens up as read-only, and any fields can't be filled in. If someone logs in with Administrative rights (or clicks the "Edit" button), there's no problem, but then nothing is protected. In MS Office, this works fine, because it still lets users enter data into the forms, it just doesn't allow you to save the file to the same location. In OOo, however, the file is opened up as Read Only, and the form fields are unavailable and un-editable.

I've also tested this with OOo 2.3, with the same results. The files open in Read Only mode, not allowing any form entry unless you use the "Edit File" toggle button. Going into that mode would still allow our users to edit the original document, which we can't have.

Any thoughts?

Rick

[Hagar Delest]

As the MS Office formats are closed (no specification available), the password compatibility can't be insured. This is a case where OOo cannot interoperate with MS Office I fear. You've to chose to use either MS Office or OOo but both won't get together.

IIRC, forms protection is achieved in Writer by protecting the sections where the fields are put in. Only the fields can be edited afterwards.