[Solved] Cannot save or edit documents on desktop (PC)

[Bartpabicz]

Hi everyone,

Just recently I have started experiencing problems with openoffice documents. It seems that for some reason OpenOffice doesn't allow me to either properly edit files that are there (I can only open a copy or in read-only mode) or save a newly created document to any desktop location (even subfolders are affected). I'm being told that I have no permissions to carry out this task and I should contact the administrator. I have done a lot of searching on open office forums, but were unable to find a fix to my problem. Let me post some details:

There are no *.lock files present
Folders are not Read-only
There are no restrictions in Properties/Security tab, everything is in "allow"
Files can be freely copied, moved and edited with other, non-openoffice applications in the abovementioned folders

I run Windows 7 rig with OpenOffice 4.1.

I tried resetting user profile, but it made no difference. Please, does anybody have any ideas? I would sincerely appreciate any help. Thanks in advance!

[Bartpabicz]

really there is nobody who could help me out? I'm at my wits end and would appreciate any help. Even if somebody could point me in the right direction

[Hagar Delest]

Well, that's a rather weird problem. Have you tried to switch off you security applications? Perhaps one of them is preventing AOO from working correctly.

[Bartpabicz]

hi Hagar Delest and thanks for your reply.

I'm running Avast antivirus and Comodo firewall, both free editions. I turned both off, allowed Open Office as an exception to be on the safe side and... nothing. Only in the Desktop folder, and it's subfolders, I am not allowed to write/edit/save Open Office documents. All other locations are ok. Also all other applications are allowed to be edited and saved on the desktop (like Notepad).

Still no clue as what to do

[Bartpabicz]

as I can see this problem might be beyond the help I could get from this forum. I have submitted a bug report and will await a reply - in the meantime if somebody would have any ideas, please let me know.

[Bill]

I can't reproduce the problem in Windows 8. When I download files from the forum, I save them on the Desktop and can always open, edit and save them with OOo/AOO. Does your user account name have any special characters? Does the problem still happen if you use a different user account?

Bug 123470 - Files cannot be saved/edited in DESKTOP location (and sub-folders)

[Bartpabicz]

Hi Bill, thanks for your reply.


I have managed to get some more information, which *might* help.

Firstly, I forgot to mention that I *used* to be able to freely edit and save OO files on desktop and subfolders, with no problems.
Secondly, the message I get when trying to open a document on desktop is that 'The document has been locked out of editing by unknown user' (that's a rough translation from Polish).

As for your questions, my main (and only) Windows 7 account has no special characters. Also, after creating another account with administrative rights and switching to it I get exactly the same problem.


Thanks a lot for looking into this problem, I really appreciate that and am looking forward to any other possible solutions.

[Bartpabicz]

I managed to sort the problem out. Comodo Firewall was sandboxing OpenOffice apps and also had them in Unknonw Applications list. It actually also prevented me from using the printer as it wasn't listed in printer list at all. Thread can be closed

[Open Office user]

I couldn't save any Open Office docs to desktop even though I had all Admin permissions,I had Comodo and Latest Avast installed and after checking firewall & Filter rules I have ruled out Comodo. I have tested this solution on my second laptop with the same Open Office, Avast and other programs settings and it was the same. I have uninstalled Avast, downloaded older version 2014.9.0.2013 and also unticked the option for Avast to download latest antivirus database update and unticked streamline updates which would download program updates as well, even though the antivirus database option was set to be updated manually and also program files option was set to manual update and voala it worked like magic. I do have secondary antivirus which I think is better than last few versions of Avast which was disabled by a virus in the last year twice.

[Bill]

Are you running two or more real-time antivirus programs? I don't know what you mean by "secondary" antivirus.