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Password protected files won't open

Posted: Tue Jan 24, 2017 2:49 am
by dgstarwalker
I have been using Open Office for about five years on a Mac--with Sierra, always updated, now to 10.12.2. Open Office is also updated version 4.1.3.

All of a sudden, out of nowhere, my password protected files will not open and I am SURE that I have the correct password since I've been using it for years! Can't get into any of my p/w protected files.

I get the red X with the words: The password is incorrect. The file cannot be opened.

Nothing has changed on my computer--it's not simple stuff like caps lock or anything else. Has been going on for a week--thought Open Office would figure it out and do a patch, but not yet....

If anyone can help, I would certainly appreciate it!!

Re: Password protected files won't open

Posted: Wed Feb 01, 2017 2:54 am
by dgstarwalker
I have tried logging on under my guest user profile, but it doesn't allow me access to the documents in Open Office, which is kind of the idea of having a guest user id.

Thanks for the clarification about the patch issue.

Switching to Libre Office doesn't seem like a good answer to accessing my docs which are in Open Office.

Any other suggestions anyone?

Re: Password protected files won't open

Posted: Wed Feb 01, 2017 7:27 am
by robleyd
Disclaimer; not a Mac user, but... It may be that if you copy your documents to an alternate location that is accessible by the guest user - maybe removable storage? - you may have more success.

LibreOffice uses the same file format as OpenOffice.

Re: Password protected files won't open

Posted: Wed Feb 01, 2017 5:45 pm
by Bill
dgstarwalker wrote:I have tried logging on under my guest user profile, but it doesn't allow me access to the documents in Open Office, which is kind of the idea of having a guest user id.
I'm also not a Mac user, but the idea of having a guest user on Windows is to allow access to the computer without giving access to the documents of other users. Documents aren't "in" Open Office. They are in the user's account area. If you want the guest to have access to another user's documents, then those documents have to be copied from that user's account to the guest account or some external location which is accessible to the guest.

Re: Password protected files won't open

Posted: Wed Feb 01, 2017 8:01 pm
by dgstarwalker
Thanks for the clarification on the guest user and open office files--

Yes, I wouldn't copy the files to that user since I don't want them accessing them--that's why they're password protected--

and I have no way to do that now that I can't access the file since I can't get to the file without the password working...

Please, can the open office designers address this issue? I have so many password protected files which are completely inaccessible now!

I have been a faithful user for many years now--don't want to have to go to Apple's Numbers, etc...Any help?

Re: Password protected files won't open

Posted: Thu Feb 02, 2017 1:47 am
by robleyd
You should still be able to copy those files to an alternative location using whatever MacOS provides as a file manager. This process is completely separate from Open/LibreOffice.
You may then have to fiddle with file permissions to allow guest to access the files with whatever application you use.

Re: Password protected files won't open

Posted: Sun Feb 26, 2017 8:47 pm
by azerica
I have a very similar experience with difficulty opening a password protected file on MacOS, except that I can tie it to a specific event. I have a protected file I use routinely that worked fine until I did a routine OS security update (not an upgrade). After that, and I mean within the hour after that, the protected file would not open. This was MacOS 10.11.6 with Security Update 2016-003 Supplemental Update. Now when I try to open it, I get, "The password is incorrect. The file cannot be opened." The file has not changed. I had not upgraded my OpenOffice to 4.1.3 at this point, so I went ahead and did so hoping the problem had already been solved. It made no difference.

I then copied the file over to a PC computer and opened it with OpenOffice in that environment. It opened just fine. I extracted the text into an unprotected file, ported it back to the Mac, and tried to create a new protected version of it. When I tried to save the file password protected, I get another error which read, "Error saving the document Untitled1: General Error. General input/output error." Unprotected files save just fine.

For now I am accessing the file in a PC emulated environment on my Mac. It's an inconvenience but I'm glad I have a workaround. I hope they solve this problem soon.

Re: Password protected files won't open

Posted: Mon May 22, 2017 5:21 pm
by Joesaid
I am currently having the same issue with password protected files not opening. These are the same documents that have been opening very fine for the past year. Suddenly they will not open. Continually receive the "not correct password" and general input output error. These same documents open as always on my PC laptop. Currently using open office 4.1.3 and Sierra 10.12.5. However, this began while using 10.12.4. I have tried what Mr. Programmer suggested creating an encrypted drive to no avail. The drive created seems to not be encrypted and I do not know how to delete it. Any help is appreciated.

Re: Password protected files won't open

Posted: Fri Jun 16, 2017 10:25 pm
by Laurence5905
As of today, I'm having this same problem. Is there a fix? The files open fine when I open them on my Windows 10 PC, but on my Mac with MacOS Sierra 10.12.5 I keep getting "incorrect password'. Also, when I try to save a non-password-protected document with a password it won't save the document, and gives me a "General Input/Output Error." This problem did not exist a week ago, and I was running the same versions of both OpenOffice and MacOS. So what's going on?

Thanks for any help you can offer.

Re: Password protected files won't open

Posted: Thu Jun 22, 2017 2:27 am
by Laurence5905
I switched to LibreOffice. I notice almost no difference between LibreOffice and Apache OpenOffice. Except for one thing -- LibreOffice WILL OPEN MY PASSWORD-PROTECTED FILES!!

Thanks for the help, OpenOffice. NOT!

Bye!

Re: Password protected files won't open

Posted: Tue Jul 25, 2017 2:28 am
by OpenO/IDIOTS
LMFAO! Looks like a lot of people will be switching to LibreOffice because this is definitely a 4.1.3 update problem and I know we all love when they don't address the issue. :crazy: :bravo: :knock:

Thanks to all that recommended the easiest fix of all, switch to LibreOffice.

Re: Password protected files won't open

Posted: Wed Jul 26, 2017 3:01 am
by mzman
Laurence5905 wrote:I switched to LibreOffice. I notice almost no difference between LibreOffice and Apache OpenOffice. Except for one thing -- LibreOffice WILL OPEN MY PASSWORD-PROTECTED FILES!!

Thanks for the help, OpenOffice. NOT!

Bye!
You say you have both a Windows PC and a Mac. Were you having the problem with your Windows 10 computer and trying to open them with LibreOffice worked?

Please read this for the issue I am having; viewtopic.php?f=7&t=89668&p=422843#p422843

Re: Password protected files won't open

Posted: Fri Oct 12, 2018 2:52 am
by Sea Mac
dgstarwalker wrote:I have been using Open Office for about five years on a Mac--with Sierra, always updated, now to 10.12.2. Open Office is also updated version 4.1.3.

All of a sudden, out of nowhere, my password protected files will not open and I am SURE that I have the correct password since I've been using it for years! Can't get into any of my p/w protected files.

I get the red X with the words: The password is incorrect. The file cannot be opened.

Nothing has changed on my computer--it's not simple stuff like caps lock or anything else. Has been going on for a week--thought Open Office would figure it out and do a patch, but not yet....

If anyone can help, I would certainly appreciate it!!
Oh, I see I wasn't the ONLY user FORCED to switch to LibreOffice because I desperately needed my password protected documents to be opened again.

I see that the problem I had in 2014 is still alive and well. It's STILL There in AOO 4.1.5 ... so you CAN Expect PW "protected" documents to be suddenly locked against you.

I know of a SURE workaround for "The password is incorrect. The file cannot be opened." in Apache Open Office.
Simply switch to LibreOffice ... that's what I did ... problem solved: the password works again.
This problem has been in the OpenOffice codebase for over a DECADE - affecting ANY password protected file type - and the developers are powerless to find and fix it.
If you don't believe me - search the forum for

The password is incorrect

for yourself, and you'll see that most of them conclude "LibreOffice Worked!!!"
This problem was why I switched to LibreOffice 4 years ago ... as I found no help here.

Re: Password protected files won't open

Posted: Mon Oct 22, 2018 12:10 am
by John_Ha
Development can only fix bugs which are reported to them and where the bug is reproduceable.

Did you report it as a bug, with an example file which failed with AOO but worked with LO? I searched but could not find any bug report

You didn't? In that case how do you expect it to be fixed? The developers are not mind readers - they rely on users reporting problems. If no problems get reported and no examples submitted nothing gets fixed.

Please create a bug report here and include a file which does not open with AOO but which does open with LO.

If you cannot be bothered to create a bug report then please upload an example file to this thread which does not open with AOO, and which opens with LO, so that I can create a bug report on your behalf.

Incidentally I assume you are talking about .odt files created by AOO and not .doc. or .docx files created by MS Word. See [Tutorial] Differences between Writer and MS Word files fora discussion of supported passwords.