Apache OpenOffice Community Forum

I am brand new to Windows 10 and have the same problem when trying to open a document in Windows 10 that originated on my old XP system. I installed version 4.1.3 on the old machine and resaved the document. It still goes to the text import screen and opens a blank document in Windows 10. I tested by making a brand new document on the XP system with the same results--text import followed by blank spreadsheet. I can't believe I'm not overlooking something simple, but don't know where to start looking. Anybody have another idea? Thanks!

Edit: Split from another thread. FJCC

Please confirm that when you make a new document on the XP system and save it, it can be opened successfully on the XP system.
How are you transferring the documents to the Windows 10 system?
Can you post a simple document here that shows the problem? There is an Upload attachment tab just below the box where you type a response after clicking on Post Reply.

Please upload one of your problematic documents here.

I made a very simple spreadsheet on the XP computer, and yes it opens there just fine. I transferred it to my Windows 10 laptop via USB flash drive memory stick and the "import and blank" problem occurred.

I also made a simple document on the Windows 10 laptop and transferred to the XP system via the same USB flash drive memory stick. It also invoked an import dialogue box and the document was filled with the ####### character.

I will upload both just in case it helps. Thanks!

Sorry, hit the wrong button. Here are the attachments.

I see the same with your documents: the Win10 document contains nothing but zeroes.

Removable media is prone to having problems, especially with OO. Make sure that you always follow the "safely remove" protocol for each computer before you remove the drive.

I also see the same behavior with your documents using Libreoffice 5.3.3.2.

I do always use the safely remove hardware procedure with all my USB devices. And the files are fine as long as I open them on the computer of origin. It's very puzzling.

The XP file opens correctly on my Xubuntu system; this reports the Win10 file as being a corrupt archive and refuses to open it.

@kshaw100: to verify, please download the win10 file and try the downloaded file on your win10 computer. This will verify if that exact file as uploaded is corrupt.

I get the same results as RoryOF on my AOO 4.1.4

Edit: Examining the Win10 file, I find it is full of null bytes - there is nothing at all in the file.

See: [Tutorial] The Dreaded Pound Signs: file reduced to ####.
Good luck.

I hope you had backups.

Thanks, everybody for your input. I hoped there was a setting I'd overlooked somewhere but it seems not.

Fortunately all my documents are intact and usable on my XP system, and backed up on another drive. I want to switch over to the new Windows 10 computer before the XP machine dies, but apparently will need to recreate my working documents. And that does not address hundreds of other documents that I occasionally need to open but have no time to recreate.

Not a pretty picture.

There are other possibilities - file sharing between Windows computers for instance. https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/hel ... windows-xp

You also mention "backed up on another drive"; perhaps you can restore from there?

I think there should be no difficulty in transferring OpenOffice documents between XP and Win10 computers in either direction; if there were, there would be many reports of this on Forum. I think the problem you report is due to either a faulty OO installation on Win10 or some user error.

Try downloading the attached file: it should open correctly on both computers; if it doesn't open on your Win10 machine the OO on that may be faulty.

I downloaded the file to the Windows 10 computer and it opened to Pride & Prejudice. When I copied the file from the Windows 10 computer to the XP computer, a box titled ASCII Filter Options came up with the following:
Character set -- Unicode
Default fonts -- Times New Roman
Language -- English
Paragraph break -- CR & LF
I could have selected other settings but I did nothing except click OK, and the document opened to solid #######.

I downloaded the file to the XP computer and it opened to Pride & Prejudice. When I copied the file from the XP computer to the Windows 10 computer, a box titled ASCII Filter Options came up with the following:
Character set -- Western Eurpoe (Windows-1252/WinLatin 1)
Default fonts -- Times New Roman
Language -- English (USA)
Paragraph break -- CR & LF
I left the settings unchanged and the document opened to solid #########.

Perhaps I need to reinstall on both computers?

What, exactly, is the process you used to "copy" the file between computers? That seems to be the common factor in corrupting the file.

I insert a flash memory stick in USB port, drag file from desktop to memory stick, use the safely remove hardware procedure to eject the memory stick, then insert it in USB port on the other computer and drag the file to the desktop. And then try to open it.

I have not tried emailing anything as an attachment. I will try that now.

We know now that both computers are capable of opening the file correctly. The transfer process seems to be causing the problem. Damaged USB stick, perhaps? USB sticks do fail

Edit: Or a failed USB port or internal USB hub on one device?

I suspect that if you were to compare the file properties of the known working file you downloaded on your hard drive, and the properties of the file on the thumb drive, that there would be a difference, most likely in the file size.

As RoryOF says, the thumb drive could be dodgy; try transferring the document using another medium and see what happens.

Interestingly enough, the stick just transferred other file types successfully between computers. However, the stick is the problem because the emailed documents worked. And after that I emailed the original spreadsheet I wanted to transfer and it opened just fine. So it seems the stick transfers some files successfully, and not others. That never occurred to me.

Thanks for your help! I will upload everything I need to a file transfer site and download to the Windows 10 computer.

Or, if you have DVD read/Write drives, you could transfer the files using DVDRW disks.

Yes, I should have some disks around. Or will pick some up. Thanks again for the help!

Also, worth trying: instead of click and drag the files, try Copy (or Cut) and Paste

Good point!

It's *possible* that the driver software for your disk doesn't like something that OO does when saving/writing documents to the thumb drive.

As a test, you might try telling OO to save the document on your hard drive, then (from the desktop) copy the saved document file onto the drive. You already know that files copied from the desktop seem to work, and it seems the drive itself is ok, so if a saved document copies safely from the desktop, it would suggest that something about OO accessing the disk directly leads to problems.

This is one reason we generally recommend that people save/open files from the hard drive and not directly on the removable drive. It's a safer process in a number of ways.

Thank makes sense, thank you.