Apache OpenOffice Community Forum

My wife and I have both used Open Office for many years, with very few issues.
I recently updated my copy on my Windows 10 desktop with no problems.
I then updated my wife's copy on her Samsung laptop also running windows 10. This always crashes within a few seconds of starting Write. On restarting it goes into document recovery mode for the untitled new document and then subsequently crashes again. This sequence loops continuously.
I have uninstalled then reinstalled several times with no change to this behaviour.
I saw a sugestion on the forum that restarting Windows in Safe Mode might be useful and it was. I was able to create, save and reopen documents with no problems.
Restarting normally returned to the repeated crashes.
I have run out of ideas- Can anybody help please?
Terry Jackson-Baker

Strange problems are sometimes fixed by resetting the user profile - see Resetting the user profile. Uninstalling/reinstalling does not fix profile problems - you have to follow the procedure.

As you say it works OK when you start the PC in Safe Mode it suggests it is one of the programs which starts when the PC boots which is interfering with AOO. Try to track down the problem program by stopping half of them and seeing if that fixes it - repeat until you have identified the culprit. CCleaner includes a nice utility to enable/disable startup programs.
AOO is walking dead - you may decide to swap to the very similar LibreOffice which probably does not have the problem. I switched to LO a few months ago after 20+ years with OOo and AOO.

Thanks for advice John_Ha
I noted your switch to LO and have had a look this morning, Impressive upgrade.
I see no reason to try solving OO Writer problem when LO can I think make my wife happy. Will install on her computer later and test and let you know the outcome.
Thanks again
Terry

The file C:\Users\<username>\AppData\Roaming\OpenOffice\4\user\registrymodifications.xcu contains
the parameter for recovery.

The parameter should be set to "false".
I suppose your wife's file will show "true" however

The file is written on one line so it is a bit cumbersome to edit.

I normally use Notepad++ to open it and then use Ctrl+F to find "Recovery".

Thanks to both respondents.
The advice to reset the profile parameter was spot on, thanks Digro.
However we have both now had alook at LO and like what we see. Not yet fully committed, I have qiute a bit of work to deal with this coming week, some of which comes in various Word formats. more usually PDF if that goes smoothly I can imagine that like John_Ha we will switch to LO.
Thanks again
TerryJB

Be aware that PDF is intended to be a display-only format; it is best to work in .odt format and /File /Export as PDF only when finished. OO and LO can make small cosmetic edits to PDF files, but do not support massive re-editing and reformatting of such files.

Thanks RoryOF
A project I volunteer for which monitors planning applications for Listed Buldings forwards emails to me details in a variety of formats. I transfer details from these docs on to a database and never have need to edit them. Most originate from local authority offices, some of which have archaic hardware and software, OO has usually been able to open whatever is thrown at it. I am currently testing LO to ensure that it performs in a similar way.
No problems so far
TerryJB

TerryJB wrote:I have qiute a bit of work to deal with this coming week, some of which comes in various Word formats.

Beware that it is better to work in native format (ODF, that is .odt for text) when working in AOO/LO. See: [Tutorial] Differences between Microsoft and AOO/LO files.