[Solved] "Data > Text to Columns" not in dropdown menu

[gdd]

Upgraded from 2.3 to 2.4

At home I enjoyed the new feature Data > Text to Columns.

At the office this feature is not in the dropdown menu
Inserting a range with Alt key beheaviour works fine, so I have a real 2.4.0

[Hagar Delest]

Is the entry grayed or completely inexistant?
Works fine for me if I select a cell with text inside.

Data_menu.png (2.85 KiB) Viewed 4337 times

[gdd]

Hi Hagar,

Changed language from Dutch to US to compare exactly

[Hagar Delest]

From where have you downloaded your OOo version?
Could it have been deactivated in the menus (Tools>Customize)?

[gdd]

Thanks Hagar, you are the best!

Added this feature via Tools | customize and its works fine

I am not complete sure about this, but I downloaded from http://download.openoffice.org/other.html#nl the English (US) 2.4.0 Windows version and added the Dutch languagepack from http://nl.openoffice.org/downloaden.html. Both very trusted site imo

Before I distribute this version to our 250 employes, can you advise me how to avoid this lack or how to distribute this setting?

[Hagar Delest]

First, I would check if it's a flaw in the standard installation or not: rename your OOo user profile (\Documents and settings\<user>\Application data\OpenOffice.org2) and relaunch OOo. Check if the option is available or not. If it appears fine, then, you may have had a problem in your configuration file. Else (and it would be rather strange), you would have to spot the configuration file impacted by the menu customization and either tweak the msi file (don't know if that's possible) or put it on a network place and run a script when users launch OOo checking if the OOo profile exists on the machine. And if not, copy that configuration file after the installation instead of the default one.

The configuration file may be one of the files in C:\Documents and Settings\<user>\Application Data\OpenOffice.org2\user\registry\data\org\openoffice and sub-folders.

[kingfisher]

The tool is also missing in my software. I installed the U.S. version and the U.K. language pack. I suspect it's the language pack but I'll do some checking. mutter, mutter, mutter ....

Edit: It magically appeared with a new settings folder. That means I have to re-configure everything, mutter, mutter.

[kingfisher]

It is not necessary to hack the settings folder. Use Tools >Customise >Menus >Add : Function 'Data', Category "Text to Columns".

[gdd]

Hi guys, my results of testing to reach my solved state

First I wrote an email to a Dutch Project lead (Simon Brouwer) to speak out I am in doubt about the Dutch languagepack. After his kind reply, I uninstalled all languagepacks and installed OOo_2.4.0_Win32Intel_langpack_nl.exe again. Without any improvement.
He also ask me to follow up your recommondation Hagar to rename the user directory. At first I didn't do so, because I was aware to get lost all of my private settings, etc.

Then I did a new install on a new PC and everything was 100% correct! Then I did an upgrade on the PC of my colleague and everything was 100% correct also. So I deduct the problem to my PC only (and I replied to Simon with an apology of course , all published downloads are correct)

OK, I renamed the "user"directory and start OOo again. Now I had a fresh new installation with all new options available in both US en Dutch language. But without my personal settings
To minimize my sadness I've copied the user directories of my colleague and did some minor changes in Extra|options.

But I've lost some settings and I am not sure which setting files I am allowed to copie into the new directories without damage. This will be a step by step trial and error.

Thanks for all assistance

[Hagar Delest]

Since you still have your old profile, just replace the new folders by old ones but one by one. The only point is to avoid the damaged file. The subfolders are rather self-explanatory, it should not take too much time. With some luck, you should even be able to spot the single file that is the root cause. Certainly in the OpenOffice.org2\user\registry\data\org\openoffice subfolder I think.