Can't Open Files In Calc

[DFW333]

Have a weird problem here. For some reason I cannot open Calc files directly. I have several saved to the desktop and when I click any of them the Open Office 4 or whatever box appears and goes away. I can't tell what it actually says in the loading box as far as version or whatever because it opens and closes so fast. Once it disappears it is gone. Calc does not open. None of the processes or services associated with Open Office show to be running in Task Manager. Nothing. It happens on every file with the .ods extension. It does not affect any of the other extensions that open Text, Drawing, Presentation or other aspects of Open Office. Only the Spreadsheets.

I do not believe it is a bad shortcut on the desk top. For one, it actually tries to bring up Open Office rather than searching for the target the shortcut points to. And second I am not able to open the files directly either. Right-clicking the desktop shortcut and selecting "Open File Location" takes me to the proper location with the actual file, but clicking the file has the same result as clicking the shortcut. Third, deleting the shortcut and creating a new one didn't work. I knew it wouldn't but did it anyway just to be thorough.

Now I AM able to open the files by clicking Open Office and bringing them up in the Recent Documents menu and by the Open Menu (Ctrl+O).

So basically the issue is that I cannot open spreadsheets unless Open Office is already running. Anyone have any ideas why this computer can't open the program AND load the files simultaneously?

OS: Win 7 Home Premium 64-Bit (6.1, Build 7601)
Mfr: NVIDIA
Mod: 122-CK-NF68
BIOS: Phoenix - AwardBIOS v6.00PG
Proc: Intel Core 2 Quad CPU Q6600 @2.40GHz
RAM: 8192MB
PF: 3803MB used, 12575MB available
DX: DirectX 11

Open Office About:
Apache OpenOffice 4.1.0
AOO410m18(Build:9764) - Rev. 1589052 2014-04-22 11:43:54

[RusselB]

While I can't think of any reason why you would be having this trouble, and it sounds like you've already tried all of the options I would've suggested, one option might be to see if updating your version of OpenOffice would work.
According to the information you posted, you are using OpenOffice 4.1.0, which is (now) 4 versions old, as the current version is 4.1.4
I don't guarantee that updating your version of OpenOffice will resolve the problem, but I can't think of anything else to try.

[DFW333]

I can't do the update. It always says "close Open Office 4.1.4 and the quickstarter" or something and then tells me the installation was interrupted. I do not understand how it's possible to have a program that is not yet installed on my computer open in order to interfere with installing itself, but there it is.


EDIT: Ok, not sure what that was about. The update finally happened. Still have the same issue as described in the original post.

[Villeroy]

Right-click any ods file in the file explorer and choose Open With..., choose OpenOffice Calc and "always open with this program".

[DFW333]

Click any ods file in the file explorer and choose Open With..., choose OpenOffice Calc and "always open with this program".

It already does. Open Office does try to open for these files. The loading image appears. And then it goes away in about 1/64th of a second. If these were not set to open with Open Office, it wouldn't even manage to do that. I mean, why would it try to load Open Office if it had been instructed to open with another program?

[RoryOF]

In Taskmanager there should be a link to "display processes for all users" (words to that effect). Press that link and see if there are any soffice processes shown.

[DFW333]

In Taskmanager there should be a link to "display processes for all users" (words to that effect). Press that link and see if there are any soffice processes shown.

Negative results. As described in the original post, there is no hint of Open Office running once that loading image disappears after attempting to open an ODS file directly. Unless there is a service that's supposed to be running constantly in the background but is not?

[RoryOF]

If OO 4.1.4 won't install because it thinks that OO 4.1.3 and the Quickstarter are running, then they should show in the TaskManager; as I said, they may be under another (perhaps administrator) user. Have you found the link for "Display processes for all users"?

[DFW333]

If OO 4.1.4 won't install because it thinks that OO 4.1.3 and the Quickstarter are running, then they should show in the TaskManager; as I said, they may be under another (perhaps administrator) user. Have you found the link for "Display processes for all users"?

If you'll note, I edited that post. It finally ran correctly and installed. I didn't make any changes, just told it to run again and it worked. Still have the same problem as the original post.

[DFW333]

New problem, I assume it's related because it's similar to the problem in the OP (which still is not resolved).

This now affects the entire open office program. It will not run. At all. I can't open docs, spreadsheets, anything. I can't bring up Open Office and load the files as before. Clicking Open Office 4.1.4.exe does nothing whatsoever. Well, windows changes the cursor to show loading/processing/wait for about five seconds and then stops. No other program on my computer has this issue.

[RoryOF]

Start TaskManager (Ctrl Shift Esc) and kill any soffice or openoffice processes shown on TM's Processes tab.