Snow Leopard Mac?

[markw10]

Does OpenOffice work on Snow leopard? I want to upgrade to Snow Leopard but want to make sure first that OpenOffice will still work.

[kabing]

Search for "Snow Leopard" in the Mac forum on this site, and you will find several threads. Some people have encountered difficulties, but others have not had any problems.

kabing

[jtandtt0630]

I downloaded OpenOffice since my Excel 2004 would not work correctly in Snow Leopard (SL), especially the print function. My Excel spreadsheet loads into Calc in SL but all the cells are invisible (but I see text in status bar, so I know the cells are not empty).

As one post said for a Documents, its as if its white on white, although that is not the case, as I changed font color to no effect. The other post said the problem was resolved by going to Snow Leopard font book and deleting redundant fonts.

I will try to reboot first, and see what happens, then play with Font Book, which is uncharted territory for me. Overall, in many other situations SL has frustrated me - especially inability to use my printer.

I'd suggest anyone who has not yet upgraded to SL to wait for the next update - there are too many quirks as of now, and I see no discernible real user benefit.

[jtandtt0630]

I explored this font issue in Calc again last night. If I change the whole sheet to italics, then all the cells become visible. So clearly the problem is an issue in Open Office and SL with regards to fonts. I went to SL's Font Book application and saw that there are duplicates (a yellow triangle highlights the duplicates). I believe I am supposed to delete the duplicates, but I will try that tonight - I was hesitant to blow up my system as I am in uncharted territory in playing with fonts.

If SL is supposed to be easy - why am I in an arcane technical area of the program? - I just want to do simple things like spreadsheet, word and email...!

[lgusaas]

I went to SL's Font Book application and saw that there are duplicates (a yellow triangle highlights the duplicates). I believe I am supposed to delete the duplicates, but I will try that tonight - I was hesitant to blow up my system as I am in uncharted territory in playing with fonts.

Just deactivate duplicate fonts.
Open Font Book. Under Collection select 'All Fonts'.
On the Menu Bar click Edit > Select Duplicated Fonts. This will highlight all duplicated fonts.
Now Click Edit > Resolve Duplicates. This will turn off all duplicate fonts
For more information on fonts use the Font Book help files

If SL is supposed to be easy - why am I in an arcane technical area of the program? - I just want to do simple things like spreadsheet, word and email...!

There is nothing arcane about it. This is basic computer maintenance. I'd suggest getting a good basic book on using Macs. I'd recommend one of the following:
Mac OS X Snow Leopard: The Missing Manual by David Pogue
Mac OS X Snow Leopard For Dummies by Bob LeVitus
Teach Yourself VISUALLY Mac OS X Snow Leopard by Paul McFedries

[doug fromoz]

For what it's worth...
I've used EXCEL for years, but got a Mac in Feb09 and became interested in OOo. I've only used 3.1.0 previously.
I had ported a large spreadsheet with VB macros from XLS to Calc. It worked, but editing it (deleting or inserting rows, filling, simple stuff) caused it to crash roughly every half hour.
Then I simultaneously upgraded (as you do) to Snow Leopard and OOo 3.1.1.
What a difference! I had been seriously considering chucking OOo Calc in - even bought the MacBox set with iWorks (incl Numbers).
But I tried OOo 3.1.1 before chucking it in, and what a pleasure. So far, very stable and enjoyable. Many thanks to who ever is responsible. (But I could get vicious here if it starts to crash again...
Now, back to the Whitlams - good listening when the others have gone to bed!
Doug.

[exegete77]

Unfortunately, my experience with OO 3.1.1 has gone reverse. The first two weeks were fine. But now this week there some documents (.doc) that I can’t even open because OO crashes, and then crashes trying to send the feedback. Other documents I can open, but minimal editing causes it to crash. Same documents open just fine in NeoOffice, which has not crashed once in over a year of use.

I have removed OO 3.1.1 (and all support files) and downloaded a pristine copy, and still the same problem.

Maybe it is the allergies that affect both me and OO 3.1.1.

[lgusaas]

Unfortunately, my experience with OO 3.1.1 has gone reverse. The first two weeks were fine. But now this week there some documents (.doc) that I can’t even open because OO crashes, and then crashes trying to send the feedback. Other documents I can open, but minimal editing causes it to crash. Same documents open just fine in NeoOffice, which has not crashed once in over a year of use.

I have removed OO 3.1.1 (and all support files) and downloaded a pristine copy, and still the same problem.

Maybe it is the allergies that affect both me and OO 3.1.1.

Fortunately my allergies affect only me, not OO.o, except when they make me do stupid things.

I'm assuming that "and all support files" includes your user profile? Just double checking to make sure. How about any org.openoffice files in your Users Library Preferences folder?

Since the problem started after a crash, there could be something in the temporary files that cause the problem. The location of the temporary files is listed in Preferences/OpenOfice.org/Paths. Note: It is a hidden file so you would have to enable viewing hidden files. I use a freeware program "TinkerTool" to do so. You can also do so in Terminal, but I haven't learnt Terminal yet.

I have had no problems with OO.o on Snow Leopard. I also don't have to deal with very many .doc files. Sorry I don't have any more specific help for you.

[exegete77]

Thanks for the sympathy.

Yes, I removed everything. When I opened the pristine copy, I had to create a new user identity and start from scratch with everything, extensions, style sheets, etc.

Actually I had no problems at all with OpenOffice until this past week. That is the strange thing. I will check and see how it does with only .odt and .ods . Just bad timing. My next extra time comes in mid November... seriously.

[exegete77]

Last resort: Time Machine

I went back 13 days (five backups ago), and restored (as well as support files, etc.), since I knew it was working fine then, after installing Snow Leopard.

So when I open it, it tries to recover the last crashed file (.odt), and it closed. I thought, here we going again. Anyway, it restarted and I got to select a Text document, and I saved as .odt and was able to work with it ... So far!

Anyway, looks like Time Machine pulled through again for me.

[exegete77]

Well, not quite so fast... I starting having more trouble, just like before.

But then I couldn’t install the update to another program (one that I have updated every 3-4 weeks for nine months). So with some troubleshooting we discovered that the startup item for Font Explorer was causing the problem. I had deleted Font Explorer late last week (no longer updated). But for some reason the startup item wasn’t deleted (I use AppDelete). Anyway, once that was resolved and I restarted, then the installer for the upgrade went smoothly.

And.... Now OpenOffice seems to be working better.

[bofort]

I am also a new user of OO. I downloaded 3.1.1 on 6 Nov. I have an iMac using Snow Leopard 10.6.1. As with jtandtt0630 post I cannot see text in the cells. I have tried switching to italic with no benefit. Coincidentally I am having problems with MS Office Word and Excell as my HP 2175 printer wont print these under SL but will print OO Text files which is why I want use OO Calc. I will look for duplicate fonts and delete of I find them but I get less confident and expert as I get older now Mid 70s.

Is there an update that will resolve the invisible text problem?

[bofort]

Other things I can't do.

I wanted to create some personal Templates for letters. Started with the main Welcome page. Select templates. Could not find a way to make a template stick. I followed some instructions found in the program in Template Management but that didn't work, going round in circles. Looking at the help files and selecting in particular "templates;creating document templates" All I found is a blank screen to the right with a pictorial pin in it. But there is no way to enter any data or to create a template there. So hey why not import an MS Word Template. Go to commands and import template. Nope you cant get the MS Word template, greyed out. So Open the MS Word Template and put a copy on the desk top, save it as an .ODT file and import that. Nope they are greyed out too. So all I can do is to make the template an .ODT document open that and then do my letter and Save as something different. Looking at other HELP subjects again there is no text to guide the inquirer or anywhere to add a comment

QUESTIONS:
1. Is OOo compatible with OSX10.6.1 for: Templates: Help: Calc Spread sheets.??
2. When is it thought that "fixes" will be created so that we may take full advantage of this excellent program??