Problem with my files

[Rossano]

Hello, I urgently need Your help. I use my computer only to write, every day many hours (continuosly adding, changing, cancelling data) in my many old files ".DOC"
I used to work with OpenOffice 2.1 and Windows Vista. Months ago, after changing the harddisk, I was given Windows 7 Home Premium (instead of Vista).
From that moment on I have been having the following nasty problem :
I open+close my files for a few hours then abruptly NO files can be opened (not even the links to the OpenOffice program). So I have to turn off+on my computer, and again I have access to my files, but after some time NO files can be opened again, etc. etc. etc. (this happens many times every day !)
I downloaded first OpenOffice 3.1 then 4.1 to see whether this was the solution of my problem, but the problem was+is still there.
I think (but I am not expert...) that there is a sort of mulfunction(incompatibility?) between Openoffice and Windows 7. Maybe it is sufficient to change some values either in OpenOffice or in Windows 7 but I am not expert, I don' t know what+how to do (I am no good to change something inside of the programs).
So I ask for Your suggestions, hoping You can solve this long lasting problem. Or shall I go back to Vista ??? MANY THANKS, Rossano

[robleyd]

abruptly NO files can be opened

How exactly are you trying to open files - e.g. double click in File Explorer, File | Open from within AOO or something else? And what exactly is happening when you try to open a file?

Note that if you are going to continue to use AOO you should save your files in AOO format, for example Writer files save as .odt format.

[John_Ha]

Welcome to the forum.

See [Tutorial] Differences between Writer and MS Word files for why you should always work in and save files as .odt.

Edit: It appears that this is the problem and the solution. Unfortunately it also appears that the poster cannot have read this post and the thread carries a further 42 posts before coming back to this solution.

It sounds like you have lost (or never set up) the association between Writer and .odt and .doc files. Hence, when you double click on a .odt or .doc file, Windows does not know it needs to start Writer.

Go Start > Control Panel > Default Programs. This opens this window.

Choose Set your Default Programs and give Writer and Open Office all its defaults.

If you double click a .odt file it should now start Open Office or Writer.

[Rossano]

THANKS to all ! I' ll try to do what You suggest, then I' ll let You know
P.S.: my system (Windows 7 H. P.) has 32 bit (not 64 as written above)

[Rossano]

abruptly NO files can be opened

How exactly are you trying to open files - e.g. double click in File Explorer, File | Open from within AOO or something else? And what exactly is happening when you try to open a file?

Note that if you are going to continue to use AOO you should save your files in AOO format, for example Writer files save as .odt format.

double click directly on the files (.doc). When the files open it first/quickly appears the window "Apache OpenOffice". All my files are parked in "documents".
When I try to open the files, after I double click on them they simply don' t open (nothing else happens). But why for some time they open then abruptly no more ?

[RoryOF]

Try opening TaskManger (Ctrl Shift Esc) and kill all "soffice" processes shown on TaskManager's Processes tab (Details tab on Windows 10)

[Rossano]

Try opening TaskManger (Ctrl Shift Esc) and kill all "soffice" processes shown on TaskManager's Processes tab (Details tab on Windows 10)

I just saw inside, which processes are the "soffice" ones ? Kill = delete ???
By the way, there are 3 users shawn inside, i. e. user, system, service, correct ?

[RoryOF]

The "soffice" processes are called soffice.<something> There may be none. You should delete any soffice processes (if any) for all users.

[Rossano]

Now I see (thanks...). There are 2 : "soffice.bin" and "soffice.exe" (both by "user")
Sure that if I delete both nothing wrong happens with/in my system ?
By the way, I just have some files open (I was/am working on them...) but I see that at the moment there are 53 processes (of all 3 users) going. Is it normal ?

[John_Ha]

Try opening TaskManger (Ctrl Shift Esc) and kill all "soffice" processes shown on TaskManager's Processes tab (Details tab on Windows 10)

... or just power off the PC. Now power it on again.

I see that at the moment there are 53 processes (of all 3 users) going. Is it normal ?

Quite normal

NB - whether you are 32 bit or 64 bit Windows will not affect things.

[Rossano]

Try opening TaskManger (Ctrl Shift Esc) and kill all "soffice" processes shown on TaskManager's Processes tab (Details tab on Windows 10)

... or just power off the PC. Now power it on again.

As I wrote above in order to keep working in my files I must (as only solution so far known to me) power off then power on my computer. In this way I can again open my files BUT for some minutes or hours ONLY, then they don' t open again, so I must power off+on my computer again and again (many times every day).
This is NO solution. There MUST be a better definitve/final one.....

[RoryOF]

Try working in .odt format and Save as to .doc _only_ when the document is finished and needs to be sent to others. OO does not write to .docx format. All recent versions of MS Word read .odt format, even if the users don't know that.

[John_Ha]

If Power off > Power on solves the problem, then it is almost certain that you have more than one copy of soffice.exe or soffice.bin running, and it is the multiple copies causing the problem. Next time it happens

1 Start TaskManager (C:\Windows\System32\taskmgr.exe)
2 Go to Processes tab. Click Show processes from all users. Click Image Name to sort process names into order.
3 right-click each soffice.exe and soffice.bin in turn, and click End process tree. This stops them (as does power off > power on )

Restart Writer and all should be well.

This is my TaskManager when Writer is running - note there is only 1 copy of each. If there are 2 or more copies of soffice.bin (and/or 2 or more copies of the others?) that causes the problem.

Task Manager when I run Writer - this is OK.

If you search the forum with soffice.bin you will find a number of posts about it. I am not sure why it is happening to you. It used to happen frequently to me, so much so that I wrote a utility to delete all instances of soffice.exe and soffice.bin but it has not happened to me for many months now. I think the author of this post describes it excellently [Issue] OOo hangs with multiple soffice.exe in Task Manager

I am on Writer 4.1.3 under W7 Home Edition 64 bit.

A thought. Don't use Quickstarter (it is redundant now that AOO starts so quickly). Go go Tools > Options > OpenOffice > Memory ..., and untick Load OpenOffice during system startup. Reboot so it takes effect.

Another thought. Try Resetting the user profile. That is often a magic wand which fixes peculiar problems.

If this solves the problem, please click the Edit button on your original post and add [Solved] in front of your subject.

[Rossano]

Hello John, Thanks to You (and to all others as well) for the kind suggestions. I' ll make some trials in the next days to see what is successful or what not, then I' ll let You know.
As I wrote I am not so familiar with all that, but I hope I' ll manage it (if not, I' ll ask again...). Rgds., Rossano
P.S.: I forgot, this is since harddisk's change my main (most important) problem, but there is also another minor one, i.e "jumping cursor". When I write the cursor very often jumps to the other cursor. If I express myself correct there are 2 cursors, one while I write the words and one loose (often left some lines behind)
For ex. imagine now the few lines above, one cursor is just after the last word "behind" and the loose one is left after "Rossano". If I continue to write after "behind" the cursor jumps abruptly to where the other loose one is located (after Rossano) and my additional words are printed after Rossano instead of being printed as continuation after "behind".
So every time, before I realize that the cursor has jumped behind, my last words are printed behind instead of ahead, so I must take them away from behind and put them correctly ahead). This too happens very often, quite disturbing. Cause and remedy/solution ? Problem with Windows or with Openoffice ???

[John_Ha]

For the cursor problem, if you are using a Touchpad, see Re: unstable word document

[RoryOF]

There are two cursors - the insertion cursor, normally a blinking vertical line, which is where text is entered and the navigation cursor (in my case a smaller I beam), which allows one to press the buttons on the toolbar, select a menu item, and move about the document. If one positions this on the text and clicks, this will move the insertion cursor to that new location.

[Rossano]

There are two cursors - the insertion cursor, normally a blinking vertical line, which is where text is entered and the navigation cursor (in my case a smaller I beam), which allows one to press the buttons on the toolbar, select a menu item, and move about the document. If one positions this on the text and clicks, this will move the insertion cursor to that new location.

OK, thanks. I know that, but my insertion cursor very often jumps to (the place where is positioned) the navigation cursor by simply clicking on the spacer bar

for ex.(taking the phrase above) if the navigation curson is positioned after "thanks" and I click on the spacer after "navigation" the insertion cursor jumps back to "thanks" and before I realize it the final rest of the phrase (i.e. "cursor by simply clicking on the spacer bar") is written behind (after "thanks) instead of ahead (after "navigation). So I have to remove that from behind to ahead. Every day, while writing, such a problem occurs very often

[RoryOF]

I don't understand just what you mean by "the spacer bar"?

[Rossano]

I don't understand just what you mean by "the spacer bar"?

Don' t You call it so in english ? I mean the bar/button positioned on the board (low row) between alt and Alt Gr that we always use to separate words
For ex. If I write 2 words "I mean" I need to click on this bar/button to separate "I" from "mean". This should be called "spacer bar or button, or what ?

[Rossano]

Hello John
At first I tried what You suggested. I did all steps above and I noted that
I need not right-clicking on both soffices (bin and exe) but it is sufficient on one only and they both disappear. I then clicked on "End Process Tree" and I restarted writer again. We' ll see now whether the problem occurs again. I' ll let You know.
2 notes : Inside there was (and there is) one bin and one exe only.
And before "end process tree" a window appeared reading that if I do that it may cause problems. I hope not.....
Rgds., Rossano

[robleyd]

It is called a "space bar" and possibly your saying

by simply clicking on the spacer bar

confused the issue; with a normal keyboard you press the space bar, not click on it.

[Rossano]

Thank You for the explanation, so "press the space (not spacer) bar"
P.S.: although my mistake (spacer instead of space) how could that be not understandable ?

[RoryOF]

The "click" misled me, as "click" suggests a mouse action, not a keyboard action. I'm on my way out to a meeting so will look into this later.

[RoryOF]

The keyboard only enters at the current Insertion cursor location; the navigation cursor (in my case an "I" beam) is merely for navigation about the screen. Pressing the space bar (or any other text keys) enters that text at the Insertion cursor location, not at the navigation cursor location. To cause entry at the navigation cursor location one must click there - then the Insertion cursor will move to that location, ready for text insertion.

[Rossano]

OK, but I can only tell that (while writing) pressing the space bar (normally, to separate words only) often makes (abruptly+unintentionally) the insertion cursor jump to the place where the navigation cursor is positioned (often in texts in lines behind/above). I don' t want that but it happens (cursor too sensible or defective ?), how is this avoidable ?
I need that when I press the space bar to separate the next words (while writing) the insertion cursor must stay there (after the last word I' m writing,without jumping elsewhere)

[Rossano]

John, very disappointed. Problem is still there (Your suggestions+steps have not helped to solve my problem.....), too bad ! Rossano

Hello John
At first I tried what You suggested. I did all steps above and I noted that
I need not right-clicking on both soffices (bin and exe) but it is sufficient on one only and they both disappear. I then clicked on "End Process Tree" and I restarted writer again. We' ll see now whether the problem occurs again. I' ll let You know.
2 notes : Inside there was (and there is) one bin and one exe only.
And before "end process tree" a window appeared reading that if I do that it may cause problems. I hope not.....
Rgds., Rossano

[RoryOF]

Try this attached file (in its current format). Does it behave the same way?

[Rossano]

Hello Rory
Your sample.odt opens when my files.doc open, but when my files don' t open Your file too doesn' t open. The problem must be elsewhere (maybe in the system of Windows or of OpenOffice). Now I' ll try John' s suggestion.....
Rossano

[robleyd]

Is your computer a laptop with a touch pad?

[RoryOF]

The non-opening of files in OpenOffice is often caused by left-over "soffice" processes on the computer. These may be caused by over-hasty powering off of the computer before the OpenOffice internal housekeeping has finished, or sometimes by too speedy restarting of OO after exiting an instance of it. In the simplest cases, these may be removed by a restart of the computer; in more serious cases it can be necessary to delete these processes using TaskManager.

Curing the majority of such problems is a matter of minor alteration of user habits.