OO Crashes with Updates to Windows10, Files Don't Save

[VaughanR]

I ran usual updates on my Windows 10 computer, and afterward when I went to open my OpenOffice Writer file, it said that it had crashed and required recovery. I ran the recovery and it said it had failed, yet it tried to open the file. It said that an 'Unknown User' had locked the file and that I didn't have the permission to open and edit it. I can only use and edit a copy of this file now.

Now, with every file that I open (even if I just open a fresh document to write on) it says 'recovery failed' for the original file that crashed and I have to click through the pop-up window before it opens whatever file and I can use it normally.

I have my files in Dropbox, and being frustrated with what was happening on my Windows 10 computer, I opened and edited my files on my Macbook Pro without incident. Any files that I save there save correctly and I don't have any 'recovery failed' icons popping up before I open any file. Also, on my Mac I can open the file that originally crashed and locked me out.

But, when I went to my Windows 10 laptop again to write in a file, although I saved it, all of the work that I completed did not save. The only work that is in the file is the work that I completed on the Mac.

On my Windows 10 computer, the OO version I have is 4.0.0

My Mac runs OO in version 4.1.1

Thank you all for your help.

[thomasjk]

The first thing to try is resetting the AOO user profile viewtopic.php?f=74&t=12426. Also serach for and delete any ~.filename.lock files. These files are produced when a file is opened for editing and are normally deleted when the file is closed. A crash can leave them behind.

[Flynn MacNiall]

I have done all that, spent hours trying to get my work done. The program does not even allow me to save as with a different name - it just continues to stall with the save and say "not responding" then crash when i try to close. I have reset the profile i have deleted locked files NADA and last week on tuesday it worked like usual. I try to work today (tuesday) and from the very beginning not working.
Thank god i MS WORD so that i can get some work done.
Who did what and why.
This is an open project so any person can decide to modify and then .... What? Anarchy.

[John_Ha]

Welcome to the forum.

From your description AOO did not crash. What happened was that you were editing a file - call it fred.odt - and Windows updated while the file was being edited. AOO was somehow stopped while the file was open.

All you need to do is to accept recovering the file. Alternatively find the hidden file .~lock.fred.odt# in the same folder as fred.odt and delete it. You will need to use Control Panel > Folder options ..., to make hidden files visible so you can see it.

[RoryOF]

This is an open project so any person can decide to modify and then .... What? Anarchy.

Anyone can download the source code, modify it, and use the modification for themselves. However, uploading a modification to the code base is subject to peer review beforehand by members of the development team, so dangerous or frivolous modifications are filtered out and not permitted to the code base.

[John_Ha]

Repetitively editing the same file with MS Word and AOO is asking for problems.

See [Tutorial] Differences between Writer and MS Word files for the many reasons, and why you should always work in and save files as .odt when using AOO.

[Flynn MacNiall]

Re:Repeatedly using MS Word is not something i do.
Sometimes i need to open the doc with Word and save with .docx so that i can upload my manuscript to my Kindle which is where i read and make notes for editing but all of the work i do, all of the writing takes place in AOO. - Except yesterday when the AOO Version 4.1.3 suddenly refused to save after modifying text, and then i upgraded to 4.1.4 and still it would not save. So I looked for help here in the Forum and followed what i could find (most often the suggestion to reset the user profile, which i did to no avail) i at least was able to open and save the modified document with word. Then i went back and uninstalled the version 4's and installed version 3.1.4 and am now am happy as a clam and do not even know what i am missing using the old version.

Thanks for the reply.

[RoryOF]

John means transferring a file between OO and Word and Saving it before transfer can cause instability in a file. I don't bother with .docx (grasps crucifix and garlic); when I want a file on Kindle or on a tablet I convert to epub or mobi direct from .odt using Calibre.

[Flynn MacNiall]

Thanks I tried using the epub and found my formatting weird or something.
I do not often make the transition from AOO to Word but do sometimes but am unclear as to what you mean by waiting for the transfer...sorry for my ignorance.
I just save the AOO file, which MS Word seems to open just fine though it always says there is a corruption, I rarely go the other way, meaning opening a Word doc with AOO, but i have.

Flynn

[John_Ha]

Did you read [Tutorial] Differences between Writer and MS Word files? It explains all.

Look at the mismatch between Writer and MS Word functions, and therefore between .odt files and .doc/.docx files which are needed to store the results of using those functions. Using any of the red, green or dark blue function will cause data loss when you interchange.

Then i went back and uninstalled the version 4's and installed version 3.1.4 and am now am happy as a clam and do not even know what i am missing using the old version.

It is probably the uninstalling and re-installing which fixed things - re-installing with 4.1.4 would almost certainly have fixed it too. You should run the latest version.

[Flynn MacNiall]

"It is probably the uninstalling and re-installing which fixed things - re-installing with 4.1.4 would almost certainly have fixed it too. You should run the latest version."

Well i tried that before trying the V3's but the problem remained.

I will try again but now am a bit tender about the whole thing you know what they say if it works don't fix it. AOO 3.4.1 works - you know?

I am going to try OpenLibre which i downloaded yesterday but am in no big hurry for me being able to write is most important.

Flynn

[John_Ha]

"If it ain't broke, don't fix it" is good advice.

The problem is that 3.4.1 is "a bit broke" in that a number of security fixes and other fixes have been made, and well as a number of functional enhancements.