Problem opening document

[jimmp55]

I have a document that whenever I try to open it I have a problem. The document opens for a couple of seconds and then it closes.This is the only file that I have a problem with. I am using openoffice 4.1.5, with Windows 10. Thank You ,Jim

[robleyd]

Can you make the file available to try and work out the problem?
[Forum] How to attach a document here Note maximum file size is 128K. If your file is larger, use a file sharing site such as Mediafire and post the link here. The link also contains information on how to anonymise your document if it contains confidential information.

I am using openoffice 4.1.5, with Windows 10

Would you please update your signature to reflect this? It is helpful to have this information when we are trying to assist.

[jimmp55]

here is the troublesome file

Daily Yard Check.odt

(15.21 KiB) Downloaded 103 times

[thomasjk]

I was able to open your document with no trouble and it stayed open. Im running Libreoffice Version: 6.1.4.2 (x64). Try disabling your Antivirus and see if this makes a difference. Also try booting Win 10 in safe mode https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/hel ... -safe-mode and see if your document still closes.

[RoryOF]

I also was able to open your file - it seemed quite stable. Perhaps try this version - sometimes Saving on a different operating system (as I did) helps.

[rashidclark]

I am experiencing the same problem.
I've tried uninstalling/reinstalling OpenOffice, the problem still occurs.

I tried thomasjk's advice to boot up in safe mode, thank you that DID work.
I suspected an app-monitoring tool I use called "Cold Turkey", so while still in safe mode I launched that. The document opened fine still. I also tried launching Norton Antivirus, but it complained that it cannot run while in safe mode.
So I then exited safe mode and disabled Norton, but the doc would not open. I also tried killing Norton's processes, but there was one which I could not kill, "Norton Security WSC Service". When killing all Norton processes except that one, the Doc still would not open.
I also killed the processes tied to the anti-malware app "SpyHunter5", but the doc still would not open.
I played with a lot of settings in Windows Defender, but didn't find anything which helped.

[thomasjk]

Since disabling all the AV and other apps did not work perhaps resetting the user profile viewtopic.php?f=74&t=12426 will help.

[rashidclark]

Thank you,

I tried deleting the "user" profile directory (keeping a backup), but the document still does not open.

I also tried opening it again while in safe-mode, then saving a copy of the document from there, then rebooting into normal mode. However the copy also cannot be opened.

[RoryOF]

Then the cause of the trouble might be "Norton Security WSC Service"; a quick Internet search shows how to stop this. Norton my have advice on configuration to work with OpenOffice.

[jimmp55]

What I did do was open the file in Word. Renamed the file and I saved it in open office. I have opened it twice and it has stayed open. I am leary of saying that it was fixed (the fix appears to be to easy) but thank you everyone for your help.

[John_Ha]

Try this file where I copied the contents of your file into a new, empty file. This often stabilises a "tangled" file.

[rashidclark]

@RoryOF I have since tried uninstalling Norton, rebooting, and the OpenOffice document still does not open.

@jimmp5555 congrats on getting your file back! For my Doc, unfortunately, MS Word loses a lot of the formatting during an import.

@John_Ha I'll try something similar, while in safe mode, and see if it helps.

My time is running out for today, but there are a couple of things I might try out when I get back to this tomorrow next week.

[rashidclark]

The latest efforts included uninstalling my app-monitoring program ("Cold Turkey"), but the issue still reproduced.

Based on John_Ha's experiment, I also tried going into the OS' safe-mode so that the file can be opened, and then saved out different versions of it.
Some of them still crashed about 50% of the time upon opening them, including a version which was just a copy-paste of the original document. But two of them did not. One of the "better" files was made by saving out a version of the document which simply had its table-of-contents updated (this only added one item to the ToC). The other "better" file was made by deleting the only unique feature that was added since the last time the document could be opened: A table with a different style applied to every-other row.

I had tried reopening each of these new documents numerous times in order to get some statistic significance. Only once during these many trials was an error ever reported as a pop-up, and this was during an odd trial where multiple documents were opening, so it might be unrelated. The popup’s message was:
“OpenOffice 4.1.6 - Fatal Error
SEH Exception: ACCESS VIOLATION”

On one hand, the fact that I now have a file which can open for now is good news, but on the other hand I do worry about stability issues coming up again. For a period of weeks prior to my original document becoming un-openable, Open Office had developed stability problems on my machine and would crash after maybe 4-8 hours of use. And based on the comments in this thread, it sounds like it is not unheard of for the app to create "tangled" files.

[RoryOF]

There were reports last year (circa October?) of a Win 10 update causing stability problems with OpenOffice. Later reports were that a revised update(s) cured this problem. I advise telling Win10 to do a complete installation of all outstanding updates and then restart Win10. That may cure your problem, but in any event will be a good step towards a fix.

[rashidclark]

Thank you. Yes indeed, it turns out that my OS was behind on some updates. It even didn't yet have the big October update yet, if that was the one that caused other folks their problems.
It's now fully up to date (version 1809, build 17763.379) and rebooted. The original document still doesn't open.

[RoryOF]

Did the repaired document I uploaded open correctly on the now fully updated system?

[John_Ha]

The best way to diagnose problems with files not opening or not being saved is to start the PC in Safe Mode and try again.

If it now works the problem is caused by one of the programs which is started automatically when AOO or LO starts. Disable the Startup programs until you find the culprit.

Google safe mode and startup programs for how to do it.

The problem seems more common now many programs offer anti-virus / anti-malware protection.

[rashidclark]

@ RoryOF : Although I haven’t tried loading the file from the original poster which you had helpfully re-saved, as mentioned earlier I was able to open and re-save my own document by booting in safe-mode. Re-saving it after some simple edits allowed the new document to be opened after a normal launch of the O.S. However, I am still concerned about stability issues coming up again in the future.

@John_Ha : Thank you for the suggestion. This morning I installed “Autoruns” in order to find ALL start-up items. From there I disabled the ones which I felt were non-essential for this test. (Essential items are more-or-less those provided by the O.S. or by the hardware manufacturers. If any of those are at fault, then I’d rather keep them and try a different word processor.) After disabling these and rebooting, the problem still reproduced.

Thank you everyone for all of your help. Some progress was made. However, I’m not feeling up for investing more effort into trying to fix it. For the time being I’ll migrate over to MS Word, though I’ll miss some of OO’s features. If MSW winds up being just as or more problematic on my machine, then maybe I’ll migrate back. =/