Apache OpenOffice Community Forum

I have two boxes -- one running WindowsXP, and the other running Ubuntu 10.04 LTS.

On the WindowsXP box, I created an Excel 2003 (.xls) spreadsheet. This spreadsheet has some cells {A3, A5} with comments in them.

When I open the same '.xls' spreadsheet in 'Calc' (on the Ubuntu box), it appears that all the cell values / formatting is indeed there.

Yet, for some reason, all the comments that are in the cells appear to be white text on yellow background -- which makes them impossible to read.

Any hints how to fix this?

Hi,

Thank you. The truth is, OO works perfectly on Ubuntu except this bug that I am referring to. Are you sure that this process will solve my problem?
(also, I did a manual install of LibreOffice to see if it will solve the 'Calc' & white comments problem, but it didn't. Are you sure this will help?)

Can you upload a sample file (I'm running OOo vanilla version on Ubuntu 11.04). If LibO does the same, few chances that OOo vanilla version will do better but it's worth a try.

Yes. I read that the solution is to add the following code to '.gtkrc-2.0'
I added the code yet it still doesn't work. Any ideas what to do?

I need a real file!

There you go. Pls tell me if this works for you (meaning, if you can actually read the comments). Thanks.

I see comment boxes opening when I hover the mouse over C4 and E4 but no text is visible.

Yep, that's exactly the problem. The same file, when opened in Excel, is 100% readable. Any idea how to fix this?

+1 with both OOo and LibO (vanilla versions) on Ubuntu 11.04.
Better keep away from .xls...

What if I am getting this from people? meaning, I *need* to be able to use these '.xls' files -- what do I do then?
Did you try this on Ubuntu 11.04?

Same problem in a completely different application. Gnumeric shows invisble comments with white font. I think it is a general problem with the file format. Only Excel can handle all aspects of that file format properly and even Excel may fail sometimes. I attach a macro which resets all annotation font colors.
Create a directory ~/openoffice.org/3/user/Script/python
Exctract the .py file from the zip into that directory.
Open an affected file and run Tools>Macros>Organize>Python>resetAnnotationFonts

The same file, when opened in Excel, is 100% readable

That seems to depend on what version of excel you are using (see attachment).

+1. I get invisible text with Excel 2003 (on W2k).

I made a test with a file made with MS Excel 2003 and another one with Calc 3.3.0 and in both cases, OOo and Excel show the comments fine, even if the file made from one application is loaded in the other!

Hagar de l'Est, thank you for this info. Which OS are you using? Are you using Ubuntu? if so -- what version?

I've edited my posts : on Ubuntu at the beginning of the topic and on W2k in my last post above.

So we all confirm that the file had been saved with white font color for all the cell comments and my macro resets the font color for all comments in the current spreadsheet document.

Seems to be a rather correct conclusion!

Else, we need shalomrav to explain how the file has been created in the first place (OOo? Excel?...)

Please add '[Solved]' at beginning of your first post title (edit button) if your issue has been fixed.

Hagar de l'Est: thank you. which version of Ubuntu are you using? is it 11.04? also, does OO3.3 come built-in in Ubuntu 11.04?
(I have Ubuntu 10.04, and as far as I know, it is shipped with OO3.2)

Please read my posts and my signature!
OOo 3.3.0 on W2000 / OOo 3.3.0 & LibO 3.3.2 (vanilla versions) on Ubuntu 11.04

Hagar de l'Est :

You just wrote: "OOo 3.3.0 on W2000 / OOo 3.3.0 & LibO 3.3.2 (vanilla versions) on Ubuntu 11.04"

But before, you wrote: "I made a test with a file made with MS Excel 2003 and another one with Calc 3.3.0 and in both cases, OOo and Excel show the comments fine, even if the file made from one application is loaded in the other!"

Can you confirm that you created a file using MS Excel on Windows, and then imported the file to Ubuntu 11.04 and the comments were visible in OO?

Also, can you upload the file you created using MS Excel on Windows? I'd like to test it in my Ubuntu box. Thank you.

Please go back and read the thread again. Hagar's answers were in answers to your questions, I see nothing unclear about his answers. Also, I find that you are verging on rudeness. It is surely not too much to ask to (1) read someone's signature line before you ask them about their operating system. In this forum, as you will have noticed, that's what signature lines are used for. And (2) how about a "thank you" to Villeroy for the trouble he went to?

As for comments being viewable between Calc and Excel, I have just tested this and it works in both directions: Excel 2007 saving as .xls (Office 97 / 2000 / XP) << >> OpenOffice 3.3.0 saving as .ods. Each program can open the spreadsheet file saved by the other and view the comments.

I've not tested cross system (except your file). Will upload my W2k test file next time I access it.
Here is a sample file from OOo 3.3.0 on Ubuntu:

Gentlemen,

Thank you so much, but honestly, I am still experiencing the same issue I described in my original post: '.xls' files with comments that were produced using Microsoft Excel 2003 -- when you try to open them up on Ubuntu {either 10.04 or 11.04 -- I tested both}, it is absolutely impossible to read the comments, as they are displayed white text on yellow background.

On the other hand, when an '.xls' file is created by OpenOffice / LibreOffice on Ubuntu {either 10.04 or 11.04} -- I confirm it is possible to read the comments when viewed in Excel. But the other way ('Excel on Windows' --> OpenOffice / LibreOffice on Ubuntu} does not work!

I am uploading a file that was created in Excel. Can any of you please try to see if you can read the comments on either OpenOffice / LibreOffice on Ubuntu? thank you.

If any of you have OpenOffice / LibreOffice but are using a different distro than Ubuntu, please see if you can open the file and read the comments. Perhaps this is an Ubuntu issue? if so -- any ideas how to solve it?

The comments in your last file above look fine with MS Excel 2003.

Here is my test file made on W2k with MS Excel 2003:

Hagar de l'Est :

The comments in your last file above look fine with MS Excel 2003

That's exactly the point -- since the file was created using MS Excel, the comments in it are not visible in neither OpenOffice nor LibOffice on Ubuntu. Can you verify that please?

Here is my test file made on W2k with MS Excel 2003:

I opened your file on my machine (Ubuntu 10.04, OpenOffice 3.2) -- I cannot see the comments in it. Can you see the comments in this file on your Ubuntu 11.04 box? Thank you.

That's exactly the point -- since the file was created using MS Excel, the comments in it are not visible in neither OpenOffice nor LibOffice on Ubuntu....

nor MS Excel 2007.

I opened your file on my machine (Ubuntu 10.04, OpenOffice 3.2) -- I cannot see the comments in it. Can you see the comments in this file on your Ubuntu 11.04 box? Thank you.

That's strange. It works on LibreOffice 3.3.2 on my OpenSuse box (as well as on windows), even though your sample file did not. I would guess however, the problem is not dependent on the operating system but on the 3.2 vs 3.3.2 of the office suite (and of course inherent to the file format since even MSExcel 2007 did not show the comments correctly)

I confirm my file from MS Excel 2003 doesn't show the comments properly on my Ubuntu box (both LibO and OOo).

You can file a bug report: [Tutorial] Reporting bugs or suggestions.

I found this workaround that may let you at least see invisible Excel 2003 comments in Ubuntu 10.10, OOO 3.2:

- Navigate to the cell with the invisible comment
- Right click and select "Show Comment"
- Navigate to the comment box
- Right click and select "Area..."
- Under Fill, select "Magenta" and click "OK"

I can then see the original Excel 2003 comment.

Hi there,

being this color controlled by current color schema, you could achieve the same result for all cells with a single operation: visit Tools/Options/Appearance, browse to Spreadsheet and change 'Notes background' color to something more suitable than the default light yellow. This way, you don't need to do it for every single commented cell. I'm still struggling tough to find a way to do this programmatically, without user intervention.
If anybody has an idea.... thank you!

Aloha!
rash*