On 11/26/13, Ewan Slater ewan.slater@googlemail.com wrote:

Google docs or Zoho?

I'd second that. I've had no end of problems with LO-writer and now type up in gedit (as it has a spell checker), and then format in google docs. The latest version of LO $.1.3.2 still has problems since it was made available for *buntu. I haven't found a glitch yet with google docs but one is limited with its features e.g. I needed to use a watermark on a doc the other day and had to use LO-writer - on that occasion thankfully no problems.

Zoho? isn't that the one that one has to pay for

james

I've never had a problem with Libre / Open Office, but maybe I have just been lucky? On Nov 26, 2013 6:44 PM, "Bev Nicolson" lumos@gmx.co.uk wrote:

...

I created and saved a Libre Office calc doc today but try as I might cannot open now. Thunderbird takes ages to try and shows a load of html stuff where a thumbnail of a document usually is. If I try Libre Office I get an input/ouput error. Googling suggests this is a known bug but I wondered if there was any way of getting round this (without using MS office.) Ideas? Happily I don't use it that often...

Bev.

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On 12/9/13, Ewan Slater ewan.slater@googlemail.com wrote:

...

Zoho? isn't that the one that one has to pay for

james

Like Google, Zoho has a free version (which I have used) and one you can pay for if you want lots of users and space.

Ewan

Sorry I was a little hasty! I'd forgotten that and strangely enough I have actually got an account. Just had a look at it... it actually has more features than google docs has - haven't looked at the other apps. I can't think now why I didn't look at it further.

I think it was probably that I was fed up with Abiword problems and then after LO - just started using google docs as I use their email. I did use Chrome and so Zoho was already loaded iirc - gone back to Firefox now. I must say I am not keen on the 'cloud' idea - convenient in one way but I wouldn't want to put company accounts or something important on it.

james

Sent from my Android device with K-9 Mail. Please excuse my brevity.

On 26/11/13 23:46, steve-ALUG@hst.me.uk wrote:

Are you trying to open the calc document in Thunderbird? If so, is it because you saved it in an email? If so, save the attachment first, then open Calc, then open the document.

If not, what are you trying to do?

Cheers Steve

I sent it as an .xml attachment but then found I couldn't open it again to make alterations.

Bev.

On 27 November 2013 09:10, Bev Nicolson lumos@gmx.co.uk wrote:

Or, more specifically, I couldn't open the original .xml document or the attachment from an email.

Can you clarify which file type you saved in?

You said spreadsheet so I assume either LibreOffice's default Open Document Format (file with a .ods extension), Excel's not-really-open-but-we-like-to-pretend-it-is format (.xlsx, I think?) or Excel's older format (.xls). I believe you can save as .xml (ie an XML file) but that would be unusual (if it's a genuine XML file then any web browser such as Firefox should be able to open it), and having done so it probably wouldn't really qualify as a being a "spreadsheet" any more. However, an XML attachment in an email might well "confuse" TBird.

Of-course the file extension is only a guide to what the file contains, so it's quite possible you have one of these (or other) formats with an (incorrect) .xml file extension. From a Linux terminal the "file" command should tell you what the file content actually is without being fooled by the file extension: $file myTest.ods myTest.ods: OpenDocument Spreadsheet

$mv myTest.ods myTest.xml

$file myTest.xml myTest.xml: OpenDocument Spreadsheet

What sort of error do you get trying to open it in LibreOffice?

If the content isn't sensitive and you have access to somewhere you can upload it, post a link and I'm sure someone can guide you further. (If you can't upload it somewhere, feel free to email it to me off list and I'll have a look, and upload it and post a link for others to look at it if I can't help.)

On 27 November 2013 10:19, Bev Nicolson lumos@gmx.co.uk wrote:

It's definitely an .xml file (Excel 2003 file type apparently).

XML is a standard file type that can be used for all types of purposes, and is not an Excel file type (from 2003 that would be .xls). Excel and LibreOffice (amongst others) can export to XML, although much like exporting to CSV format you will probably lose varying amounts of the data's formatting in doing so.

Therefore there's a contradiction in your above statement. If it is an Excel 2003 document, then it's in .xls format, even though by the sound of it, it has a .xml file extension. You could try renaming it to .xls and see if LibreOffice opens it correctly (also try the "file" command I mentioned earlier). If memory serves, there used to be all sorts of ways to attack Windows systems via Office files than had incorrect file extensions so I would imagine that current versions of Office are pretty good at ignoring the extension and looking at the file contents, which might explain why the file opens better in Excel than LO (although I'd be surprised - and disappointed - if LO doesn't also pay more attention to the file content than the file name).

On the other hand, if it is genuinely an XML file then it should open fine in Firefox or a text editor. Again, anything that expects to be seeing an XML file but finds .xls content inside might get rather confused by this (eg Thunderbird as you described earlier).

I've just tried sticking some nonsense in another doc but saving it as xls and it recognises it. (Right icon on Desktop rather than vague </> which tells you nothing.) So I think the lesson here is never use .xml because it's useless for this purpose anyway. Ah well.

XML is a very useful format and you almost certainly use it regularly without knowing about it (and indeed .ods and .xlsx file formats are both heavy users of XML internally). But as a raw document format for spreadsheet data I think you're right - .xls and .ods are better (.xls is more interchangeable between systems at present, .ods is a better format in general but MS have been slow to adopt support for it which limits its usefulness - which of-course is Microsoft's intention!). Personally I don't touch .xlsx unless they're sent to me.

Mark

On 27 November 2013 11:01, Bev Nicolson lumos@gmx.co.uk wrote:

Nada. Still get input/output error. BUT I tried Gnumeric and there it was so renaming had some advantages. (By that I mean getting the right options offered to open it.)

Interesting...

I would definitely be interested to know what "file" tells you is in the file. There's probably a GUI way to do it if you don't like working in the terminal (no idea what it is though, anyone here know?)

OK, if you can open it in Gnumeric, then in Gnumeric, do a Save As, make sure you give it a different name, and save it as an XLS file, (or Excel format). Then I bet you'll be able to open the new copy in Calc.

Entirely correct.

I don't quite know how you ended up with an XML file though!

Er, by assuming Excel 2003 was a shareable option... (Shows as a text/xml option if that answers Mark's question.) If I need to use Calc again, I shall be more careful.

Bev.