Cannot open DOCX file

users
#1

I created a docx file with Android Office Suite Pro, and while MS Office
2010 can open it, LO cannot.

Ideas?

#2

Hi :slight_smile:
Ok, this is going to sound mad. Can you create a copy of the file and rename the copy so that it's file-ending is .zip instead of .docx? Does that open as a normal zip file?

Sometimes the contents help us see what is going wrong. I use that sort of thing to see which particular picture or logo is causing a document to be excessively heavy.

It wont work for the older doc format but does work for docX and odt.
Regards from
Tom :slight_smile:

#3

No problem. Opens OK. What do you want to know about the contents?

The root directory has a file ([Content_Types].xml) and three
subdirectories --[_rels], [docProps] and [word]

Tom Davies has written on 10/28/2011 2:15 PM:

#4

Hi :slight_smile:
Ahh, i am not sure. Tbh i was hoping that there might be something immediately obvious and easy to fix or that it would stuggle to open and fixing that would fix the problem.

LibreOffice 3.4.x branch tends to be better at opening docX than the 3.3.x branch but really the MS Office implementation of docX is sufficiently off-standards that other programs often have trouble with it.

In MS Office you can usually save as Odt (the older 1.1 format) and that should open fine in LibreOffice. The older Doc (without the X) format tends to be more widely compatible with more programs at the moment tho.

Looking at
http://www.mobisystems.com/android_office/
it seems that Android's Office can't handle Odt yet but that seems very unlikely. I think try saving as an Odt in Word and then try opening on the Android.

So, i think i would test the odt on Android but then stick to using Doc for the next few months.
Regards from
Tom :slight_smile:

#5

The best idea is to create an odt document and tell us if there any errors.

If you want to create m$ formats, contact office suite pro and/or m$.

#6

Hi :slight_smile:
I still think that Doc as opposed to DocX is the only format that all 3 programs can read/write the same. Just open the existing DocX in either Android or MS and then

File (or golden orb) - "Save As ... "

and choose something like "older Word 97/2000/Xp"

I would experiment with Odt as it is a superior format, even the older 1.1, but using it might require changing the defaults for LibreOffice

Tools - Options - "+ Load/Save" - General

In the middle of that page you can change the ODF format to the older one and at the bottom you can change the defaults from ODF (Odt, Ods, Odp etc) to MS Office ones (Doc, Xls, Ppt).
Regards from
Tom :slight_smile:

#7

Tom Davies has written on 10/28/2011 8:30 PM:

Hi :slight_smile:
Ahh, i am not sure. Tbh i was hoping that there might be something immediately obvious and easy to fix or that it would stuggle to open and fixing that would fix the problem.

I don't know enough about the internals.

LibreOffice 3.4.x branch tends to be better at opening docX than the 3.3.x branch but really the MS Office implementation of docX is sufficiently off-standards that other programs often have trouble with it.

I have 3.4.* I think the problem is with the MobiSystems implementation,
not MS.

Looking at
http://www.mobisystems.com/android_office/
it seems that Android's Office can't handle Odt yet but that seems very unlikely. I think try saving as an Odt in Word and then try opening on the Android.

MobisSystems OfficeSuite cannot open ODT.

Thanks.

#8

e-letter has written on 10/29/2011 5:21 AM:

> I created a docx file with Android Office Suite Pro, and while MS Office
> 2010 can open it, LO cannot.
>
> Ideas?
>

The best idea is to create an odt document and tell us if there any errors.

"No applications can perform this action" appears when I try to open an
ODT file with OfficeSuite.

#9

Thanks, Tom, but that's not the point. I created a DOCX file on my phone
and could not open it with LO 3.4.3. I can open it with MS Word 2010.

Not looking for a work-around but I will take the advice of using DOC
instead.

Tom Davies has written on 10/29/2011 7:08 AM:

#10

Hi :slight_smile:
Ahh, cool. In that case perhaps filing a bug-report would be good even tho i haven't been any help in getting it down to a specific issue.
http://wiki.documentfoundation.org/BugReport
Regards from
Tom :slight_smile:

#11

Hi :slight_smile:
Hmm, interesting. On a desktop OS you can usually right-click on a file, go down to properties and use that to change which program opens that type of file. Hopefully Android OfficeSuite would be in the list. I don't know if Android allows you to configure things in a similar way.
Regards from
Tom :slight_smile:

#12

I may have confused you.

I've opened OfficeSuite (technically it's MobiSystems OfficeSuite Pro on
an Android phone) and I see a list of files. I select the ODT one. I get
the error message below.

If I use a file manager, I select the ODT file and get "File type ODT
not found".

Tom Davies has written on 10/29/2011 4:08 PM:

#13

Hi :slight_smile:
I am easily confused so don't worry. Yes, it's pretty clear that MobiSystems OfficeSuite Pro doesn't support Odt yet. At a guess they might add support later but it's not likely to be soon.
Regards from
Tom :slight_smile:

#14

Tom Davies has written on 10/29/2011 4:41 PM:

Hi :slight_smile:
I am easily confused so don't worry. Yes, it's pretty clear that MobiSystems OfficeSuite Pro doesn't support Odt yet. At a guess they might add support later but it's not likely to be soon.

Do you know something I don't about Mobi? :slight_smile:

#15

Hi :slight_smile:
Nope but LibreOffice is pushing into the desktop OfficeSuite market and developing a port to mobile platforms. A few other programs that prefer Odt and the OpenDocument Formats for the other apps are likely to start pushing into the market much more aggressively too. eg Google-docs, IBM's Lotus Symphony, OpenOffice. MS are trying to provide some support for it already although they are still playing games and making a mess in their hasty greed and quest for total market dominance.

So, fairly soon programs are going to have to include support for ODFs or else start looking like they are awkward, clunky and "behind the times". If they can't open documents produced by other people then people will search for products that do.

Just my 2cents again.
Regards from
Tom :slight_smile:

#16

Hi :slight_smile:
We seem to have 2 threads with the same issue going on at the moment.
Dennis Hamilton's answer in the other thread gives a good idea of what is
going on
http://nabble.documentfoundation.org/DOCX-file-from-Android-Office-Suite-will-not-open-td3462159.html#a3464176

MobiSystems OfficeSuite Pro produces broken DocX files which MS Office is
then able to read. So bug-reports need to be sent to Android or whoever is
maintaining MobiSystems OfficeSuite Pro to let them know it's broken. It
would be nice to post a bug-report in LO too to help LO open files that are
broken in that particular way.

Note that Google are one of our supporters so they might be quite keen to
help with the issue and fix it quite quickly.

All fun&games right?
Regards from
Tom :slight_smile:

#17

I did not see anything that suggested the file from Mobi OfficeSuite was broken. Peter did, and I wonder if that may be related to differences in Zip implementations. I am waiting for more details.

The Mobi OfficeSuite .docx file just might be different and still within the tolerances of the OOXML specification (and how Zip is used in that specification).

So let us not assume that the root cause of the problem is known or that there is in fact only one defect in one place that contributes to the problem. It is still unknown how it is that LO versions do not recognize the document at all.

- Dennis

#18

I was able to extract the files using an old version of WinZip.

Do we know anything about how LO processes DOCX files? I suspect that
when it opens the file, it scans the first N bytes looking for somekind
of signature that it is not finding in the file created by Mobi OfficeSuite.

Dennis E. Hamilton has written on 10/30/2011 11:56 AM: