Libre Office saving spreadsheets as images when saving as Word docx!?

users
#21

Hi Brian,

QC schrieb:

I've just discovered that when I save a copy of an invoice it's saving the
spreadsheet part as an image. This is not the behavior I expected.

I'm running:
Linux mint 17 64 bit
KDE 4.13
LibreOffice 4.4.7.2

When I save a copy of this file as Word 2007/2010/2013 (*.docx)
if converts the spreadsheets as an image!

I have tested the behavior with Version: 5.2.6.2
Build ID: a3100ed2409ebf1c212f5048fbe377c281438fdc
CPU Threads: 4; OS Version: Windows 6.1; UI Render: default;
Locale: de-DE (de_DE); Calc: group

In Tools > Options > Load/Save > Microsof Office the first four rows of convert are all checked.

I cannot confirm your observation. The embedded spreadsheet is converted to an Excel sheet. When I open the file in Word 2010, a double-click on the sheet activates the OLE and I can use the spreadsheet.

I have used Insert > Object > OLE object, create new LibreOffice 5.2 Spreadsheet, to insert a spreadsheet. Then I have copy&paste the cells from the original spreadsheet. I have not tested whether the kind "From file" would have worked too.

I have saved it as both .docx versions and both work for me.

Is this some setting? I've tried Googling, but it keeps showing my link on
how to save things as an image. Completely not what I want to do.

The older Word 97 format is not readable anymore by one of my customers. If
I save an 2003 .xml version Libreoffice can't even open a readable document
again!?

Are there some configuration details I'm missing?

You should check your settings in Tools > Options. You can try with a newer LibreOffice version. And if you have access to a Windows PC, you should try it with a LibreOffice version for Windows.

Kind regards
Regina

#22

I suspect this is a problem with the version of Libreoffice you are
using not supporting a certain attribute that Microsofts undocumented
XML format uses, and handles it the only way it can (converts the
embedded spreadsheet into an image).

Since you are using an old version of Libreoffice, you'll need to try
with a newer (at least 5.2.6, best would be the current 5.3.2) version.

I just did a quick test of one of our templates that has an embedded
spreadsheet, saved it as both a .doc and a .docx, and opened the result
in Word 2010. The system I tested this on had Libreoffice 5.2.5 during
this test.

The spreadsheet is NOT converted to an image, but it does auto resize
itself to a smaller size when dbl-clicked, and some of the columns
disappear (they're still there, but hidden).

I then went ahead and upgraded this system to 5.3.2 (been meaning to
anyway) and redid the test.

The result was the same for the .doc, but the .docx wouldn't open in
Word 2010 - Don't have a newer version of Word to try at the moment, so
can't say what would happen with Word 2013 or 2016.

#23

Yes, but he enters the data from my invoice into his own systems. This
allows him to not have to key it all in, if he can copy and paste.

Aha! I think that is the first we've heard of that.

Actually, I've mentioned that several times. Perhaps not in these exact
terms. :wink:

I can export it to PDF, and I have confirmed that I can copy and paste the

text, from the PDF, but it loses its spreadsheet layout. I don't know if
that will work for him. So he will be able to use it, but at a reduced
level of productivity.

If he needs the functionality of a spreadsheet - formulae and such, and
not just the data - then PDF will indeed not do.

He doesn't need the functionality of a spreadsheet. I could give him a tab
delimited file for all that matters. I don't do a lot of fancy stuff in my
invoices. I prefer to keep things as simple as possible. That's not always
possible, nor my natural inclination ( unfortunately).

I'll install a clean, newer Mint release on a spare partition of two, and

test a fresh Libreoffice in a fresh and clean install and see if this
problem goes away. Probably some old configuration setting that I kept in
an update, that I should have rejected, removed, or changed.

A simpler way may be just to delete or rename your LibreOffice user
profile (whilst LibreOffice is closed). That should have the same effect.

I'm not sure that would work. There is the system level configuration, and
also my individual level configuration. The error (probably my fault) in
the configuration could be in either one, since I am the administrator of
the system. I could try it on one of the other company computers, but the
system configuration would still be my doing, and the upgrades and upgraded
configurations also my doing, or worse that of my administrative assistant
(not exactly a computer geek).

I hope you won't see me as being unnecessarily critical if I say that part
of the problem here was that you did not declare some of the boundary
conditions to your problem in your earlier messages. It was not surprising
that people offered apparently useful suggestions that didn't satisfy you.
It helps other to help you best if you can give such detail up front.

Critical observations don't bother me. I've been on the other end of
support issues:
Client: "I've pressed the power button and nothing happens! See!"
Me: "That's the mouse. This is the power button."
:wink:

#24

The list mails don't have a 'reply-to' header. So, eg, Thunderbird's simple 'message|reply' would go to the sender only; TB does however have a 'reply to list' option that does the necessary.

But to return to the OP's LO issue.

It looks as though he has a writer file with an embedded calc document. Exporting as docx indeed renders the embedded spreadsheet as an image. I'm not sure what he would expect to happen - embed an LO spreadsheet in a MS Word document!? Translate the spreadsheet to something Word supports in the same way (IIRC not in general possible but IANAE) Or what?

My thought though is his document is 'inside out'. If the important parts are the numbers, perhaps it would better be a Calc document with embedded text and images; I'd suggest this would export better to something MS might support.

He doesn't say why he needs to export to docx - I thought these days MS had some support for ODF documents. Could the recipient not cope with the odt file?

#25

It looks as though he has a writer file with an embedded calc document.
Exporting as docx indeed renders the embedded spreadsheet as an image. I'm
not sure what he would expect to happen - embed an LO spreadsheet in a MS
Word document!? Translate the spreadsheet to something Word supports in the
same way (IIRC not in general possible but IANAE) Or what?

I do indeed have a LO writer document with an embedded calc object. I

downloaded this as a template from the then official Open Office templates
site, oh about 10 years ago. It's not my design. But it's worked for me for
years.

My thought though is his document is 'inside out'. If the important parts
are the numbers, perhaps it would better be a Calc document with embedded
text and images; I'd suggest this would export better to something MS might
support.

Perhaps. But I didn't develop it. Although I have tweaked it for my own
purposes.

He doesn't say why he needs to export to docx - I thought these days MS
had some support for ODF documents. Could the recipient not cope with the
odt file?

I have repeatedly said why I need to export to docx. Because I have a
client who takes the data from my invoice and copies it into his accounting
system. As a spreadsheet, he can copy and paste what he wants without
having to type it all in. The older .doc format I used to use is now
broken, as a result of some update I applied to this (now) quite old
version of Libre Office, running on an old LTS Qiana Linux Mint desktop.

I can indeed open the original (and my company's official version) ODT
document in newer MS Office programs, but they don't like the embedded
spreadsheet part and strip it out. This defeats the purpose of opening in
Word 2010 or later as that's the important part. :wink:

So, until I can install the latest stable Mint, and test it on my system,
and then upgrade the rest of the systems. I will just invoice him with an
actual spreadsheet as an invoice. Maybe I'll even move entirely to that
layout.

Thanks everyone for your help!

#26

Hi,

QC schrieb:

It looks as though he has a writer file with an embedded calc document.
Exporting as docx indeed renders the embedded spreadsheet as an image. I'm
not sure what he would expect to happen - embed an LO spreadsheet in a MS
Word document!? Translate the spreadsheet to something Word supports in the
same way (IIRC not in general possible but IANAE) Or what?

I do indeed have a LO writer document with an embedded calc object. I

downloaded this as a template from the then official Open Office templates
site, oh about 10 years ago. It's not my design. But it's worked for me for
years.

Can you please sent me the template? If it is so old, it might be, that it has not embedded an ods-spreadsheet but a sxc-spreadsheet.

Kind regards
Regina

#27

> Since this is still the only mailing list that I'm on that requires me to
> hit ”Reply to all” to reply to the group, I failed doing so again, and
all
> the crap ended up at the OP only… so this is my second try…

So use a decent mail client that has a proper 'Reply to List' function.

No, I don't want a mail client. I'd rather do this mistake now and then. Or
all the time. Or quit this list. It's not that I'm addicted to it or
anything… :stuck_out_tongue:

Kind regards

Johnny Rosenberg

#28

I have a decent mail client.
Sometimes it does not reply to list properly either.

Along with this, many times I reply to the lists, or even other emails, the email address in "from" reverts to my "default" address, and not the address I use for these lists. "timothy@L ....." instead of "webmaster@K .....".

The good thing about an email client, is the fact that I have over 25 folders where my emails are sorted by who sent them or the email address sent to. That way I can choose just which folder's emails to read first. I even have several gmail accounts that is read via the email client.

Still, I know a lot of people who do not use a mail client. Since I have several email addresses, having a client is needed for my use.

#29

In trying to resolve this, I've deleted the embedded sheet and added a new
one. So I doubt that is the issue. I may have deleted the original embedded
spreadsheet years ago, for a similar reason. But this template here would
have the embedded sheet, I've been using for at least 3 years.

I've added sample data in it, so you can see the kind of data and minimal
calcs I do. There is normally an external link on the second page of the
invoice, when there is a second page, because I've never found a way to
link internally to the first embedded spreadsheet, and using a single
spreadsheet, has never given me the look I wanted to present. (I know,
stupid reason for not using a single spreadsheet with recurring headers.)
The link is removed here. I had tried removing the link from the two page
invoices, in case that was the cause, a while ago. But this also is a
problem with one page invoices. So it's not that. I haven't actually used a
template in ages. Just clear the previous month's invoice and save to a new
file. I know, my system could be streamlined in so many ways, but I seem to
never give myself enough time to do my internal change requests. :wink: