pptx files can't be opened when created with Impress 5.0.x

users
#1

Hello,

I've noticed that .pptx files (I selected the Microsoft PowerPoint
2007-2013 XML format) I created and saved with LibreOffice Impress 5.0.x (I
tried both 5.0.2 the version before it) do not open correctly in Microsoft
Office 2010. When opening, PowerPoint tells me that the file is corrupted,
and clicking the Repair button either fails or results in a file with many
elements missing or messed up. This happens for LibreOffice Impress created
.pptx files from Linux, Mac, and Windows versions of LibreOffice.

I can provide more detail or an example file, but I just wanted to ask first
if this is a known problem and is being fixed??? This is a big show stopping
bug for me.... Thanks for your help!

#2

Hi,

this looks like your problem, can you confirm pls?

https://bugs.documentfoundation.org/show_bug.cgi?id=59323

If this is the same it is worth adding your comments.

As a workaround though, is it possible to save the file as .ppt?

Cheers

#3

Hi :slight_smile:
I mostly just agree with Tim Lloyd but with more detail and alternatives.

1. Always avoid the 2007-2013 Microsoft XML format!!!

It's not just one format, for a start! It's so inconsistently implemented
in each version of MS Office that they call each version a new
"transitional" format. They just can't seem to quite implement their own
format properly or even consistently. It's highly likely that you'd have
the same problem if you'd created the Pptx in, say MS Office 2007 and then
tried to open it in MS Office 2013.

By stunning coincidence that means people often have to buy a different
version of MS Office in order to be able to work together with other people
they know. Possibly one of the few moves at the end of Steve Bullmer's
reign that seemed to help keep their profits up but all by accident of
course.

The older MS format (2003/Xp and earlier) "ppt" (without the X for XML) is
MUCH more reliable and much more consistently applied across their own
products and can also be handled better by almost all non-Microsoft
products.

Note that it was just after pretty much all other relevant software could
easily handle the older Microsoft format that MS suddenly produced this
newer format, allegedly releasing it "to improve interoperability" but
actually appearing to have quite the opposite effect.

So even if you are using a version of MS Office it's well worth doing
File - "Save As ..."
and using the older MS format.

2. Have all the versions of LibreOffice been in the "Fresh" branch?
Please try the latest in the "Still" branch. The way branches work is that
preceding versions of the same branch are unlikely to have fixed the
problem. It's only by going to an earlier branch that you get in front of
a regression but really this is back-to-front thinking and generally things
tend to get a lot better rather than worse, despite what you may have read
here recently! If you think of the 3rd digit as a "Service Pack" number
you get a clearer idea of what's going on. The "Still" branch has a higher
"Sp" so it's fixed more of it's teething problems.

3. Do you really need to do a PowerPoint presentation? You can 'install'
LibreOffice on a usb-stick and then use it on almost any Windows machine.
I'm not sure how well it works as i know some places now lock-down their
usb-ports so that people can't copying anything.
http://www.winpenpack.com/en/download.php?list.37
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WinPenPack

http://alternativeto.net/software/winpenpack/

https://www.libreoffice.org/download/portable-versions/

4. Also there are much better programs for writing presentations.
Powerpoint is one of the worst. The only advantage with Impress or
Powerpoint is that they are part of the office suite and it may be easier
to use things created in other programs/elements/apps/modules of the suite
within your presentation. Also it's what 'everyone' seems to be using.

Anyway good luck and regards from
Tom :slight_smile:

#4

Something else to be aware of is that a presentation with sound is not compatible; the two programs handle sound completely differently. PowerPoint stores sound within the application, while Impress only stores links to the sound files (voice of experience here!).

Dave Liesse

#5

Has been resolved in on of the previous releases. You can now emebed
that in Impress too.

#6

Thanks Tim and Tom for your quick responses.

I *think* what I am experiencing might be related to the bug report
you mentioned, I'll check again soon to see.

In response to Tom:

1. I generally avoid the 2007-2013 Microsoft XML format since I am
aware of all its problems... :slight_smile: Unfortunately when I create a
presentation with Impress and save it as a .ppt (without the "x"),
many things are not retained, or don't appear correctly when opened in
any version of PowerPoint!! Would people still fix bugs for .ppt
support if I report them? I'm still having loads of problems with
.ppt.

2. According to the bug report Tim mentioned, the bug has been around
for a long time. So using the "still" verses the "fresh" branches will
probably not help much... I can provide the file I'm having problems
with, and if someone can test it with their installation of still
that'd be great because I don't have it.

3. Thanks for the links to portable LibreOffice. Actually that is what
I always try to do: Bring a portable version with me. But like you
said sometimes you don't get USB access, and the portable version
takes *FOREVER* to transfer to and from my USB drive: there are
millions of tiny files so the transfer can take up to an hour!! What
is the problem??? (honest question) I hope this can be addressed in a
future portable version.

4. I agree Microsoft PowerPoint is one of the worst presentation
programs, and frankly I don't think LibreOffice Impress is much better
feature-wise, I just like to use it because it is freedom respecting
software. I have been looking for a good presentation software for
almost a decade (I'm not kidding), and I think by far the best one is
still Apple Keynote. Unfortunately it is super proprietary, only runs
on Macs, and the alleged support for it in Impress is only for very
very early versions of Keynote. I have a HUGE wishlist of things for
LibreOffice Impress that would make it up to par with Apple Keynote,
but no one I've talked to seem to care..... :frowning: :frowning: Is there a mechanism
in the development of LibreOffice where I can help make this happen?
Unfortunately I'm not a programmer...

Anyway, thanks for your replies. I'll check if my problem is exactly
the one reported and report back here.

#7

Hi :slight_smile:
Thanks for your reply and your good humour! :slight_smile:

2. Since it seems to be the bug Tim linked to i agree that trying "Still"
wont make any difference.

4. I agree about Impress. Several LO-fanboys, over the years, have said
that Impress is worse than Powerpoint. But comparing the merits of "truly
horrible" with "a bit worse" is a non-starter for me.

1. I doubt it's possible to post bug-reports about PptX let alone Ppt -
and even if you do i can't imagine anyone taking notice. One of the joys
of OpenSource and OpenStandards is that you can post bug-reports about the
format itself or about the implementation of it fairly easily. Some dev
might even take notice of it and suddenly work on it - either here or at
Oasis.

4. Sadly not many devs seem to take much notice of Impress. Draw appears
to be sexier and more glamorous and Writer appears to be the one that gets
most of the attention. There are a lot of people working on most of the
modules and even a tiny team working on Base now apparently but Writer
seems to be the most attractive or maybe it's the easiest one to get
started on.

3. I thought you just double-click on it without copying it across and it
'just magically' opened from the usb-stick? I didn't think you had to
transfer anything?

3. Also i heard or read somewhere that the portable version could be
installed on a Cloud? I'm not sure if that's an internal home/corporate
Cloud or really "out there"? Also that would rely on a decent connection
speed and that can often be a problem for me.

3. I have noticed a huge difference between Usb 1.1 - 2.0 and Usb 3.(?).
A friend with a Usb 3 port on a new laptop has a MUCH higher transfer speed
with both my sticks. Of my sticks the cheaper old 8Gb Usb 2.0 one is
fairly desperate on my old desktop whereas the newer, much more expensive
32Gb Usb 3 is only a bit annoying in it. So i'm not sure if it's age,
quality, size or something else that is the biggest factor but all seem to
combine to make my older one a bit of a pain (except on the ultra-new
laptop).

4. On Gnu&Linux (Ubuntu 14.04) i was looking for something else in my
package manager and found what seemed to be tons of different programs for
creating slide-shows and presentations. Of course now that i'm looking for
them deliberately i can't find any!

Regards from
Tom :slight_smile:

#8

Hello,

I wonder if it will be helpful to raise these issues during the
upcoming bug hunt? (assuming they are not fixed?) If so what's the
best way to bring it up? Just reproduce the problem during the hunt
and report it? Thanks.

#9

Yes - best is just to report the bug and attach the document. Provide
details about your version of LibreOffice and your OS. Also, it's always
nice if you test against old versions of LibreOffice to find out if it's a
regression or not as finding regressions is one of the key goals of doing
bug hunt sessions.

Best,
Joel

#10

Thanks Tom for your replies and thoughts!!

I did more testing and submitted two bug reports agains the latest 5.1
alpha 1, since the problem is in that version, too.

https://bugs.documentfoundation.org/show_bug.cgi?id=95503

https://bugs.documentfoundation.org/show_bug.cgi?id=95502

It seems that adding a motion path is what corrupts the output PPTX
file, and I noticed as I was testing that groups are not retained
(i.e. objects become separated) when saving from Impress to PPTX...

Hope someone would notice these problems. I wish I can donate to help
fix these specific bugs!!! Is there a company/developer that we can
pay to fix specific bugs or even add features? Or do people do bug
fixing bounties? Do these approaches work? Thanks.