Re: [libreoffice-users] docx problems

> From what I gather, even MS Word still has some problems with docx, and
LO is likely to be somewhat buggy with it for the foreseeable future.
Until MS stops "developing" it so that it can become a fixed format (and
not a moving target), or makes it a truly open standard, LO is likely
to be playing a kind of guessing catch-up.

Your best bet is probably to save the file in the older .doc format. I
believe LO supports that pretty well, and your clients with MS Word
should still be able to open it just fine.

If that doesn't work, it may be the problem is when LO reads the
docx file, not when it is saving the file. In that case you'll have to
ask your clients to save the file as a .doc before they send it to you.
Sad but true: if you tell them they need to do this because you don't
use MS Word, they'll probably moan and complain, and go elsewhere, but
if you tell them it's because you use an older version of MS Word,
they'll probably tell you it's time to upgrade, but otherwise not
complain very much at all.

I'm not sure how acceptable a solution this will be for you; sadly
we're not in an age of perfect cross-compatability yet, but the fault
really does lie with MS on this one. They are the ones that cannot
make proper standards; LO does its best to keep up, but there
really is no winning. Other than using MS Word (and probably even the
version your clients use at that), there is no guarantee that docx will
work the same on your system as on your client's.

Just the situation as I understand it; others have been here longer and
may correct me.

Paul


On Fri, 25 Oct 2013 18:22:08 -0400
baldwin linguas <baldwinlinguas@gmail.com> wrote:

> I don't even really know where to begin with this.
> I haven't enough information to file a bug, really, because what I
> have is vague, broad.
>
> But I have been doing business as a freelance translator for 10 years,
> using only FREE/OSS, (OmegaT, OpenOffice, etc., on Debian GNU/Linux)
> without any major issues.
>
> Now, suddenly, every time a client sends me a .docx file, I get a
> complaint when I return their documents that the formatting has
> changed (tables are different,
> fonts changed, bullets disappear, or, worse, they can't even open the
> document, although it opens fine here).
>
> It's ruining my business.
> I'm losing clients, losing money, and I have a family to feed.
> And I don't know what to do about it.
> OpenOffice won't write to .docx, and LibreOffice messes them up.
>
> I don't know what to do to diagnose these issues, which is why
> I feel I haven't sufficient information to file a bug.
> I know nothing of Java (LO is primarily java, yes?),
> so I certainly can't contribute to any solution.
> I'm very frustrated and concerned.
> I absolutely will not use proprietary software, but I am unable to
> serve my clients' needs with FLOSS at this time.
> I'm at a loss for what to do here.
> I suppose this is venting more than anything else, and a desperate
> plea for help here.
>
> For what it's worth, I'm using the LO 3.5.4.2 in the Debian Wheezy
> repos, on AMD64 architecture.


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