Re: [libreoffice-users] pptx files can't be opened when created with Impress 5.0.x

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

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 :)



On 12 October 2015 at 17:30, Advrk Aplmrkt <avkaplmkt@gmail.com> wrote:

> 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... :) 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..... :( :( 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.
>
> On 11/10/2015, Tom Davies <tomcecf@gmail.com> wrote:
> > Hi :)
> > 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 :)
> >
> >
> >
> > On 11 October 2015 at 23:12, Tim Lloyd <tim.lloyd@gmx.com> wrote:
> >
> > > 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
> > >
> > >
> > > On 12/10/15 08:07, avamk wrote:
> > >
> > > > 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!

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