Ascertain version of libreoffice that saved a document

thekswenson · June 30, 2021, 3:11pm

A document that I made a while ago no longer opens correctly with the current version of libreoffice. I would like to install the version of libreoffice that I had when I created the document.

Is there a way to know which version of the software created an .odp file?

anon73440385 · June 30, 2021, 3:23pm

Hello,

yes - there is a way to get that information:

Extract file meta.xml from the .odp file (which is a ZIP file in fact; some ZIP tools require extension .zip, hence you may need to copy your file to have a .zip extension)
Open the file using an editor (Nodepad++ or something similar)
Search for XML tag <meta:generator>...</meta:generator>

This tells something like:

<meta:generator>LibreOffice/7.1.4.2$Linux_X86_64 LibreOffice_project/a529a4fab45b75fefc5b6226684193eb000654f6</meta:generator>

which tells that (my test-) file has been created (precisely: last saved) using version 7.1.4.2.

**However:** I doubt installing the old version will fix the issue (which you don't describe in detail). Before installing the old release, I'd suggest to **test** whether your current LibreOffice user profile is causing the issue.

Test (this is not a solution) whether LibreOffice user profile is causing the issue:

Start LibreOffice
Restart in Safe Mode using Help -> Restart in Safe Mode and confirm the restart using button: Restart
Click button Continue in Safe Mode
Open a file (using File -> Open) and test whether the problem is gone

If the problem is gone while running in LibreOffice **Safe Mode**, most probably your user profile is corrupt and you need to reset to factory settings (could be also done via `Help -> Restart in Safe Mode`; carefully read the options in the dialog appearing when starting safe mode)