External web data no longer importing into existing calc sheet after upgrading to new version of LibreOffice

[Bonzai_Bob]

I looked through existing topics and found similar questions, however, the questions/answers I found did not address my specific issues so please forgive me if I missed something. That being said, I created my spreadsheet in a prior version of Calc and recently had to upgrade Ubuntu which in turn upgraded LibreOffice. Now my existing links in that spreadsheet will no longer import data.

I found that if I created a new spreadsheet and inserted the same links they imported the data without a problem. My spreadsheet is very complex (for me) and would require a lot of work to recreate in a new spreadsheet so I’m hoping there is some way to update the old sheet to continue to import data successfully in the new version of LibreOffice. I upgraded from Ubuntu 20.04 to 22.04 which upgraded LibreOffice to 7.3.7.2. Sorry, don’t know in which version of LibreOffice the sheet was created…

[iplaw67]

First things first: are you using the snap package of LO on your Ubuntu 22.04, or is it the Deb set of packages?

The snap packages run in their own little jail, and come with restrictions as to writing outside that jail, or fetching information.

If it is the snap package, then you might have to check the security options and/or run a command to allow the jailed LO to read outside its box.

[Wanderer]

@iplaw67

If it is the snap package

was my first thought, but doesn’t fit the

@Bonzai_Bob

found that if I created a new spreadsheet and inserted the same links they imported the data without a problem

[Bonzai_Bob]

As per Wanderer’s observation I can use the same links in a new spreadsheet created in the new version and the import works with no problem. I really would like to stay in sync with the OS provided/supported LibreOffice version/release if possible. If there is some way to convert my existing spreadsheet as a whole to work the same as a new spreadsheet does in the new release that would be desirable or if there was some way to copy my current spreadsheet into a new one that maintains the same relationships between the sheets contained within it that would probably be even better.

[Kyodake]

Try uninstalling the distribution version and installing the latest stable version of LibreOffice.

To do this, open a terminal and:

To remove the version of LibreOffice packaged by the operating system developers, run the following command in a terminal:

sudo apt remove --purge libreoffice*
sudo snap remove libreoffice
sudo apt update
sudo apt install --reinstall wget
sudo apt autoremove
sudo apt clean

Then, to download the packages for the latest stable version of LibreOffice, run the following command in the terminal:

cd ~/Downloads

wget https://ftp.nluug.nl/office/libreoffice/libreoffice/stable/25.2.2/deb/x86_64/LibreOffice_25.2.2_Linux_x86-64_deb.tar.gz

wget https://ftp.nluug.nl/office/libreoffice/libreoffice/stable/25.2.2/deb/x86_64/LibreOffice_25.2.2_Linux_x86-64_deb_helppack_en-GB.tar.gz

wget https://ftp.nluug.nl/office/libreoffice/libreoffice/stable/25.2.2/deb/x86_64/LibreOffice_25.2.2_Linux_x86-64_deb_langpack_en-GB.tar.gz

Once the packages have been downloaded, to install them, run the following in the same terminal:

for x in *.tar.gz; do tar xfv $x; done
sudo dpkg -i LibreOffice_*/DEBS/*.deb

[Bonzai_Bob]

Thank you for your suggestion, but as per my response to iplaw67 I would prefer to stay within the version/release provided/supported by the OS. I realize that may not be possible if I can’t find a way to resolve the problem and I may very well end up using your suggestion. I will continue to pursue alternatives for now and will report back as to my progress.

[Bonzai_Bob]

I’m embarrassed and happy all at the same time. The problem I was experiencing had nothing to do with Ubuntu, LibreOffice or Calc. I did some more in depth probing both with Firefox and the External Link controls within Calc. My sheet imports data from two different web sites into two different worksheets. Both of those were indicating the data could not be imported.

Each of those was experiencing a different problem. One of them had evidently had a table name change, of which I was unaware, and after I used the “Break Link” option and subsequently set up a new link it imported just fine using the new table name.

The other web site link was still valid but unbeknownst to me was having an intermittent outage (confirmed with Firefox and also ping). Once the outages stopped (for who knows how long) I was able to update/import data from both sites and my sheet and related worksheets all populated properly.

These problem all presented themselves at around the same time I upgraded Ubuntu/LibreOffice so I mistakenly went down that path. I apologize for that but I do appreciate everybody’s input and assistance.