The message I get is “Unfortunately it seems the LibreOffice crashed when it was last run” with the option to restart in Safe Mode. It makes no difference how I run LO, I still can’t access the Help tools. Using LibreOffice Help version 7.2.5.2 (x64)
It is unclear how the “LibreOffice crashed when it was last run” message relates to “can’t access the Help tools” (whatever “help tools” might mean). Please be specific, telling which clicks or which buttons or which menus don’t work for you, and how.
I assume you are using Windows 7 - SP1, right?
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The Help version has to be the same as your LibreOffice version, or it won’t connect.
@mikekaganski , the Help button is on the menu bar of every LibreOffice application, e.g. LibreCalc, on the right-hand end of the menu bar. It appears to be an integral part of every LO application. It sure disrupts LibreOffice every time I try to open an LO module (Calc,Writer, etc). It states that it’s sending a crash report to the LO Crash Reporting Server. It suggests re-opening LO in Safe Mode. It then goes on the attempt to recover the document, except at this point no document has been opened. By fiddling with the Crash Report, I can close all the alarms and proceed to a fresh document. But it’s tedious and time consuming. It would be much better if the Help button was co-ordinated with the rest of the LO package.
floris,interesting question: How do I find if the Help version number to verify if it matches? How do I accomplish this if I can’t access the Help file for help on how to do this? Why does LibreOffice update part of the package only, leaving the Help part to crash the app when not updated? Sorry for all the questions, but It seems like a very odd way to keep an application up to date.
Apparently, you can find out what the version of the help system is. Now, what’s your version of LibreOffice? They have to be the same for a very simple reason: if you use an older version of the Help and the user interface has been changed, the old version of the Help doesn’t “know” about that. It will not “know” about new features and so on.
If you don’t tell us what version of LibreOffice you use and on what operating system, how can we tell how you can find the necessary information? On a Windows system, you used to have to download the offline Help separately (that may have changed), I’m not sure about Linux or Mac systems.
If LibreOffice crashes when you try to open a module then you need to look at that.
It might be a corrupted user profile, see step two and link within, in first steps
[Edit] Help is also available at https://help.libreoffice.org/
With apologies - My version number is at the top of this thread, and displayed in every reply: 7.2.5.2 (x64) In every query and in every replay I’ve displayed the information you’re asking about. Is it not visible to you? Perhaps I’ve overlooked this detail? It’s most interesting if you’re not seeing this information since I put it in every query.
@EarnestAl , It’s not the LibreOffice that crashes. It’s LibreOffice Help. It appears to be a separate application, integrated into LO.
In that case go to control panel - programs, right click on LibreOffice help and either select Repair or uninstall. Then download and install help again, respecting the LibreOffice version and 64 bit.
Help uses your default browser to display information.
If the above doesn’t help then it still looks like a corrupted user profile
It’s like we’re on different planets. There is no “LibreOffice Help” in my Control Panel or my Programs list. There is no clue where to find it. Can you see this on your computer?
Are you saying that:
- You can start LibreOffice and work with it normally in any module (Writer/Calc/Impress…);
- until you click on Help menu;
- at which moment, LibreOffice crashes instantly, without showing the content of the menu;
- and it crashes the same way regardless if you started it in safe mode or in normal mode;
- and you didn’t install a LibreOffice Help package (an optional download from LibreOffice site; not required, and not the cause of your problem - so I mention it here only for completeness, not to suggest to install it)?
It looks really odd. The #4 means it is unlikely a user profile problem. In this case, likely you might need to try to repair the program itself (as @EarnestAl suggested, only not for Help, but for LibreOffice itself) - if the problem is really because of somewhat broken installation.
You might also want to downgrade LibreOffice, to check if an older version works OK. There is download archive with all released versions, if you go that way.
By the way, did the “LibreOffice crashed” dialog suggest you to report the crash? If so, did you send the crash report as it suggested, and what was the resulting address then?
And you can try to generate an information (“minidump”) at the moment of the crash using information on this wiki page.
Sorry, I assumed that you repeated the help file version there, and not the LibreOffice version. Many people who come here, don’t provide that information. So many, in fact, that it’s easy to overlook it when they do.
… which is very natural, given the wording:
To all who replied:
I’m not sure how to explain this, but I stumbled upon a LibreOffice Download site which displayed a separate link to download the Help file. I’ve used LibreOffice for years & never seen that before. I downloaded and installed it, and I now have a functioning Help function. It’s a small link titled " Help for offline use: English (US)". I tried it, and it seems to work. Not sure if it’s useful, but the the Help button works.
It doesn’t explain the crashes. Without the help file you should be directed to internet Help which will be a variation of the Help link I gave earlier.
Download LibreOffice | LibreOffice - Free Office Suite - Based on OpenOffice - Compatible with Microsoft has separate Help download links for ages.