OK thanks for that. I tried as you described, and after clicking Apply Changes and Restart, it quickly shut down and opened up again, and I could open a doc. However, when I closed LibreOffice down and clicked on the desktop icon of LO or an odt doc the same old problem reoccurred. It simple won’t open.
I really don’t want to have to go through the above process every time I need to open LibreOffice.
Thanks anyway.
I really don’t want to have to go through the above process every time I need to open LibreOffice.
The procedure is not supposed to be repeated every time, but a result of your problem description, which by your comment turns out to be incomplete. You are talking about “LibreOffice doesn’t open, when clicking on icons I assume to open the application and the related document”
Just recreate the icon pointing to LibreOffice, and follow @EarnestAl’s answer.
OK, I have no idea what ‘recreate pointing’ means, however I followed Earnest Al instructions, and it still doesn’t work. Thanks for your input though.
OK, sorry if my problem description isn’t up to scratch but I don’t know much about computing.
I have followed your instructions and Earnest Al’s advice. Are you saying now that I should delete my LibreOffice desktop icon and recreate a new one? I will if you think I should, but I also have desktop icons that are just simple .odt or Word docs and when I click on them, they won’t open either.
Step-by-Step:
Right click -> Run on Windows Start menu (or Windows Key + R)"%ProgramFiles%\LibreOffice\program\soffice" into Open text field (including the double quotes)OK
Does that work, i.e does this start LibreOffice into its Start Center (This is normal mode of LibreOffice)?
Hello Opaque,
Thanks for your time. After following your instructions, LibreOffice opened into it’s start centre.
From this start centre I could then open Writer, Calc etc.
However, on my desktop, I have some documents (i.e. .odt / .doc documents) and when I click on these, nothing happens.
Equally, if I close the LO start centre and then try to open it again by clicking on the LO 7.0 desktop icon or a .odt / .doc document, nothing happens.
Nevertheless, when I look in task manager I can see LO listed as many times as I clicked on the LO desktop icon or an odt / doc document.
Thanks again for your efforts and patience with me. It can’t be easy explaining to a computer dolt like myself.
Ok - so from the result from step above we now know, that your problem is not “LibreOffice doesn’t work”. It does work in normal mode and the problem is with Windows not knowing what to do, when you click an icon - hence
Next-Step (2): Create new icon on your desktop which starts LibreOffice 7.0 (using another version requires adaption)
Right click -> Delete)%ProgramData%\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs\LibreOffice 7.0\ into the address lineLibreOffice and select Send To -> Desktop (create shortcut)
OK, I did that, created a new LO icon, but it still doesn’t work. Nor do any of the .odt or .doc files I click on.
LO is still listed in the task manager though for each time I click.
Did you ever reboot your system; do you have Fast Boot enabled, do you use an Software Updater program?
The whole thing is inconsistent…
When you say reboot do you mean restart my computer?
I don’t know what a Fast Boot is. I don’t think I have a Software Updater program. If I did, what would it be called for example?
Could it be Bitdefender or Windows Security that are blocking something?
Yes - I mean a restart of your system.
This is a feature of Windows to get a fast restart / fast reboot. However: This doesn’t in fact completely power off a system and from my perspective this is a complete nonsense that it is a default setting.
There a hundreds of such tools - often come as “plus” (questionable) of antivirus programs. Let’s turn the thing into another question: Did (and do) you download and update LibreOffice from libreoffice.org manually?
Yes - but you told above that disabling Bitdefender doesn’t change anything.
Hello Opaque,
Really sorry, I don’t want to waste any more of your time. I have completely removed LibreOffice and downloaded OpenOffice 4.1.9 instead. It is working just fine.
For reference: I restarted my computer by turning it off completely - lights out - but this didn’t change anything.
Yes, I downloaded LibreOffice from their website by clicking on download LibreOffice.
Indeed, disabling Bitdefender and various elements of Windows Security seemed to have no effect.
I regret leaving LO which has served me so well for so many years. I particularly liked the fact I could get French and Breton language versions as well as English. But needs must, and I didn’t have much choice as I needed it for work.
Thanks again for the help. You’re good people.
Windows Update has caused Windows to lose File Associations.
Click Start Menu > Settings > Apps > Default Apps > Set defaults by app > LibreOffice 7.0 > Manage.
Click on each file type from .odb to .oxt and select LibreOffice as the default to open. Close window when complete
Cheers, Al
[Edit after comment]
By doc you really did mean .doc and presumably .docx, .xls, .xlsx, etc so you’ll have to go back into Set defaults by app and change there.
Or, in File Explorer, right click on a .doc and from the context menu select Open With > Choose another App, in the dialog that opens, select LibreOffice Writer from the list and tick the box that says Always use this app to open doc files, OK. Repeat for any other extensions you need
Hi Al,
Thanks for that, but I tried, and it still won’t open.
Hello again Al,
Yes, I clicked right on both a .odt and a .doc files, chose LibreOffice writer, ticked the box which said Always use this app to open … but nothing happened. However, in Task Manager I could see LO in the list.
I wonder if your anti-virus is blocking. If you add soffice.bin to your list of Allowed apps in anti-ransomware or restricted folder access setting in your AV, can you then open the files?
Lets have a go.
In Windows Security, I turned off ‘Ap & browser control’ but to no change.
I looked in Bitdefender but found nowhere I could add ‘soffice.bin’.
I turned off Bitdefender firewall and again no change.