Setting .doc .xls .ppt as default save formats by Windows registry

[Miky85]

I’m a computer technician employed in a major Italian hospital. I’m working on the distribution of LibreOffice 4.2 to more than 4000 computers and I discover the possibility to configure LibreOffice via Windows registry. In particular I want to set .doc .xls .ppt as default save formats for all system users. I’m not interested for configurations via AD group policy and adm file.

On the page Setting .doc .xls .ppt as default save formats for all system users I found this entry for registrymodifications.xcu:

<item oor:path="/org.openoffice.Setup/Office/Factories/org.openoffice.Setup:Factory['com.sun.star.text.TextDocument']">
<prop oor:name="ooSetupFactoryDefaultFilter" oor:op="fuse">
    <value>MS Word 97</value>
</prop> </item>

I tried to convert this entry in a .reg file but I’m not sure of the syntax. In particular, I don’t understand how to correctly insert the string [‘com.sun.star.text.TextDocument’]:

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\LibreOffice\org.openoffice.Setup\Office\Factories\org.openoffice.Setup:Factory['com.sun.star.text.TextDocument']\ooSetupFactoryDefaultFilter/#fuse]                   "Value"="MS Word 97"

Thanks in advance

[ROSt53]

I cannot judge the way you want to program MSO formats as default formats.

Although our devs try hard and are pretty successful to save LibO documents in MSO formats, there is always a chance to loose some formattings. MS does not follow sufficiently the odf-standards.

I personally always save in LibO’s native format and save only in an MSO format when someone needs to edit the file after I complete my work

For providing others the file to read, I use the pdf-export which allows even to secure the pdf-file from changes or copying content. pdf-export is an excellent functionality in LibO.

[penttila]

I find the following related articles on the net, they may help you:

1. http://4techs.org/243/global-settings-and-policies-for-libreoffice-in-clientserver-and-terminal-server-enviroments/
2. 4.2 Registry configuration backend not applying all settings
3. http://libreoffice.hu/files/2014/02/Andras_Timar_LibO_Central_Config_Management.pdf

[joelgb]

I initially had the same problems as the OP Here’s what I have found/worked for me using LO 4.2.6:
The registry values are case sensitive in LibreOffice (even though registry values in Windows are NOT case sensitive.) Make sure you are using “Value” and not “value”.

I too followed the directions in the links posted regarding adding “/#fuse” to the end of some of the keys. In my testing, these should be omitted. Use “ooSetupFactoryDefaultFilter” NOT “ooSetupFactoryDefaultFilter/#fuse”
In general, every setting I tried that had “/#fuse” did not work properly. Removing it fixed the problem.

Slightly unreleated, but posting her for others: Something that wasn’t clear to me right away. Adding a registry DWORD with the name “Final” set = 1 locks the preference and either makes it unchangeable or reverts the setting after restarting LibreOffice (depending on the setting).

Hopefully this post helps out others who are looking to configure LO using the Windows Registry.
-Joel