Apache OpenOffice (AOO) Bugzilla – Issue 126772
MSOffice doc file in DropBox opens as read-only. Must rename to save.
Last modified: 2017-04-29 16:10:40 UTC
I have a windows 7 machine at work, and use DropBox to share the password protected MSWORD .DOC file with my home PC Windows 7. Initially this works, allowing the home PC to open/save with OpenOffice "Writer" 4.1.2. But something changes after a few days of use, and then the file then always opens as read-only. I never use read-only options. I am the only user. The file on the other laptop is closed. I can verify in real time with Remote Desktop. I can not locate a lock file on either machine. Where are these located for windows 7 ? There seems to be many other users in the forum that have the same problem. No solution, except to click edit, and save the file with a different name. Recently updated to 4.1.2 afterwhich the problem went away for a few days. Thought it was fixed as a bug, but is back again. I had the same problem with the previous version # ? I can rename the file, and the problem goes away for a short time but will return.
Can confirm the issue is present. I am using Microsoft Office Word 2007, Dropbox desktop app v11.4.21, and OpenOffice 4.1.2. I am on a Windows 10 computer. Steps to recreate. 1. Create any word doc and save into your dropbox. 2. Click the Windows button within Word > Prepare > Encrypt Document 3. Save file and close 4. Open document with open office and enter password. If the document is a .doc type file you will not be able to type or change anything into the document. At the top where it says the filename it will say [Filename](read-only) When the file is unencrypted the .doc has the expected functionality and there is no restriction of read only. This issue does not happen on .docx files. For .docx files the behavior is the same when not using dropbox. This could impact users who want to ensure their dropbox files are secure.
Created attachment 86039 [details] Pic1
Created attachment 86040 [details] TestResults Pictures regarding the tests I ran.
Configuration: Setup: ASUS N56 CPU: Inter Core i7 (3630QM 2.4GHz) RAM: 4GB Storage: Intel 530 120 GB SSD OS: Windows 10 Pro x64 Dropbox: v24.5.17 Open Office: 4.0.0, 4.0.1, 4.1.0, 4.1.2, 4.1.3 Microsoft Word 2013 and 2007 Test 1: 1) Create a document with some random text using Microsoft Word 2013 2) Encrypt the file 3) Save it in the Dropbox folder using .doc (97-2003) format 4) Open it with Open Office Writer 4.1.2 5) Read error (Pic1) Test 2: (steps described by cadavis7@asu.edu) 1) Create a document with some random text using Microsoft Word 2007 2) Encrypt the file 3) Save it in the Dropbox folder using .doc (97-2003) format 4) Open it with Open Office Writer 4.1.2 5) The file is opened but is read-only within OO Writer (Pic2) 6) The file itself isn`t read-only (Pic3) Test 3: (Identical to attempt 2 but I saved the file in another directory – not Dropbox) 1) Create a document with some random text using Microsoft Word 2007 2) Encrypt the file 3) Save it in the Dropbox folder using .doc (97-2003) format 4) Open it with Open Office Writer 4.1.2 5) The file is opened but is read-only within OO Writer (Pic2) 6) The file itself isn`t read-only (Pic3) Test 4: (Identical to attempt 3 but I saved the file using .docx format) 1) Create a document with some random text using Microsoft Word 2007 2) Encrypt the file 3) Save it in the Dropbox folder using .doc (97-2003) format 4) Open it with Open Office Writer 4.1.2 5) The file is opened, is not read-only, but users can`t save the file using .docx format (they must use .doc for example) (Pic4) Test 5: (identical to step 3 but I used OO 4.0.0) 1) Create a document with some random text using Microsoft Word 2007 2) Encrypt the file 3) Save it in the Dropbox folder using .doc (97-2003) format 4) Open it with Open Office Writer 4.0.0 5) The file is opened (not read-only) (Pic5) Test 6: (identical to step 3 but I used OO 4.1.0) 1) Create a document with some random text using Microsoft Word 2007 2) Encrypt the file 3) Save it in the Dropbox folder using .doc (97-2003) format 4) Open it with Open Office Writer 4.1.2 5) The file is opened but is read-only within OO Writer (Pic6) 6) The file itself isn`t read-only (Pic3) Test 7: (identical to step 3 but I used OO 4.0.1) 1) Create a document with some random text using Microsoft Word 2007 2) Encrypt the file 3) Save it in the Dropbox folder using .doc (97-2003) format 4) Open it with Open Office Writer 4.0.0 5) The file is opened (not read-only) (Pic7) Test 8: (identical to step 3 but I used OO 4.1.3) 1) Create a document with some random text using Microsoft Word 2007 2) Encrypt the file 3) Save it in the Dropbox folder using .doc (97-2003) format 4) Open it with Open Office Writer 4.0.0 5) The file is opened (not read-only) (Pic7) Based on the tests described above, I determine the following: 1) Open Office (at least 4.1.2) cannot open files encrypted by Microsoft Word 2013 (.doc format) – Test1. 2) The bug has nothing to do with the Dropbox folder – The bug can be reproduced with a file from any other folder – Test 2 and Test 3. 3) The file itself is not marked as being Read-Only within the File System (See Pic3). I also opened the file using Notepad++ (I didn`t expect to see plain text) and I managed to insert some text and save the file. This proves that the file itself is not read-only. 4) After multiple tests (5, 6, 7) I managed to isolated the bug (It happens on OO 4.1.0 – including – and higher, until 4.1.3). 5) The bug appears to be fixed within version 4.1.3 (I need a confirmation for this because, I tried downgrading back to 4.1.2 and now it works on 4.1.2 as well). My speculation is that when the application went from version 4.0.X to 4.1.X (4.0.1 to 4.1.0 to be more specific) the mechanism that manages encrypted files (from Open Office) has been affected.