Apache OpenOffice (AOO) Bugzilla – Issue 127641
Troubleshooting Common Problems webpage is badly out of date - incorrect information
Last modified: 2020-03-02 20:44:59 UTC
The Troubleshooting Common Problems webpage at http://www.openoffice.org/documentation/HOW_TO/misc/Troubleshooting_guide.html is badly out of date and the paths given are incorrect for Windows releases later than XP. For example, Item 6 - General error or General input/output error states: On a Windows® computer, copy from C:\Program Files\OpenOffice.org<release>\presets\basic to C:\Documents and Settings\<username>\Application Data\OpenOffice.org<release>\user\basic The paths should read C:\Program Files (x86)\OpenOffice 4\presets\basic and C:\Users\xxxxxx\AppData\Roaming\OpenOffice\4\user\basic respectively. This has come to our notice because we are now seeing a number of posts to the forum where users on Windows 10 are receiving General error or General input/output errors. Some appear to be caused by Windows Defender refusing AOO permission to write a file. See: [Solved] Windows Defender prevents file opening at https://forum.openoffice.org/en/forum/viewtopic.php?f=15&t=91763&p=435181#p435181 and General error General input/output error opening word doc at https://forum.openoffice.org/en/forum/viewtopic.php?f=15&t=91702#p434742 Can't edit files anymore. General input/out error at https://forum.openoffice.org/en/forum/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=91733
Does the rest of that page still make sense? I see tons of broken links, I see a section on "Spell checking problems" that totally misses to capture what is now the most common problem (profile corruption), obsolete contacts and so on. In other words, that page is probably doing a very bad service to users in 2018 and I would delete it altogether unless you say that forum posts frequently link to it.
I (as a personal comment) would be happy for the page to be deleted. I was completely unaware of it and only found it by doing a google search of site:openoffice.org for general error when answering a post. I have never seen it referenced by a user apart from one exception - a user said they could not follow a "Documents and settings ..." path but did not give the location of the advice. I strongly suspect it was this page. Experience unfortunately suggests that searching is a skill completely unknown to the average user who is far more likely to come to the forum and ask a question than to do a search and find this page. Having looked at each item in detail, I think that they have been adequately covered in forum posts and that all Volunteers and Moderators are aware of the solutions offered by the page. I will circulate Volunteers and Moderators asking if it should be deleted and post back. I think the majority will respond yes.
The general consensus among the volunteers and moderators replying so far is that the page should be deleted. It has only been referenced once in the forum during the past five years. If you wish to keep it, I will be happy to update the Windows material but I would need assistance for the Unix and MacOs material.