NeoOffice 2013

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NeoOffice Secure Edition is a version of our existing NeoOffice product that the NeoOffice developers hope to eventually distribute via Apple's Mac App Store. Currently, only a test version - NeoOffice Secure Edition 2013 Beta 2 - is available.

Want to test NeoOffice 2013 Beta 3? You do not have to wait until NeoOffice 2013 is available in Apple's Mac App Store. Users running Mac OS X 10.8 or higher can test it by downloading and installing it from the NeoOffice 2013 Beta 3 download page.

Since Apple requires applications to implement several security requirements before they are allowed to by listed in the Mac App Store, NeoOffice users will see the following differences in NeoOffice Secure Edition:

  • Uses Apple's App Sandbox - Applications that use Apple's App Sandbox are not allowed to open any of the user's folders or files without explicit permission from the user. So, when NeoOffice Secure Edition tries to open one of the user's files, NeoOffice Secure Edition will display a native open dialog set to the file's folder. NeoOffice Secure Edition will only be able to open the file if the user presses the dialog's OK button.
  • Features that require Java or Python removed - Apple requires that applications in the Mac App Store not use Java. Also, neither Java nor Python support the folder and file security restrictions that Apple's App Sandbox imposes. Because of these Apple security restrictions, NeoOffice users will notice the following changes in NeoOffice Secure Edition:
    • Third party extensions that use Java or Python cannot be installed. Extensions that use OpenOffice Basic or native compiled code will continue to work.
    • Several menu items in NeoOffice's File :: Wizards menu have been removed.
    • Tables in existing Base databases that use the HSQLDB format cannot be opened.
    • Reports in all existing Base databases cannot be opened.
  • Update check feature removed - Apple's Mac App Store has its own update check so NeoOffice's internal update check has been removed from NeoOffice Secure Edition.
  • Media Browser removed - Applications that use Apple's App Sandbox are not allowed to access other applications' user preference files. This restriction prevents the Media Browser code from accessing the iTunes and other applications' user preferences. Without such access, most audio and picture files are no longer accessible so the Media Browser has been removed from NeoOffice Secure Edition.
  • No language pack installers - NeoOffice's language pack installers are incompatible with Apple's Mac App Store so NeoOffice Secure Edition includes the 19 most downloaded NeoOffice language pack languages:
    • French
    • German
    • Italian
    • United States English
    • Arabic
    • Brazilian Portuguese
    • British English
    • Chinese (Traditional)
    • Czech
    • Danish
    • Dutch
    • Finnish
    • Hebrew
    • Japanese
    • Norwegian
    • Polish
    • Russian
    • Spanish
    • Swedish

NeoOffice and NeoOffice Secure Edition can both be installed on the same machine. They will not interfere with each other because NeoOffice Secure Edition uses the following installation and user preference files and folders:

  • Default installation folder:
    • /Applications/NeoOffice Secure Edition.app
  • User preferences folder (replace "~" with your Home folder):
    • ~Library/Containers/org.neooffice.NeoOfficeSecureEdition/Data/Library/Preferences/NeoOfficeSecureEdition
  • Native preferences files (replace "~" with your Home folder):
    • ~/Library/Containers/org.neooffice.NeoOfficeSecureEdition/Data/Library/Preferences/org.neooffice.NeoOfficeSecureEdition.plist
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