NeoOffice 2013

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Revision as of 01:45, 31 July 2013

NeoOffice 2013 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 2013 Beta 2 - is available.

Important: If you do not have NeoOffice 2013 already installed, the installer will create an application called NeoOffice in the Applications folder. If you already have NeoOffice 3.3 or earlier installed as NeoOffice in the Applications folder and you do not want NeoOffice 2013 to overwrite it, we recommend that you rename it before installing NeoOffice 2013.

What changes will NeoOffice users see in NeoOffice 2013?

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 2013:

• 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 2013 tries to open one of the user's files, NeoOffice 2013 will display a native open dialog set to the file's folder. NeoOffice 2013 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 2013:
  • 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 2013.
• 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 2013.
• No language pack installers - NeoOffice's language pack installers are incompatible with Apple's Mac App Store so NeoOffice 2013 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

If you rename your existing NeoOffice installation, NeoOffice 2013 can be installed on the same machine and NeoOffice 2013 will not interfere with your existing NeoOffice installation because NeoOffice 2013 uses the following user preference files and folders:

• 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