NeoOffice 2017 Upgrade Issues

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Revision as of 14:40, 23 September 2017

NeoOffice 2017 is based on the LibreOffice 4.4 code. Because earlier versions of NeoOffice were based on the much older OpenOffice 3.3 code, users may find NeoOffice behaves differently after upgrading to NeoOffice 2017. Below are the most common issues that we have seen after upgrading to NeoOffice 2017:

General issues

Hyperlinks do not open when clicked

In the LibreOffice 4.4 code used by NeoOffice 2017 (as well as all recent versions of OpenOffice and LibreOffice) hyperlinks only open when clicked while the Command key is pressed (Command-click).

To open hyperlinks with only a click, use the following steps:

• Select the NeoOffice > Preferences menu item
• In the Options dialog that appears, select the NeoOffice > Security item and then press the Options button
• In the Security Options and Warnings dialog that appears, uncheck the Command-click required to follow hyperlinks checkbox and press the OK button.
• After the Security Options and Warnings dialog closes, press the OK button.

Spreadsheet issues

Spreadsheet formulas display #VALUE! instead of a number

If a mathmatical formula references any cells that contain spaces or other non-numeric characters, the LibreOffice 4.4 code used by NeoOffice 2017 (as well as all recent versions of OpenOffice and LibreOffice) will display #VALUE!. In contrast, the OpenOffice 3.3 code used by earlier versions of NeoOffice would behave as if such cells were empty cells.

To stop the display of #VALUE!, there are two options:

1. Put each cell reference in a mathematical formula into the N() function. The N() function will return 0 if the cell reference is non-numeric which is very similar to the OpenOffice 3.3 behavior.
2. Delete cells with spaces or other non-numeric characters that are referenced by any mathematical formulas in your spreadsheet. You can delete most of the cells with spaces or other non-numeric characters using the following steps:
   • Select the cell range which contains text strings.
   • Choose the Edit menu then the Find & Replace… sub-menu.
   • In the Find & Replace window, enter "^.*[^0-9\-.,].*$" (without quotes) in the Search For field.
   • Set the Replace With field to empty.
   • Click Other options or More options button.
   • Check the Regular expressions checkbox.
   • Set the Search in listbox to Values
   • Press the Replace All button.

Deleting a cell in a spreadsheet always displays a dialog

To stop the display of this dialog, use the following steps:

• While in a Calc document, select the NeoOffice > Preferences menu item
• In the Options dialog that appears, select the NeoOffice Calc > Compatibility item
• Set the Key Bindings listbox to OpenOffice.org legacy
• Press the OK button.

No grid lines in spreadsheet cells that have a background color

The LibreOffice 4.4 code used by NeoOffice 2017 draws the cell background color on top of grid lines. In contrast, the OpenOffice 3.3 code used by earlier versions of NeoOffice would draw grid lines on top of the cell background color.

To display grid lines in cells that have a background color, use the following steps:

• While in a Calc document, select the NeoOffice > Preferences menu item
• In the Options dialog that appears, select the NeoOffice Calc > View item
• Set the Grid lines listbox to Show on colored cells
• Press the OK button.