# Is something going on with Open Office? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [November 24, 2010, 11:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-something-going-on-with-open-office/561827 "2010-11-24T23:28:18Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![twickster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ec9cab/32.png) [@twickster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/twickster)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2010, 11:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-something-going-on-with-open-office/561827/1 "2010-11-24T23:28:18Z")
I’ve got Open Office 3.2 on my home computer. As recently as last week it was fine – starting this morning, it’s not letting me open either text documents (.doc) or Open Office spreadsheets (.odr), though it did let me open a spreadsheet saved with an Excel extension (.xlr). Going in directly through the document or spreadsheet doesn’t work; trying to open Open Office (in order to open the doc/spreadsheet from there) doesn’t work. Just tried emailing myself the doc I wanted to work on this weekend; I could open it in gmail by clicking “view,” which opened it in google documents, but when I tried to open it from the email (by clicking “download/open”), it didn’t work. I went to the website ([OpenOffice.org](http://OpenOffice.org)) to see if there was info there; when I clicked on the FAQs … it wouldn’t load. Anyone have any suggestions? ---
**Author:** ![Revtim](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/revtim/32/1042_2.png) [@Revtim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Revtim)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2010, 11:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-something-going-on-with-open-office/561827/2 "2010-11-24T23:39:06Z")
Well, I know it’s becoming LibreOffice, but I doubt that’s what causing your problems. Sorry I can’t be more help. ---
**Author:** ![guizot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guizot/32/3636_2.png) [@guizot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/guizot)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2010, 11:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-something-going-on-with-open-office/561827/3 "2010-11-24T23:47:31Z")
> [@Revtim](#): > > Well, I know it’s becoming LibreOffice, but I doubt that’s what causing your problems… Her computer doesn’t speak Spanish? ---
**Author:** ![BorgHunter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7c8e57/32.png) [@BorgHunter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BorgHunter)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2010, 12:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-something-going-on-with-open-office/561827/4 "2010-11-25T00:06:48Z")
You need to elaborate a bit as to what “doesn’t work” means. Do you get an error message? If so, what is it? If not, what exactly happens when you’re already in OOo and you try to open, say, a Word document? Does the program crash? Is there an error log? Can you save a really simple document and open it? What about a more complex one? How many files have you tried this on? Et cetera. ---
**Author:** ![twickster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ec9cab/32.png) [@twickster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/twickster)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2010, 12:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-something-going-on-with-open-office/561827/5 "2010-11-25T00:15:20Z")
If I click on the Open Office icon in the taskbar, it lights up and the “loading” circle whirls for a few seconds, then nothing. Click on it from the “all programs” menu – the “loading” circle whirls for a few seconds, then nothing. If I go into documents, then a folder with a file in it, and click on the file – ditto. IOW: Nothing opens, and there is zero indication why. ---
**Author:** ![BorgHunter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7c8e57/32.png) [@BorgHunter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BorgHunter)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2010, 12:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-something-going-on-with-open-office/561827/6 "2010-11-25T00:27:01Z")
Ick. Sounds like it’s crashing on startup for some unknown reason—there are ways to try to debug problems like this, but honestly, as obnoxious as it is, I’d just try reinstalling it. That’ll fix random startup crashes nine times out of ten. ---
**Author:** ![twickster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ec9cab/32.png) [@twickster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/twickster)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2010, 12:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-something-going-on-with-open-office/561827/7 "2010-11-25T00:27:54Z")
That’s what I figured. Okey doke, thanks. ---
**Author:** ![twickster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ec9cab/32.png) [@twickster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/twickster)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2010, 12:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-something-going-on-with-open-office/561827/8 "2010-11-25T00:35:26Z")
Or, duh, just reboot the computer. :smack: Thanks for your help, everyone. ---
**Author:** ![Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/46a35a/32.png) [@Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tim_T-Bonham.net)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2010, 3:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-something-going-on-with-open-office/561827/9 "2010-11-25T03:12:28Z")
The part about not being able to even reach the OpenOffice website raises a suspicion of possible malware on your machine. After rebooting, I would run some tests for that. Like Malwarebytes or similar. ---
**Author:** ![twickster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ec9cab/32.png) [@twickster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/twickster)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2010, 4:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-something-going-on-with-open-office/561827/10 "2010-11-25T04:52:00Z")
The site loaded, just that page within the site didn’t load. But just in case, I ran a full scan – I’m clean. ---
**Author:** ![Schnitte](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/schnitte/32/9033_2.png) [@Schnitte](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Schnitte)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2010, 4:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-something-going-on-with-open-office/561827/11 "2010-11-25T16:18:38Z")
I have no idea what’s wrong, but have you tried uninstalling and re-installing OpenOffice?