Well none of that worked. :/ However, I can save as .xlsx and manipulate it in Office 2010. I can confirm my copy of LibreOffice is creating unusable files in Office 2010, and probably 2013 as well.
So I guess I'll send him a .xlsx invoice, going forward. I suspect I have a bad configuration file or setting. I'll install a clean, newer Mint release on a spare partition of two, and test a fresh Libreoffice in a fresh and clean install and see if this problem goes away. Probably some old configuration setting that I kept in an update, that I should have rejected, removed, or changed. Thanks everyone for trying to help. On Sun, Apr 16, 2017 at 4:59 PM, QC <quiet.c...@gmail.com> wrote: > On Sun, Apr 16, 2017 at 3:25 PM, Brian Barker <b.m.bar...@btinternet.com> > wrote: > >> At 16:33 14/04/2017 -0500, Brian Noname wrote: >> >>> I've just discovered that when I save a copy of an invoice it's saving >>> the spreadsheet part as an image. This is not the behavior I expected. >>> [...] When I save a copy of this file as Word 2007/2010/2013 (*.docx) if >>> converts the spreadsheets as an image! [...] The older Word 97 format is >>> not readable anymore by one of my customers. If I save an 2003 .xml version >>> Libreoffice can't even open a readable document again!? >>> >> >> You are tying yourself in knots here - and quite unnecessarily. >> >> o Don't believe what one customer tells you about what s/he can or cannot >> handle: they may just not be competent enough to understand. My bank >> provides documents in the format it chooses; it may respond to suggestions >> for changes from customers in general, but it certainly wouldn't believe me >> if I simply claimed I couldn't handle what it provided. Is your bank any >> different? >> >> > Well, I'm not a big bank with loads of customers that I can less less if > they take their business elsewhere. This is a major client, that brings me > significant business. I'd have to find multiple clients to replace him. > That's a lot of work. So I do what I can to keep him happy. > > > o You are confusing on the one hand the format in which you keep our own >> records and active documents and on the other hand what you send your >> customers. You may need part of a spreadsheet in a text document to be >> active but you should not want your customers to be able to modify your >> invoices easily. They may halve the price and pay you accordingly! >> >> No, I'm not. I use one format, and he has requested another. I keep my > records and my own copies of invoices, etc. I make him a special copy, just > for him. Because I want to keep him happy. It's just good business. But > that copy is not being done right. > > >> o Save and keep your own documents in LibreOffice's native Open Document >> Format formats, here .odt and .ods. Use a DDE link to an .ods spreadsheet >> document in your .odt text document if you wish. >> >> I do. > > >> o Send your customers a frozen document. You need a format that is >> suitable for final versions of documents and is robust to changes between >> systems - operating system, installed fonts, printers, printer drivers, and >> so on - and is also easily displayed by and printed from application >> software that is easily available for a wide range of platforms and >> conveniently free of charge for your customers. That is not *any* word >> processor document format; that's PDF. Oh look: LibreOffice will export >> your documents as PDF. >> >> Yes, but he enters the data from my invoice into his own systems. This > allows him to not have to key it all in, if he can copy and paste. > > >> At 10:30 16/04/2017 -0500, Brian Noname wrote: >> >>> I can't dictate to paying clients what software to use to open my >>> invoices. >>> >> >> No, but you can dictate the format in which you choose to provide >> invoices - providing that is reasonable (as PDF is). >> >> I can't just send it in ODF. Unless MS Office has suddenly decided to >>> support reading ODF files. >>> >> >> Microsoft claims it has done this - though not "suddenly". (But you >> shouldn't want to use office formats anyway; see above.) > > > This is something special I do for a major client, to increase his > customer satisfaction. > > >> >> >> I could send it in PDF, and will if I have no other choice. >>> >> >> It's the best choice: you need no "other choice". >> >> I use this system for my business. It has to work, or I have to use >>> something else. >>> >> >> As always, you are very welcome to use whatever software you wish. >> LibreOffice will work for you, but chacun à son goût. >> >> At 14:14 16/04/2017 -0500, Brian Noname wrote: >> >>> As long as I maintain the object in an ODF format, as a document or a >>> template, it works as it should. >>> >> >> Good. Using LibreOffice's native format for your own document files is >> what you should always do. >> >> It's only once LO saves it into an Office 2013 format, that it converts >>> to an image. >>> >> >> So don't do that (for your own use). See above. > > > Again, I don't. It's a special thing I do for a special client who has > asked for this to make his work easier. It should have been a simple thing > to do, and has been or years. But suddenly when I use the newer format it > doesn't work the same way. > > I can export it to PDF, and I have confirmed that I can copy and paste the > text, from the PDF, but it loses it's spreadsheet layout. I don't know if > that will work for him. So he will be able to use it, but at a reduced > level of productivity. > > It's at least better than an image where he can't copy and paste the data > at all. > > It's a far cry from the simple solution of it being a spreadsheet. I may > just have to send him the underlying spreadsheet instead of the nicer > format of the company invoice, or in addition to it. The spreadsheet might > even be better for him. > > > But the good news is I think I found the issue! > Under the menu "Tools -> Options -> Load/Save -> Microsoft Office" I > unchecked the option for "[S] Convert and save the object" on the line > "Excel to LibreOffice Calc or reverse" and it now doesn't convert it to a > graphic. Not sure what it will look like on his system yet. It's a fairly > simple spreadsheet. > > > > So problem solved! Maybe. > > > I have not tested opening it on a Windows machine. > > My copy of LibreOffice has this set by default, as well as other > pre-checked items. I've been using LibreOffice out of the Linux Mint Box > without any tweaking. I will have to add this to my list of customizations > to do, on subsequent releases if system upgrade procedures. > > -- To unsubscribe e-mail to: users+unsubscr...@global.libreoffice.org Problems? http://www.libreoffice.org/get-help/mailing-lists/how-to-unsubscribe/ Posting guidelines + more: http://wiki.documentfoundation.org/Netiquette List archive: http://listarchives.libreoffice.org/global/users/ All messages sent to this list will be publicly archived and cannot be deleted
