libreoffice keeps asking if I want to recover files [again]

[juanperucho]

The moderators/admins took my request to delete my previous post too seriously too soon.
In that post, I asked if anyone knew of a solution to the following problem:
Everytime I launch libreoffice, it asks me if I want to recover the docs that were opened in the last session.
This is a consequence of the fact that libreoffice is not closing properly. Eg.: if I have four docs open and close one of them, all of them get closed.

I suggested that the previous post be deleted since I thought that it was actually a problem with one specific document. I turns out that it wasn't.

[menotu]

Hi juanperucho

To save retrying/reposting things can you please post the things you tried and the suggestions offered that didn't work for you.

[juanperucho]

Good point:
so, things that didn't work:
1. skip the recovery process
2. go ahead with the recovery process
3. go ahead with the recovery process and cancel in the last step
4. rename .libreoffice foldir (a new word I've just coined in order to avoid taking sides in a discussion down at the sandbox)
5. ask my wife if she had anything to do with the problem

Things I haven't tried yet:
reinstalling

[menotu]

Is there anything "common" about the docs? Are they all .odt files or .doc files etc?

Does it happen if you create 4 new docs and then save one?

Does it happen in all the office suite apps - Calc / Impress  etc?

Do you have any Extensions installed?

Are you saving to an "external" drive?

Are you running LO 3.4.2?

[juanperucho]

Is there anything "common" about the docs? Are they all .odt files or .doc files etc?

Does it happen if you create 4 new docs and then save one?
No. The problem seems to be with old files. BUT even if the problem were with the old files: 1. I cannot foretell for how long a new docs is going to work before showing the same symptoms; 2. A word processor that works only with new files would be kind of odd.

Does it happen in all the office suite apps - Calc / Impress  etc?
AFAIK only in Writer, but I cannot tell for certain since I have only one calc sheet to test.

Do you have any Extensions installed?
Only spanish and french thesaurus(es).

Are you saving to an "external" drive?
No.

Are you running LO 3.4.2?
NO: 3.4.1

Thanks for your help and great questions BTW.

[menotu]

If you have Bleachbit installed I would mebbe run that and clear out any /tmp files and folders - and possibly restart desktop.

I did a quick web search and others have had the same problem of "crashing on save." and updating seems to of cured the problem for some, so you may want to make sure you have the latest lomanager installed and run that which will update you to 3.4.2

[juanperucho]

Thanks menotu.
I couldn't find anything on the web because I searched for libreoffice and recovery. I didn't focus on the closing session aspect. My mistake.
I'll upgrade and see what happens.

[juanperucho]

Weird, weird, weird!
I reinstalled, renamed my libreoffice foldir: same problem!
Damn!

[menotu]

Have you tried creating a new user account and logging into that to see whether it still occurs (or try it from root)

I don't know how many docs you have but if's not too many you could either copy/paste (or try Insert > File) into a new doc and save them with a slightly different name to the originals.  Problem with this is the formatting sometimes changes (depending on complexity of the format)

[juanperucho]

I tried with a different user and it doesn't work.
The problem is that I have at least 7 years of odt work in my computer, and I need it everyday to work!  

Besides: if I copy the text and pase it into a new document, the same thing happens.
(On certain occasions the v* word comes to my mind)

[juanperucho]

The problem seems to be gone.

I did it the old Genghis Khan way: uninstall, exterminate all living relatives, reinstall.

I'll keep my fingers crossed for a few days, though, before marking it as solved.

[menotu]

Me too 

[juanperucho]

Losing my patience here!
The problem returns whenever I untick the god damn ugly useless ruler!!!!!!!!!!!

EDIT:
Strike my previous comment: It's absolutely random.

[sling-shot]

Just one DUMB question:

Do you close LibreOffice by clicking on the X button at the right hand top corner of the window or by selecting File > Quit/Exit?

May be you are doing the second thing and it could be what is causing the Recover wizard to come up for the remaining unsaved documents.

Eg.: if I have four docs open and close one of them, all of them get closed.

[kjpetrie]

LibreOffice (and its predecessor OpenOffice) can be annoying if you close a window or it crashes without saving the document, and if something is wrong with the time-saved backup which causes recovery to fail. It seems to remember too well that a backup is present and keeps offering to restore every time you open the program, even when that's impossible.

Re-installing or upgrading LO won't help, nor will re-installing the OS if you back up and restore the folders containing your work, because the broken backups will still be there. What you need to do is hunt down and delete the backup files. You need to search for them in the folders where your main documents are stored, and if they're not there they might be in /tmp/ or a subdirectory thereof. Sorry, I can't remember; it's been a long time since it happened to me. You might be able to find out where they're stored by looking in the preferences for LO.

It's not a bug, though it might be the developers are too persistent in their efforts to prevent work being lost. It's not going to go away in the next version of LO. It's not going to be any different on another OS. It's the way LO works and you need to find the broken backups and remove them.