Shortcomings of libreoffice

[jonesyp]

Hello,

This may be controversial but I'm not happy with LibreOffice, especially the 'Base' Database software.

I have logged posts over the years asking for hyperlink field types, and am told that this is not possible because of the database engine used.

https://bugs.freedesktop.org/show_bug.cgi?id=51203

There are complex workaround, but I just want to be able to move away from Microsoft Access and have a simple field type I can use.

Does anyone have any views on this or alternatives?

Also, whilst I know it is all about usability, I do feel disappointed with the lack of work on the 'look and feel'. I spend a lot of time working to convince people of the benefits of Open Source, but I do find office applications a major let down.

Many thanks

Peter Jones
Crawley
UK

[zombifier25]

You're not alone on it. LibreOffice is good, but it's in no shape competing with Microsoft Office. If you're working in Base, chances are you're working in a corporate environment, so I suggest you use Access.

[The Cog]

I have heard of kexi as a possible replacement. It may be worth a look:
http://www.kexi-project.org/

I have to agree that the base part of LO isn't that inspiring, or wasn't last time I tried to use it.

[jonesyp]

Many thanks for the quick reply. I just looked at the Kexi user guide, and it looks like it also does not support hyperlink data types. If anyone knows any different please let me know.

Best wishes

Peter Jones

[isa.dsouza]

I am having a different problem. Refer to http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=2047657

There is no help from launchpad. I can tel you that there is a bug in Writer as well as certain documents with tables just dont open properly.

Is there any app that works better?

I searched for open office, is it available for ubuntu from synaptic?

[Dn4mycrownj]

open office should be available from them, apache supports it, you can get source code from the apache/openoffice website. i have no knowledge if it works with the newest version of ubuntu though

[Hagar Delest]

You can install AOOwith the .debs downloaded directly from the official web sites. Note that this way you can install and run both applications in parallel.

See: [Ubuntu] Installing OOo on Debian and Co.