LibreOffice 3.5: This document contains one or more links to external data

[BSG Fan]

I just open a document at LibreOffice 3.5 and suddenly this message pop-out:

This document contains one or more links to external data.
Would you like to change the document, and update all links to get the most recent data?
Yes or No?

And I clicked NO, and the document opned ok, but in my fear I closed it again, and I opened it again... and the same window popped out.


Okay,,, why? That have never happened to me before? My document(s) has(have) not link or such thing. I do not have links nor tables inside...
This is the first time that I see something like that.

I reformatted my computer hours ago because I saw that strange window and I feared that a hacker installed something in my computer compromising the Ooo or LibreOffice, so if I click Yes, I am inadvertently sending my data to them... That is my conspiracy theory in my humble mind...
Is somebody hacking me or not? Forgive my ignorance.

But, if i reformatted the computer, why I have seen the same window/command again?????

What is happening?
How can I get rid of that?

I will appreciate your help.

BSG Fan

[DuckHook]

This is a very common issue and nothing that should alarm you to the point of reformatting your computer. In most cases, it is because you are opening a MS Word document that has fields linking it to another document or spreadsheet. It can even be as simple as a date and time, or an address database from Outlook. In Windows, people drop those sorts of links into their documents without giving them a second thought. Such links are even built into some default templates. When those same docs are opened by LibreOffice, it either cannot find the external links or wants authorization to, say, update the date/time, so asks you for your permission.

When it comes to security, it is not possible to give you a reassurance that you are 100% safe. There is always a risk no matter how unlikely. However in this case, I would say that your risk is very small indeed.

I receive docs from Windows users all the time that raise the same alerts. It is irritating and bothersome, not least because most Windows users are so oblivious to the number of links, scripts, macros and remote procedure calls that are embedded in their docs that they really have no clue about how exposed to risk they are.

To answer your last question: so long as your friends send you Windows documents with linked fields like time and date, addresses, etc there is nothing you can do to get rid of these alerts. However, you can answer "no", which in my experience usually does little harm to either the readability or the contents of the document.

[BSG Fan]

Hello DuckHook.

Thank you very much for your reply and explanation. At the end I decided to copy all the document into a empty Text Editor, and from there I pasted in a translator ( clear all format) and paste it back to a LibreOffice doc with a different name that I later closed and renamed as it was originally.

and that noisy window did not popped more.

Thank you.

[BSG Fan]

Hey, how I make this thread to be SOLVED?
I can not see the feature no more here...

[DuckHook]

I decided to copy all the document into a empty Text Editor, and from there I pasted in a translator ( clear all format) and paste it back to a LibreOffice doc with a different name that I later closed and renamed as it was originally.

You have come up with a very effective solution that works for you. Congrats! It may not be necessary to paste into a translator because a text editor usually lacks the ability to preserve fields and links. Just make sure you save as plain text, then copy and paste back into LibreOffice and you should be good to go.

...how I make this thread to be SOLVED?

To mark thread solved:

https://wiki.ubuntu.com/UnansweredPo.../SolvedThreads

[BSG Fan]

You have come up with a very effective solution that works for you. Congrats! It may not be necessary to paste into a translator because a text editor usually lacks the ability to preserve fields and links. Just make sure you save as plain text, then copy and paste back into LibreOffice and you should be good to go.



To mark thread solved:

https://wiki.ubuntu.com/UnansweredPo.../SolvedThreads

DuckHook:
Thank you very much for your reply and information.
This thread is now solved.
Thank you!