Read-only .odt file - Solved (at last ! - 16/7/08)

[T J Tulley]

I have just used the command sudo chmod 660 [filename] to change the permissions of an Open Office text file which shows as "Read-only".

Although the terminal apparently accepted the command (after requiring my password) and returned to prompt (in the directory containing the file) the command doesn't appear to have been obeyed.

In fact, the command ls -l shows all the files in its parent directory as rwxrwx--- i.e., 770. They belong to root and are in group plugdev which includes me as sole user.

So why does it still open and show "Read-only"? This was easy in Word.

And why did it become Read-only?

[MagnusB]

Is the permissions set in OO.o or in the file?
Try using chown to change the owner of the file...

[T J Tulley]

Thanks MagnusB - I've done that. $ sudo chown theo *.odt - Password required again (more than 15 minutes since last sudo) and prompt returned after command apparently accepted - but $ ls -l still shows all as belonging to root in group plugdev, rwxrwx--- (The prompt takes me to the directory in which these files are located).

In Open Office (now 2.4) File/Properties doesn't include any mention of a read-only setting. It appears in the bottom line of the frame around the open file.

I was opening the file via a dynamic link in Desktop - but the path in the prompt is to its actual location in /media/sdb1. Opening it from its actual location shows the same status and properties.

Thanks also Deidre - your post arrived while I was typing this - not yet sent. Your link took me to:
"How can I get an editable document from a read only document?
If you press the "Edit File" button in the toolbar while a read-only file is open, you'll get an untitled copy of the file to work with. When you try to save the document you will be prompted for a file name".

It remains to discover whether the edited file will be allowed to over-write the original!

[MagnusB]

A very simple fix would be to use the Save as function....

[T J Tulley]

Thanks again MagnusB: It's not as easy as that - I can put the Insertion point wherever I like, but as soon as I try to insert anything, a box appears saying:
"Read-only content cannot be changed. No modifications will be accepted".

The odd thing is that I edited this file earlier today! It is one of a group of files related to my Autobiography, which share a folder. Some are .docs, edited in Open Office and saved as .doc, some were originally .docs and have been saved as .odt. I have retained the .doc format in order to be able to work on them in my laptop, which has only Word97 and an older version of OO, which I will soon update. I am reluctant to leave Word for this until I have satisfactorily working links, in the TOC particularly. At present I have no Windows on my PC and am not particularly anxious to return to it generally. I like Linux Mint - I'm not so keen on Open Office Writer although it copes magnificently with several other MS Office parts.

This file in its File/Properties/General tab says it was created 27/09/2005 by me - that must have been in Word97. It was modified 6/11/2007 which was probably when it was converted to Open Office 2.1; under the Properties/Description tab I see Comments: Revised 19/8/06; copied from laptop 29/8/06.

Fortunately I have today's pre-edit version separately saved (I re-named it before I started because I was going to experiment with the TOC) so not much is lost - but I want to understand the system I'm working with!

Incidentally I have re-created the TOC in this and another document - in both, the page-numbers still don't work as links and this was a valuable feature of the Word TOC. I raised this point in another post a few days ago - somebody responded that they worked for them. Very odd. This is Open Office 2.4 in Elyssa, from which I was expecting great things.

[T J Tulley]

Thanks Deirdre- affter a week's delay I have got back to this - after all the changes to Section protections, it appears to be necessary to save as doc before changing back to odt - then it's no longer read only.

A long way to "Solved"!