Troubleshooting

Find your problem below. For the meaning of a specific message, see Messages and dialogs.

Opening and saving

Writer won’t open my file

A dialog titled Cannot open explains why. The most common reasons:

• The file is an older Word .doc. Open it in Word and save it as .docx.
• The file is a spreadsheet, presentation or PDF. Open it in the Nixt Office app the dialog names.
• The file is encrypted with a password in Word. Remove the password in Word first.
• The file is damaged or only partly downloaded. Copy or download it again.

See File formats and compatibility.

A file I opened before isn’t under RECENT

Writer leaves files out of RECENT when they no longer exist where they were, and removes a file from the list if you click it after it was moved, renamed or deleted. RECENT shows the six most recent documents. Use Open a document to find the file.

Writer could not save

The status bar says Could not save: followed by a reason. Try these in order:

1. If there is a lock icon beside the document’s name, the file can’t be written to. Use Save a copy as › Word document to save it somewhere else.
2. Check the disk has free space.
3. Check that you are allowed to change files in that folder, and that the file isn’t locked by another program.
4. Use Save a copy as › Word document to save to another folder, such as your Documents folder.

Your work stays on screen while you try. Writer also keeps autosave copies — see Autosave and earlier versions.

Writer closed before I saved

Open the document again: if Writer kept a newer copy, the There is newer work than the file dialog offers it. Click Open the newer copy. Copies are taken 20 seconds after you stop typing, so the last few seconds of work may be missing. See Recover work after Writer closed.

A “There is newer work than the file” dialog appears when I create a new document

All untitled documents share one set of autosave copies. The dialog is offering a copy of an earlier untitled document. Click Keep the file to start with a blank page, or Open the newer copy if you want that earlier work back.

Editing

Typing does nothing

• A banner above the page describing a restriction means the document is restricted to read-only or comments only. Click Stop restricting if you are allowed to. See Restricting editing.
• A banner saying Record and a number means you are previewing a mail merge. Click Back to the letter.
• Otherwise, click in the paragraph you want to type in. The caret must be in the document, not in a pane or the find bar.

Keyboard shortcuts don’t work

Shortcuts such as ⌘B (Ctrl+B on Windows and Linux) work while the caret is in the document or the find bar. Click in the document and try again. See Keyboard shortcuts.

Clear formatting does nothing

Clear formatting needs selected text. Select the text first.

Styles and lists

A heading doesn’t appear in the Navigator or the table of contents

• The paragraph must use a heading style (Heading 1 to Heading 6), and have text in it.
• The table of contents includes only the levels you chose when inserting it. Click the contents button again and choose more levels.
• Update the table of contents after changing headings. See Update the table of contents.

My numbered list carries on from an earlier list

Numbered lists made with the Numbered list button share one sequence. Put the caret in the item that should be 1 and click Start this list again at 1 in the Paragraph group. See Lists.

Page layout

The page colour doesn’t print

Page colour is a screen colour, as in Word, and isn’t printed or exported to PDF. See Page colour.

Printing

Nothing opens when I print

Writer opens a PDF of the document in your computer’s PDF viewer, and you print from there. If nothing opens, set up a default PDF viewer, or use Save a copy as › PDF and open the file yourself.

Review

My comments and changes are signed “Me”

Writer uses the Author from the document’s properties when the document opens, and Me if there isn’t one. Set Author in More › Document properties…, save, close and reopen the document.

I can’t turn track changes off

The document is restricted to tracked changes. Lift the restriction first — see Restricting editing.

The Accept and Reject buttons on the ribbon are dimmed

They act on the change at the caret. Click a change in the reviewing pane, or use The next tracked change, first.

I can’t lift a restriction

• If Writer asks for a password, you need the password the restriction was set with. The status bar says That is not the password this was set with when it doesn’t match.
• If the status bar says the restriction uses a scheme that can’t be checked, lift the restriction in Word.