Associated Helper Application does not Exist

[MikeBravo]

I searched these forums on the subject words above and combinations thereof and found nothing but a post by Hagar back on Nov of '08 which did absolutely no good. I am using Ubuntu 9.04 (Jaunty) and OO.O Word Processor 3.0.1.
When I go to http://www.njdogandpuppytraining.com/wh ... jean-owen/ and scroll down to the bottom of the page, I am invited to click on "Emerg Card Kly in word.doc" This is a link that takes me to
http://www.njdogandpuppytraining.com/ap ... n+word.doc which is what I want to open and print. This works just fine with Windows XP and Microsoft Word 2003. But, when I go there in Ubuntu and ask Open Office to do it I get the offer to open it with OO and then I get the "Download Error" "/tmp/Emerg card Kly in word-2.doc could not be opened, because the associated helper application does not exist. Change the association in your preferences."

So my question is, now what do I do to accomplish this seemingly trivial task, and do it without screwing up something else?

[Hagar Delest]

Works fine for me with 3.1 on my xubuntu Jaunty box. I've downloaded it and it opened right away in OOo.

You should try the official (Sun) version: [Ubuntu] Installing OOo on Debian and Co.

Thanks to add '[Solved]' at beginning of your first post title (edit button) if your issue has been fixed.

[acknak]

Did you try downloading the file, then starting OOo? Or, did you click on the link and get a dialog that offered to open the file in OOo?

The first approach (download/save file, then open "manually") always works for me; the second often fails for who-know-what reason.

[MikeBravo]

http://www.njdogandpuppytraining.com/ap ... n+word.doc


Acknak,
Using your suggestion, when I got to the dialog box that prompted me to open or save, I selected the save radio button, entered, and got a box saying it failed.

Ignored that and went to the Firefox Downloads and double clicked. got this back:

/tmp/emerg card kly in word.doc could not be saved, because you cannot change the contents of that folder.
Change the folder properties and try again, or try saving in a different location.


So, no joy. I will follow Hagar's link and see what I think.

[acknak]

If you cannot save a file that you have a link to, then it's not a problem with OOo. It's a problem with either your browser (trying to save the file in a location you're not allowed to write to), or your system (misconfigured permissions). OOo is not even involved.

[Hagar Delest]

+1 with acknak, seems that your tmp folder has wrong permissions for your user.

[MikeBravo]

If you cannot save a file that you have a link to, then it's not a problem with OOo. It's a problem with either your browser (trying to save the file in a location you're not allowed to write to), or your system (misconfigured permissions). OOo is not even involved.

Sounds very likely. I will attack it from that end. Thanks for your help.
MikeBravo

[billvolts]

This problem occurs when you attempt to open a DOC file from Thunderbird. The default action
to is open it with Microsoft Word. Hence, it is necessary to change Thunderbird's open action to
Open Office's swriter.exe. This is what you must do from within Thunderbird:
1. Thunderbird Tools menu
2. Options menu
3. Attachments tab
4. View & Edit Actions
Select the DOC file Extension. Change the setting in the Action column to 'Open with swriter.exe'.
It is assumed that your operating system, Windows XP in my case, knows the location of swriter.exe.

[Prosper]

Thanks, you saved my day.
I changed the preference to "open with /usr/bin/soffice" (since I'm using Ubuntu) and it works like a charm.
Seems only that, though I checked the mark to make it a standard procedure, Firefox seems to forget. But "soffice" is now in the list of alternatives, that's a mouse-click away.