Documents open in background

[dswoffer]

When I open a document and I already have OOo opens the new document in the background. I am using the 3.1.0 RC1 on windows XP SP3.

[TheGurkha]

Hi and welcome to the forums.

Can you give us a bit more information? Which component of OOo is open, Writer, Calc etc, or does it happen to them all? What are you doing to open the document, double-clicking it or using File > Open or what?

[dswoffer]

Hi and welcome to the forums.

Can you give us a bit more information? Which component of OOo is open, Writer, Calc etc, or does it happen to them all? What are you doing to open the document, double-clicking it or using File > Open or what?

Ok, when I have any document that is minimized and then open any other document (by double clicking a file, shortcut, or even the program shortcut) it opens maximized but in the background (behind the active window).

[TheGurkha]

Strange, I just tried that on XP SP3 with 3.0.0. I had a Writer doc open, minimized. I had other windows open, and then double-clicked on another Writer doc. It opened up maximized at the front (on top of the other windows).

[edwinvb]

We have the same problem (OOo 3.1.0 Windows 2003 terminal server).
One or more OpenOffice docs are already open.
Another program in the foreground (f.e. Thunderbird e-mail), double click on an attachment (spreadsheet),
it will open but in the background, you don't see it.

We'd much prefer the previous setting where the document opens in the foreground.

[hswallow]

This is a really annoying problem and I have spent literally hours trying to get to the bottom of it. I have yet to find the answer. I haven't seen the problem fully documented either.

The first thing is to establish the nature of the problem. The problem is that files are opened but do not appear on top of other documents. They open maximized, not minimized, but underneath other documents and you have to go fishing around on the task bar to find the file name and bring it to the top. If you work with a lot of files open at the same time, it becomes a major pain.

Without detailed and thorough testing, it is difficult to define exactly when the problem occurs. It seems to happen with both Windows Explorer and Powerdesk 6 (which I usually use to open files). It also seems to happen usually with doc/odt and xls/ods files, but not pdf or other files. It does not normally happen when you first open a doc/odt/xls/ods file, but it does normally happen when one or more of these files is already open. However finding a consistent pattern is quite difficult. It doesn't make any difference if you double-click on the file name or use the Open command.

It seems to happen when you open doc or xls files in Openoffice (3.1.0), but does not happen when you open them in MS Office (Professional edition 2003). I much prefer the functionality and appearance of Openoffice over MS Office and it is therefore really frustrating to encounter this problem. Is it something to do with OpenOffice or XP? Or is it possible that XP does it on purpose to make life difficult for those who prefer OpenOffice - this is the consipracy theorist in me? I use XP pro SP3. I feel that perhaps one should be able to edit the registry to prevent this problem happening, but I am not confident enough to play around with registry.

This problem has been annoying me for well over a year, maybe two years. Anybody got any answers??

[Hagar Delest]

I had not seen that problem for a while and it seems to be back from the 3.0. It was a known bug in the past: Documents open underneath other windows. The issues have been marked as fixed but I think we can reopen one of them.

[hswallow]

Thanks for that. I checked out the link you gave. I had actually seen it before (but had forgotten about it). I did change the registry setting of the registry key HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\Desktop\ForegroundLockTimeout from 200000 to 0, but it does not seem to have made much difference. With Powerdesk no difference at all, but with Windows Explorer the newly opened document opens on top of other documents but underneath the Windows Explorer window (so OK if you have dual monitors).

I wonder if the problem is with Powerdesk. When I open a document with Powerdesk it shows another file created in the same directory - this other file has name ".~lock.filename.odt#" (original document name is filename.odt) - size 122bytes filetype ODT#. Same for ods doc and xls files. Also clicking on the taskbar once does not bring the document into focus - you have to click again and then it comes to the top. Most mysterious - and frustrating. Maybe I should find another file browser.

I will need to do further testing on a spare machine to see what is causing the problem - it is now driving me round the bend!

[Hagar Delest]

The lock file is created each time you open a file to avoid it to be overwritten by another user for example.

Powerdesk is not linked to that problem I think because I use it also and until 3.x, it was working fine.

[Hagar Delest]

Well, I made some tests on my W2k system: I right clicked an .odt file to Open with>OOo 3.1 -> it opens fine in foreground. Same for documents opened after wards. If I close Powerdesk, at the next session, I keep having the background behavior. But if I redo the open with operation and then Options>Save settings now in Powerdesk, it works fine, even with next sessions.

Don't know if the problem comes from Powerdesk (but haven't touched it for a long while) or from OOo!

[hswallow]

Thanks, Hagar. I know that Powerdesk is not the problem as I am now using Directory Opus as a file browser and I am still experiencing the same problem. This is now really irritating me, as it does not happen when I use MS Word and Excel to open doc and xls files respectively - why should it happen with OpenOffice?? At this rate I shall have to give up on OpenOffice. I am sure that I cannot be alone in being really irritated!

[Hagar Delest]

You should file a report: [Tutorial] Reporting bugs or suggestions. Even with my trick, the correct behavior is lost after some time. Irritating indeed.

[iKerry]

I can vouch the owriter opens in the background sometimes with Windows 7.

Kerry

[ggurman]

I've noticed this problem too, so apparently it still hasn't been fixed.

[iKerry]

Re: "apparently it still hasn't been fixed. True as of (1/23/10)

What happens upon booting. I click on a OO doc shortcut located on my desktop and the OO doc icon appears at the bottom but the doc doesn't open. I click on the icon and the doc appears. If I have say my email app window open and click on another (different) OO desktop shortcut the doc opens but behind any app window that might be open.

Kerry
OO v 3.1.1 Build 9420
Windows 7 Home Premium

[Shareo]

It's a problem for me too, only since I installed OO 3.1 about a week ago.
I haven't found a cause or solution.

[gopher_49]

Has anyone resolved this? I'm running the most current version 4.0.1 on Windows 2008 R2 via Remote Desktop Services. Randomly users will experience calc or even writer not opening in the foreground.. But it opens in the background. Any ideas? This is a huge issue.