Save as .dbf

[rjlapham]

I used to be able to open an Excel .xls or .xlsx file in Open Office Calc and then save it as a dBase IV .dbf file. For the last several versions I've been getting "Error saving the document: General error. General input/output error." Is this a known bug? Is it going to be fixed?

[rudolfo]

You can search yourself in the bug tracker.
But I doubt that you'll find it there. These seems to be an issue with your file. What do you mean with "versions"? Versions of your file, I suppose. If the file is still opening in OOo Calc it is not corrupted. General input/output error sounds a bit like a low level file access problem. Maybe there are some left-over lock files in your directory where you save the file to?

[rjlapham]

You can search yourself in the bug tracker.
But I doubt that you'll find it there. These seems to be an issue with your file. What do you mean with "versions"? Versions of your file, I suppose. If the file is still opening in OOo Calc it is not corrupted. General input/output error sounds a bit like a low level file access problem. Maybe there are some left-over lock files in your directory where you save the file to?

By "versions" I mean Open Office versions prior to 3.2. I know the input .xls file is OK, I just can't save it to a .dbf file. I also can't open .dbf files like I used to be able to do in earlier Open Office versions (I don't recall how far back.)

[rudolfo]

This sounds to me as if an import/export filter for dbase IV is not installed. I did not upgrade to 3.2 so far, so I can't tell you anything specific. Maybe dbase is not part of the default filter set. Try to use custom install ... I don't believe that this functionality has been completely removed.

[RoryOF]

The Save As and Open dialogues both show .dbf as supported formats in OOo 3.3 m6

[Villeroy]

All spreadsheets are inconsistent. This is why people love to use spreadsheets. You are free to make any mistake.
Today's quick primer on Spreadsheet-to-AnyDB: http://user.services.openoffice.org/en/ ... 56#p156196

[rudolfo]

Can't open .dbf

does this also mean that you don't see the "dBASE (.dbf)" amongst the other spreadsheet formats when you click on File -> Open? Just to repeat what RoryOF has pointed out.
BTW, I tested this with OOo 3.2.1 on Windows 7. I can save an MS Excel file opened in Calc to the dBase format (and can reopen the .dbf file on another computer with OOo 3.1.1). So I say either your Linux distribution did not install the dBase filter (what distribution? Do you use the OOo that comes with the distribution or the one from Sun/Oracle?) or it is just a coincidence that the dbase filter stopped working at the same time when you upgraded to OOo 3.2. In the latter case the problem is related with your .xls file ... maybe an issue with the encoding? Did you tick the extra option "Edit filter settings" when saving as dbase?

And a comment on dBase IV format: If I pass the exported .dbf file to file on my linux box it tells me:
Aufstellung.dbf: DBase 3 data file (24 records)
I googled for dbase versions and there are 8 or 9 more recent versions then dBase 3. Though most of them might be born only because the marketing department of Borland decided to label them ascending.