New install - cannot open web icon/links in OO program

[MoxiePR]

I installed Open Office today. The program will open and (partially) function. However, none of the web links will open (for instance "click here to get more templates). I'm using Windows 7 and Chrome. I also have IE installed.

When OO, I click the "get more templates" icon & my browser tries to open this link: http://tools.services.openoffice.org/forward/OpenOffice.org/extensions.jsp?cid=920794&lang=en-US. But I can't connect to the site.

When using IE, I get a "diagnose connection" error message. When using Chrome, I get a message saying that the link is "empty" (or something like that).

I've heard such good things about OO, and am finding this very frustrating. Any ideas?

[thomasjk]

What version of OOo do you have? The correct link is http://extensions.services.openoffice.org/ which is up and down quite frequently.

[MoxiePR]

Thanks for the reply. I downloaded OO 3.3 - is there a newer version? Also, any thoughts on using LibreOffice instead? I've read about the OO connections being "hit or miss" and that pretty much negates my interest in using this product. I'm looking for something that is relatively hassle-free (after so much frustration with MS Office). I sure don't like the idea of crossing my figers and hoping a basic function will work...

[MoxiePR]

I just clicked the link you posted above and it doesn't work either. I'm using IW and get the same "diagnose connection" error message.

[thomasjk]

That site is currently very flaky. I'm using Libreofice V3.4.4. LO is a fork of the OOo code. A new version of OOo will be released by the Apache Software Foundation sometime in 2012. Oracle donated the code to Apache. LO has some extensions but not all at their site. LO comes with some extensions pre-installed. Unless you need a particular extension V3.3 will work just fine for general. The site I linked to will work sometimes but is currently not reliable.