[Libreoffice-bugs] [Bug 111635] OFFLINE HELPS (English US x64) install fine, but LibreOffice x64 says it isn't installed!

[bugzilla-daemon at bugs.documentfoundation.org]

https://bugs.documentfoundation.org/show_bug.cgi?id=111635

R Hilbert <hilbert42 at yahoo.com> changed:

           What    |Removed                     |Added
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
            Version|5.4.0.3 release             |6.4.3.2 release
           Keywords|                            |accessibility

--- Comment #5 from R Hilbert <hilbert42 at yahoo.com> ---
LibreOffice 6.4 Help Pack (Offline help) is not working when installed on
LibreOffice 6.4.

1.  This is a clean install of LibreOffice [no existing LibreOffice or
OpenOffice installed on an otherwise perfectly working machine], however
Microsoft Office 2003 is installed and is being used to write these notes.

Note:  No other [country] help files are installed, no other languages are
installed.  Both program installations are essentially the defaults (no
extensions have yet been installed).

2.  Details:

Operating System:  Windows 7 64bit 
LibreOffice version:  6.4.3  (file:  LibreOffice_6.4.3_Win_x64.msi, 
312,619,008 bytes)
LibreOffice Help Pack version:  6.4.3  (file: 
LibreOffice_6.4.3_Win_x64.msiLibreOffice_6.4.3_Win_x64_helppack_en-US.msi, 
2,134,016 bytes)

2.1 LibO Language Settings:

User Interface:  Default – English (Australia)
Local Setting:  English (Australia)
Default Languages for Docs:  Default – English (Australia). 

3.  The Problem:  

-  LibreOffice 6.4 installs perfectly and runs OK.
-  LibreOffice Help Pack 6.4 appears to install OK (there's no error message
during installation) but it fails to work— in that there is no offline help.
-  'Help' generates an online request to the browser (it does this with or
without the Help Pack being installed).
-  When 'Help' fails to get the online 'help' it then tries to load the
installed offline help files.  From the web browser that local address is:  

file:///C:/Program%20Files/LibreOffice/help/index.html?Target=swriter/.uno%3AHelpIndex&Language=en-US&System=WIN&Version=6.4
(see attached image)

-  There is NO "index.html" file at directory:  "C:/Program
Files/LibreOffice/help" even though all the help files were installed under two
under subdirectories:  "en-US" and "media"   (see attached image).

-  Note:  There is *NO* "Australian Help" file to install, so the "US help" or
"UK" has to suffice/do.

-  Changing the language settings from the defaults (as per #2.1) does not
help.  No combination of country "User Interface", "Local Settings, etc. works.

-  Moving files around in the "C:/Program Files/LibreOffice/help" does not help
either (move them up one level so there's an "index.html" in the "<…>/help"
directory does not work either.  Similarly, creating an "en-AU" and copying the
"en-US" help files into that directory do not work either.

In much older versions of LibreOffice, manually moving the help files around in
the "Help" and "Help" subdirectories 'somehow' eventually got 'Help' to work,
but this manual fix no longer works in this version.

4.  Comment

It seems that unless the O/S, "User Interface" and "Locale" settings are all
the same then the "Help Pack" just doesn’t work!  This is not possible in
Australia because almost every installation of Windows together and a multitude
of programs use the combination of the "US Interface", "US Keyboard" and
"Country Locale"—"Australia".  LibO is one of the very rare exceptions that
does not work in these situations.  As you do not support an "Australian help"
file then we have no other choice but to use US or UK "Help" files.

(Please Note:  In the past (before we had an Australian dictionary), it was a
major undertaking to get the UK dictionary to work for the same reasons.) 

This offline "Help Pack" problem has been with LibreOffice as long as I can
remember.  Furthermore, before LibreOffice, the same bug also existed in
"OpenOffice".

What on earth is going on, what the hell are you doing that such a simple
problem as this can continue to exist for a decade or more without being fixed?
 When the average user installs a "Help" file it should just work no matter
what language is installed—the installation should be both smooth and
transparent to user. Then, even if the file is the wrong one, it at least works
(at least the user then knows he has to locate the correct one).

The failure of the "Help Pack" (Offline help) to work consistently for well
over a decade means that it is a major unresolved bug,  It's very significant
problem for the very reason that a user may not even be aware the help program
has been installed.  Right, he/she may not even know the program exists on the
PC (if you have ever managed a Help Desk, then you'll realise what problems
that this can cause).

The big question is why users have had to put up with this extremely annoying
and temperamental bug for years and years and yet it is STILL not fixed.  It's
now reached the point that with every LibreOffice upgrade we users know with
almost certainty that "Help" is not going to work—and right it doesn't!  For
those users who haven't gone back to MSO and still persevere with LibreOffice
It has become a joke and farce.

What is so annoying about this bug is that over the years, users have winged
about it and made post after posts about it and yet LibreOffice programmers
continue to just to ignore it.  The question is why.  Like many around me, this
PC STILL has MS Office 2003 on it because of dozens of simple idiosyncrasies
within LibreOffice that continue to be ignored year after year.  The fact is
many of us are desperately trying to get rid of MS Office but we cannot yet do
so as LibreOffice is still not ready.

I cannot stress enough how this "Help Pack" problem annoys many people in this
country, here it's a standing joke that "when you install LibreOffice then
you'd better keep MSO's installation disk handy as you're bound to need it".

There are other problems too (e.g: difficulty with inserting images, etc.) but
I'll leave those comments for later.

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