Documentserver: Use odt as defaut format file or propose the choice

[LAfricain]

Do you want to request a feature or report a bug?
feature
What is the current behavior?
Docx is the default format file. and when we import an odt file the layout is distorted.
If the current behavior is a bug, please provide the steps to reproduce and if possible a minimal demo of the problem.

What is the expected behavior?
Odt should be the default format file, or at least, having the possibility to choose the default format.

[ShockwaveNN]

@LAfricain sorry, all our base code use OOXML format as main formats so I don't think this will be changed in any feature

[LAfricain]

This is a very strange idea for an opensource software to use docx!

[ShockwaveNN]

@LAfricain We want better support of ooxml files, which are not great in LibreOffice so we done that, since ooxml is open format

[LAfricain]

@ShockwaveNN OOxml is not real open format. it's not opensource format. If I'm wrong I'm curious to understand where you found the information that Microsoft "freed" the format. I understand that you use it, because a large part of users use it. But maybe the possibility to have the choice between both, odt or docx, can be a good thing. I do not feel confortable to report issues about a format belonging to a private corporation. But I have no problem to do it for opensource formats.
Anyway, thank you for your software! It's a very good initiative!

[ShockwaveNN]

OOxml is not real open format. it's not opensource format

I understand a difference between open and opensource format and never mention, that OOXML is open-source.

We do not have enough resources to implement both formats as a choice.Trust me, implement support of OOXML like we do - took a LOOT of programming and QA efforts. We have no such possibility to spend a lot of work for something, that give us just some minor advantages in public eyes.
But feel free to do so if you wanna, all our sources are public.

[cpot]

As a former CIO in a large european bank and now owner of an software company i understand both arguments. Let's remember that if not opensource OOXML is a norm ISO/CEI 29500.

Now, i have to say that ODF is very used in French Public Organizations (like Ministry, Regions,...) which causes a BIG adoption problem for Onlyoffice and give perhaps some advantages to Collabora Online.

I am talking about France, but Opensource is growing rapidly in all European public organizations.

I understand that it will be costly to support both format (by the way if we have a customer, ex.Ministry level, who wants to pay for it, what will be the answer?), so the very important goal is in the mean time to have the best ODF <=> OOXML conversion while editing with Onlyoffice.

Currently from some tests, Onlyoffice seems to have a not so good conversion engine (we may be wrong) while Libreoffice _seems_ much better.

Therefore my question : why not using Libreoffice to do this conversion ? (or give a configuration option to do so)

Best,
Christopher

[ShockwaveNN]

(by the way if we have a customer, ex.Ministry level, who wants to pay for it, what will be the answer?)

I think so, but I'm a tech guy, I'm not in position to discuss such global feature plans

why not using Libreoffice to do this conversion

Our product is pretty big enough to add dependency on libreoffice, and I'm sure that Libreoffice is better for work with ODF, but not sure that libreoffice odf <=> ooxml convert is better, than us.

And we hope to fix all critical issues with odf file and make compatibility with this format better in time (but this doesn't mean we change to odf as base format), so I think better strategy for now - just post issues with ODF and we'll try to fix them.

[LAfricain]

Maybe it's better to not close this issue, because issue it is.

Trust me, implement support of OOXML like we do - took a LOOT of programming and QA efforts

I have no doubts about that, maybe the choice to docx at the begin was a mistake? And maybe also because OOXML is more difficult to implement as odf?

Currently from some tests, Onlyoffice seems to have a not so good conversion engine (we may be wrong) while Libreoffice seems much better.

I think so.

so I think better strategy for now - just post issues with ODF and we'll try to fix them.

Ok, I'm happy to do that, for me the problem is what interest I have to help better conversion for a format which is not opensource, and doesn't respect my freedom? It's more of an ethical question than a technical one. I'll decided to use OnlyOffice because I want to be free of Google docs, for the question of Privacy, and now I have to use an opensource tools wich works with docx!! Do you understand the contradiction?

I am talking about France, but Opensource is growing rapidly in all European public organizations.

I'm very happy to read that! It's time to be more independent of American private tools...

[ShockwaveNN]

I have no doubts about that, maybe the choice to docx at the begin was a msitake

Initially our goal was better compatibility with OOXML, and we got it, no one third party product, except MS Office has better compatibility with OOXMl that ONLYOFFICE (feel free to point out to any error, we'll fix them).

It's more of an ethical question than a technical one."

If such - I don't think I want to discuss this issue any more, I leave this issue opened. I love open-source, I think the future in it, but I have no troubles with OOXML format. Especially if almost whole word used it in any form. For me - ability to save and share my document with any people in word is more important than religious-like view.

[LAfricain]

I don't think I want to discuss this issue any more

OK

ability to save and share my document with any people in word is more important than religious-like view

I'm sorry that you take it like that, it's not at all a religious conception! This is the basic charter of free software!! Why do we have this discussion? Just because Microsoft does not want to open its format or just adopt the odf that would solve this kind of problem. They have also had to use processes that are not always very fair so that OOXML is adopted as a standard whereas the ODF was already. Besides, it seems to me that many customers of Onlyoffice make this choice to be free of the proprietaries solutions, or for the privacy question.

[ShockwaveNN]

Using Microsoft format we do not broke our users privacy, it's sill an open format, not open-source, but any one may implement it's own parser-writer. And as far as I remember - there is was no any cases from Microsoft that anyone got sued, or damaged in any way by using OOXML

[LAfricain]

@cpot I just found https://us.hostiso.cloud!! It's working perfectly with the odt file :)

[cpot]

Thank you @LAfricain but we need an onpremise solution and globally happy with onlyoffice (waiting dropdown list in excel and few other things however...). We will follow @ShockwaveNN advice to enter an issue for odf <> oxml conversion problems

[krc]

While I would prefer from a philosophical PoV for ODF to be the internal format, as a practical matter I would be happy if it just allowed me to keep only the ODF format instead of autoconverting to OOXML and littering my directory with files I don't want to see.

You could even save an OOXML version, just put it were I can't see it (unless I specifically request it), and anytime I save it saves the hidden OOXML and also the visible ODF (or whatever format I picked) seamlessly.