[DESKTOP] LibreOffice Keeps Reassociating With File Types

[ultrageeky]

Not sure where best to post this so sticking it here in hope the right people read it.

LibreOffice has an annoying bug that causes it to take over file type associations. For example, I like to open text files with Kate. Every time I associate text files with Kate the file association reverts to LibreOffice Writer after a few minutes wait or on system restart; this happens whether file association is done via right-click > Properties > File Type Association or through System Settings > Applications > Text Files.

The only solution I have is to uninstall LibreOffice Writer, which I do on the occasions that LibreOffice gets reinstalled via a system update.

Maybe this is a bug that should be reported to LibreOffice or maybe it is a design feature of Kubuntu, but whatever it is it is annoying.

Has anyone else experienced this?

Is this a Kubuntu feature?

I'm using Kubuntu 15.10 upgraded from 15:04, which itself was upgraded from 14:10 as per release cycle.

Will report this to LibreOffice if this is not a Kubuntu feature.

[Rod J]

I don't see this problem in my clean install of 15.10.

All text files (.v, .asc, .doc, .txt = plain text document) are associated by default with Kate.

Not sure what's happened to your install, something seems amiss somewhere. I personally don't like upgrade installs as you have done ... I just don't trust the process to do it right. But that's just me, I guess there are plenty of people that upgrade this way without issue.

[oshunluvr]

Curious how exactly you're "associating" files with kate. Do you mean opening the file properties/file type options and deleting LibreOffice from the list of available programs? If so, try leaving it there and moving kate to the top of the list instead.

Most programs will add themselves to associations when installed, and the latest installed program always goes to the top of the list (annoying, but easily fixed). It seems likely LibreOffice may be checking to see if it's associated and re-inserting itself if not. However, I will state that here - LibreOffice is not associated with regular text files at all.

You might try uninstalling LibreOffice and deleting all your configs in your user account and re-install it.

[ultrageeky]

I don't see this problem in my clean install of 15.10.

Not sure what's happened to your install, something seems amiss somewhere. I personally don't like upgrade installs as you have done ...

I think you are right, there is something buggy in my install. The upgrade process is normally good. I plan to run a clean install when I've moved my development server files to a safe backup location. Just checking it's not a bug before I reinstall.

The persistent LibreOffice text file association annoys me because I write and edit shell scripts, PHP scripts etc... I kind of lose it when I click a PHP file or script file and LibreOffice Writer or Calc opens up.

[ultrageeky]

I will state that here - LibreOffice is not associated with regular text files at all.

Thanks oshunluvr. Looks like a fault peculiar to my OS installation.

Curious how exactly you're "associating" files with kate.

The answer is in my opening post.

You might try uninstalling LibreOffice and deleting all your configs in your user account and re-install it.

I prefer Google Drive for rich text. LibreOffice (Calc) is on my system mostly for the occasions I need to sort and delete CSV file columns or view CSV files with clear organisation; at other times I use regexes (Kate or shell) to edit CSV files.

As mentioned in my OP, I've removed LibreOffice Writer. My main point for asking the Q was that I wanted to see whether others are also experiencing the same LibreOffice persistent file type (re)associations.

Thinking back, I had this issue in 15.04. Removed LibreOffice then for the that reason. The upgrade to 15.10 restored LibreOffice. Had hoped the bug would no longer present itself.

Thank you for taking time to reply.