Sandboxie Support

Hello everyone,

I'm new here.

I've been using the free version of SBXIE for more than 1 1/2 years now. I am a home user and it suits my needs very well until now. Today, I found out about the new version 4.02 and I upgraded it. However, I discovered that SoftMaker FreeOffice is now broken. Specifically, when I open, say, a .DOC or .XLS file, certain formatting such as font color, point size, etc. isn't working. Please note that I haven't tested everything to determine just what is broken.

My question is: Is there something I can do to make everything function again? (I never had this problem before I upgraded the version).

Win 7 x64 Home Premium
Sandboxie version 4.02
Softmaker FreeOffice 2012 download link: http://freeoffice.com/en/download

Regards to all,
Joe

P.S. I read Ronan's advisory where he said printing is broken, but this is something new.

Thanks, I'll check it out.

I'm afraid that I don't see the problem, or don't fully understand how to reproduce it.

It is possible you have a variation of this problem --
http://www.sandboxie.com/phpbb/viewtopic.php?t=15782

And maybe some third party software is conflicting with Sandboxie and causing this problem.

Can you provide a resource log as I requested in the other topic?

Thanks for the quick response tzuk. Here's the contents of the resource log:

snipped. --tzuk

Please note that the above log is only for when I run the TextMaker module of SoftMaker FreeOffice 2012. However, I discovered that similar functions are not working in PlanMaker too. These broken functions mainly have to do with text and paragraph formatting (unless I haven't unearthed other broken functions). What puzzles me is everything used to work in the previous version of SBIE!!

I am a little confused. In your first topic it sounds like just loading a document will show the problem, because the formatting doesn't work.
In your latest post you're talking about formatting features. Can you please explain the difference? Like I said, I did not see the problem. But is there is something that I need to do to see the problem?

Ahh! I see where I wasn't clear enough and what I posted before could be confusing. Sorry about that, I'll try to clarify it now.

I often create new .DOC or .XLS documents or edit them in a sandbox. Here's an example:

1. I start TextMaker (the SoftMaker word processing module) in a sandbox,

2. I create a new document,

3. I start typing some text in the document,

4. Now say I want to switch to a larger font, I click on the small triangle next to the point-size icon in the toolbar but it doesn't present a drop-down menu - nothing happens!

5. I also discover I can't switch the font (e.g. Times Roman to Calibri) or the color either!

6. So I stuck with those settings!

I have found several functions that are broken in paragraph and character formatting in the toolbar. Others are broken in the main menu bar too, under Format-->Character or Paragraph. There may be more broken functions I haven't discovered yet. The strange thing is everything used to work perfectly before upgrading to SBIE 4.02.

Similar functions are also broken in PlanMaker (SoftMaker's spreadsheet module).

Please let me know if you are still confused by my explanations and I'll see if I can elaborate.

Thanks!

I am curious. Why initiate and edit a document in a Sandbox. If I get a document from a questionable source, I'll open it in a Sandbox to be sure it's okay. But start a new document or edit a safe one in the sandbox. It doesn't make sense to me.

Pete

Hi Pete, since I force my Office programs (XP) and Libre programs (W7), not much thinking required to get changes done in the sandbox. I know you don't force your Office programs but personally, I feel safer and better doing everything that I do with those programs inside a sandbox. Anyway, to me, it feels natural. Probably Joe feels like that too.

Bo

bo.elam wrote:Hi Pete, since I force my Office programs (XP) and Libre programs (W7), not much thinking required to get changes done in the sandbox. I know you don't force your Office programs but personally, I feel safer and better doing everything that I do with those programs inside a sandbox. Anyway, to me, it feels natural. Probably Joe feels like that too.

Bo

I force Outlook, since it faces the internet. I don't force the rest of them, as 99% of what I do is either creating or modifying my own files, so I don't see much threat.

Pete

Okay so I was curious. I use MS Office 2010 and Acrobat Pro XI

I opened an excell spreadsheet in Sandboxie and was able to edit it. Simple changes though

Did the same with an Access data base. Again no issue editing it Also simple changes

Then I opened a word document in a sandbox and was able to change text, fonts, underlining etc. No problems.

Finally I opened a PDF file in a sandbox. Again I could edit the text, change text size, change fonts etc. No problems.

Also we've never had any issues with edits of emails in Outlook.

All on 4.02

Pete

Hello Pete, I got the idea of working with other programs in a sandbox from bo.elam [Howdy Bo! Fancy meeting you here ]. We are both members over at Gizmo's Freeware too.

For one, it doesn't take much to run SoftMaker sandboxed and work on my documents. In fact, I've gotten quite used to it. There's the safety aspect of course, but it's almost zero in my case, so it's not why I work in a sandbox. The main reason is it keeps my system cleaner. When I'm done creating or editing a document, I recover it from the sandbox and delete everything else. I also do this whenever I need to touch up my photos.

As it is, Windows stores enough crap on my system, so the more I can cut down on that sort of thing the better. What I do suits me, but not everyone may want to do the same. I also use CCleaner every so often, but ever since I started working in a sandbox, CCleaner finds less to clean up.

If I want to change certain settings in the programs that I run in SBIE, then I make those changes outside of a sandbox so they will stick.

It's good to hear you have no issues with MS Office and Acrobat Pro in a sandbox, but it's certainly not the same with SoftMaker and SBIE 4.02. I repeat, everything worked before I upgraded to 4.02.

P.S. Not related, but I can't get formatting (like Bold, Italic, etc.) to work on this forum either. Am I missing something?

Hi Joe

I suspect one of the differences may be OS. I am a hold out still on XP Pro. I am not seeing a lot of the problems people are seeing.

Pete

The problem was not with formatting but with the formatting buttons on the toolbar, they don't react to clicking on them.
This is specific to the way this Office software is creating the buttons so most programs don't have the same issue.
I was able to fix this, the fix will be included in the next beta I release, in a few days. Thank you for the problem report.

tzuk wrote:The problem was not with formatting but with the formatting buttons on the toolbar, they don't react to clicking on them.
This is specific to the way this Office software is creating the buttons so most programs don't have the same issue.
I was able to fix this, the fix will be included in the next beta I release, in a few days. Thank you for the problem report.

Tzuk, is your middle name Genius?

Pete

Thanks for your attention tzuk. I'm looking forward to testing the next beta release. Do I have to keep checking the forums to find out when it is released?

Joe_ wrote:P.S. Not related, but I can't get formatting (like Bold, Italic, etc.) to work on this forum either. Am I missing something?

Anyone has any suggestions about my PS?