General input/output error saving Word documents

[Monik32]

Hello, I have been unable to safe my documents for few weeks now. I have a macOS and installed Apache Open Office 4.1.7. I can use and safe my spreadsheets just fine, but no word document what so ever. I can read my safe files, but I am unable to safe changes or safe any document. I tried reinstalling, nothing. I just get an error message each time "General input/output error while accessing..." I tried everything but a system restore with my mac passport, but I don't want to loose more stuff trying to make this work...Any solution to this problem?

[RusselB]

Welcome to the Forums.
While this error message has been reported before, each instance that I found ended up being due to Windows 10 Defender.
However, since you are using a Mac, that can't be the same solution.
I checked the Mac FAQ and didn't see anything there either, so I'm afraid you'll have to wait for a Mac user to make suggestions.

[John_Ha]

1. Create a completely new text document.
2. Save it as fred.odt.
3. Describe in detail what happens giving an exact description and the exact words of any error messages.

[MrProgrammer]

Hi, and welcome to the forum.

I can read my [saved] files, but I am unable to [save] changes or [save] any document.

The difficulty seems to be specific to your system; thousands of people use OpenOffice on Mac and can save files.
Therefore, try to reproduce the problem on the Guest User account. [Tutorial] Mac FAQ Q28/A28
Or, if you have any anti-virus software installed, try to reproduce the problem with the anti-virus product disabled.

… but no word document what so ever.?

The text document portion of OpenOffice is Writer. If you mean that you are having difficulty working with a document created by Microsnot Word, especially if's the horrid DOCX format, then you should know that Microsnot attempts to make it difficult for OpenOffice to work with these documents. And OpenOffice cannot create DOCX files. If you need to work with DOCX formats consider these alternatives:
• Microsnot's Office 365 product (safest choice, but not free)
• Apple's Pages (which you can get free from the App Store)
• LibreOffice's Writer (which is quite similar to OpenOffice Writer)
[Tutorial] Differences between Writer and MS Word files

If this solved your problem please go to your first post use the Edit button and add [Solved] to the start of the title. You can select the green checkmark icon at the same time.

[RoryOF]

Is there any "Read only" notification in the top line of the OO Window? When you try to Save As, what folder opens for you to Save in? Have you permissions to Save in that Folder? Outside of OpenOffice, using a plain text editor - there must surely be one on a Mac - can you Save a trivial file in that folder?

Using /File /Save as, can you use the navigation buttons and move to your Desktop. Can you then Save As in that folder (not ideal to do so as a matter of course, but a useful diagnostic just now).

[Meunier4]

I also got this "General Error. General input/output error" message, and found a solution on another forum:

Empty the contents of these two files:

~/.config/libreoffice/4/user/basic/dialog.xlc
~/.config/libreoffice/4/user/basic/script.xlc