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**DinoNerd** · 2026-02-20T22:45:45

I just checked, and found similar errors from LibreOffice Writer, so presumably the whole LibreOffice suite has the same problem.

I'm posting about this here, rather than on the LibreOffice site, because this smells to me like a build or packaging problem.

**claydoh** · 2026-02-20T23:32:43

You do not have LO's help files, which are just local copies of the official online web documents.

You need to install libreoffice-help-<language>.

A list of options available can be seen here, or searching with Synaptic Package Manager.

**DinoNerd** · 2026-02-21T01:56:18

Originally posted by claydoh View Post

You do not have LO's help files, which are just local copies of the official online web documents.

You need to install libreoffice-help-<language>.

A list of options available can be seen here, or searching with Synaptic Package Manager.

Apt list says I have

libreoffice-help-en-us/questing-updates,questing-updates,now 4:25.8.4-0ubuntu0.25.10.1 all [installed]

**claydoh** · 2026-02-21T02:52:21

oops, I somehow didn't scan it. I was even wearing my glasses

Plus, it wasn't installed by default on my 25.10 system.

It is working for me here: it opens Firefox to the local help pages after I installed the package. I didn't even have to restart the program.

You may need to try running LO from the terminal and see what errors it shows when trying to open the help pages from the menu.

Code:

libreoffice --calc

(or --writer, etc)

**DinoNerd** · 2026-02-21T03:02:17

Originally posted by claydoh View Post

oops, I somehow didn't scan it. I was even wearing my glasses

Plus, it wasn't installed by default on my 25.10 system.

It is working for me here: it opens Firefox to the local help pages after I installed the package. I didn't even have to restart the program.

You may need to try running LO from the terminal and see what errors it shows when trying to open the help pages from the menu.

Code:

libreoffice --calc

(or --writer, etc)

I don't think it was installed by default on my system either, but don't remember for sure.

No errors appearing in the terminal window when I tried this.

--

On the good side, I downloaded the latest LibreOffice from their own website to a different, non-Kubuntu system (the Mac I'm trying to move away from). The help works there. So I have a workaround of sorts.

Worst case, I'll do the same thing with the Kubuntu system, after uninstalling the one from the Kubuntu repository, and get things working that way, assuming of course their linux version doesn't have a similar problem.

Actually, uninstall plus reinstall might be a good idea, even getting the packages from ubuntu. Sometimes that works.

**claydoh** · 2026-02-21T03:34:34

Uninstalling/reinstalling rarely fixes things in linux, but it does not hurt to do so.

Dumb question, but have you checked your browser (if open), to see if it is opening the help page when trying this? What is your default browser, if different from the stock Snap version of Firefox?

It does NOT come into focus when I do this, but I usually have it on a different screen. I would assume this would be noticed at some point anyway, the next time you switched to your web browser.

**DinoNerd** · 2026-02-21T03:45:59

Originally posted by claydoh View Post

Uninstalling/reinstalling rarely fixes things in linux, but it does not hurt to do so.

Dumb question, but have you checked your browser (if open), to see if it is opening the help page when trying this? What is your default browser, if different from the stock Snap version of Firefox?

It does NOT come into focus when I do this, but I usually have it on a different screen. I would assume this would be noticed at some point anyway, the next time you switched to your web browser.

It is the stock snap version of firefox.

The error message I reported is showing up in Firefox, with a URL of file:///usr/share/libreoffice/help/index.html?Target=scalc/.uno%3AHelpIndex&Language=en-US&System=UNIX&Version=25.8

I.e. a normal file URL, but with material after the .html

I know that sort of thing works for actual web pages, if the web page/server is set up appropriately, but I'm not sure whether the suffixes are interpreted and/or ignored by the web server (none in this case), or the web browser, presumably based on the page contents.

The message I'm getting is consistent with firefox believing that the full path name is

/usr/share/libreoffice/help/index.html?Target=scalc/.uno%3AHelpIndex&Language=en-US&System=UNIX&Version=25.8

rather than

/usr/share/libreoffice/help/index.html

This version of firefox doesn't seem to want to tell me its version number, but

Code:

snap list

says it's 147.0.4-1

What does the URL line look like on your browser when you try this?

The url used by libreoffice 26.2's mac installation is

https://help.libreoffice.org/26.2/en...x#bm_id3806162

This is not a file::: URL

So we're still left with the question of whether file URLs can in fact include ?foo=bar suffixes.

**claydoh** · 2026-02-21T05:21:46

Originally posted by DinoNerd View Post

What does the URL line look like on your browser when you try this?

Accessing from Writer:

Code:

file:///usr/share/libreoffice/help/en-US/text/shared/05/new_help.html?System=UNIX&DbPAR=WRITER&HID=.uno:HelpIndex#bm_id3806162

From Calc:

Code:

file:///usr/share/libreoffice/help/en-US/text/shared/05/new_help.html?System=UNIX&DbPAR=CALC&HID=.uno:HelpIndex#bm_id3806162

This is the stock LO from Ubuntu
The most current from LOS's PPA's is this same version.

**claydoh** · 2026-02-21T05:33:03

So the Mac release is not accessing local offline help files, just going to the web.

The file location on my main PC (KDE neon) using the current from LO's PPAs is the same url here.
LO's own packaging may have variations in the file names/location, I will assume.

Announcement

Wanted: Libre Office Calc With Help that Works

Wanted: Libre Office Calc With Help that Works

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