[Css-csts] [EXTERNAL] can't download full versions of documents from CWE

[John Pietras]

It may have something to do with Office 365. I’m staying with Office Professional instead of being “upgraded” to 365 because Visio (a Microsoft product, by the way) apparently won’t work on a computer with 365.

From: Shames, Peter M (312B) [mailto:peter.m.shames at jpl.nasa.gov]
Sent: Tuesday, June 04, 2019 1:09 PM
To: John Pietras <john.pietras at gst.com>; CCSDS_CSTSWG (css-csts at mailman.ccsds.org) <css-csts at mailman.ccsds.org>; Wolfgang Hell <wo_._he at t-online.de>
Cc: Barkley, Erik J (3970) <erik.j.barkley at jpl.nasa.gov>
Subject: Re: [EXTERNAL] [Css-csts] can't download full versions of documents from CWE

Yes.  That's fine and the download will result in an .xlsx file.  And if it works in your version of Office, no problem.  If it doesn't then someone who can read it will have to convert it for you.

Since this JUST appeared recently I'm betting it is an MS Office bug that they need to fix.

-p


From: John Pietras <john.pietras at gst.com<mailto:john.pietras at gst.com>>
Date: Tuesday, June 4, 2019 at 9:50 AM
To: Peter Shames <peter.m.shames at jpl.nasa.gov<mailto:peter.m.shames at jpl.nasa.gov>>, CSTS-WG <css-csts at mailman.ccsds.org<mailto:css-csts at mailman.ccsds.org>>, Wolfgang Hell <wo_._he at t-online.de<mailto:wo_._he at t-online.de>>
Cc: Erik Barkley <erik.j.barkley at jpl.nasa.gov<mailto:erik.j.barkley at jpl.nasa.gov>>
Subject: RE: [EXTERNAL] [Css-csts] can't download full versions of documents from CWE

Peter,
The only problem with that work-around is that the authors of the original documents all need to know to use the older versions of the file formats, and I’m sure that many (most) document creators don’t even think about the format when they hit “Save”.

Luckily, as I noted in my email of a few minutes ago, there still is a way to download a document prior to it being kidnapped by Microsoft Online – one just has to walk the path down from the top of CWE (i.e., not use the direct link to the document itself).

John

From: Shames, Peter M (312B) [mailto:peter.m.shames at jpl.nasa.gov]
Sent: Tuesday, June 04, 2019 11:39 AM
To: John Pietras <john.pietras at gst.com<mailto:john.pietras at gst.com>>; CCSDS_CSTSWG (css-csts at mailman.ccsds.org<mailto:css-csts at mailman.ccsds.org>) <css-csts at mailman.ccsds.org<mailto:css-csts at mailman.ccsds.org>>; Wolfgang Hell <wo_._he at t-online.de<mailto:wo_._he at t-online.de>>
Cc: Barkley, Erik J (3970) <erik.j.barkley at jpl.nasa.gov<mailto:erik.j.barkley at jpl.nasa.gov>>
Subject: Re: [EXTERNAL] [Css-csts] can't download full versions of documents from CWE

I ran into what I think is the same problem while exchanging Excel files between Mac and PC users.  I had generated an Excel file on my Mac (MS Office 2016, version 16.16) and in some of the cells I had edited text and used "strikeout" and also color, just as I did here.  The file was a .xlsx format.  All of my PC using colleagues, even those who had Office 2016 for their Windows PCs, got a message that the file was corrupted and those cells showed up as blank.  I tried removing the strikeout and leaving the color, and that had the same problem.

The fix that worked in my case was to leave those limited embellishments in place and to export the file as .xls.  You might try that.

Cheers, Peter




From: CSS-CSTS <css-csts-bounces at mailman.ccsds.org<mailto:css-csts-bounces at mailman.ccsds.org>> on behalf of John Pietras <john.pietras at gst.com<mailto:john.pietras at gst.com>>
Date: Tuesday, June 4, 2019 at 6:41 AM
To: CSTS-WG <css-csts at mailman.ccsds.org<mailto:css-csts at mailman.ccsds.org>>, Wolfgang Hell <wo_._he at t-online.de<mailto:wo_._he at t-online.de>>
Cc: Erik Barkley <erik.j.barkley at jpl.nasa.gov<mailto:erik.j.barkley at jpl.nasa.gov>>
Subject: [EXTERNAL] [Css-csts] can't download full versions of documents from CWE

CSTSWG colleagues ---
I have come across a problem with the CWE that prevents me from downloading an Excel file as it was originally uploaded. If this is a general problem (and not just something to do with my computer’s configuration) we may have to alter our expectations of being able to use the CWE as a transparent file transfer mechanism.

Holger recently provided me with the link to the FR work plan spreadsheet on the CWE:
The FR work table is here:
https://cwe.ccsds.org/css/docs/CSS-CSTS/CWE%20Private/Functional%20Resources%20Definition/fr_work_table.xlsx?Web=1

When I attempted to retrieve that document, two thing happened:

1.       It opened it in Excel Online with a warning that the spreadsheet contains material that Excel Online can’t display

2.       When I then tried to download it, I got a warning that essentially said that the original document can’t be downloaded, only a version that is stripped of the material that Excel Online can’t display.

I used to be able to go into the CWE directories/folders and directly download any document stored there, but that capability disappeared for MS-extensioned files (.doc, .docx, .xlsx, etc.) sometime in the past year (possibly as a result of an “upgrade” of the CWE Sharepoint software). Now I can only download any MS-formatted document (Word, Excel, or PowerPoint) by first having it open in the associated “Online” app (feature?) and then download it. [However, I can still directly download non-MS-branded files (e.g., .pdf).]

So far, those extra steps to download MS-extensioned files (compared to what I used to be able to do) have been annoying but at least I could get to the full document that was uploaded. But now it looks like that may not be the case for all MS-extensioned documents. I did a little bit of research on the MS Online functions and they look like they are dumbed down versions of their associated full-blown applications.

For those of you that are using Windows computers, are you seeing this same behavior? That is, are you only able to download MS-extensioned files by first opening them in the associated MS Online app?

Thank you for any help that you can provide.

Best regards,
John

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