Installation, updates, general problem solving and assistance.
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Steven W
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2022-03-20 08:07 »

For the love of God, Google. I appreciate a txt editor being included, but it really needs not only a Find function, but a Find and Replace with a 'Replace All' feature. This seems to be a fairly popular option:

https://chrome.google.com/webstore/deta ... jachpmelml

I won't say that talk.app (was included with ChromeOS Flex) thing is useless, but without those functions it damn near it.

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Steven W
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2022-03-20 08:08 »

Oops, not talk.app. I meant text.app was pretty near useless.

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Steven W
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2022-03-22 02:46 »

I may have spoke too soon about the Office Editing for Docs, Sheets and Slides extension. I think there's a, for lack of better words, a sub-component of that Google calls 'Office Compatibility Mode' that seems to be what all of your local files open in.

Well, here let me drop a link:

https://support.google.com/docs/answer/6055139

I'm not certain if all the info on that page is correct/still relevant...
File types you can open with OCM
These are the file types that can be opened with Office Compatibility Mode (OCM):

Documents: .doc (if newer than Microsoft® Office 95), .docx
Spreadsheets: .xls (if newer than Microsoft® Office 95), .xlsx, .xlt, .xlsm, xltm, xlam
Presentations: .ppt (if newer than Microsoft® Office 95), .pptx
It seems to be able to open CSV files too. One of its many *things* is that in order to save edits, it forces a 'resave' or conversion to the newest file format. For example, a CSV file or an XLS file will be converted to a XLSX file. While that's probably okay for most, I certainly can see that it wouldn't be for all. Basically, if you're editing a file that is not saved in one of the latest MS Office formats, text pops up and tells you that in order to save edits it must be converted, it does offer a clicky that will automatically do so.

In my limited testing, most DOCX files seem to take simple (just think text) edits well (really, that's about all you can do) and the 'Compatibility Mode' sub-component performs well. Spreadsheets, not so much. Even a simple spreadsheet can cause that 'Compatibility Mode' to slow to a crawl. There's times too, where the sluggishness doesn't end when you close the editor. I could bring up the Task Manager and kill the Office Editing for Docs, Sheets and Slides extension and that seemed to help. The editor, much like Google Docs/Sheets/Slides, seems to save the edits automatically (again assuming the files already are saved in the newer Office XML format, or you went through with the forced conversion).

Sound clunky, weird, awkward to you? Well, it gets a bit more so. If you drop the File menu in the editor, you're presented a Save as Google Docs/Sheets... option. Nothing else.
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So, in order to do editing, you have to save in an Office XML format and simultaneously they're offering to convert to the Google Docs/Sheets/Slides format... And even better, this is all handled in ChromeOS Flex, and I assuming Chromebooks too, through an extension that you can't remove (at least not in any obvious way).

There is a slightly better way to handle files that are in Office XML formats. By 'better', I don't necessarily mean good. Essentially, upload them to Google Drive and when double-click on them, they'll open in Google Docs, Sheets... in their native format. Again, you can edit them and saves are automatic -- not certain I like all this automatic saving, but...

To be frank, I would suggest that Google essentially eliminate that Office Compatibility Mode, and open files in Docs/Sheets/Slides automatically. If necessary, open them in the offline versions. It's rather a shame that you have to upload to Google Drive to make that happen. I get why some might actually want convert to the Google Docs format, although I think the placement of that option near the top of the File menu in the OCM tool could confuse some people. Also, that extension needs to be removable as there are other options for dealing with Office files. Again, I see why you'd want to include something to deal with Office documents in ChromeOS/Flex by default, but don't assume that people necessarily wish to stick with that. I haven't really looked, perhaps this is already an option with Docs/Sheets..., I'd prefer the saving to be done when I choose to do it, not automatically.

Heh, I just tested opening files from the Files app that are located in Google Drive (cloud). The files still opened with that compatibility mode tool. So, not only do you have to upload files to Google Drive, you have to open a browser, go to drive.google.com and double-click them to get them to open in Google's full-fledged editor. :crazy:

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Steven W
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2022-03-22 03:12 »

After that last post, I feel obliged to say:

I still like ChromeOS Flex, but what Google has attempted for MS Office Compatibility, while not horrible, needs a good bit of work.

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Steven W
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2022-03-30 07:53 »

Well, experienced my first *real* issue. Flex still is in the development phase (DEV channel), after all. I'm not 100 percent certain what caused it. Not really all that interested in chasing it down either, but it's down to either adblock plus, me removing all those apps or just something funky with the particular hardware I'm on.

The browser (Chrome) started acting flaky. It would open Google, for example but when I typed in a search term, it seemed as though it just froze. The weird thing is I could start in incognito mode and Yahoo would work, but not Google or Bing?! Anyway, the issue just got weirder, I went into Chrome's settings and when that would render, it showed the bottom of the setting and slowly started to scroll on it's on to the top. :lol:. Finally, it got so bad that nothing would show in Chrome nor the File Browser. Not surprising, the whole thing is based around Chrome's code.

Anyway I used the 'powerwash', feature and everything seemed okay. I uninstalled those apps again and had to add adblock plus. Was okay for a few minutes and did the exact same thing. 'Powerwashed' again, didn't remove the apps, just manually told the thing when opening Youtube, and various other things to *not* use the app -- stay in Chrome instead and I added uBlock instead of ABP. Has been stable/behaving since.

ABP must be included in CloudReady and just carried over to Flex in its earliest incarnations. It was gone after I 'powerwashed'. I *strongly* suspect that ABP was causing the issue, although, as stated above Flex is still *in development* and I also was removing many apps.

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Steven W
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2022-03-30 07:56 »

Steven W wrote:
2022-03-30 07:53
Anyway, the issue just got weirder, I went into Chrome's settings and when that would render, it showed the bottom of the setting and slowly started to scroll on it's on to the top. :lol:.
Ugh! Let's try that again.

I went into Chrome's settings and when that page would render, it showed that bottom of the settings page and slowly started to scroll, on its own, to the top.

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Steven W
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2022-03-30 07:59 »

Oh, yeah! Annoyingly, the 'wallpaper app' seems to have lost its ability to Center, Stretch and Fill. :crazy:

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Steven W
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2022-03-31 04:21 »

https://techcrunch.com/2022/03/30/chrom ... -birthday/
The Chrome OS team is launching version 100 of its lightweight operating system today and with that, it’s bringing quite a few interesting changes to the platform. The most obvious one is a new launcher, which is moving from the bottom to the side of the screen and getting a few more new features. The built-in camera app now also lets you save your creations as a GIF and the Chrome OS dictation feature now makes it easier to edit your text. Also new is support for more than 100 additional devices for the newly launched Chrome OS Flex. For developers, Google is launching a redesigned ChromeOS.dev site.

The launcher is likely the first thing users will notice. Mind you, the taskbar itself isn’t moving, we’re just talking about Chrome OS’s equivalent of the Windows Start menu. Google says the idea here is to leave more space for other windows you have open. Users can now organize their apps by name or color (if that’s your thing) or manually arrange them in any order that makes sense to you (or you can be like me and just opt for chaos).
I didn't see the GIF maker option on the camera app yet but suppose it's on its way. The new 'launcher' is there. I did see that you could drag the icons around and arrange them as you please.
Screenshot 2022-03-30 10.20.08 PM.png
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Steven W
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2022-04-01 04:58 »

Okay, I'm not the only one noticing this (office -- DOCX, XLSX, PPTX... stuff)

https://chromeunboxed.com/chrome-os-fil ... ce-editing
I’ve discussed at length recently how the Chromebook’s Files app is lacking features compared to its Drive web app. Most evidently, this can be seen with the missing Workspaces feature that allows Workspace users to place files in a special group for editing with quick recall, similar to placing a bunch of papers on a physical table. While probably not vital to most people, I found it an odd exclusion.

I understand that the app itself is still largely in development, and gaining new features each month – most notably, new zipping or archiving tools. However, the more I try to fit the local system web app that’s baked into Chrome OS into my daily workflow, the less capable I find it.

Today, I noticed something strange that’s actually made it impossible for me to use it. I went to open a .docx Word file from my Drive via the Files app so that I could make suggested changes to it. I normally do this from Drive on the web out of habit, but I figured I would instead attempt to give my device a more traditional feel by using the Files app to find and open things.

To my surprise, the Word file opened in Office Compatibility mode! For those who are unaware, this stripped-down version of Google Docs allows users to modify .doc and .docx files while retaining their formatting, but in exchange, you’re provided almost no tools or features compared to those that exist in the full-fledged Google Docs experience.
While opening Word files from my Chromebook’s Files app, the items that were forced into the crappy, limited Office Compatibility mode were actually files that reside in my Drive! This means that the local app can’t apply the same special privileges to the files that Drive on the web does. This ultimately makes the Files app useless for anyone who wants to have the full editing capabilities with their imported Office files while using a file manager that doesn’t feel stuck in a web browser.
Apparently, the compatibility mode used to be used for stuff on Google Drive too (now just local files, as I've been saying):

https://chromeunboxed.com/google-drive- ... iting-mode
Previously, double-clicking an Office file would just open a preview of it in Google Drive with options to download it, convert it to a Google Doc or open it in ‘Office compatibility mode’ – a band-aid solution with severely limited tools and janky formatting which had no autosave. Now, jumping into a document (.doc, .docx, .ppt, .pptx, .xls, .xlsx, .xlsm) no longer requires any extra effort. About this time last year, Google rolled out Office Editing Mode, which is an amazing improvement to compatibility mode, but this update makes it the default. This is huge because Drive users will no longer be required to manually choose to open a document this way before editing. While this is momentous, it has much bigger implications for Chromebook.
Well, it does autosave now. It still feels like a band-aid that someone should just rip off at this point.
Band-aid-Just-Rip-it.png
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There's something a bit comforting to see others feel the same way.

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Steven W
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2022-04-01 06:03 »

https://whats.new/shortcuts/

Interesting, for Chrome OS/Flex users; the .new domains...

Personally not interested in most, but these look interesting:

https://docs.new
https://sheets.new
https://slides.new
https://sites.new -- (I didn't even know Google did this)
https://cal.new
https://meeting.new
https://meet.new
https://forms.net
https://note.new
https://notes.new

There's a ton of third-party links, pizza.new (start a new Domino's order :clap: )

Some for MS Office (I guess if you have a subscription...

word.new
powerpoint.new
excel.new
teams.new

eh, fairly easy to remember...

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