NeoOffice in the Mac App Store

NeoOffice 2022.7 is the latest version of NeoOffice in Apple's Mac App Store. If you have any problems or questions, we recommend that you use the steps in the NeoOffice Support page to search for answers.

NeoOffices tells you to install a newer version?

If you have already installed NeoOffice from Apple's App Store, then you likely have an old version of NeoOffice Classic Edition or Professional Edition installed on your machine.

To fix this problem, right-click or Control-click on the NeoOffice icon in the Dock while NeoOffice is still running. In the popup menu that appears, select the Options > Show in Finder menu item. A Finder window will appear. Quit NeoOffice, drag the NeoOffice application in that Finder window to the Trash, and empty the Trash.

What changes will NeoOffice Professional Edition users see in the Mac App Store version of NeoOffice?

Extension users: if you are using macOS Sierra or High Sierra, you will need to install this patch
after you install the Mac App Store version of NeoOffice in order to use most extensions

Base users: if you use Base, we recommend that you use LibreOffice
The Base features in the Mac App Store version of NeoOffice are much more limited than in LibreOffice

Applications in Apple's Mac App Store must implement several security requirements. Because of Apple's security requirements, NeoOffice Professional Edition users will see the following differences in the Mac App Store version of NeoOffice:

• Uses Apple's App Sandbox
• Features that require Java or Python removed
• Will only send e-mail using Apple's Mail application
• Will not overwrite NeoOffice Professional Edition
• Update check feature removed

Below are more details about each of these changes:

• Uses Apple's App Sandbox

  Applications that use Apple's App Sandbox are not allowed to open any of the user's folders or files without explicit permission from the user. So, when the Mac App Store version of NeoOffice tries to open one of the user's files, NeoOffice will display a native Open dialog set to the file's folder. the Mac App Store version of NeoOffice will only be able to open the file if the user presses the dialog's Open button.

• Features that require Java or Python removed

  Apple requires that applications in the Mac App Store not use Java. Also, neither Java nor Python support the folder and file security restrictions that Apple's App Sandbox imposes. Because of these Apple security restrictions, NeoOffice Professional Edition users will notice the following changes in the Mac App Store version of NeoOffice:

  • Tables in existing Base databases that use the HSQLDB format cannot be opened.
  • Reports in all existing Base databases cannot be opened.
  • JDBC drivers will not work. Only ODBC drivers can connect to database servers. To use MySQL's ODBC driver in the Mac App Store version of NeoOffice, please read this NeoWiki article.
  • Third party extensions that use Java or Python cannot be installed. Extensions that use OpenOffice or LibreOffice Basic or native compiled code will continue to work.
  • Several menu items in NeoOffice's File > Wizards menu have been removed.
  • E-mailing of mail merge results has been removed.

• Will only send e-mail using Apple's Mail application

  Applications that use Apple's App Sandbox can only send e-mail using Apple's Mail application. So, when you select one of the menu items in the File > Send menu in the Mac App Store version of NeoOffice, your Mac will create a new e-mail in Apple's Mail application even if you have set the default e-mail application to a different application.

• Will not overwrite NeoOffice Professional Edition

  The Mac App Store version of NeoOffice can be installed on the same machine and will not interfere with NeoOffice Professional Edition. If you already have NeoOffice Professional Edition installed in the Applications folder, Apple's App Store application installs NeoOffice in a new Applications / NeoOffice folder.

  Also, the Mac App Store version of NeoOffice uses the following user preference files and folders to keep the Mac App Store version of NeoOffice preferences separate from NeoOffice Professional Edition preferences:

  • User preferences folder (replace "~" with your Home folder):
    ~/Library/Containers/org.neooffice.NeoOfficeSecureEdition/Data/Library/Preferences/NeoOfficeSecureEdition-4.0
  • Native preferences domain name: org.neooffice.NeoOfficeSecureEdition

• Update check feature removed

  Apple's Mac App Store has its own update check so NeoOffice's internal update check has been removed from the Mac App Store version of NeoOffice.