Known Issues
Previous preference settings can not been migrated when upgrade
Personal user data, such as preference settings, cannot be kept and migrated
when upgrading from previous Lotus Symphony releases; User data is located at:
- Windows: %USERPROFILE%\IBM\Lotus\Symphony
- Linux: $USER/.lotus/symphony
- Mac: ~/Library/Application Support/Lotus Symphony Data
It's recommended to backup user data and delete default user data before upgrading. If you need to roll back to Symphony 1.3, you must restore with the backup user data.
You cannot install multi-releases of Lotus Symphony on the same machine by default. If you want to install multi releases on Windows, refer to instruction http://www-10.lotus.com/ldd/lswiki.nsf/dx/08212009062500AMWEBE8P.htm. The limitation is that: clicking the shortcut icon of Lotus Symphony, double-clicking a file or using Open With to open a file in Lotus Symphony will launch the latest installed release. To open a file in previous installed versions, you can drag a file icon into the main window of the running previously-installed Symphony program which you must click %Symphony_Install_Path%\symphony.exe to launch.
Form controls cannot be saved correctly in .ppt file
Insert some form controls in Lotus Symphony Presentation and save the document in .ppt format. When you reopen the .ppt document, the form control can not display correctly.
SmartSuite files cannot be opened in Lotus Symphony
SmartSuite documents are not supported by Lotus Symphony
RTF document open/save might cause content lost
Some contents, such as shape, text box, graphic, word art, field and so on, might be lost if RTF document is opened in Lotus Symphony. And when being saved as RTF document, some contents might not be kept.
Copy/paste with RTF format may result in wrong or lost content
When performing a copy/paste action within Lotus Symphony or between Lotus Symphony and other applications with RTF format, some content, such as tables, shapes and graphics and may be lost or incorrectly displayed after being pasted.
Context sensitive toolbar for OLE object is not available
The toolbar does not switch to context sensitive condition when an OLE object is activated. The OLE object type includes Document, Spreadsheet, Presentation and Chart.
Accessibility support isn't available
In Lotus Symphony, Accessibility support is not available. Assistive Tools can't read correct information for document area and UIs of Lotus Symphony. The exported PDF files are not Tagged PDF format and the accessibility information is not fully exported.
Limitations of Symphony VBA support
Currently, we can support some VBA Excel APIs, Events, Form control APIs and
Events.
Limitations:
Can't support all of the VBA APIs and events currently. We support most of common control APIs and events: CheckBox, ComboBox, CommandButton, Frame, Label, ListBox, OptionButton, SpinButton, TextBox, ToggleButton, UserForm. The following control APIs and events are not supported currently: Image, Checkbox List, MultiPage, RefEdit, ScrollBar, TabStrip, TreeView.
We support most of frequently-used Excel VBA APIs: Application, Global, Workbooks, Workbook, Sheets, Worksheets, Worksheet, Range, Window, Names, Name, Font, Validation, Borders, ChartObjects, Dialog, Dialogs, Format, FormatCondition, FormatConditions, HPageBreak, HPageBreaks, Interior, OLEObject, Outline, PageSetup, PivotCache, PivotTable, Shape, ShapeRange, Shapes, Styles, Tab, VPageBreak, VPageBreaks, WorksheetFunction, Constants, XlMousePointer, Button, GroupBox, ColorFormat, FillFormat, LineFormat, PictureFormat. But following APIs are not supported currently: AddIn, AddIns, Border, PivotField, PivotItem, AutoFilter.
For Excel VBA events, we support partial events, such as: Worksheet_Activate, Worksheet_BeforeDoubleClick, Worksheet_BeforeRightClick, Worksheet_Change, Worksheet_Deactivate, Worksheet_SelectionChange, Workbook_Activate, Workbook_Deactivate, Workbook_Open, Workbook_SheetActivate.
- Lotus Symphony allows you to edit the VBA codes in Symphony BASIC IDE, but
can't save the changed VBA codes.
- Syntax interoperability issues with Excel VBA syntax, for example:
We do not support: if Not a = "Hello" then
We support: if a <> "Hello" then
We do not support: DoEvent: DoEvent
Note: We do not support one line including multiple VBA sentences separated with colon.
Digital signature is not supported on Mac platform
On Mac platform, Lotus Symphony has no response when clicking File->Digital signature.
Excel file encryption and password protection is not supported
In Lotus Symphony, file encryption and password protection are not supported
for Microsoft Excel file.
Cannot copy cell formula from Symphony Spreadsheet to MS Excel
When copying a Spreadsheet cell formula in Symphony to MS Excel, it's not the
formula but the formula value that copies to Excel.
Cannot access menu by keyboard when focusing on Help on Mac
On Mac platform, when moving focus to Help->Search in main menu bar, user
cannot access main menu by keyboard.
Workaround:
To use mouse to access main menu.
Much memory is used when opening file with many fontwork objects
If there are many fontwork objects in a document, a lot of memory is allocated
because a large number of polygon objects are created.
Workaround:
Try to remove some fontwork objects from the document.
Symphony UI is upside mirrored on Mac OS below 10.5.7
Symphony UI is upside mirrored on Mac OS if the version is below 10.5.7.
Workaround:
Upgrade Mac OS version to 10.5.7 or above.
Limitations of video and audio support
In Lotus Symphony, there are following limitations for video and audio support:
- In Linux, video or audio cannot be played.
- In Windows, the video or audio that cannot be parsed by DirectX cannot be played.
- In Mac, the video or audio that cannot be parsed by QuickTime cannot be played well.
- In Mac OS which version is 10.6 or above, video or audio cannot be played.
Merging or splitting does not perform well in Presentation table
Merging or splitting tables in some complex situations might lead to table structure destroyed. Merge two cells in the same column, and split another cell in the first one. Some contents in the original merged cells might be hidden.
Workaround:
Undo can make table normal.
Copy of table with merged/split cells is different from original
If you copy and paste a table with merged or split cells, it becomes the table before cell merging and splitting. Copy and paste a page with merged or split cells table, the same issue happens.
New row or column cannot inherit the style changes
A new row or column inserted in a table cannot inherit the style changes of the table. For example, if user changes background color of all existing cells and then adds a new row, the newly added row still presents default background color, but not the changed color.
Workaround:
Set styles for the inserted row or column again.
Document with big WMF pictures is loaded very slowly
The document with very big WMF pictures is loaded very slowly. Although sometimes it looks like frozen, actually it is in loading process. Please keep patient when opening such documents.
Workaround:
Please avoid using big WMF pictures in documents.
Cannot load pictures linked by HTTP protocol
When loading pictures that are linked by HTTP protocol in the following scenarios, the pictures might not be shown.
- Copy one picture from a Web page by pressing Ctrl+C, and paste the contents
to the Symphony editor. The picture cannot be shown.
Workaround:
Right-click the picture and select copy image from the context menu.
- Load a document that contains a picture linked to a HTTP location, the
picture cannot be shown.
Workaround:
Use the local image file instead of linking to external Web pages.
Files on network-share are opened in read-only mode on Mac OS
When opening a file on a network-share (smb://server/share) on Mac OS, Symphony loads it in read-only mode and prompts the following error message: "This document is already opened in other applications. Lotus Symphony will load it as read-only mode with the same file name." Click OK to view the file in read-only mode, or click Cancel to close it.
Workaround:
Copy the file from the network-share to your local workstation, and then open it
with Symphony.
Graphics with text cannot be copied to other applications
In the Lotus Symphony SpreadSheets and Lotus Symphony Presentations, inserting a graphic and inputting text into it, and then copying the graphic to another editor, or to Lotus Notes, the text inside the graphic may be lost.
Pictures cannot be inserted into custom shape
In Symphony, pictures are not allowed to be inserted into custom shape. Therefore, when opening a Microsoft Word document, the picture inside custom shape will get lost.
Change to master page can't apply to normal page for .pptx file
When editing a file in PowerPoint 2007 Document Format (PPTX), any change made to outline style does not reflect on screen, no matter when you are in master view or normal view.
Workaround:
By setting character style as Default Formatting, the modification made to outline style in master page will take effect in normal view, though it still seems to kept unchanged in the master view.
Spellcheck does not support user dictionaries for some languages
Spell check does not support the user dictionaries of the following language versions:
- Group1:Chinese (Simplified and Traditional), Japanese and Korean
- Group2:Thai, Turkish and Hebrew
- Group3:Bulgarian, Croatian, Hungarian, Romanian, Slovak, Slovenian, Ukrainian and Icelandic
"Reversing Path Direction" is not supported for animation effect
"Reversing Path Direction" is an attribute for the 'Motion Paths' animation effects in Microsoft PowerPoint. This attribute is not supported in Lotus Symphony Presentations; The path will not be reversed if this attribute is set to 'True'.
Save unsupported document type may cause data loss
Unsupported document types can be opened by altering their extensions, but this can cause data loss when the file is saved back. For example, changing a .HTML file into a .SXW file and opening it may result in the document content being lost when subsequently saving the file.
Some hotkeys don't work on Mac OS X system
Following Key combinations don't work due to the conflict between Symphony and Mac OS X system.
- Cmd+H Align text to center
- Shift+F10 Context menu
- Shift+F11 Show style list dialog
- Shift+F12 Start a bullet list
Workaround:
They can be accessed through main menu or context menu.
Symphony crashes when working with edit Menu on print dialog
Symphony crashes when working with edit Menu on print dialog like: Click "File->Print" to launch Print dialog, then click the "PDF" button in the low left corner of the dialog and select "Edit Menu". Click "+" button, then click "Cancel" in "Open" dialog, Symphony is frozen.
Cannot drag and drop document to the Home page to open it
Symphony embedded browser doesn't support drag and drop on Mac OS X.
Workaround:
Drag and drop the file to Symphony icon on Application list, new button or
empty slot in tabbed workbench.
After restart, another Symphony icon shown on the dock
User can drag the Symphony icon to the dock and launch Symphony by clicking it. In such case, after Symphony is restarted, there will be another icon shown on dock.
ODF file association is overwritten
If ODF(.odt, .ott, .ods, .ots, .odp, and .otp) or OO1.0(.sxw, .sxi, .sxc, .stw, .sti, .stc) file types are selected to associate with Symphony during Symphony installation, then these associations are overwritten on Windows platforms when you install Notes 8. If you want to change the association, please consult your system administrator. The following gives one possible way to change the association of certain file extensions:
- In the Windows Explorer, right-click on a file with the extension whose association you want to change, and click "Open With"
- In the "Open With" dialog, click the program that you want to use to open the file, or click "Browse" to choose the program on a disk
- Select the check box "Always use the selected program to open this kind of file"
If ODF(.odt, .ott, .ods, .ots, .odp, and .otp) or OO1.0(.sxw, .sxi, .sxc, .stw, .sti, .stc) file types are not selected to associate with Symphony during
Symphony installation, users can add/remove file associations on preference page.
File type association may be changed after first launch Symphony
As a standard user, the first time run of Symphony will take ODF formats association to Symphony itself on Ubuntu and SUSE. This is a limitation for the user who has installed both Notes and Symphony, and configured the file type association in Notes before first launch Symphony.
Workaround:
Configure the file association in Notes preference page again.
The Package For The Web utility only supports English
The very first unpack progress dialog from PFTW (Package For The Web) utility doesn't support translation, so it always keeps in English.
Some bullets may not be displayed under Linux and Mac
In Linux and Mac platforms, some bullets can't be displayed correctly in the "Numbering and Bullets" dialog or in document area due to the insufficient
fonts installed in operating system.
Workaround:
Install all the language packages then all the bullets can be displayed correctly.
Error occurs after launching Symphony as administrator on Vista
On Windows Vista, occasionally, Symphony document fails to be created when launching Symphony second time after completing one of the following:
- Launch Symphony by right-clicking the icon on the desktop and selecting "run as administrator".
- Launch Symphony directly by enabling the check box "Open Lotus Symphony" on the last window of the installation wizard.
Workaround:
Quit Symphony and launch it again.
UI labels may be truncated with an ellipsis at the end
UI labels may be truncated with an ellipsis (...) at the end. To Workaround this issue, hover your mouse over the truncated label text, and the full text
will be shown as a hover tip.
The icons on the task bar of Symphony unexpectedly flash
When Symphony and Notes are both running, if the active window is changed from Symphony Editor to Notes, the icons on the task bar of Symphony unexpectedly flash.
Symphony might crash when exiting on Mac
On Mac, after opening and closing any documents multiple times, Symphony might
crash when you exit Symphony.
Hyphenation does not work in Lotus Symphony
In Lotus Symphony, hyphenation does not work.
Duplicate formatting does not work well in some scenarios
In Lotus Symphony, continuous duplicate formatting does not work well on text in the text box, by double-clicking the Duplicate Formatting icon on the toolbar. Sometimes duplicate formatting might not work well in cell editing mode in a spreadsheet.
Limitations of animation support
In Lotus Symphony 3 Beta 2, there are some issues on animation:
- After saving a presentation with Exit animation effects as Microsoft PowerPoint format in Symphony, the Exit animation cannot take effect when you open the presentation again with Microsoft PowerPoint or Symphony.
- The Emphasis, Exit, or Motion Path effect cannot play if there is an Entrance effect following it.
- The Entrance effect including Wipe, Ease in, Roll, Peek in, and Open, cannot play correctly.
- Create an Exit animation effect on an object with previous Symphony release such as 1.3, and save as OpenDocument Format. The object is in the presentation when you open the file with Symphony 3 Beta 2, but it disappears after the Exit animation effect is played.
Spellcheck does not work after upgrade under Linux and Mac
After upgrading installation from previous Symphony release, such as 1.3, Spellcheck doesn't work
Workaround:
Uninstall previous Symphony release and then clean install Lotus Symphony 3 Beta 2.
Compatibility with Symphony 1.3
While most files created in Symphony 3 Beta 2 will be accessible in Symphony 1.3, there are some exceptions:
- A presentation (ODP) containing tables created with Symphony 3 Beta 2 may not display correctly when the file is viewed in Symphony 1.3. The tables may be lost. In addition, after opening a presentation containing tables that was originally created in Symphony 1.3 into Symphony 3 Beta, the presentation may not display correctly when re-opened in Symphony 1.3. The tables may be lost.
- An exploded 2D pie chart created by Symphony 3 Beta 2 will be changed to a normal pie chart in Symphony 1.3
- The crop property of graphics created by Symphony 3 Beta 2 will be lost in Symphony 1.3.
- Some custom shapes created by Symphony 3 Beta 2 cannot be displayed in Symphony 1.3.
- Presentation bullets created by Symphony 3 Beta 2 will be lost in Symphony 1.3.
Workaround:
- ODF Compatibility plug-in for stand-alone Symphony 1.3
We are providing a plugin for Symphony 1.3 that will allow the files with items listed above to be displayed properly. This patch should be applied to the stand-alone version of Symphony 1.3 using the "File > Application > Install"
menu. This plug-in is available for download from the Plug-in page of the Lotus Symphony website: http://www.ibm.com/software/lotus/symphony/plugin.nsf/home.
- Embedded Symphony in Lotus Notes client 8.5.1
We are currently working to provide a solution for the embedded version within
the Notes client. At this time, if you will be sharing presentation files
(ODP) containing tables between releases, we recommend that the Notes client
user should install the stand-alone version of Symphony 1.3 and install the
plug-in as described above. For the latest status on solutions for the
embedded Symphony in Lotus Notes client, please refer to this Technote: http://www.ibm.com/support/docview.wss?rs=899&uid=swg21417749
- Saving files in Microsoft Office file formats (PPT)
If you use Symphony to save your files in PPT format and do not save in the ODF
format, your files will not be affected and the ODF plug-in is not required.
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