IBM Lotus Symphony Release Notes

What's New in IBM® Lotus® SymphonyTM 3 Beta4?

General Quality Improvements

  • Improved the quality of "Open in New Window" function significantly
  • Function and usability bug fixes in key areas in three applications including presentation table usability, slide show quality, master page and templates, spreadsheet filter/sort/subtotal and document revision
  • Improved performance in startup
  • Improved performance in ODT and MS Excel file saving
  • General stability, interoperability, function and usability bug fixes

New Features

  • Support of VML images in Microsoft Office 2007 XML files
  • Support of more parameters for protecting spreadsheet files and sheets in VBA API
  • Support of editing and saving autotext content
  • Support of separate downloads of spell check dictionary addons for 22 languages for Windows OS users
  • Support of same build re-installation in silent mode on Windows

Enhancements

  • Enhanced the support of opening files with wrong or empty extensions
  • Enhanced functionality and usability in "import data from external file" function
  • Enhanced the interoperability with MS Word documents that contains page grid layout content
  • Enhanced the support of auto selection in files with built-in database ranges
  • Enabled memorizing user file paths when inserting objects into file
  • Enhanced the Presentation text objects undo and redo function
  • Improved accessibility support for graphic objects in files and Help
  • Improved BiDi language support by better support of window mirroring

IBM Lotus Symphony 3 Beta 3 Release Notes

  • Please refer to this link for Lotus Symphony 3 Beta 3 Release Notes

Back to top

Key Bug Fixes

Symphony Forum

  • In Lotus Symphony Spreadsheets, Ctrl+Right arrow key does not work properly when there are hidden cells.
  • In Lotus Symphony Presentations, table border becomes thicker than original border in Microsoft PowerPoint.
  • When copying a customized graphic bullet symbol, only the text content is copied.
  • When copying cells from Lotus Symphony Spreadsheets and pasting them into an IBM Lotus Notes document, the cells become a picture and the font size is increased.

Linux

  • When printing a document to PDF, some characters are changed and display incorrectly.
  • Hyperlink doesn't open if you use the operating system default browser.
  • White space is removed after exporting Lotus Symphony Documents to PDF.
  • Set the locale of the operating system to German which is in Day Light Saving time. Set time zone to "Europe/Berlin" in system. However, format one cell with the HH:MM, the time value is not correct.

Mac

  • Cannot copy picture from preview to Lotus Symphony under Mac OS.
  • Mouse cursor status is not correct in some situations, such as editing mode in Lotus Symphony Documents, moving tables, resizing sidebar, and moving toolbar.
  • You cannot switch between applications while in screen show mode in Lotus Symphony Presentations.
  • When you drag and drop an unsupported file to Lotus Symphony Presentations, Lotus Symphony crashes.

Language Related Fixes

  • The default UI language is Italian after installing Lotus Symphony on French locale.
  • There is one error typo on the displayed error window when installing the same version over the previous one.

Lotus Symphony Documents

  • Editing and adding some comments in some specific sample documents, the comments are corrupted.
  • Open a Microsoft Word file in Lotus Symphony, the table layout in the page is incorrect and there is extra page break in one page.
  • Formatting is lost on the sample document which was created with OpenOffice 3.2.
  • The background color of table is lost in Microsoft Word 2003 after opening the sample *.doc file and saving it in Symphony 3 beta.
  • The check box status in a form field is lost when opening a sample docx file in Lotus Symphony.
  • Display and line spacing is not correct when opening a sample .docx in Lotus Symphony.
  • The text vertical alignment in table cell is displayed incorrectly when opening sample .doc in Symphony 3 beta.
  • The Paragraph line spacing setting "at least 0" is displayed as "single" in a sample file when loading it in Symphony 3 beta.
  • Cannot adjust the value of line spacing with "At Least" which is set in a Microsoft Word document.
  • Tab stop is not handled correctly when updating TOC in Lotus Symphony.
  • Using the handles on the ruler to change the bullet indent does not work.
  • Launch Lotus Symphony and create new a document. Right-click on the document tab and choose to open it in a new window. Insert a drawing object in the child window and click Object name in context menu.The result is that the main window is activated and mouse cursor moves to main window.

Lotus Symphony Presentations

  • After horizontally zooming the image of a table in a presentation, the content cannot be recognized.
  • Open a Microsoft Powerpoint file which includes a chart OLE place holder in Lotus Symphony, save it as an .odp file, then reopen the .odp file in Lotus Symphony, Lotus Symphony crashes.
  • In some situations, there might be a deviation when graphic objects are viewed in screen show mode.
  • Open a Microsoft Powerpoint file in Lotus Symphony, adjust the table border, save it as another PowerPoint file, and open the file in PowerPoint. The text in the first row of the table is lost.
  • When loading a Microsoft PowerPoint file in Lotus Symphony, if the size of the bullet is not set, the data is not displayed.
  • In Lotus Symphony Presentations, using copy and paste against sub text causes unclear and unexpected results in cases where the sub text has explicit attributes.
  • Apply style Bullet 1 to a line, then press Enter.The new line is created without bullet.
  • In Lotus Symphony Presentations, switch to master view, select Layout > Bullets and Numbering, switch to the Position tab, the "indent" and "spacing to text" might not work.
  • Pie chart color is lost when opening sample Microsoft Excel file in Lotus Symphony.
  • The Navigator window doesn't display in screen show mode even when "Navigator visible" is enabled.
  • Too much white-space between the thumbnails on the left sidebar.
  • Open a Lotus Symphony Presentation file that was created by Lotus Notes 8.5.1 and copy one specified slide to Lotus Symphony Presentations. The formatting is incorrect.

Lotus Symphony Spreadsheets

  • It takes a long time to open sample Microsoft Excel files that include many hidden pictures.
  • It takes a long time to open sample Microsoft Excel files that include 2000+ small texts and line objects.
  • You cannot insert or delete cells into or from the middle of a range of merged cells.
  • The "Day" format is missing when opening a Microsoft Excel file in Lotus Symphony.
  • Microsoft Excel files with cells using the time format MM:SS.00 display incorrect values when they are opened in Lotus Symphony.
  • Data validation list in Microsoft 2007 Excel is not handled correctly in Lotus Symphony.

Programmability

  • Calling Java API to insert rows into a table in Lotus Symphony Presentations, Lotus Symphony occasionally freezes or crashes.
  • Focus jumps to the other sheet when doing the copy operation in VBA macro.
  • Cannot copy cell contents using VBA macro when the worksheet is hidden.

General usage

  • Open two files in Lotus Symphony. Right-click on the second tab to open the second file in a new window. Edit the first file and click the Save icon or press Ctrl+S to save the file. Close the second file in the second tab. From now on, you cannot perform the save operation in the first file.
  • Lotus Symphony might freeze after editing a template and saving it again.
  • When editing a Lotus Symphony document, the Apply Styles drop-down list on the toolbar loops through the available styles several times.
  • Open or create a Lotus Symphony document and create a numbered list of text. Select File > Preferences and change the value of the measurement for tab stops and save the change. The numbers are removed from the list you just created.

Back to top

Known Issues

Previous preference settings cannot be 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.x, 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.

SmartSuite files cannot be opened in Lotus Symphony

SmartSuite documents are not supported by Lotus Symphony

Limitations of Symphony VBA support

Currently, we can support some VBA Excel APIs, Events, Form control APIs and Events. But we still have some limitations:

  1. Cannot 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.

  2. Lotus Symphony allows you to edit the VBA codes in Symphony BASIC IDE, but can't save the changed VBA codes.
  3. 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.

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 Lotus 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 on 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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

  1. 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.

  2. 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.

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.

  1. Cmd+H Align text to center
  2. Shift+F10 Context menu
  3. Shift+F11 Show style list dialog
  4. Shift+F12 Start a bullet list

Workaround:
They can be accessed through main menu or context menu.

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.

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:

  1. In the Windows Explorer, right-click on a file with the extension whose association you want to change, and click "Open With"
  2. 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
  3. 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.

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.

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.

It might take long time to new/open a document with JAWS running

When JAWS is launched, it might take long time to new or open a document in Lotus Symphony.

Opening documents by dragging is not supported on Mac

On Mac, a document cannot be opened by dragging it to the home page in Symphony.

UI language changes with OS locale on Mac and Linux

On Linux and Mac, if the UI language setting is not changed from Preferences, the UI language will be the same as the OS locale.

TOC hyperlink in MS Word document doesn't work in Symphony

When an MS Word document with a TOC is opened by Symphony, the TOC hyperlink doesn't work as expected.
Workaround:
Select TOC and launch context menu, choose the "update Index/Table" item. The TOC hyperlink will be enabled.

Applying background to all pages does not work sometimes

In presentation normal view, click Layout->Properties->Page Properties, and change the background setting in the Page Properties dialog.A warning dialog opens to prompt "Background settings for all pages", if you select "Yes", sometimes the settings do not apply to all pages. It only applies to the slides which use the same master slide.
Workaround:
To apply background settings to all pages, perform the same settings steps for other slides again.

Installation fails if path contains double-byte characters

When installing Lotus Symphony into a target path which contains double-byte characters and the characters encoding does not match the operating system's language settings on windows, installation fails and rolls back, which is a limitation of the third party tool. It is documented here: http://bugs.sun.com/bugdatabase/view_bug.do?bug_id=4947220.
Workaround:
Set operating system language the same as the double-byte characters contained in target path.

Documents with revision records might display incorrectly

Open a MS Word document in Lotus Symphony. If there are revision records on floating objects, such as graphics, shapes, textboxes and so on, the document might not display correctly.

Formatting is not retained when refreshing data in DataPilot

You cannot define the formats in a Data Pilot Table. After you set, the format returns to the default layout when data is refreshed.

Chart is improperly refreshed if you delete a column from data range

Create a new spreadsheet, and input data in a cell range. Select the cell range and create a chart. When you delete a column which is in the data range of the chart, the chart is improperly refreshed and the deleted column is still in the chart.
Workaround:

  1. Double-click the chart to enter the chart edit mode.
  2. Right-click the chart and select Data Ranges.
  3. Re-select the data range from the "Data range" picker and click OK.

Cannot jump to the right content in TOC

You cannot jump to the right content in TOC when paragraphs with the same contents apply the same outline level and numbering style.

Back to top