synaptic can't fix broken packages

It seems that the package management troubleshooting procedure has already brought your system back into a consistent state (no messages about broken packages shown any more).

The question now is if you have libreoffice 3 or 4 installed on your system.

Plesae start libreoffice and tell us what version you see in the 'about' dialogue'
And open a terminal and issue the commands

dpkg -l libreoffice-core
apt-cache policy libreoffice-core

and copy/paste the output into a new message of this question document.

Thank you, Manfred Hampl, for an amazingly promt reply.
I am running LibreOffice Version 4.0.1.2 (Build ID: 400m0(Build:2)).
I have a number of problems with it and I want to revert. I may have made a hash of trying to remove the libreoffice ppa, but I believe there may have been some sort of package conflict before that. However, if you can guide me through the necessary steps, I can try that again.

Below is the requested terminal output.
Thanks again.
Robert

robert@WestView:~$ dpkg -l libreoffice-core
Desired=Unknown/Install/Remove/Purge/Hold
| Status=Not/Inst/Conf-files/Unpacked/halF-conf/Half-inst/trig-aWait/Trig-pend
|/ Err?=(none)/Reinst-required (Status,Err: uppercase=bad)
||/ Name Version Description
+++-==============-==============-============================================
ii libreoffice-co 1:4.0.1~rc2-0u office productivity suite -- arch-dependent
robert@WestView:~$ apt-cache policy libreoffice-core
libreoffice-core:
  Installed: 1:4.0.1~rc2-0ubuntu1~precise1~ppa1
  Candidate: 1:4.0.1~rc2-0ubuntu1~precise1~ppa1
  Version table:
 *** 1:4.0.1~rc2-0ubuntu1~precise1~ppa1 0
        500 http://ppa.launchpad.net/libreoffice/ppa/ubuntu/ precise/main i386 Packages
        100 /var/lib/dpkg/status
     1:3.5.7-0ubuntu4 0
        500 http://gb.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ precise-updates/main i386 Packages
     1:3.5.4-0ubuntu1.1 0
        500 http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ precise-security/main i386 Packages
     1:3.5.4-0ubuntu1~universe1 0
        500 http://ppa.launchpad.net/libreoffice/libreoffice-universe/ubuntu/ precise/main i386 Packages
     1:3.5.2-2ubuntu1 0
        500 http://gb.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ precise/main i386 Packages
robert@WestView:~$

First try to purge the LibreOffice PPAs you've added. How you do that depends on how you added the PPA. It is easier to just run ppa-purge and the PPA name from the command line in a terminal window. I don't have Synaptic installed, so I can't check the exact procedure...

After purging the PPAs, open a terminal window and enter the following commands:
apt-get update (to reload the repositories cache).
dpkg -l |grep -i libreoffice (to check if LibreOffice is installed). If not - you are ready to re-install LibreOffice.

You can then use Synaptic again to find and install LibreOffice again (make a note of the version under the version column).

Please read this post to its end before you start issuing commands!

To remove libreoffice 4 an to re-install libreoffice 3 the required steps should be the following:

1. disable the libreoffice PPAs (seems already done acoording to your output)
2. remove the libreoffice 4 packages with the command "sudo apt-get purge libreoffice libreoffice-\* python-uno"
3. remove orphan packages with the command "sudo apt-get autoremove"
4. install libreoffice version 3 with "sudo apt-get install libreoffice"

Removing a high number of packages like the libreoffice suite can have undesired side effects. There might be some unexpected dependencies on your system leading to the situation that too much is removed. To test that before really executing the command you best verify the effects of the command first.

So please start by issuing the command

apt-get --simulate purge libreoffice libreoffice-\* python-uno

and copy/paste the output into this question document. Depending on what the output of this command is we can recommend really doing that, or we have to find a slightly different variant.

Thank again to both for extremely helpful responses. I think they amount to the same thing. I have used Manfred Hampl's route, which seemed slightly fuller.

Manfred, alas I read your message from the beginning, and didn't read the simulate part until too late. As a result I have actullay run the commands. I include a copy of the terminal output, except that I have lost the earliest parts.

You will see at the end the unmet dependencies message which is very similar to what Synaptic was telling me before.

When I restore the ppa's, which I have now done, LIbreOffice 4 installs OK. But it has problems which I don't want to tackle just now.

Thanks for your help.

Robert

Note, selecting 'libreoffice-spellcheck-fi' for regex 'libreoffice-*'
Note, selecting 'libreoffice-dmaths' for regex 'libreoffice-*'
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Note, selecting 'libreoffice-spellcheck-tr' for regex 'libreoffice-*'
Note, selecting 'libreoffice-dev-doc' for regex 'libreoffice-*'
Note, selecting 'libreoffice-style-andromeda' for regex 'libreoffice-*'
Note, selecting 'libreoffice-zemberek' for regex 'libreoffice-*'
Note, selecting 'libreoffice-calc' for regex 'libreoffice-*'
Note, selecting 'libreoffice.org-writer' for regex 'libreoffice-*'
Note, selecting 'mozilla-libreoffice' for regex 'libreoffice-*'
Note, selecting 'libreoffice-gnome' for regex 'libreoffice-*'
Note, selecting 'libreoffice-help-af' for regex 'libreoffice-*'
Note, selecting 'libreoffice-help-be' for regex 'libreoffice-*'
Note, selecting 'libreoffice-style' for regex 'libreoffice-*'
Note, selecting 'libreoffice-help-ca' for regex 'libreoffice-*'
Note, selecting 'libreoffice-help-bg' for regex 'libreoffice-*'
Note, selecting 'libreoffice-help-da' for regex 'libreoffice-*'
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Note, selecting 'libreoffice-help-ka' for regex 'libreoffice-*'
Note, selecting 'libreoffice-help-gu' for regex 'libreoffice-*'
Note, selecting 'docvert-libreoffice' for regex 'libreoffice-*'
Note, selecting 'libreoffice-help-hr' for regex 'libreoffice-*'
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Note, selecting 'libreoffice-help-mr' for regex 'libreoffice-*'
Note, selecting 'libreoffice-help-nn' for regex 'libreoffice-*'
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Note, selecting 'libreoffice-help-om' for regex 'libreoffice-*'
Note, selecting 'libreoffice-help-pl' for regex 'libreoffice-*'
Note, selecting 'libreoffice-help-or' for regex 'libreoffice-*'
Note, selecting 'libreoffice-help-pt' for regex 'libreoffice-*'
Note, selecting 'libreoffice-help-ta' for regex 'libreoffice-*'
Note, selecting 'libreoffice-help-si' for regex 'libreoffice-*'
Note, selecting 'libreoffice-script-provider-bsh' for regex 'libreoffice-*'
Note, selecting 'libreoffice-help-te' for regex 'libreoffice-*'
Note, selecting 'libreoffice-help-ro' for regex 'libreoffice-*'
Note, selecting 'libreoffice-help-sk' for regex 'libreoffice-*'
Note, selecting 'libreoffice-help-tg' for regex 'libreoffice-*'
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Note, selecting 'libreoffice-help-th' for regex 'libreoffice-*'
Note, selecting 'libreoffice-help-ru' for regex 'libreoffice-*'
Note, selecting 'libreoffice-help-ug' for regex 'libreoffice-*'
Note, selecting 'libreoffice-officebean' for regex 'libreoffice-*'
Note, selecting 'libreoffice-help-sr' for regex 'libreoffice-*'
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Note, selecting 'libreoffice-help-ve' for regex 'libreoffice-*'
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Note, selecting 'libreoffice-emailmerge' for regex 'libreoffice-*'
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Note, selecting 'libreoffice-l10n-zh-cn' for regex 'libreoffice-*'
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Note, selecting 'libreoffice.org-calc' for regex 'libreoffice-*'
Note, selecting 'libreoffice-core' for regex 'libreoffice-*'
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Note, selecting 'libreoffice-writer' for regex 'libreoffice-*'
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Note, selecting 'libreoffice-help-nso' for regex 'libreoffice-*'
Note, selecting 'libreoffice-l10n-af' for regex 'libreoffice-*'
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Note, selecting 'libreoffice-l10n-ar' for regex 'libreoffice-*'
Note, selecting 'libreoffice-style-human' for regex 'libreoffice-*'
Note, selecting 'libreoffice-l10n-bn' for regex 'libreoffice-*'
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Note, selecting 'libreoffice-l10n-de' for regex 'libreoffice-*'
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Note, selecting 'libreoffice-l10n-in' for regex 'libreoffice-*'
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Note, selecting 'libreoffice-gtk3' for regex 'libreoffice-*'
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Note, selecting 'libreoffice-script-provider-python' for regex 'libreoffice-*'
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Note, selecting 'libreoffice-nlpsolver' for regex 'libreoffice-*'
Note, selecting 'libreoffice-dtd-officedocument1.0' for regex 'libreoffice-*'
Note, selecting 'libreoffice-java-common' for regex 'libreoffice-*'
Note, selecting 'libreoffice-mysql-connector' for regex 'libreoffice-*'
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Note, selecting 'libreoffice-report-builder-bin' for regex 'libreoffice-*'
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Note, selecting 'libreoffice-style-default' for regex 'libreoffice-*'
Note, selecting 'libreoffice-common' instead of 'libreoffice-l10n-en-us'
Note, selecting 'libreoffice-core' instead of 'libreoffice-bundled'
Note, selecting 'openoffice.org-dtd-officedocument1.0' instead of 'libreoffice-dtd-officedocument1.0'
Note, selecting 'libreoffice-gnome' instead of 'libreoffice-gtk-gnome'
Note, selecting 'libreoffice-voikko' instead of 'libreoffice-spellcheck-fi'
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Note, selecting 'libreoffice-voikko' instead of 'libreoffice-hyphenation-fi'
Note, selecting 'python3-uno' instead of 'libreoffice-script-provider-python'
Note, selecting 'libreoffice-zemberek' instead of 'libreoffice-hyphenation-tr'
Package libreoffice-nlpsolver is not installed, so not removed
Package libreoffice-voikko is not installed, so not removed
Package docvert-libreoffice is not installed, so not removed
Package libreoffice-dmaths is not installed, so not removed
Package libreoffice-writer2latex is not installed, so not removed
Package libreoffice-writer2xhtml is not installed, so not removed
Package libreoffice-zemberek is not installed, so not removed
Package openclipart-libreoffice is not installed, so not removed
Package libreoffice-dbg is not installed, so not removed
Package libreoffice-dev is not installed, so not removed
Package libreoffice-dev-doc is not installed, so not removed
Package libreoffice-evolution is not installed, so not removed
Package libreoffice-filter-binfilter is not installed, so not removed
Package libreoffice-filter-mobiledev is not installed, so not removed
Package libreoffice-help-ca is not installed, so not removed
Package libreoffice-help-cs is not installed, so not removed
Package libreoffice-help-da is not installed, so not removed
Package libreoffice-help-de is not installed, so not removed
Package libreoffice-help-dz is not installed, so not removed
Package libreoffice-help-el is not installed, so not removed
Package libreoffice-help-en-gb is not installed, so not removed
Package libreoffice-help-en-us is not installed, so not removed
Package libreoffice-help-es is not installed, so not removed
Package libreoffice-help-et is not installed, so not removed
Package libreoffice-help-eu is not installed, so not removed
Package libreoffice-help-fi is not installed, so not removed
Package libreoffice-help-fr is not installed, so not removed
Package libreoffice-help-gl is not installed, so not removed
Package libreoffice-help-hi is not installed, so not removed
Package libreoffice-help-hu is not installed, so not removed
Package libreoffice-help-it is not installed, so not removed
Package libreoffice-help-ja is not installed, so not removed
Package libreoffice-help-km is not installed, so not removed
Package libreoffice-help-ko is not installed, so not removed
Package libreoffice-help-nl is not installed, so not removed
Package libreoffice-help-om is not installed, so not removed
Package libreoffice-help-pl is not installed, so not removed
Package libreoffice-help-pt is not installed, so not removed
Package libreoffice-help-pt-br is not installed, so not removed
Package libreoffice-help-ru is not installed, so not removed
Package libreoffice-help-sk is not installed, so not removed
Package libreoffice-help-sl is not installed, so not removed
Package libreoffice-help-sv is not installed, so not removed
Package libreoffice-help-zh-cn is not installed, so not removed
Package libreoffice-help-zh-tw is not installed, so not removed
Package libreoffice-kde is not installed, so not removed
Package libreoffice-l10n-af is not installed, so not removed
Package libreoffice-l10n-ar is not installed, so not removed
Package libreoffice-l10n-as is not installed, so not removed
Package libreoffice-l10n-ast is not installed, so not removed
Package libreoffice-l10n-be is not installed, so not removed
Package libreoffice-l10n-bg is not installed, so not removed
Package libreoffice-l10n-bn is not installed, so not removed
Package libreoffice-l10n-br is not installed, so not removed
Package libreoffice-l10n-bs is not installed, so not removed
Package libreoffice-l10n-ca is not installed, so not removed
Package libreoffice-l10n-cs is not installed, so not removed
Package libreoffice-l10n-cy is not installed, so not removed
Package libreoffice-l10n-da is not installed, so not removed
Package libreoffice-l10n-de is not installed, so not removed
Package libreoffice-l10n-dz is not installed, so not removed
Package libreoffice-l10n-el is not installed, so not removed
Package libreoffice-l10n-en-gb is not installed, so not removed
Package libreoffice-l10n-en-za is not installed, so not removed
Package libreoffice-l10n-eo is not installed, so not removed
Package libreoffice-l10n-es is not installed, so not removed
Package libreoffice-l10n-et is not installed, so not removed
Package libreoffice-l10n-eu is not installed, so not removed
Package libreoffice-l10n-fa is not installed, so not removed
Package libreoffice-l10n-fi is not installed, so not removed
Package libreoffice-l10n-fr is not installed, so not removed
Package libreoffice-l10n-ga is not installed, so not removed
Package libreoffice-l10n-gl is not installed, so not removed
Package libreoffice-l10n-gu is not installed, so not removed
Package libreoffice-l10n-he is not installed, so not removed
Package libreoffice-l10n-hi is not installed, so not removed
Package libreoffice-l10n-hr is not installed, so not removed
Package libreoffice-l10n-hu is not installed, so not removed
Package libreoffice-l10n-id is not installed, so not removed
Package libreoffice-l10n-in is not installed, so not removed
Package libreoffice-l10n-is is not installed, so not removed
Package libreoffice-l10n-it is not installed, so not removed
Package libreoffice-l10n-ja is not installed, so not removed
Package libreoffice-l10n-ka is not installed, so not removed
Package libreoffice-l10n-km is not installed, so not removed
Package libreoffice-l10n-ko is not installed, so not removed
Package libreoffice-l10n-ku is not installed, so not removed
Package libreoffice-l10n-lt is not installed, so not removed
Package libreoffice-l10n-lv is not installed, so not removed
Package libreoffice-l10n-mk is not installed, so not removed
Package libreoffice-l10n-ml is not installed, so not removed
Package libreoffice-l10n-mn is not installed, so not removed
Package libreoffice-l10n-mr is not installed, so not removed
Package libreoffice-l10n-nb is not installed, so not removed
Package libreoffice-l10n-ne is not installed, so not removed
Package libreoffice-l10n-nl is not installed, so not removed
Package libreoffice-l10n-nn is not installed, so not removed
Package libreoffice-l10n-nr is not installed, so not removed
Package libreoffice-l10n-nso is not installed, so not removed
Package libreoffice-l10n-oc is not installed, so not removed
Package libreoffice-l10n-om is not installed, so not removed
Package libreoffice-l10n-or is not installed, so not removed
Package libreoffice-l10n-pa-in is not installed, so not removed
Package libreoffice-l10n-pl is not installed, so not removed
Package libreoffice-l10n-pt is not installed, so not removed
Package libreoffice-l10n-pt-br is not installed, so not removed
Package libreoffice-l10n-ro is not installed, so not removed
Package libreoffice-l10n-ru is not installed, so not removed
Package libreoffice-l10n-rw is not installed, so not removed
Package libreoffice-l10n-si is not installed, so not removed
Package libreoffice-l10n-sk is not installed, so not removed
Package libreoffice-l10n-sl is not installed, so not removed
Package libreoffice-l10n-sr is not installed, so not removed
Package libreoffice-l10n-ss is not installed, so not removed
Package libreoffice-l10n-st is not installed, so not removed
Package libreoffice-l10n-sv is not installed, so not removed
Package libreoffice-l10n-ta is not installed, so not removed
Package libreoffice-l10n-te is not installed, so not removed
Package libreoffice-l10n-tg is not installed, so not removed
Package libreoffice-l10n-th is not installed, so not removed
Package libreoffice-l10n-tn is not installed, so not removed
Package libreoffice-l10n-tr is not installed, so not removed
Package libreoffice-l10n-ts is not installed, so not removed
Package libreoffice-l10n-ug is not installed, so not removed
Package libreoffice-l10n-uk is not installed, so not removed
Package libreoffice-l10n-uz is not installed, so not removed
Package libreoffice-l10n-ve is not installed, so not removed
Package libreoffice-l10n-vi is not installed, so not removed
Package libreoffice-l10n-xh is not installed, so not removed
Package libreoffice-l10n-za is not installed, so not removed
Package libreoffice-l10n-zh-cn is not installed, so not removed
Package libreoffice-l10n-zh-tw is not installed, so not removed
Package libreoffice-l10n-zu is not installed, so not removed
Package libreoffice-officebean is not installed, so not removed
Package libreoffice-style-human is not installed, so not removed
Package libreoffice-style-oxygen is not installed, so not removed
Package libreoffice-gtk3 is not installed, so not removed
Package libreoffice-mysql-connector is not installed, so not removed
Package libreoffice-ogltrans is not installed, so not removed
Package libreoffice-presentation-minimizer is not installed, so not removed
Package libreoffice-presenter-console is not installed, so not removed
Package libreoffice-script-provider-bsh is not installed, so not removed
Package libreoffice-script-provider-js is not installed, so not removed
Package libreoffice-sdbc-postgresql is not installed, so not removed
Package libreoffice-style-crystal is not installed, so not removed
Package libreoffice-style-hicontrast is not installed, so not removed
Package libreoffice-wiki-publisher is not installed, so not removed
Package mozilla-libreoffice is not installed, so not removed
The following packages will be REMOVED
  libreoffice* libreoffice-base* libreoffice-base-core* libreoffice-calc*
  libreoffice-common* libreoffice-core* libreoffice-draw*
  libreoffice-emailmerge* libreoffice-gnome* libreoffice-gtk*
  libreoffice-impress* libreoffice-java-common* libreoffice-math*
  libreoffice-pdfimport* libreoffice-report-builder-bin*
  libreoffice-style-galaxy* libreoffice-style-tango* libreoffice-writer*
  python-uno*
0 upgraded, 0 newly installed, 19 to remove and 0 not upgraded.
After this operation, 273 MB disk space will be freed.
Do you want to continue [Y/n]? y
(Reading database ... 410546 files and directories currently installed.)
Removing libreoffice ...
Removing libreoffice-report-builder-bin ...
Removing libreoffice-base ...
Purging configuration files for libreoffice-base ...
Removing libreoffice-calc ...
Purging configuration files for libreoffice-calc ...
Removing libreoffice-writer ...
Purging configuration files for libreoffice-writer ...
Removing libreoffice-base-core ...
Removing libreoffice-impress ...
Purging configuration files for libreoffice-impress ...
Removing libreoffice-draw ...
Purging configuration files for libreoffice-draw ...
Removing libreoffice-emailmerge ...
Removing python-uno ...
Removing libreoffice-gnome ...
Removing libreoffice-gtk ...
Removing libreoffice-pdfimport ...
Removing libreoffice-math ...
Purging configuration files for libreoffice-math ...
Removing libreoffice-core ...
Purging configuration files for libreoffice-core ...
Removing libreoffice-java-common ...
Removing libreoffice-common ...
rmdir: failed to remove `/var/lib/libreoffice/share/prereg/': No such file or directory
rmdir: failed to remove `/var/lib/libreoffice/share/': Directory not empty
rmdir: failed to remove `/var/lib/libreoffice/program/': No such file or directory
rmdir: failed to remove `/var/lib/libreoffice': Directory not empty
rmdir: failed to remove `/var/lib/libreoffice': Directory not empty
Purging configuration files for libreoffice-common ...
dpkg: warning: while removing libreoffice-common, directory '/var/lib/libreoffice/share' not empty so not removed.
dpkg: warning: while removing libreoffice-common, directory '/usr/share/mimelnk/application' not empty so not removed.
Removing libreoffice-style-galaxy ...
Removing libreoffice-style-tango ...
Processing triggers for man-db ...
Processing triggers for bamfdaemon ...
Rebuilding /usr/share/applications/bamf.index...
Processing triggers for desktop-file-utils ...
Processing triggers for gnome-menus ...
Processing triggers for menu ...
Processing triggers for gnome-icon-theme ...
Processing triggers for hicolor-icon-theme ...
Processing triggers for shared-mime-info ...
robert@WestView:~$ sudo apt-get autoremove
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree
Reading state information... Done
The following packages will be REMOVED
  fonts-opensymbol libboost-date-time1.46.1 libcdr-0.0-0 libclucene-contribs1
  libclucene-core1 libcmis-0.3-3 libexttextcat-2.0-0 libhsqldb-java
  libmspub-0.0-0 libvisio-0.0-0 uno-libs3 ure
0 upgraded, 0 newly installed, 12 to remove and 0 not upgraded.
After this operation, 15.5 MB disk space will be freed.
Do you want to continue [Y/n]? y
(Reading database ... 407767 files and directories currently installed.)
Removing fonts-opensymbol ...
Removing libcmis-0.3-3 ...
Removing libboost-date-time1.46.1 ...
Removing libcdr-0.0-0 ...
Removing libclucene-contribs1 ...
Removing libclucene-core1 ...
Removing libexttextcat-2.0-0 ...
Removing libhsqldb-java ...
Removing libmspub-0.0-0 ...
Removing libvisio-0.0-0 ...
Removing uno-libs3 ...
Removing ure ...
Processing triggers for fontconfig ...
Processing triggers for libc-bin ...
ldconfig deferred processing now taking place
robert@WestView:~$ sudo apt-get install libreoffice
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree
Reading state information... Done
Some packages could not be installed. This may mean that you have
requested an impossible situation or if you are using the unstable
distribution that some required packages have not yet been created
or been moved out of Incoming.
The following information may help to resolve the situation:

The following packages have unmet dependencies.
 libreoffice : Depends: libreoffice-core (= 1:3.5.7-0ubuntu4) but it is not going to be installed
               Depends: libreoffice-writer but it is not going to be installed
               Depends: libreoffice-calc but it is not going to be installed
               Depends: libreoffice-impress but it is not going to be installed
               Depends: libreoffice-draw but it is not going to be installed
               Depends: libreoffice-math but it is not going to be installed
               Depends: libreoffice-base but it is not going to be installed
               Depends: libreoffice-filter-mobiledev but it is not going to be installed
               Depends: libreoffice-java-common (>= 1:3.5.7~) but it is not going to be installed
               Recommends: libreoffice-gnome but it is not going to be installed or
                           libreoffice-kde but it is not going to be installed
E: Unable to correct problems, you have held broken packages.
robert@WestView:~$

Your output shows that removing libreoffice 4 is possible without noteworthy problems. The only problem shown is that the command for installing libreoffice 3 ends with dependency problems.

If you want we can try tackling that problem further. I am rather confident that sooner or later it will possible to identify the root cause for the dependency problem and to find a workaround.

The following approach seems most promising for me:

1. disable the libreoffice PPAs again
2. reload the package information "sudo apt-get update"
3. remove the libreoffice 4 packages with the command "sudo apt-get purge libreoffice libreoffice-\* python-uno"
4. remove orphan packages with the command "sudo apt-get autoremove"
5. Try installing libreoffice-core version 3 with "sudo apt-get install libreoffice-core" and check for error messages. If this package cannot be installed because of dependency problems, take the first dependency that is listed and try installing that package with "sudo apt-get install ..." and check for error messages etc. until either the package can be installed, or there is a different error message.

Hallelujah! Manfred you're my hero!

I had tried this sort of thing in Synaptic, but it became a loop, so there was no end to the trail. In Terminal, the first dependency was libexttextcat0, which depended on libexttextcat-data. For some reason, this was trying to install a later version than the one required. Error message:
libexttextcat0 : Depends: libexttextcat-data (= 3.2.0-1ubuntu1) but 3.4.0-1~precise1 is to be installed

I purged libexttextcat-data, then installed that, libexttextcat0, libreoffice-core and libreoffice, and we're flying.

Thank you very much.

I know I shouldn't do a "me too" but thank you - I had exactly the same problem while trying to revert from 4.1 to 3 and you provided exactly the solution.