Sorry I can't help. I haven't messed with NeoOffice or Open Office for a long time. I wound up sticking with "the devil I know" and using Microsoft Office. Yeah, Bill got a few bucks off of me, but at least my (2008 version) installation does what I expect it to do.
This is something I think ALL major application publishers need to think about; upgrades and updates should enhance the user's ability to get things done, not change the entire UI, rearrange all the controls, make features do different things, etc. Wannabe replacements for major label software should do things similarly to the software they're trying to displace - including accepting formulas and such from "the other guy's" documents. That one is aimed squarely at Numbers, since I have a couple of Very Useful And Important spreadsheets I developed with Excel that will not act correctly with Numbers...