It is tough to figure out what bug to report in the multi-column text-flow problem.
In the dashed line problem, it is easy to report two bugs, one for dashed lines to .doc and one
for dashed lines from .doc.
In this multi-column flow case, LibreOffice can round trip, and the bug is in the change to
column and spacing widths that have the material not fit and not flow properly.
So there is a bug around not being able to consume what it produces properly.
THE SERIOUS INTEROP QUESTION
The other problem, that I don't know how to deal with, is whether that is a proper .doc for what
is in the .odt at all. I *think* the problem you are seeing is that the frame on one of the
images in column 2 is actually too wide. Or maybe column 1, and it forced the kind of adjustment
you are seeing. But the consequences in Word are particularly awful.
What is even more amazing is that what Word does with that specific .doc has not changed since
Office 97!! NoOp gets near-identical results from the .doc in Word 97 that I get from it in Word
2010. I bet if the second page is examined, the column 2 content will be seen to have flown down
to the second column there. (The only difference that I see in Word 2010 compared with the Word
97 screen shot is that 2010 has a double title over the graph in column 3 and consequently more
text flows to the top of column 4. I hadn't noticed that additional title doubling in my earlier
report.)
On the other hand, what Word 2010 does with the original ODT is strangely close to what it does
with the .DOC, and that is *really* inexplicable.
So there's not enough here for an isolated bug.
MORE DETAIL: I forgot to check this before. When the .doc is opened in Word 2010, the columns
are set as four across, with column 1 1.6", 2-3 at 1.25" apiece, and column 4 at 1.6". The
spacing is 0.7". The equal column width box is not checked. The margins are 0.35" top, left,
right, and bottom, with no gutter. The page is US Letter.
If I check "equal column width" I get 1.43" columns all the way across and 0.7" spacing. The
duplicated titles I mention disappear, but there are other duplications in the columns.
(sigh)
FURTHER ANALYSIS POSSIBILITIES
Although it introduces more variables that can't be controlled, I think there are three avenues
of further exploration:
1. Make a .doc that seems as correct as is possible. See what LibreOffice does with that. Then
make an .odt from that .doc from Office 2010 to see how that round-tripping works. This might
localize *something*.
2. Do the same thing with .docx in both directions. If experience is any guide, this will be
worse, but because .docx is an XML format it might be possible to find more clues by inspecting
the XML that travels in various directions.
3. Make a Microsoft Word XML file too. This is a rarely-used variation that *might* provide
more clues. There are filters for reading those into LibreOffice also, although I have no clue
concerning their quality. (This can be round-tripped out of LibreOffice too, I believe.)
There is a project, Apache Poi, that has Java tools for manipulating and converting Microsoft
Office format documents. That might help to examine the .doc files to see where the
discrepancies arise. That's a lot of work to invest for this particular file. I think starting
with variations of simple cases may work better.
-----Original Message-----
From: Spencer Graves [mailto:spencer.graves@prodsyse.com]
Sent: Sunday, September 11, 2011 17:29
To: dennis.hamilton@acm.org
Cc: users@global.libreoffice.org
Subject: Re: [libreoffice-users] Rountrip Conversion Problems (was Re: Should LibreOffice ...
secret formats?)
Hi, Dennis:
Thanks very much. Should I do something to file bug reports on
these items?
Spencer
On 9/11/2011 5:08 PM, Dennis E. Hamilton wrote:
I repeated test similar to those NoOp also performed to see how the variations that I made with
the dashed-line slide image show up here.
CONCLUSION
The round trip from Document A to B back to C is definitely broken in Libre Office in the manner
described by Spencer.
The opening of either Document A or Document B in Word 2010 produces a terrible result where the
4 columns are longer and flow at their bottoms onto a second page.
This is so bad I despair of doing any further isolation.
- Dennis
ANALYSIS DETAILS
A. Document A - The ODT from Spencer. In LO 3.3.2 I see 4 columns, each 1.5" wide, with about
0.5" between. The Format | Columns dialog reports 1.42" with 0.70" spacing and AutoWidth is
selected.
B. Document B - The Word 27-2000 format DOC from Document A via Libre Office, by Spencer
C. Document C - The ODT file that reflects what is seen when Document B is opened in Libre
Office.
When I open Document A in Word 2010, I see the problem that NoOp reported, concerning a blank
column showing up. There is also an error message about "Drawn Objects and Text Boxes 1." I
also see that there is a second page having 4 more columns (the 4th column is empty). It
appears that the columns stretch vertically down onto the second page. That is, there are only
4 columns but each column is two pages long, and the top of the second column is all blank, so
its content only appears on the second page. There are also columns whose content image flows
off the bottom of the page and is chopped off.
When I open Document B in Word 2010, What I see is almost the same as when opening Document A in
Word, but the B view has a duplicate title over one of the figures of the Financial Industry
Profits graph in column 2.
Document C in LibreOffice is now 2 pages because the column sizes are screwed up, leading to 4
columns on the first page and a fifth column on the second page.
There's no point in making a Document X because I have no means to obtain a correct version in
Word to try saving back.
-----Original Message-----
From: NoOp [mailto:glgxg@sbcglobal.net]
Sent: Sunday, September 11, 2011 15:09
To: users@global.libreoffice.org
Subject: [libreoffice-users] Re: Should LibreOffice even support Microsoft secret formats?
On 09/11/2011 11:06 AM, Spencer Graves wrote:
Another example:
1. Download
"http://www.cagreens.org/sclara/resources/flyers/noCreditCd-bookmark20110306.odt";.
2. Open in LibreOffice 3.4.3. Save as MS Word 97 *.doc format.
3. Close, then reopen the *.doc version: When I did this now under
Windows 7, this changed the widths of the columns had changed and
with it the column breaks, etc. I checked Format -> Page -> Columns:
*.odt showed from Autowidth with columns = 1.42, space = 0.70; *.doc
had columns = 2.13, space = 0.70. The numbers do not make sense to
me, but the visual change is clear. I noticed this problem with an
earlier version of LibreOffice 3.4 and I think also with Open Office
3.3.
...
I tested as per the above, and indeed LO does save the .doc with
modified column widths. I tested by saveas in LO 3.3.3 and then opened
the .doc with:
LO 3.3.3 (linux)
LO 3.4.3 (linux)
OOo 3.2.1 (go-oo build - Ubuntu linux)
OOo 3.2.0 (Windows)
MSO Word97 (yes I have MSO97 on an VirtuaBox Win2K install)
The worst/more serious issue is that in MSO Word97 blank second column
is inserted/shown. This means that the document renders only 3 populated
columns rather than 4. Screenshot is here:
http://imageshack.us/f/841/screenshotwin2kprorunni.png/
So, you've a valid bug to report. Check to see if one hasn't already
been filed before filing yours. Start a new thread regarding the problem
when you've done that and I'll be glad to contribute/add to the bug
report with my tests/screenshots.
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