Apache OpenOffice (AOO) Bugzilla – Issue 3807
Exporting to MS Word mangles bulleted lists
Last modified: 2013-08-07 14:43:23 UTC
Couple of related MS Word interoperability issues: 1. If a document created in MS Word is edited with openoffice.org word processor, saved back to MS Word format, then subsequently reopened in MS Word 97, the formatting of the bulleted list is incorrect. While the indent appears to be set correctly, the tab character that positions the text at the indent apparently isn't there. 2. For bulleted lists created in the openoffice.org word processor, the bullet character is wrong after exporting to MS Word format. Indents for bulleted and numbered lists also have the same issue described in #1. To reproduce issue #1: Create a document in MS Word (I used Word 97). The document should contain a bulleted list. Save the document. Open the document in openoffice.org word processor. Make some trivial change to the file (to un-grey the Save button). Save the file, still in MS Word format. Reopen the file in MS Word. The indents are gone. To reproduce issue #2: Create a document in openoffice.org word processor, containing a bulleted list. Save the file in MS Word 97/2K/XP format. Open the file in MS Word (as with issue #1, I used MS Word 97). In this case, not only is the formatting messed up, the bullet character is also wrong (the character you actually get seems to depend on which font is being used). IMO, smooth inter-operability with MS Office files is going to be essential to many users. I'd love to cut over to openoffice.org... but unfortunately, I still deal with a number of people who use MS Office, and getting them all to change anytime soon is just not going to happen. So this issue is basically what is preventing me from ditching MS Office... I'd offer to help chase this bug down, but I do not currently have any time to spare. I may be interested in joining the team in the future though... Thanks for listening!
Reassigned to Michael.
Problem is, that MS Word and OpenOffice have different concepts in defining the spacings between the number and the text. OO Writer defines it via the distance, Word takes characters like tabs or spaces. So there's no clear cencept about what to export to Word format. MRU->FT: AFAIK this is still in discussion by the PM, isn't it?
*** Issue 7981 has been marked as a duplicate of this issue. ***
This is the most noticable flaw in data export. very important for sending doc files in email etc.
*** Issue 8053 has been marked as a duplicate of this issue. ***
*** Issue 7746 has been marked as a duplicate of this issue. ***
Hi Andreas, IMHO we must address this issue at least in OO 1.1. Don't you think?
We now export tabs between bullet and text when exporting bullets, this gives at least excellent word->writer->word roundtripping. And fairly good writer->word->writer roundtripping, with only lossage on the initial writer->word. So that should take care of the vast majority of cases.
By "we now..." do you mean in some as yet unreleased version, or in one of the versions currently available for download on your site? Because 1.0.2 still appears to have both issues; and 643c appears to fix the "bullet character mangling" issue, but not the missing tabs. Thanks!
AMA: I think Caolan means a srx644 version? Caolan, please decide what to do with this task. Fixed or retarget if there are some minor bugs which you plan to fix later.
cmc->mru: Now that we always export a tab between no and text this should be not a problem anymore. Granted its still not the same thing, but its good enough for now. #1 & #2 should be gone now.
Problem will be solved/improved for OpenOffice 1.1 Beta.
Fix verified with interna milestone build.
*** Issue 8833 has been marked as a duplicate of this issue. ***
checked integration with internal Milestone srx644m4s3
Will be this fix and other bullets/numbering related fixes merged in the OpenOffice.org 1.0.x code line?
No, this will only be fixed in OO 1.1 Beta and higher.
*** Issue 10785 has been marked as a duplicate of this issue. ***