Apache OpenOffice (AOO) Bugzilla – Issue 50126
Symbol import-export bug with MS MathType format
Last modified: 2013-08-07 14:54:45 UTC
In Tools: Options: Load/Save: Microsoft Office: MathType... I've chosen both L and S. I launch OOo 1.9.104, click on Insert: Object: Formula , then Tools:Catalog: Special: identical: insert, then close. Thus the "formula" is "%identical". I close the formula: everything seems OK. I save the document as equ_OOo2_id.odt Text document, then as equ_OOo2_id.doc MS word 97 document, then close it, reopen MS Word version. Instead of the "identical" symbol, I get a reverse question mark. If I open the formula, I read: "size 12{ equiv } {}". If I do the same thing with %LAMBDA, I get a small rectangle in MS Word document, and the formula becomes "size 12{Λ} {}" (In the editor, lambda was also displayed as a small rectangle, but this might be another bug).
Created attachment 26751 [details] Original formula
Created attachment 26752 [details] Formula converted into MS Word 97 format
A slightly different case: thanks to Symbols editor, I define %union as Unicode 222B character (mathematical operators subset). Then I make the "formula" "%union" and save it as equ_OOo2.odt, then as MS Word 97 equ_OOo2.doc document. I get a reverse question mark, whose formula is " size 12{ union } {}"
Created attachment 26753 [details] Formula consisting of user-defined symbol
Created attachment 26754 [details] Same formula converted into MS Word 97 format
This bug is still in OOo 1.9.113 .
The sentence concerning lambda is a Unicode font-related problem, and is treated elsewhere. Adding Regina to CC.
Export to *.doc and reimport cannot lead to the original formula, because MathType doen't has the same abilities than OOo-Math. The ability of MathType is not structural but optical design of formulas. So you will loose the structural information during export. Besides MathType has a different symbol-katalog and you cannot define symbols there. Concerning %identical: %identical is the same character as text than 'equiv' is as relation. Because MathType doesn't know the differenz between text and relation it is exported as ≡, which will be interpreted as relation when reimported. But now the terms for the relation are missing and that is shown as error. Same which %union: Your %union is the same character as text than 'union' is as relation. So it is exported as ∪, which will be interpreted as operator union when reimported. Because than it is an operator, it needs operands, which are missing and that is shown as error. I think that because of the limits of MathType, there couldn't be a solution for export and reimport.
Thank you for your explanation. But displaying a error in an imported formula while MathType displayed something coherent is not acceptable. OOo should understand that a MathType relation or operator character without required operand has to be interpreted as a character, not as a relation or operator. (A less good alternative would be to give {} as operand(s).)
Due to resource limitation this will be fixed for successor of OO 2.0.
Confirming with 2.2 on WinXP - as described.
Hello I am using openoffice 2.4 under Debian and I have issues with formula compatibility with MS Word documents. I also tried openoffice 3.0 rc4 from the official website, but it wasn't any better. When I open a .doc document with formulas, sometimes the formulas are displayed correctely, sometimes there are in addition several black squares with a question mark inside displayed on the formulas. And in both cases when I tried to edit an equation, I got an error message telling me that there is a general error. In the other way, when I save a document as .doc and send to my schoolmate who has MS Office (I am not sure whether he has the 2007 or 2008 version), he told me, he couldn't see the equations because of an "unknown editor" error message. So, for me it is not possible to work together in the same document with my schoolmate, and because he doesn't want to switch to openoffice, I will unfortunately need to install MS Office :( . Actually, I think that using 2 different programms to work on the same document is a source of problems.
Created attachment 57454 [details] Here is a .doc document with formulas not imported correctly.