Bug 147655 - Writer loses some tracked changes when saving as .docx with Deletions/Insertions in Margin
Summary: Writer loses some tracked changes when saving as .docx with Deletions/Inserti...
Status: NEW
Alias: None
Product: LibreOffice
Classification: Unclassified
Component: Writer (show other bugs)
Version:
(earliest affected)
7.3.0.3 release
Hardware: All All
: medium normal
Assignee: Not Assigned
URL:
Whiteboard:
Keywords: filter:docx
: 158158 (view as bug list)
Depends on:
Blocks: DOCX-Track-Changes tracked-changes-in-margin
  Show dependency treegraph
 
Reported: 2022-02-25 14:24 UTC by sadrx
Modified: 2024-09-26 11:37 UTC (History)
5 users (show)

See Also:
Crash report or crash signature:


Attachments
Test document, begin at step 7 for bug reproduction (see above). (10.24 KB, application/vnd.oasis.opendocument.text)
2022-09-08 00:26 UTC, swleefers
Details

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Description sadrx 2022-02-25 14:24:02 UTC
Description:
LibreOffice Writer v7.3.0.3 is not saving tracked changes properly in .docx files.

I am editing a .docx document with tracked changes in LibreOffice Writer v7.3.0.3 on Windows 10. There are no problems until I save and close the .docx file. When I re-open the .docx file again, the tracked changes are wildly different. Some edits remain unchanged. Some disappear. Some edits change on their own, making the document dramatically worse. A deleted word turned into an entire deleted paragraph.

Thank you for your help on this topic.

Steps to Reproduce:
1. Open a .docx file in Writer with text already in it.
2. Enable track changes and make edits
3. Save the .docx fie. Close the file. Re-open the file. 

Actual Results:
Tracked changes will be significantly different.

Expected Results:
File should track changes as expected.


Reproducible: Always


User Profile Reset: Yes


OpenGL enabled: Yes

Additional Info:
This is my first time working with the updated LibreOffice. I did not have this problem in the previous version.
Comment 1 Timur 2022-02-25 17:44:12 UTC
Needed is DOCX and exact edits to make.
Comment 2 swleefers 2022-02-26 02:42:51 UTC
I have also experienced this issue, with two different .docx documents. Unfortunately, the documents are sensitive and so I cannot share them. I will try to share a dummy document if I can create one that also has this issue.

What I noticed was that many additions were 'flipped' into being seen as deletions by Writer's track changed. So I replace some words in a sentence, save the document, close it, then reopen it. What I then see is that the new words, the replacement, are now seen as words that were deleted (strikethrough). So, when I then accept all changes, I am left with half a sentence, only the part that wasn't changed, since an accepted deletion is simply removed (as it normally should be).
Comment 3 QA Administrators 2022-08-26 03:36:44 UTC Comment hidden (obsolete)
Comment 4 swleefers 2022-08-26 04:53:14 UTC
Here are steps to reproduce the issue, without requiring an existing document. The problem only occurs for me when either "Deletions in Margin" or "Insertions in Margin" is enabled.

Libre Office 7.4.0.3 (x64), Windows 10.

1. Open Writer.
2. Create a new document (File → New → Text Document).
3. Make sure "Record Track Changes" is disabled for now.
4. Type or paste any badly written text, e.g. "Hello, Misterrr Boo, how are".
5. Enable "Record Track Changes" and "Show Tracked Changes".
6. Correct the text by deleting something and inserting something, e.g. delete the extra r's in "Misterrr", and insert " you?". at the end, resulting in a correct sentence: "Hello, Mister Boo, how are you?". (Do not simply copy-paste the correct sentence over the old sentence: we need to actually make a deletion and an insertion.)
7. CRUCIAL STEP: In the little dropdown menu at View Track Changes, pick "Deletions in Margin". (It doesn't matter 
8. Save the document as a .DOCX file.
9. Close the document.
10. Reopen the file.

You will now see somewhat unpredictable data loss. The deletion "rr" has disappeared altogether. The part "Boo, how are" is marked as a deletion even though it should be marked as unchanged text. The insertion "you?" is shown as unchanged text even though it should be marked as an insertion.

If you then disable "Show Tracked Changes", you will see that it is not just a display issue: the words incorrectly marked as a deletion have actually disappeared.

The problem even occurs if you disable "Show Tracked Changes" after picking "Detetions in Margin" and before saving the document.
Comment 5 swleefers 2022-08-26 04:56:38 UTC
Oops, two (unimportant) typos in step 7: that should be "Show Tracked Changes", not "View Tracked Changes". And the "(It doesn't matter" can be ignored.
Comment 6 Justin L 2022-09-05 22:50:41 UTC
Please include the example file anyway - preferably as an ODT file so that all it takes is a file-save to reproduce the problem.
Comment 7 swleefers 2022-09-08 00:26:03 UTC
Created attachment 182295 [details]
Test document, begin at step 7 for bug reproduction (see above).

Justin, good idea. Please find the document attached. Reproduction should then begin at step 7 (see above, i.e. enable "deletions in margin").
Comment 8 Timur 2022-09-13 13:31:24 UTC
I confirm with 7.5+. Also with .doc.
Comment 9 raal 2023-11-11 17:52:01 UTC
*** Bug 158158 has been marked as a duplicate of this bug. ***
Comment 10 Francisco Pina Martins 2024-06-06 09:59:15 UTC
This bug has just gained a lot more impact now that as far as I can tell "Deletions in margin" have become default. Furthermore, I could not find the option to go back to "inline changes" in the "classic" UI, only in the "tabbed" one.
Comment 11 Francisco Pina Martins 2024-09-26 11:37:18 UTC
I just figured that toggling the tracked changes between "margins" and "inline" can be done from the "classic" UI. It is only visible in the track changes toolbar, "hidden" under the down-pointing arrow of the light-bulb icon.
I guess that makes it a bit easier to handle the workaround for this bug.