Bug 118866 - Notify when hyperlink to hidden sheet is not possible
Summary: Notify when hyperlink to hidden sheet is not possible
Status: NEW
Alias: None
Product: LibreOffice
Classification: Unclassified
Component: Calc (show other bugs)
Version:
(earliest affected)
4.1 all versions
Hardware: All All
: medium minor
Assignee: Not Assigned
URL:
Whiteboard:
Keywords:
: 157071 (view as bug list)
Depends on:
Blocks: Sheet Hyperlink-Calc
  Show dependency treegraph
 
Reported: 2018-07-21 07:54 UTC by Emil Tanev
Modified: 2025-09-28 03:11 UTC (History)
5 users (show)

See Also:
Crash report or crash signature:


Attachments
file (59.80 KB, application/vnd.openxmlformats-officedocument.spreadsheetml.sheet)
2018-07-21 07:54 UTC, Emil Tanev
Details

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Description Emil Tanev 2018-07-21 07:54:16 UTC
Created attachment 143665 [details]
file

Open the file
Hide sheet "jan"
Go back to sheet "summary"
Ctrl + mouse click on cell B2 (contains hyperlink to sheet "jan")

Issue: Navigates to sheet "feb"

https://screencast-o-matic.com/watch/cFiriHFHQi
Comment 1 Emil Tanev 2018-07-21 07:54:48 UTC
Version: 6.2.0.0.alpha0+ (x64)
Build ID: 715fcaff01ed048c52c69264a7a0fb773dd57b32
CPU threads: 1; OS: Windows 10.0; UI render: default; 
TinderBox: Win-x86_64@42, Branch:master, Time: 2018-07-21_02:21:27
Locale: en-US (en_US); Calc: group threaded
Comment 2 m_a_riosv 2018-07-21 12:12:39 UTC
Repro.
Version: 6.0.6.1 (x64)
Build ID: dc68ad6c5cde3c62874b96422f2e5e8252499bad
CPU threads: 4; OS: Windows 10.0; UI render: default; 
Locale: es-ES (es_ES); Calc: CL
Comment 3 Xisco Faulí 2018-07-23 17:31:34 UTC
Also reproduced in


Version: 4.3.0.0.alpha1+
Build ID: c15927f20d4727c3b8de68497b6949e72f9e6e9e

Version 4.1.0.0.alpha0+ (Build ID: efca6f15609322f62a35619619a6d5fe5c9bd5a)
Comment 4 QA Administrators 2019-10-28 03:29:45 UTC Comment hidden (obsolete)
Comment 5 QA Administrators 2021-10-28 04:15:01 UTC Comment hidden (obsolete)
Comment 6 Stéphane Guillou (stragu) 2023-09-19 08:22:22 UTC
*** Bug 157071 has been marked as a duplicate of this bug. ***
Comment 7 Stéphane Guillou (stragu) 2023-09-19 08:46:13 UTC
Same in recent master build:

Version: 24.2.0.0.alpha0+ (X86_64) / LibreOffice Community
Build ID: b3fdd999f87312447d03915585812b3a5cd48141
CPU threads: 8; OS: Linux 5.15; UI render: default; VCL: gtk3
Locale: en-AU (en_AU.UTF-8); UI: en-US
Calc: threaded

But what would be a preferred behaviour? An error message? Nothing? -> asking for UX/Design team opinion.

Just noting that currently, regarding hidden sheet behaviour, we have:
- Using "Sheet > Navigate > Go to sheet..." does not list the hidden sheet.
- Ctrl + Page Down / Page Up bypasses the hidden sheet too.
- "Edit > Select > Select to next / previous sheet" jumps over the hidden sheet.

Only way to show the sheet again is to use the Show Sheet dialog.
Comment 8 Heiko Tietze 2023-09-19 09:00:22 UTC
I would show the sheet and switch rather than some modification on the hyperlink to make it look like disabled or to interrupt the workflow with a message box (or less obtrusive an infobar which could OTOH provide means to show/activate the target anyway).
Comment 9 Heiko Tietze 2023-09-28 09:43:07 UTC
We discussed the topic in the design meeting.

Feasible options to solve the reasonable issue are

 a) switch anyway (and show the hidden sheet, maybe only temporarily)
    alternatively unhide the hidden sheet permanently, since the
    temporary action might be surprising
 b) show some info bar, message box, balloon tip
 c) disable the link and change the appearance accordingly

We have to consider protected sheets where switching is not an option, so a) is not applicable in all situations. The idea of c) to disable the link was rejected since it might be hard to understand for users. So what remains is b).

We suggest to go with a balloon tip since an infobar would move the sheet content downward and be rather a global information anyway than related to the actual cell/action. And the message box is too interruptive.
Comment 10 Stéphane Guillou (stragu) 2023-09-28 10:56:14 UTC
(In reply to Heiko Tietze from comment #9)
> We suggest to go with a balloon tip since an infobar would move the sheet
> content downward and be rather a global information anyway than related to
> the actual cell/action. And the message box is too interruptive.

Balloon tip that says "The linked sheet is hidden, following the link will take you to the nearest visible sheet.", with same behaviour as currently? Or inactive link with balloon tip that just says "The linked sheet is hidden."?
Comment 11 lore 2023-09-28 11:25:29 UTC
(In reply to Heiko Tietze from comment #9)
> We discussed the topic in the design meeting.
> 
> Feasible options to solve the reasonable issue are
> 
>  a) switch anyway (and show the hidden sheet, maybe only temporarily)
>     alternatively unhide the hidden sheet permanently, since the
>     temporary action might be surprising
>  b) show some info bar, message box, balloon tip
>  c) disable the link and change the appearance accordingly
> 
> We have to consider protected sheets where switching is not an option, so a)
> is not applicable in all situations. The idea of c) to disable the link was
> rejected since it might be hard to understand for users. So what remains is
> b).
> 
> We suggest to go with a balloon tip since an infobar would move the sheet
> content downward and be rather a global information anyway than related to
> the actual cell/action. And the message box is too interruptive.

I would prefer we'd go with option a) for hidden sheets and with option b) for protected sheets. There are situations where a user might want to keep sheets hidden and navigate through them with hyperlinks. Option b) alone would not help.
Comment 12 Heiko Tietze 2023-09-28 14:12:28 UTC
(In reply to Stéphane Guillou (stragu) from comment #10)
> "The linked sheet is hidden."?
This.

(In reply to lore from comment #11)
> I would prefer we'd go with option a) for hidden sheets and with option b)
> for protected sheets.
Would have been my choice too. But showing a hidden sheet might be unwanted whether protected or not, and it leads either to confusion (and implementation effort) if temporarily shown or clearly unwanted in many case being permanently shown.
Comment 13 lore 2023-09-28 16:14:06 UTC
(In reply to Heiko Tietze from comment #12)
> (In reply to Stéphane Guillou (stragu) from comment #10)
> > "The linked sheet is hidden."?
> This.
> 
> (In reply to lore from comment #11)
> > I would prefer we'd go with option a) for hidden sheets and with option b)
> > for protected sheets.
> Would have been my choice too. But showing a hidden sheet might be unwanted
> whether protected or not, and it leads either to confusion (and
> implementation effort) if temporarily shown or clearly unwanted in many case
> being permanently shown.

The confusion could be avoided by simply enabling the hidden sheet with a grayed out tab with the writing "sheet_name - hidden" or something.

Eventually there would be 3 states for a sheet:
1. Hidden
2. Shown
3. Temporarily shown -> reverts back to hidden as soon as you leave the sheet

I understand the coding effort but this would be the right solution imho, definitely not preventing the user to move to a hidden sheet by simply providing a message: that is good functionality vs no functionality at all.

Btw: the "no functionality" option is what Excel does (without even prompting a message).
Comment 14 QA Administrators 2025-09-28 03:11:44 UTC
Dear Emil Tanev,

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