Description: # See info (I was not the original author): https://ask.libreoffice.org/t/boundary-box-of-objects-in-impress-not-visible/10735 TLDR: Gray dashed bounding not shown for unselected text boxes (problem 1) or multiple text boxes are selected (problem 2). See attached files. Big feature request - I would love this feature soo much! It is the most relevant point I miss from MS PowerPoint. Two problems/suggestions: 1. If I create a new file from the suggested templates of LO, there are usually some standard text boxes (for heading, bullet point lists, ...). They have a gray dashed border, even if not selected. However, if I copy those text boxes and modify their font/font size or insert a text into them, they lose the property of having a gray dashed boundary box/border any more. This feature of having a gray border even if not selected is really useful to align object (snapping also works, but the gray dashed border is a big visual aid). 2. When multiple text boxes are selected, they neither have the blue selection frames nor the gray dashed border (only the 8 points). If I drag the objects to another place with my mouse, the gray dashed border becomes visible. It would be really helpful though, if this gray dashed border is also visible when the objects are not dragged, just to confirm, how many items I selected or if I selected all of them. Summary: It would be really helpful if this gray bounding border is shown in any case by default (if multiple boxes are selected or no selection is made at all). I hope "LibreOffice" is the correct selected component here in the bug report (or is it framework, graphics stack, UI, sdk?). Sorry I am not a developer. Steps to Reproduce: 1. Create new file 2. Create a new text frame (F2 or insert/...) or by copying a template text field 3. Insert text into the text field Actual Results: The text field does not show any bounding box, when not selected or when multiple text fields are selected. Expected Results: There should be a grey dashed bounding box, if multiple items are selected or even if none are selected. Reproducible: Always User Profile Reset: Yes Additional Info: Summary: It would be really helpful if this gray bounding border is shown in any case by default (if multiple boxes are selected or no selection is made at all).
Created attachment 180780 [details] Example office file
Created attachment 180781 [details] Problem 1 Just a screenshot of the example office file (if this could not be read).
Created attachment 180782 [details] Problem 2 Just a screenshot of the example office file (if this could not be read).
This sounds useful. I'm not sure if they should be the default, but we could have an option in the View menu to enable/disable them. This could be similar to what we have in Writer for viewing Table / Text Boundaries.
Sounds like a regression, if it worked before.
Looking at the stated problem 1 (we only accept one issue per report) I'm getting conflicting results. If I copy and paste the box with the dashed border line style, it works fine in my stable build and various bibisect repo builds. However, with my own build and the Windows tinderbox build, the location of the paste is different (not on top of the copied box) and the line style is gone. Setting to NEW for now. Arch Linux 64-bit, X11 Version: 7.6.0.0.alpha0+ (X86_64) / LibreOffice Community Build ID: cf734427550f1a42f8ac669378719a1cad617bbb CPU threads: 8; OS: Linux 6.1; UI render: default; VCL: kf5 (cairo+xcb) Locale: fi-FI (fi_FI.UTF-8); UI: en-US Calc: threaded Built on 19 January 2023
interestingly, I noticed today that formatting of objects is preserved when copy>paste to another file. So I tested this one in Version: 25.2.0.0.alpha0+ (X86_64) / LibreOffice Community Build ID: d8c694b5d64b05da8c515e4ffe23c4bcc2376b0f CPU threads: 8; OS: Linux 5.15; UI render: default; VCL: gtk3 Locale: en-US (en_US.UTF-8); UI: en-US Calc: threaded and it works fine there. will attach a screenshot
Created attachment 195363 [details] screenshot with result copy from file 2 to file 1