Bug 153176 - Improving tab handling in pasting
Summary: Improving tab handling in pasting
Status: NEEDINFO
Alias: None
Product: LibreOffice
Classification: Unclassified
Component: Impress (show other bugs)
Version:
(earliest affected)
7.6.2.1 release
Hardware: x86-64 (AMD64) macOS (All)
: medium enhancement
Assignee: Not Assigned
URL:
Whiteboard:
Keywords: needsUXEval
Depends on:
Blocks:
 
Reported: 2023-01-24 09:37 UTC by Vincent Boudry
Modified: 2025-02-07 17:12 UTC (History)
2 users (show)

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Crash report or crash signature:


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Description Vincent Boudry 2023-01-24 09:37:15 UTC
Description:
Pasting some text with tabs for indents could be improved in the pasting in impress plan and normal modes.
With formatting (standard mode) the tabs are ignored.
In special mode (unformatted), the tabs are inserted as text.
I am missing a mode in which the tab indent the text.

Steps to Reproduce:
0. Copy the text :

1st level 1
1st level 2
	2nd level
		3rd level 1
		3rd level 2
	2nd level 2
1st level 3

1. Create a new presentation
1.1 Display > Plan Mode
1.2 Paste the text (Ctrl-V) in the plan

2. Create a new presentation
2.1 Display > Plan Mode
2.1 Paste the text as special > unformatted in the plan

3. Create a new presentation
3.1 Create a new page with a simple content frame, click on it
3.2 Paste the text (Ctrl-V) in the frame

4. Create a new presentation
4.1 Create a new page with a simple content frame, click on it
4.2 Paste the text as special > unformatted in the frame


Actual Results:
Results from 1.2 (and 3.2): 7 pages (bullets) are created with titles (bullets)
1st level 1
1st level 2
2nd level
3rd level 1
3rd level 2
2nd level 2
1st level 3

Results from 2.2 (4.2): 7 pages (bullets) are created with titles (bullets)
1st level 1
1st level 2
	2nd level
		3rd level 1
		3rd level 2
	2nd level 2
1st level 3


Expected Results:
Expected 1.2 (and maybe 2.2):
3 pages created with titles "1st level1, 2, 3" and on the 2nd page a bullet list  with 
 - 2nd level 
   - 3rd level 1
   - 3rd level 2
 - 2nd level 2

Expected 3.2 (and maybe 4.2) : a bullet list like
    • 1st level 1
    • 1st level 2
        ◦ 2nd level 2
            ▪ 3rd level 1
            ▪ 3rd level 2
        ◦ 2nd level 2
    • 1st level 3


Reproducible: Always


User Profile Reset: No

Additional Info:
None.
Comment 1 Stéphane Guillou (stragu) 2023-04-28 21:44:13 UTC
Can you please share your version information from Help > About LibreOffice?

And for anyone wondering, "plan" view is the "outline" view in French.

Thank you
Comment 2 QA Administrators 2023-10-26 03:14:56 UTC Comment hidden (obsolete)
Comment 3 Vincent Boudry 2023-10-26 17:32:17 UTC
Version: 7.6.2.1 (X86_64) / LibreOffice Community
Build ID: 56f7684011345957bbf33a7ee678afaf4d2ba333
CPU threads: 4; OS: Mac OS X 13.6; UI render: default; VCL: osx
Locale: fr-FR (fr_FR.UTF-8); UI: fr-FR
Calc: threaded
Comment 4 Stéphane Guillou (stragu) 2025-02-06 19:04:33 UTC
So there is at least two different requests here:

A. (option to) paste text with tabulations understood as document structure in Outline mode (i.e. non-tabulated is slide heading, tabulated is content in slide)

B. Pasted tabulated plain text is automatically converted to bulleted list in slide contents.

Bug reports / enhancement requests should only describe one issue or feature.

My personal opinion is that (A) contains too many assumptions on what the users desires when pasting such text in the Outline view, and (B) is more realistic but still again assumes a lot: what if the user does not want bullets? What if the user wants a numbered list instead?

Vicent, please pick one enhancement to focus on, and clarify why you think these assumptions can be made when pasting such data.

Copying UX/Design team in.

(Also note that for me, the result of 1.2 is different: tabs are kept when pasted. I tested with:

Version: 25.8.0.0.alpha0+ (X86_64) / LibreOffice Community
Build ID: 62dd6274c71bc840f5c5abcd4b1fa536238aa25d
CPU threads: 8; OS: Linux 6.8; UI render: default; VCL: gtk3
Locale: en-AU (en_AU.UTF-8); UI: en-US
Calc: CL threaded

)
Comment 5 Vincent Boudry 2025-02-07 17:12:44 UTC
I am surprised that this should be two separated options, 
but as a user, I am not familiar with the underlying code.
Maybe this was posted on the wrong board.

On my template, which uses bullets, when I type the text from step 0. in the outline mode, it follows the formatting, i.e. if there are bullets it will create bullets. The very same in Normal mode.

So my basic is need is: to have a paste function that mimics the text typed by hand. Be it optional.



This is particularly useful when importing the structure of a presentation using a mind mapping application, or a markup language.


In the current situation, not only the tabs are not interpreted, but they prevent future interpretation (as lines not staring with a bullet or numeration will not be indented by a tab). This leads to an extensive edition to correct the pasted text.