Bug 158624 - text file format dialogue on save -- ODF file format?
Summary: text file format dialogue on save -- ODF file format?
Status: NEW
Alias: None
Product: LibreOffice
Classification: Unclassified
Component: Writer (show other bugs)
Version:
(earliest affected)
24.2.0.0 alpha0+
Hardware: All All
: lowest enhancement
Assignee: Not Assigned
URL:
Whiteboard:
Keywords: difficultyBeginner, easyHack, skillCpp
Depends on:
Blocks:
 
Reported: 2023-12-10 10:10 UTC by peter josvai
Modified: 2024-01-18 15:06 UTC (History)
5 users (show)

See Also:
Crash report or crash signature:


Attachments
illustration: screenshot of the dialogue (95.36 KB, image/png)
2023-12-10 10:10 UTC, peter josvai
Details

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Description peter josvai 2023-12-10 10:10:39 UTC
Created attachment 191344 [details]
illustration: screenshot of the dialogue

hi, 


this is a tiny minor thing, but could be a great improvement...

the dialogue* asks if you want to save the document in ODF file format?

Well, what we want is ODT... ODF? Never heard of :) 

Of course I understand what file format means... and I know it :) 

BUT I have the intuition that it can bewilder people EASILY...

So, even adding "(with our standard ODT extension)" could save the situation...

People shouldn't be treated as dumb, I'm not doing it either :) 

With that piece of additional info they will even learn something about file formats and extensions...


* dialogue:  when you want to save a docx or txt file


- - - - giant thanks for developing Libreoffice !! - - - -
Comment 1 V Stuart Foote 2023-12-10 13:04:02 UTC
The 'Confirm File Format' dialog text is common to all modules, and cautions save action for of any document format other than the OASIS OpenDocument Format (ODF) XML file formats. 

Don't believe that using other than ODF and providing file extension/MIME type for the ODF XML format in the dialog would improve clarity of the warning.

The ODF XML file formats are considered native to LibreOffice, and have the greatest compatibility with LibreOffice document handling, on creation and for round trip to other ODF processors.

See the OASIS pages or there is a reasonable Wiki article defining the file extensions and MIME [1][2]

IMHO => WF

=-ref-=
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/OpenDocument_technical_specification
[2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/OpenDocument
Comment 2 Stéphane Guillou (stragu) 2023-12-30 00:37:27 UTC
Maybe a better example is when saving e.g. an XSLX file: the dialog uses the following terms:
- file format "Excel 2007-365"
- default ODF file format

So there is _some_ discrepancy in that LO is specific about the current file format (i.e. the precise "Excel 2007-365" filter) but vague about the preferred filter (general "ODF" file format).

So I can see Peter's point and can imagine some benefit in using the term that users will be more familiar with (seen in UI, seen in file names), but also agree with Stuart that the gain might not be significant enough.

Let's see what the rest of the UX/Design team thinks.
Comment 3 Heiko Tietze 2024-01-02 12:00:26 UTC
Whether the extension is ODT or ODS both are ODF. I see no benefit in a more specific wording like "Use the default ODS text file format to be sure..." or "Use the default ODS spreadsheet file format to be sure...". Besides, the button would still be "Use ODF Format". And if we make the warning module-specific, wouldn't it add confusion to ordinary users to know the various types of ODF? Given that Microsoft hides extensions by default...

Btw, Microsoft is more vague and just tells you that the document may contain incompatible formatting.
Comment 4 Heiko Tietze 2024-01-18 10:22:19 UTC
We discussed the topic in the design meeting.

The label per module is welcome. We recommend to make it an addition to the existing text like:

"This document may ... file format “Rich Text (*.rtf)”. Use the default ODF file format (*.odt) to be sure that the document is saved correctly."

(*.odt, *.ods, *.odp etc. depending on the module)

This is probably an easy hack.
Comment 5 Hossein 2024-01-18 15:06:03 UTC
Yes, this is an EasyHack.

Searching for the text in the dialog box:

$ git grep "This document may contain formatting"

shows sfx2/uiconfig/ui/alienwarndialog.ui

Searching for the alienwarndialog.ui leads to:

sfx2/source/dialog/alienwarn.cxx:27

Looking into the implementation, it becomes visible that one needs to look into alienwarn.cxx and guisaveas.cxx, which are the places where the file format is set. One needs to change the invokes a little and add the file extension.