Bug 164707 - WRITER - Forced desktop switching on macOS when selecting paragraph style dropdown menu
Summary: WRITER - Forced desktop switching on macOS when selecting paragraph style dro...
Status: RESOLVED WORKSFORME
Alias: None
Product: LibreOffice
Classification: Unclassified
Component: Writer (show other bugs)
Version:
(earliest affected)
24.8.4.2 release
Hardware: All macOS (All)
: medium normal
Assignee: Not Assigned
URL:
Whiteboard:
Keywords: regression
Depends on:
Blocks:
 
Reported: 2025-01-14 11:32 UTC by Alex Thurgood
Modified: 2025-06-23 09:40 UTC (History)
0 users

See Also:
Crash report or crash signature:


Attachments
Video Screen Capture to show behaviour (11.52 MB, video/quicktime)
2025-01-14 11:45 UTC, Alex Thurgood
Details

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Description Alex Thurgood 2025-01-14 11:32:20 UTC
Description:
A very annoying regression in the behaviour of Writer when working on multiple desktops in macOS.

1) LibreOffice is assigned to a particular desktop/workspace on my macOS system (e.g. desktop 7 out of 8) - when it is started, by default the StartCenter opens in this desktop/workspace.

2) Open an existing Writer file from the Finder, in a different desktop, e.g. desktop 3

3) Click on a paragraph with the left mouse button.

4) Now, click on the arrow of the dropdown paragraph styles menu.

5)The desktop is switched automatically back to the desktop on which LO was first launched, and the user is left wondering what happened.

6)In my case, as a Base file is usually the default module that I load after starting LO, I end up being forced back to the database window, and then have to manually switch back to the desktop on which the Writer document is running in order to make the style change.

7) The behaviour repeats itself until or unless you are quick enough with the mouse to scroll down the paragraph style menu to select the style you want. Alternatively, you can select the displayed entry in that style menu by clicking in the field and scrolling with the Up/Down keys to choose the style you want to apply. 

Steps to Reproduce:
See steps provided above.

Actual Results:
Clicking on the Paragraph Style dropdown menu arrow forces desktop context switch to the default desktop to which the LO process is assigned.

Expected Results:
Clicking on the dropdown menu arrow should drop down the paragraph style menu.


Reproducible: Always


User Profile Reset: Yes

Additional Info:
Version: 24.8.3.2 (AARCH64) / LibreOffice Community
Build ID: 48a6bac9e7e268aeb4c3483fcf825c94556d9f92
CPU threads: 8; OS: macOS 15.2; UI render: default; VCL: osx
Locale: fr-FR (fr_FR.UTF-8); UI: fr-FR
Calc: threaded
Comment 1 Alex Thurgood 2025-01-14 11:36:02 UTC
The weird switching behaviour does not occur in 

Version: 7.6.7.2 (AARCH64) / LibreOffice Community
Build ID: dd47e4b30cb7dab30588d6c79c651f218165e3c5
CPU threads: 8; OS: Mac OS X 15.2; UI render: default; VCL: osx
Locale: fr-FR (fr_FR.UTF-8); UI: fr-FR
Calc: threaded
Comment 2 Alex Thurgood 2025-01-14 11:45:59 UTC
Created attachment 198533 [details]
Video Screen Capture to show behaviour

This is a video screen capture showing the abnormal behaviour of forced desktop switching.
Comment 3 Patrick (volunteer) 2025-01-14 17:43:45 UTC
Hmmm. I cannot reproduce this with LibreOffice 24.8.4. Maybe I'm doing something different than you? My second "desktop" is just a large monitor connected via HDMI:

Version: 24.8.4.2 (AARCH64) / LibreOffice Community
Build ID: bb3cfa12c7b1bf994ecc5649a80400d06cd71002
CPU threads: 8; OS: macOS 15.2; UI render: Skia/Metal; VCL: osx
Locale: en-CA (en_CA.UTF-8); UI: en-US
Calc: threaded
Comment 4 Patrick (volunteer) 2025-01-14 17:58:41 UTC
I also tried putting different Writer documents in different spaces that I setup using the Mission Control application (see the following link) but still couldn't reproduce this bug. Maybe something changed in LibreOffice 24.8.4 that affects this bug?

https://support.apple.com/en-ca/guide/mac-help/mh14112/mac
Comment 5 Alex Thurgood 2025-01-14 22:02:51 UTC
One detail that may or may not be relevant: I have assigned the desktop to the first launched module of LO via the Dock - right mouse click button on the LO application in the Dock and choose "This Desktop".
Comment 6 Patrick (volunteer) 2025-01-14 23:31:44 UTC
(In reply to Alex Thurgood from comment #5)
> One detail that may or may not be relevant: I have assigned the desktop to
> the first launched module of LO via the Dock - right mouse click button on
> the LO application in the Dock and choose "This Desktop".

OK. I can now reproduce this bug in LibreOffice 24.8.4. But I cannot reproduce it in my local master build or a recent nightly master build.
Comment 7 Patrick (volunteer) 2025-01-14 23:40:29 UTC
(In reply to Patrick (volunteer) from comment #6)
> OK. I can now reproduce this bug in LibreOffice 24.8.4. But I cannot
> reproduce it in my local master build or a recent nightly master build.

I cannot reproduce it in LibreOffice 25.2 RC1:

Version: 25.2.0.1 (AARCH64) / LibreOffice Community
Build ID: ddb2a7ea3a8857aae619555f1a8743e430e146c9
CPU threads: 8; OS: macOS 15.2; UI render: Skia/Metal; VCL: osx
Locale: en-CA (en_CA.UTF-8); UI: en-US
Calc: threaded
Comment 8 Alex Thurgood 2025-01-15 08:40:46 UTC
(In reply to Patrick (volunteer) from comment #7)


> I cannot reproduce it in LibreOffice 25.2 RC1:
> 
> Version: 25.2.0.1 (AARCH64) / LibreOffice Community
> Build ID: ddb2a7ea3a8857aae619555f1a8743e430e146c9
> CPU threads: 8; OS: macOS 15.2; UI render: Skia/Metal; VCL: osx
> Locale: en-CA (en_CA.UTF-8); UI: en-US
> Calc: threaded

Indeed, I just downloaded (beta2)

Version: 25.2.0.2 (AARCH64) / LibreOffice Community
Build ID: 62af784cc06624122f17ee71c7cf13d906cbaed0
CPU threads: 8; OS: macOS 15.2; UI render: default; VCL: osx
Locale: fr-FR (fr_FR.UTF-8); UI: en-US
Calc: threaded

and the problem is no longer reproducible in that version.

Unfortunately, 24.8 still has 3 releases to go before EOL. It would be nice if the fix, whatever it was, could be identified and backported, but I'm going to guess that that probably isn't a particularly high priority :-)
Comment 9 Patrick (volunteer) 2025-01-15 14:32:28 UTC
(In reply to Alex Thurgood from comment #8)
> Unfortunately, 24.8 still has 3 releases to go before EOL. It would be nice
> if the fix, whatever it was, could be identified and backported, but I'm
> going to guess that that probably isn't a particularly high priority :-)

Can you reproduce this bug with a 24.8 nightly build? That should have all backported bug fixes that will be included in 24.8.5. I just downloaded the 10 January 2025 build and I could not reproduce this bug:

https://dev-builds.libreoffice.org/daily/libreoffice-24-8/
Comment 10 Alex Thurgood 2025-06-23 09:40:03 UTC
Seems to be WFM with 24.8.7.2