Bug 164838 - Broken Dark Application Theme (Flatpak build)
Summary: Broken Dark Application Theme (Flatpak build)
Status: NEEDINFO
Alias: None
Product: LibreOffice
Classification: Unclassified
Component: UI (show other bugs)
Version:
(earliest affected)
24.8.4.2 release
Hardware: x86-64 (AMD64) Linux (All)
: medium normal
Assignee: Sahil Gautam
URL:
Whiteboard:
Keywords:
Depends on:
Blocks: UI-Theming
  Show dependency treegraph
 
Reported: 2025-01-24 08:19 UTC by domspar500
Modified: 2025-06-19 20:47 UTC (History)
7 users (show)

See Also:
Crash report or crash signature:


Attachments
Dark text on dark page on dark background (190.69 KB, image/png)
2025-02-10 09:55 UTC, Feike
Details
some elements don't play ball (110.23 KB, image/png)
2025-02-10 10:02 UTC, Feike
Details
pre-print example, afdrukvoorbeeld, does something funky (100.61 KB, image/png)
2025-02-10 10:06 UTC, Feike
Details
how it looks now, (518.04 KB, image/png)
2025-05-22 11:34 UTC, Feike
Details

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Description domspar500 2025-01-24 08:19:47 UTC
Description:
Dark application theme won't work anymore. It's always light (except for the icons). 

Steps to Reproduce:
1.Set LibreOffice to automatic theme
2.Enable dark system theme
3.Open LibreOffice

Actual Results:
The icons change to the dark theme, but the toolbar and all UI elements are light. 

Expected Results:
Should be dark like it was before


Reproducible: Always


User Profile Reset: No

Additional Info:
This is only a problem with the Flatpak. Before the Flatpak never had a problem with the dark theme. I switched to the Snap (v. 24.8.3.2) because the dark theme works there. I prefer Flatpaks though. 
Also, I'm running Ubuntu 24.10 with up-to-date at time of writing.
Comment 1 Feike 2025-02-10 09:52:36 UTC
When I reproduce:
1.A. set the Libreoffice theme to automatic
1.B. close Libreoffice
2. enable dark system theme in Cosmic-settings
3. re-open libreoffice

Actual result:
The ui ellements are in white theme, but the page is totally black. The background is black and the text written is black. So, I isn't written "black-on-white" but "black-on-black" → un-usable!
Comment 2 Feike 2025-02-10 09:55:19 UTC
Created attachment 199102 [details]
Dark text on dark page on dark background
Comment 3 Feike 2025-02-10 10:02:17 UTC
Created attachment 199103 [details]
some elements don't play ball
Comment 4 Feike 2025-02-10 10:03:28 UTC
So I changed the settings back to light theme, because of the bug, but some elements don't play ball...
Comment 5 Feike 2025-02-10 10:06:06 UTC
Created attachment 199104 [details]
pre-print example, afdrukvoorbeeld, does something funky
Comment 6 Feike 2025-02-10 10:07:15 UTC
When I close pre-print example, (afdrukvoorbeeld), the page is black on black again...
Comment 7 Sahil Gautam 2025-02-11 10:04:14 UTC
@Feike can you reproduce this issue on some desktop environment other than cosmic desktop env? i have been trying to reproduce this for the last three hours, but no luck. i use void linux with DWM, so I installed gnome to test it. after many attempts with gnome's settings, lxappearance, nwg-look, i couldn't change the desktop env theme to light theme, i tried kde-plasma, and changing the DE theme to light doesn't change the flatpak application's theme (which is expected as flatpak LO uses gtk whereas plasma is qt based).

then i tried to reproduce it in an ubuntu vm, no luck there either. will try it again in my free time later :). tagging @buovjaga.
Comment 8 VBB 2025-03-07 12:23:15 UTC
I can reproduce it on fedora workstation. I also filled this issue in flathub repo: https://github.com/flathub/org.libreoffice.LibreOffice/issues/316
Comment 9 Sahil Gautam 2025-03-07 12:50:37 UTC
(In reply to VBB from comment #8)
> I can reproduce it on fedora workstation. I also filled this issue in
> flathub repo:
> https://github.com/flathub/org.libreoffice.LibreOffice/issues/316

I recently fixed this issue for other platforms (patch https://gerrit.libreoffice.org/c/core/+/182263). the fix will be out in the next release of 25.2. I am yet to test it for flatpak (if this patch solves the issue for flatpak or not)
Comment 10 VBB 2025-05-20 07:58:17 UTC
Tested on another machine which has libreoffice installed as f42 package. This version is affected by this bug `libreoffice-writer-25.2.3.2-1.fc42.x86_64` ☹️
Comment 11 VBB 2025-05-20 08:11:29 UTC
I see there is a new `Appearance` tab where you can change document background color, which by default is Automatic, in my case it's dark gray. IMO it needs a a better default value, solid white. Same on flatpak build (25.2.3.2)
Comment 12 VBB 2025-05-20 08:22:21 UTC
Oh sorry haven't checked this issue in a while and forgot what it's about. An issue about sheet and window background being pitch black doesn't occur on my side anymore and what I described in comment 11 is https://bugs.documentfoundation.org/show_bug.cgi?id=166063.
Comment 13 Buovjaga 2025-05-20 08:53:08 UTC
(In reply to Sahil Gautam (allotropia) from comment #7)
> @Feike can you reproduce this issue on some desktop environment other than
> cosmic desktop env? i have been trying to reproduce this for the last three
> hours, but no luck. i use void linux with DWM, so I installed gnome to test
> it. after many attempts with gnome's settings, lxappearance, nwg-look, i
> couldn't change the desktop env theme to light theme, i tried kde-plasma,
> and changing the DE theme to light doesn't change the flatpak application's
> theme (which is expected as flatpak LO uses gtk whereas plasma is qt based).
> 
> then i tried to reproduce it in an ubuntu vm, no luck there either. will try
> it again in my free time later :). tagging @buovjaga.

I noticed Feike was not in Cc, so missed this question.

Per comment 12, maybe we can close this report. What does the original reporter, domspar500, think?
Comment 14 Feike 2025-05-22 11:31:37 UTC
First of all, I'm sorry to hear you spent 3 hours trying to replicate a bug, I might have not specified the conditions of enough.I mean maybe you could replicate because my bug filing was to fague. But I digress,

I shall try if the bug is still there,

Yes it is still there, some variation of the following factors created the bug:
I installed Fedora KDE;
KDE uses the Breeze icon set by default;
I installed the Libreoffice flatpak, it chose the Breeze iconset (probably because it has been set as the default);
I installed and run the cosmic desktop, and selected on it the day/light cycle (at daytime the white theme, and at night the dark theme);
it went dark outside;
the Libreoffice app went dark, as intended;
at the time I filed the bug the page where you type your document on went also black with black text, so you couldn't see what you were typing, but I can't replicate that right now, so it's fine on my end;
now, only the Breeze icons get unreadable because of the dark UI (see screenshot-2025-05-22).
So, the fix is quite simple: go to `Extra` → `Options` → `Libreoffice` → `View` or `Appearance` (whatever the English translation is) → `Icon theme` and set it to "Sifr (dark)" or "Elementry".

I hope this helps.

Greetings,
Feike Donia,
feikedonia@proton.me
Comment 15 Feike 2025-05-22 11:34:37 UTC
Created attachment 200910 [details]
how it looks now,
Comment 16 Feike 2025-05-22 11:37:01 UTC
BTW, the Libreoffice flatpak doesn't automatically from the light to the dark theme following the day/night switch from the desktop theme.
Comment 17 Buovjaga 2025-05-22 12:38:22 UTC
(In reply to Feike from comment #16)
> BTW, the Libreoffice flatpak doesn't automatically from the light to the
> dark theme following the day/night switch from the desktop theme.

And the non-flatpak version does?