Bug 168488 - "Character Style" Sidebar: Can't "Edit Style..." in certain cases
Summary: "Character Style" Sidebar: Can't "Edit Style..." in certain cases
Status: UNCONFIRMED
Alias: None
Product: LibreOffice
Classification: Unclassified
Component: Writer (show other bugs)
Version:
(earliest affected)
25.8.1.1 release
Hardware: All All
: medium normal
Assignee: Not Assigned
URL:
Whiteboard:
Keywords:
Depends on:
Blocks:
 
Reported: 2025-09-20 08:00 UTC by Tex2002ans
Modified: 2025-09-26 15:12 UTC (History)
3 users (show)

See Also:
Crash report or crash signature:


Attachments
Emphasis.Character.Style.-.Test.Sidebar.odt (9.97 KB, application/vnd.oasis.opendocument.text)
2025-09-20 08:00 UTC, Tex2002ans
Details

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Description Tex2002ans 2025-09-20 08:00:39 UTC
Created attachment 202911 [details]
Emphasis.Character.Style.-.Test.Sidebar.odt

STEPS TO REPRODUCE

0. Open attachment.

1. In Writer, turn ON:

- Format > Spotlight > Character Styles

2. In the document:

- Highlight the red word "highlight".

3. In the sidebar:

- Right-Click on the "Emphasis" Character Style.

BUG: See "Edit Style..." is grayed out.

- - -

ACTUAL

You can't Right-Click > "Edit Style..." while text inside a Character Style is selected.

EXPECTED

You should be able to Right-Click > "Edit Style..." in the sidebar any time.

And you can even follow above, with:

2A. In the document:

- Left-Click elsewhere in the sentence.

3A. In the sidebar:

- Right-Click on the "Emphasis" Character Style.

and you'll see NO BUG: "Edit Style..." is now black and fully selectable again.

- - -

Tested in:

Version: 25.8.1.1 (X86_64)
Build ID: 54047653041915e595ad4e45cccea684809c77b5
CPU threads: 8; OS: Windows 11 X86_64 (build 22631); UI render: Skia/Vulkan; VCL: win
Locale: en-US (en_US); UI: en-US
Calc: threaded

It DOES NOT OCCUR in recent master (2025-09-12):

Version: 26.2.0.0.alpha0+ (X86_64) / LibreOffice Community
Build ID: b33cc5a7388c1739ff4a02a84751800f3e3086ce
CPU threads: 8; OS: Windows 11 X86_64 (build 22631); UI render: Skia/Vulkan; VCL: win
Locale: en-US (en_US); UI: en-US
Calc: CL threaded

- - -

USE-CASE

I ran across this as I was cleaning up some text.

I was highlighting the 1st word "emphasis", trying to then:

- Left-Click to apply the "Emphasis" Character Style
- AND then immediately trying to change its formatting (highlight/color/font) also.

- - -

NOTE #1

It looks like it may have something to do with the sidebar "highlighting" which Style you're currently in.

If your cursor is inside:

- Text with 0 Character Styles = the "Edit Style..." works fine.
   - Like the word "emphasis".
- Text with a Character Style = the "Edit Style..." is grayed out.
   - Like the word "highlight".

or if you are highlighting:

- Large chunks of text = the "Edit Style..." works fine.
   - Like the 4 words "used to highlight text".
- Text fully within a Character Style = the "Edit Style..." is grayed out.
   - Like the "high" in "highlight".

NOTE #2

It looks like the Paragraph Style sidebar works fine. You can always Right-Click > "Edit Style..." in the sidebar no matter which combination/selections I did.

It's only this Character Style sidebar that is acting strangely...
Comment 1 V Stuart Foote 2025-09-20 11:33:34 UTC
Can not confirm with STR.

Able to select full word with CS (double click or click-drag) in paragraph. Also selecting just part of the CS word.

With any word selection, the active CS shifts to the applied style, and its right-click "Edit Style" is available and launches the correct Character Style dialog.

Version: 25.8.1.1 (X86_64)
Build ID: 54047653041915e595ad4e45cccea684809c77b5
CPU threads: 28; OS: Windows 11 X86_64 (build 26100); UI render: Skia/Vulkan; VCL: win
Locale: en-US (en_US); UI: en-US
Calc: CL threaded
Comment 2 Tex2002ans 2025-09-20 14:35:41 UTC
Hmmm... strange.

I also COULD NOT reproduce on my original 25.8.1 with "Safe Mode".

Here's that Safe Mode "Help > About LibreOffice" info:

Version: 25.8.1.1 (X86_64)
Build ID: 54047653041915e595ad4e45cccea684809c77b5
CPU threads: 8; OS: Windows 11 X86_64 (build 22631); UI render: default; VCL: win
Locale: en-US (en_US); UI: en-US
Calc: threaded

- - -

But I still get the issue in my normal install... hmmm...

No strange Extensions or anything (just the default ones that come with LibreOffice).
Comment 3 BogdanB 2025-09-26 15:12:56 UTC
I can NOT reproduce
Version: 25.8.3.0.0+ (X86_64) / LibreOffice Community
Build ID: d1e0f1ca1d9bbb810018df753f9529d3044c2f59
CPU threads: 16; OS: Linux 6.14; UI render: default; VCL: gtk3
Locale: en-US (en_US.UTF-8); UI: en-US
Calc: threaded