STEPS TO REPRODUCE

0. Open LibreOffice.

1. Go to:

- Tools > Options
- LibreOffice > Advanced

2. Press the "Open Expert Configuration" button.

3. Below the search bar:

- Turn the "Show only modified preferences" checkbox ON.

ACTUAL RESULTS

The list shows:

- Many "blank" categories
  - = BUG!
- Many "not bold"/unchanged settings
  - = BUG!
- Along with many "bold"/changed settings.
  - = CORRECT

EXPECTED RESULTS

The list to ONLY SHOW:

- The actual "bold"/changed settings
- Categories/subcategories with "bold"/changed settings

For example, the very first category:

Checkbox OFF:

- org.openoffice.VCL
 - Settings
  - WM
   - org.openoffice.VCL:ConfigurableSettings['WM']
  - Menu
   - org.openoffice.VCL:ConfigurableSettings['Menu']
  - Transfer
   - org.openoffice.VCL:ConfigurableSettings['Transfer']

Checkbox ON:

- org.openoffice.VCL
 - Settings
  - WM
    - Menu
    - Transfer
    - PrintDialog
    - DesktopManagement

Expected:

The entire "org.openoffice.VCL" category to not appear at all, because it looks like all those settings/subcategories are unmodified!

- - -

Full 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: Skia/Vulkan; VCL: win
Locale: en-US (en_US); UI: en-US
Calc: threaded

and same in last week's 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

- - -

NOTE 1:

It seems like this is only an issue with a completely BLANK "Search" box.

In "Search", if you type in an example search like:

- Transfer
- Font
- Menu

the checkbox works as intended, and only "bold"/changed things appear.

So there's some sort of strange interaction between:

- BLANK "Search" box + "Show only modified" ON
- Expert Settings with a BLANK "Value" column

- - -

USE-CASE

I was actually trying to debug something—looking for a difference between my "normal install" and my "Safe Mode" install—and I wanted to look at "all modified settings" and see if I could spot some sort of potential advanced setting that might explain my strange bug.