Description: In the Tabbed notebook bar interface (specifically "Tabbed", not "Tabbed Compact"), form controls use a contextual tab system similar to tables. However, there's a critical usability issue: - When form editing/design mode is ON and you click a form control, a "Forms" contextual tab appears in the contextual "Table" tab) - When form editing mode is OFF and you click a form control, NO contextual tab appears - This makes it impossible to enable form editing mode from the form control itself - The only way to enable editing mode is through View > Toolbars > Form Controls and then immediately click on editing mode This issue is specific to "Tabbed" interface. "Tabbed Compact" and other notebook bar variants work correctly by showing the Form Controls toolbar. This happens in Writer and Draw Steps to Reproduce: 1. Open LibreOffice Writer or Draw 2. Switch to Tabbed interface: View > User Interface > Tabbed (NOT Tabbed Compact) 3. Insert a form control (you may need to use Standard interface first to insert it) 4. Ensure form edit/design mode is OFF 5. Click on the form control in the document 6. Observe: No Forms contextual tab appears (unlike clicking a table which shows Table tab) 7. Try to find any way to enable edit/design mode - there is none in the interface **For comparison (working scenario):** 1. With edit mode already ON (enabled via another UI mode) 2. Click form control - Forms tab appears correctly 3. Click table - Table tab appears 4. Click form again - Forms tab reappears 5. But once edit mode is turned OFF, you cannot re-enable it Actual Results: - Forms contextual tab appears ONLY when already in edit mode - When edit mode is OFF, clicking form provides no contextual tab - No way to enable edit mode from Tabbed interface when starting with it OFF - User is stuck unable to edit forms Expected Results: 1. Forms contextual tab should appear when ANY form control is clicked, regardless of edit mode 2. Forms tab should always be visible when document contains form controls 3. Edit mode toggle should be available in a permanent location (e.g., Insert tab or Tools tab) 4. Right-click on form control should offer "Edit Form" option Reproducible: Always User Profile Reset: Yes Additional Info: Version: 25.2.3.2 (X86_64) / LibreOffice Community Build ID: 520(Build:2) CPU threads: 8; OS: Linux 6.12; UI render: default; VCL: gtk3 Locale: de-DE (de_DE.UTF-8); UI: de-DE Debian package version: 4:25.2.3-2+deb13u2 Calc: threaded
See also here: https://ask.libreoffice.org/t/toolbars-disappear/68060/5
I can reproduce in Version: 25.8.2.2 (X86_64) Build ID: d401f2107ccab8f924a8e2df40f573aab7605b6f CPU threads: 32; OS: Windows 11 X86_64 (build 26100); UI render: Skia/Vulkan; VCL: win Locale: en-US (en_US); UI: en-US Calc: CL threaded There is no way to edit forms in tabbed interface if you are not already in design mode when you switch to tabbed.