Bug 169170 - Add "Links to External Files" (.uno:EditLinks) to the tabbed UI
Summary: Add "Links to External Files" (.uno:EditLinks) to the tabbed UI
Status: NEW
Alias: None
Product: LibreOffice
Classification: Unclassified
Component: Calc (show other bugs)
Version:
(earliest affected)
25.8.2.2 release
Hardware: All All
: medium enhancement
Assignee: Not Assigned
URL:
Whiteboard:
Keywords: difficultyBeginner, easyHack, skillDesign
Depends on:
Blocks: Notebookbar-Tabbed Calc-External-Datalink
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Reported: 2025-10-31 11:54 UTC by Florian
Modified: 2025-11-11 11:06 UTC (History)
4 users (show)

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Crash report or crash signature:


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Description Florian 2025-10-31 11:54:00 UTC
Description:
I'm not able to create an external link to i.e. a csv file.

Steps to Reproduce:
1. open an new spreadsheet
2. 'External Links' Dialog (Sheet -> External links || Data -> External Links)
3. Browse... -> choose CSV file
4. csv Import dialog -> OK
5. (optional) activate 'Update every...' checkbox
5. OK

Actual Results:
- Data appears in spreadsheet, but is NOT LINKED
- Opening 'External Links' again -> empty
- Data does not update


Expected Results:
- Preserve link to external document
- list the link in 'External Links'
- Update data if 'Update every...' checkbox activated


Reproducible: Always


User Profile Reset: Yes

Additional Info:
What I've tried to mitigate:
- Complete reinstall (`apt purge libreoffice\*` AND remove every libreoffice folder found in `/usr` and `/home/username/`)
- default settings
Comment 1 raal 2025-10-31 14:15:30 UTC
Works for me in Version: 25.8.0.0.alpha1+ (X86_64) / LibreOffice Community
Build ID: 85fe6ee7440d871214cbd894e90f934e3ba6f208
CPU threads: 4; OS: Linux 6.8; UI render: default; VCL: gtk3
Locale: cs-CZ (cs_CZ.UTF-8); UI: en-US
Calc: threaded

Look at Edit > Link to external files
Comment 2 Regina Henschel 2025-11-01 00:33:28 UTC
(In reply to Florian from comment #0)

> Actual Results:
> - Data appears in spreadsheet, but is NOT LINKED
> - Opening 'External Links' again -> empty

You cannot see it in Sheet > External Links, but look in Edit > Links to external files.

> - Data does not update

Edit > Links to external files has an "Update" button to force an update. Save and Reload will update the links too. Or set the timer when you create the link.
Comment 3 Florian 2025-11-02 12:38:03 UTC
Using the Menu-style user interface: Edit -> Links to external files
does indeed work!

However: What about the tabbed interface:
- I cannot find that Button/Option
- Shouldn't 'External Links' provide exactly this function?
Comment 4 Regina Henschel 2025-11-02 14:17:07 UTC
So this is a request to add "Links to External Files" (.uno:EditLinks) to the tabbed user interface. I support this. We have the "Refresh" command for "Data Provider". The UI should provide an Update/Refresh/Manage/Edite (however it might be called) for the other link types too. An alternative would be to allow customizing the notebook bar. However, that is something for the UX-team.

As immediate solution for you, you could assign a shortcut key to this command. Keyboard shortcuts are customizable and work in notebook bar UI as well.
Comment 5 Regina Henschel 2025-11-02 14:49:30 UTC
(In reply to Florian from comment #3)
> - Shouldn't 'External Links' provide exactly this function?

It is only for creating and modifying. The "Modify" button in "Links to External Files..." calls this dialog too. But you are right, perhaps it would be good to have a separate "Update external link" command.

BTW, you can add the "Links to External Files..." command to the context menu of a cell as well.
Comment 6 Heiko Tietze 2025-11-07 09:25:58 UTC
Code pointer: sc/uiconfig/scalc/ui/notebookbar.ui
Comment 7 Heiko Tietze 2025-11-07 09:30:41 UTC
We do not have an icon for .uno:EditLinks and the text is quite long (and misleading) for the tool/notebookbar.
Comment 8 Florian 2025-11-11 11:06:57 UTC
(In reply to Regina Henschel from comment #4)
> So this is a request to add "Links to External Files" (.uno:EditLinks) to
> the tabbed user interface. I support this. We have the "Refresh" command for
> "Data Provider". The UI should provide an Update/Refresh/Manage/Edite
> (however it might be called) for the other link types too. An alternative
> would be to allow customizing the notebook bar. However, that is something
> for the UX-team.
> 
> As immediate solution for you, you could assign a shortcut key to this
> command. Keyboard shortcuts are customizable and work in notebook bar UI as
> well.

Thanks for your workaround, that indeed works.

However:
It looks like you understand my point, I'm trying to reiterate:
Having a button in the tabbed UI that is called "external links", I would assume that it would indeed take me to (all) existing external links, as well as allow me to create new ones.

I would argue, that this button should work like regular UI Edit -> Links to external files.

Thanks for your responses,
BR