Bug 169205 - FORMATTING - Calc - Formula formatting suddenly lost!
Summary: FORMATTING - Calc - Formula formatting suddenly lost!
Status: REOPENED
Alias: None
Product: LibreOffice
Classification: Unclassified
Component: Calc (show other bugs)
Version:
(earliest affected)
25.8.2.2 release
Hardware: x86-64 (AMD64) Windows (All)
: medium normal
Assignee: Not Assigned
URL:
Whiteboard:
Keywords:
Depends on:
Blocks:
 
Reported: 2025-11-02 02:23 UTC by Paul
Modified: 2025-11-04 22:59 UTC (History)
1 user (show)

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Description Paul 2025-11-02 02:23:27 UTC
All my formula formatting is suddenly gone!
I used multiple lines and spaces to make complex formulas more readable and now they're all back to a single line 😭


A simple example to show what I mean:


=IF( cond; then;
   IF( cond; then;
     IF( cond; then; else
)))


Maybe it was an update's fault?
Can this be restored in any way?
Comment 1 fpy 2025-11-02 06:49:02 UTC
"formatting" is not supported in cells.

to deal with complex formulas, the wizard is recommended 
https://help.libreoffice.org/latest/en-US/text/scalc/01/04060000.html
e.g.  https://ask.libreoffice.org/t/calc-parenthesis-highlighting/31988
Comment 2 Paul 2025-11-02 12:44:16 UTC
What, why not suddenly!?
I need indenting to quickly understand complex formulas.
The wizard isn't absolutely as clear and convenient!
I can't even glance at them in one go in it, I need to scroll multiple times.
This is a major change from older LO versions and Excel, please reconsider..
Comment 3 Ming Hua 2025-11-02 13:27:01 UTC
(In reply to Paul from comment #2)
> This is a major change from older LO versions and Excel, please reconsider..
If you want QA people's help to solve your problem, you need to provide more details.

What version of LibreOffice were you using when newlines and spaces worked in a multi-line cell?

What is your operating system, which version of Windows? Paste the information in Help > About LibreOffice.

Please provide an example spreadsheet file that worked in old versions but doesn't work now. In my own test multi-line cells saved in 25.2.6 opens fine in 25.8.3 RC1.
Comment 4 Paul 2025-11-02 13:51:16 UTC
version: 25.8.2.2 (x86_64)
build id: d401f2107ccab8f924a8e2df40f573aab7605b6f
cpu threads: 16; os: windows 10 x86_64 (build 19045); ui render: skia/raster; vcl: win
locale: it-it (c); ui: en-us
calc: cl threaded

--

The problem is that I don't know the previous LO version anymore, I just decided to update after various months. Is there a log for this somewhere?

And I can't provide examples because LO already removed all the indentation.
Btw I'm using the .xlsx format for compatibility.

Now I tried re-adding indentation in v25 and it sticks, but.. for how long? Expecially after I was told that it isn't supported anymore.
Comment 6 Paul 2025-11-03 10:37:36 UTC
Please reopen this!
That thread is by me and was before this different issue and on a previous version.
I even posted there afterwards..

--

Btw I noticed formulas on a single line even of some old unchanged spreadsheet, so it must be some different visualization method on new LO versions.
But I don't know if it actually removes the indentation when saving again.
Hopefully I can find a pc with an old version to test or retrieve the old formatting.
Comment 7 Paul 2025-11-04 22:59:08 UTC
Sadly my versions are all v25. Maybe I could downgrade LO to v24 and convert the files to .ods , but I'd need to know if the indentation is going to be preserved with this method, after updating back.