Bug 170174 - Ambiguous wording in comparison dialog (“Compare to Original Document”) – unclear which document is considered the “original”
Summary: Ambiguous wording in comparison dialog (“Compare to Original Document”) – unc...
Status: UNCONFIRMED
Alias: None
Product: LibreOffice
Classification: Unclassified
Component: Writer (show other bugs)
Version:
(earliest affected)
25.8.4.2 release
Hardware: All All
: medium normal
Assignee: Not Assigned
URL:
Whiteboard: QA:needsComment
Keywords:
Depends on:
Blocks:
 
Reported: 2025-12-30 20:57 UTC by KiR
Modified: 2026-01-15 03:13 UTC (History)
0 users

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Description KiR 2025-12-30 20:57:36 UTC
Description:
In Writer, when comparing two documents via "Edit > Track Changes > Compare Document...", a dialog opens allowing the user to choose the file to compare with the one currently open.

The current source English string shown in the file picker dialog is: “Compare to Original Document”.

This wording is ambiguous. It is unclear which document is considered the “original document”:
a) Is the "original document" the one that is already open in Writer (and the user is supposed to select the document to compare against the original currently open)?
b) Or is the "original document" the one the user is about to select (and the user is supposed to select the original document to compare with the currently open document)?

Because the English source does not specify which document is the baseline (the earlier/original version), the ambiguity affects all translations, including French.

I would suggest something that makes the intent explicit, e.g. "Select the original to compare with the open file.".

Steps to Reproduce:
1. Compare your Writer document to another one: go to Edit > Track Changes > Compare Document...
2. Read the string shown in the file picker dialog: "Compare to Original Document".
3. Try to understand wether you should select the original document or the recent version.

Actual Results:
You'll have to open the documentation or go blind on this one.

Expected Results:
You should be able to understand which document is expected to be selected


Reproducible: Always


User Profile Reset: No

Additional Info:
Of course, it is expected that you compare the version you are working on with a previous version, and that the version you are working on will be already open because... well because you're working on it! But not everybody will think that way, I still hesitate when I have to use that tool. And some use cases could get even more troubling, like in cases where there is a doubt about the version you're handling (i.e. with a cloud sync issue) or when comparing two documents that are on different branches (i.e. two contributions to that original document from different authors).
Comment 1 KiR 2025-12-30 20:59:55 UTC
Sorry, I forgot to specify: string is "STR_PB_COMPAREDOC" (LibreOffice UI - master/sfx2/messages).
Comment 2 KiR 2025-12-31 14:52:58 UTC
While sending this bug report, I did not realize that my email address would be public. I replaced it in my account with an alias that can be published. Would it be possible to remove my private e-mail address from this thread and use the alias instead? Many thanks and sorry for the inconvenience!