Bug 40656 - Measurement settings are separate for each module - make it to one setting LibreOffice -wide
Summary: Measurement settings are separate for each module - make it to one setting Li...
Status: RESOLVED WONTFIX
Alias: None
Product: LibreOffice
Classification: Unclassified
Component: LibreOffice (show other bugs)
Version:
(earliest affected)
Inherited From OOo
Hardware: All All
: medium enhancement
Assignee: Not Assigned
URL:
Whiteboard:
Keywords:
: 60465 116120 (view as bug list)
Depends on:
Blocks: Options-Dialog Measurement-Units
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Reported: 2011-09-06 10:46 UTC by At2010
Modified: 2021-03-22 21:17 UTC (History)
9 users (show)

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Description At2010 2011-09-06 10:46:14 UTC
I am in USA and prefer to use inches for measuring margins and tab stops. Currently, measurement selection is under the General options for a specific product (e.g. Tools/Options/LibreOffice Calc/General)

It may be better to move this section to Tools/Options/LibreOffice/Measurements or perhaps combine Language settings and Measurements into a single Locale settings page.

Thank you,
AT2010
Comment 1 Björn Michaelsen 2011-12-23 12:38:38 UTC Comment hidden (obsolete)
Comment 2 At2010 2011-12-24 13:11:41 UTC
This is a requested enhancement. 
Affects 3.4.3, 3.4.4 and 3.5.0 beta 2

Problem restatement:

 In order to change measurement units, e.g. from cm to inches, one currently has to open EVERY LO product (Writer, Calc, ...) and change the measurement unit for that specific product. There should be a global measurements option rather that individual product measurement stuck in the General tab.
Comment 3 Joel Madero 2012-06-07 22:22:38 UTC
I'll take a look at this one. My plan is to:

a) Set default measurements dependent on locale (US = "standard", else = "metric")

b) Change individual software settings to global settings
Comment 4 Rainer Bielefeld Retired 2012-06-07 22:56:05 UTC
<http://wiki.documentfoundation.org/BugReport_Details#Version>
I think this one has been inherited from OOo.

And I completely agree with intention of this request, I always felt annoyed when I had to modify measurement units again and again for each module separately.
Comment 5 Joel Madero 2012-07-27 15:48:24 UTC
I need some feedback on this one about where to place the measurement (something is going to have to move if it goes in general tab just not enough space.) I'll get this one done as soon as I get some directions
Comment 6 Joel Madero 2012-09-19 21:46:46 UTC
just an update from my side. I've done quite a bit of the change and should be done in the next 1-2 weeks (hopefully). After this I'll get the patch out and hopefully we'll see this in the next stable release. 

@At2010 - thanks for reporting this :)
Comment 7 QA Administrators 2013-07-18 19:20:31 UTC
Unfortunately I just haven't had the time to solve this bug - if I make any progress I will report back but until then setting back to default and NEW
Comment 8 Joel Madero 2013-09-06 14:34:14 UTC
*** Bug 60465 has been marked as a duplicate of this bug. ***
Comment 9 Cor Nouws 2018-01-17 13:39:35 UTC
changing summary and settings to something useful.

Apart from that: I 'm not sure that the proposed change, to make it impossible to do settings per document type, will meet applause. Adding UX-advise.
Comment 10 Thomas Lendo 2019-06-08 20:39:01 UTC
I support the idea of a global measurement unit all over the LibreOffice applications that overrules the separate unit settings in the application options (Writer, Calc, etc.).

But this setting should be optional with a checkbox and a label text like "Overrule application settings" or something descriptive. Without this checkbox checked, the global setting must be inactive.
Comment 11 Cor Nouws 2019-06-26 08:54:47 UTC
(In reply to Thomas Lendo from comment #10)
> But this setting should be optional with a checkbox and a label text like
> "Overrule application settings" or something descriptive. Without this
> checkbox checked, the global setting must be inactive.
Can you please elaborate on that Thomas?  Why would you offer that setting?
Comment 12 Heiko Tietze 2019-06-27 07:11:11 UTC
*** Bug 116120 has been marked as a duplicate of this bug. ***
Comment 13 Heiko Tietze 2021-03-09 15:42:27 UTC
Tools > Options > Writer > General > Measurement unit: [cm/in/pt...]
Tools > Options > Calc > General > Measurement unit: [cm/in/pt...]
Tools > Options > Draw > General > Unit of measurement: [cm/in/pt...]
Tools > Options > Impress > General > Unit of measurement [cm/in/pt...]

It affects the rulers, object size etc. in all modules. I don't see a blocker why we shouldn't have the option with Tools > Options > Language > Format.
Comment 14 Regina Henschel 2021-03-09 18:18:48 UTC
I disagree with a central setting. The use cases for Writer/Calc/Draw/Impress are very different. Someone might use pt in Writer, because font related things use pt, whereas in Draw he wants mm to get maximal possible precision visible. In Calc he might want to use inch to be compatible with Excel, used by his partner in USA, and in Impress unit cm might be appropriate for him to quickly recognize sizes.

The measure unit is stored in the file. The unit in Tools > Options > ... > General is coupled with the unit of the current active document. Only that the unit which was last set in the dialog is used for new documents.
Comment 15 Heiko Tietze 2021-03-18 11:08:45 UTC
We discussed the topic in the design meeting. And while I don't see any reason to have one unit here and another there like cm in Writer and pt in Draw, leading to page dimension in one module in cm and another in pt, for example- the objection to one global, language/locale-related setting was seconded in the meeting. => WF

I'd prefer a solution with one default unit and individual conversion on each control as discussed in bug 72662 (see also bug 44267 and bug 134448).
Comment 16 Luke 2021-03-18 15:54:32 UTC
(In reply to Heiko Tietze from comment #15)

> I'd prefer a solution with one default unit and individual conversion on
> each control as discussed in bug 72662 (see also bug 44267 and bug 134448).

My workflow is actually affected by this bug. I also have used tools that have UI dropdown boxes for measurement types in the dialog boxes such as GIMP like you are suggesting. This is not a solution, it’s an ugly workaround. It just shifts the micromanagement from the settings UI to culturing up *every* dialog box that contains a measurement. GIMP is notorious for having a poorly thought out UI, and choices like this, of having cluttered, inconsistent UIs, is why GIMP gets its bad UI reputation.

A far more elegant solution is to put measurement units 1 one locations with multiple classes of measurements per Bug 72662. This prevents a cluttered UI and doesn't force to user to waste time micromanaging units. 

Closing this as a won't fix is a mistake. At2010 is asking for a simplified, more intuitive UI. You're proposed solution is a cluttered UI that needlessly requires micromanagement.
Comment 17 Heiko Tietze 2021-03-19 08:01:30 UTC
(In reply to Luke from comment #16)
> A far more elegant solution is to put measurement units 1 one locations with
> multiple classes of measurements per Bug 72662. 

Please comment on this ticket.

> Closing this as a won't fix is a mistake. 

The discussion here was about moving units out of the module-specific position under view into the global language tab. Me was arguing pro with the idea of 72662 in mind.
Comment 18 Jean-Baptiste Faure 2021-03-21 08:55:32 UTC
(In reply to Heiko Tietze from comment #15)
> [...] I don't see any
> reason to have one unit here and another there like cm in Writer and pt in
> Draw [...]

cm in Writer/Calc/Impress and mm in Draw make sense to me, if you do technical drawing.

Best regards. JBF
Comment 19 Heiko Tietze 2021-03-22 08:29:58 UTC
(In reply to Jean-Baptiste Faure from comment #18)
> cm in Writer/Calc/Impress and mm in Draw make sense

Of course, but the A4 page size is still in cm. What I mean is that you need the unit more specifically than module-wise. But anyway, the request has been rejected, discussion on a per-control basis can be done on bug 72662 (and please do so; Luke has a point in comment 16).
Comment 20 At2010 2021-03-22 21:17:08 UTC
Hi all.
After almost 10 years it is fascinating to see this is still discussed. 
I respect that users need to change measurement units in the different apps. So how about this. Put an option in the general tab to initially set and optionally reset measurements to metric or imperial. Perhaps set this automatically during install based on system locale. 
Setting or resetting would "push" a configuration change to each app.
So you wouldn't need to change code in every app.
 You would still be able to set a measurement for each app. Restarting the app would use the last saved setting (no change from current behavior).

As for an initial editor page size / printer page size sure it could be set to say 8.5 x 11 for imperial or A4 for metric. But print page size is something people already change as needed. Again, no changes would be required for every app and no app behaviors would be modified. 

Take care,
At2010