Bug 48942 - FORMATTING: Page Header Same Content
Summary: FORMATTING: Page Header Same Content
Status: RESOLVED NOTABUG
Alias: None
Product: LibreOffice
Classification: Unclassified
Component: Writer (show other bugs)
Version:
(earliest affected)
3.4.4 release
Hardware: Other All
: high minor
Assignee: Not Assigned
URL:
Whiteboard: BSA
Keywords:
Depends on:
Blocks:
 
Reported: 2012-04-19 18:52 UTC by dbeal.alt
Modified: 2014-09-06 15:50 UTC (History)
9 users (show)

See Also:
Crash report or crash signature:


Attachments
a new blank Word '97 doc to demo header/footer setting bug (9.00 KB, application/msword)
2012-09-11 21:42 UTC, Ken
Details

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Description dbeal.alt 2012-04-19 18:52:45 UTC
Problem description: 

The header does not keep content different when "same content-left/right" is selected, rather odd and even numbered pages remain the same.

Steps to reproduce:
1. Create a document with 3 or more pages
2. Open the page formatting window.  Go to the "header" tab
3. Turn on the header, and turn off "same content left/right"
4. Return to the document.  Try to set each page to a different header.
5. Look over the pages again.  Notice how the "odds" and "evens" remain the same

Current behavior:

When more than 3 pages exist, the odds retain the same page header, same with the evens.

Expected behavior:

All headers will remain different when changed.

Platform (if different from the browser): 
              
Browser: Mozilla/5.0 (X11; Linux x86_64) AppleWebKit/535.19 (KHTML, like Gecko) Ubuntu/11.10 Chromium/18.0.1025.142 Chrome/18.0.1025.142 Safari/535.19
Comment 1 juliemiller1 2012-05-10 17:12:53 UTC
I'd like to see a fix for this as well. Older versions of Writer allowed me to use different headers for the first page, and then all consecutive pages (which is required for APA style research papers). This does not appear to be possible anymore--the document only saves one header style.
Comment 2 Ken 2012-06-14 11:05:30 UTC
I think this might be the same bug I finally just traced to an improper dependency between the "Header > Same content left/right" and "Footer > Same content left/right" settings.

To reproduce:  start with a document which loads with both "Header > Same content left/right" and "Footer > Same content left/right" unchecked.  Check only one (doesn't matter which), Apply, OK, Save, Quit, reload.  Whichever one was checked has now been reverted to unchecked.  Then, repeat with checking both, and now both DO reload still checked.  From there, repeat with unchecking one, and now the other reloads unchecked too.  So, not only are they dependent to the point of it being impossible to have one without the other, but also the unchecked (0) state has some kind of priority over the checked (1) state, like an AND function:

H F | H F
----+----
0 0 | 0 0
0 1 | 0 0
1 0 | 0 0
1 1 | 1 1

LibreOffice 3.5.4.2 Mozilla/5.0 (Macintosh; Intel Mac OS X 10.6; rv:10.0.5) Gecko/20100101 Firefox/10.0.5

P.S.  Another thing that puzzles me is the lack of a "Page Layout" option such as "Single page" or "No right or left", either in "Format > Page" or "Preferences > Writer > Print", even though is far and away the most common office format I encounter.  With it, the bug could not exist.  I tried "All left" / "All right" but could not figure out how to make them not skip page numbers.
Comment 3 Joel Madero 2012-09-11 21:11:42 UTC
Can't reproduce with 3.6.1.2. If this is still a problem open back up as UNCONFIRMED and provide a test document. Marking as WORKSFORME. Thanks for reporting the bug and for using/contributing back to LibO
Comment 4 Ken 2012-09-11 21:41:15 UTC
I bet you reproduce it if you Save As "Microsoft Word 97... (.doc)", as I just did with 3.6.1.2 (Build ID: e29a214).  .odt does not currently have this bug, and I don't know if it ever did; I can only use Word 97 for reasons outside my control.
Comment 5 Ken 2012-09-11 21:42:33 UTC
Created attachment 67006 [details]
a new blank Word '97 doc to demo header/footer setting bug
Comment 6 Joel Madero 2012-09-11 22:31:47 UTC
Nope, saved as a .doc (MS Office 03...etc...) and still no issue for me
Comment 7 Ken 2012-09-11 22:40:26 UTC
Always an issue for me, so what's the next step?
Comment 8 Joel Madero 2012-09-11 22:47:32 UTC
Sorry should have included that ;) Going to get a second opinion from another member of our QA team, we'll move forward from there. Whoever second checks will post a comment and then myself or that person will include more instructions. 

One option is to try to back up your configuration folder, delete the folder (not the backup) and start from scratch. Maybe at one point it was a bug and it has stuck in your user settings.
Comment 9 Ken 2012-09-11 22:59:28 UTC
> configuration folder, delete the folder (not the backup) and start from scratch

Ha...just trying that as you were typing.  Presuming the config folder is /Users/<me>/Library/Application Support/LibreOffice/3 ...no improvement.
Comment 10 Robinson Tryon (qubit) 2012-09-11 23:17:43 UTC
(In reply to comment #2)
> 
> To reproduce:  start with a document which loads with both "Header > Same
> content left/right" and "Footer > Same content left/right" unchecked.

For repro purposes: I'm running ubuntu 11.10 with LO 3.4.4 OOO340m1 (Build:402).

I downloaded the "blank Word '97 doc" Ken uploaded for testing.

> Check
> only one (doesn't matter which), 

I checked the box for Header/Same content.

> Apply, OK, Save, Quit, reload.

yep

> Whichever one
> was checked has now been reverted to unchecked.

confirmed.

> Then, repeat with checking
> both, and now both DO reload still checked.

confirmed as well.

> From there, repeat with unchecking
> one, and now the other reloads unchecked too. 

Unchecked Header/Same content, then reloaded.

Confirmed: on reload both boxes are unchecked.


(as I can repro these steps, I'm marking the bug as NEW)
Comment 11 Joel Madero 2012-09-11 23:26:45 UTC
If you try to make a document yourself (not the one that ken uploaded) are you able to repeat? I'm concerned that I didn't understand the steps (which they seem very clear so I'm blaming myself). Thanks for the 2nd check and confirming this
Comment 12 m_a_riosv 2012-09-11 23:44:45 UTC
Have you take a look in the Menu/Help/LibreOffice help?

In the Index tab, search for:
Page styles.

In Related topics click on About Headers an Footers.

"
About Headers and Footers 
...
...
To use different headers or footers in your document, you must add them to different Page Styles, and then apply the styles to the pages where you want the headers or footer to appear.
"

http://www.libreoffice.org/get-help/documentation/
Comment 13 Joel Madero 2012-09-11 23:49:23 UTC
I actually was going to say the same thing before I couldn't reproduce the bug. For me it's just default, if I turn off the option "same content...left/right", it automatically makes odd and even different page styles (no additional work on my part required, which is probably preferred)
Comment 14 Ken 2012-09-12 00:50:22 UTC
> To use different headers or footers in your document, you must add them to
different Page Styles

I think this does not apply, because "different headers and footers in your document" is a completely distinct feature from "same content left/right" (SCLR) in a document.  The fact that header and foooter SCLR *do* work when both are false supports this.  The only issue is trying to have the header SCLR setting be different the footer SCLR setting (and apparently, only in .doc and not .odt).  I never messed with the default page style; I started up LibreOffice with a fresh config directory, hit "Text Document" to create a new one, and Save As... Microsoft Word 97.

Am I missing something?
Comment 15 khagaroth 2012-09-12 11:25:33 UTC
I can also confirm this. Tested with a newly created document.

Another thing not mentioned is that after clicking on Apply, the "Same content left/right" checkbox on the current tab gets disabled and gets reenabled only after switching to another tab.
Comment 16 Robinson Tryon (qubit) 2012-09-12 14:00:09 UTC
(In reply to comment #15)
> 
> Another thing not mentioned is that after clicking on Apply, the "Same content
> left/right" checkbox on the current tab gets disabled and gets reenabled only
> after switching to another tab.

Yes, I noticed this behavior in my testing as well.
Comment 17 Joel Madero 2012-09-12 17:29:49 UTC
Okay so we know I was wrong and it's confirmed :) Now let's prioritize. Given the information that was provided by everyone I am marking as

Minor - doesn't prevent professional quality work but does clearly make it harder and requires some knowledge of styles

High - it's not good that we have a specific check box that isn't performing as desired. Also, I think this is a relatively common thing that users want (different headers for odd/even).
Comment 18 Joel Madero 2012-09-12 17:30:30 UTC
@Ken - thanks for sticking with this and my apologies that I am misunderstanding something and closed as WORKSFORME. Hopefully a developer can look at this one relatively soon and get it solved. Thanks again
Comment 19 Hashem Masoud 2012-09-13 18:29:35 UTC
(In reply to comment #2)
> I think this might be the same bug I finally just traced to an improper
> dependency between the "Header > Same content left/right" and "Footer > Same
> content left/right" settings.
> 
> To reproduce:  start with a document which loads with both "Header > Same
> content left/right" and "Footer > Same content left/right" unchecked.  Check
> only one (doesn't matter which), Apply, OK, Save, Quit, reload.  Whichever one
> was checked has now been reverted to unchecked.  Then, repeat with checking
> both, and now both DO reload still checked.  From there, repeat with unchecking
> one, and now the other reloads unchecked too.

Confirmed here:
Version 3.6.0.4 (Build ID: 932b512) Slackware Linux 13.37
.doc files show the dependency mentioned above while .odt files don't have it.
Comment 20 Paddy Landau 2013-02-27 13:06:47 UTC
I have the same problem on 4.0.0.3, Ubuntu 12.04 64 bit.

I have managed to make it work, but only through a convoluted process as follows.

1. Create your document.
2. Add pages (more than 3).
3. Change page style Default Style > Header > Content > Header on (on), Same content left/right (off) and Same content on first page (off).
4. Add headers: first page, left, and right. They should all differ.
5. Change the first page to Right Page.

The same applies to the footer.

But, try as I may, I cannot get this to work in a longstanding document that was already created with headers and footers.
Comment 21 Vitaly 2013-10-11 07:44:04 UTC
I have the same problem on LibreOffice 4.1.2 on Windows.
I insist that it also applies to .odt files as well.
For me it appeared relativly recently after 2-3 updates of LibO.
I can add some details in behaviour of the bug.

Please reproduce this:
1) Create a new document in Writer.
2) Add many new paragraphs to make 5 pages;
3) Create a new page style on the base of "base" style;
4) Edit that style:
-- select mirrored page layout 
-- turn on footers, uncheck "Same content left/right" and check "Same content on first page"
5) Apply this style to the pages.
6) Go to page 5 and add page number field with right adjustment.
7) Go to page 4 and pay attention - it is still empty (as expected)
8) On page 4 add page number field with left adjustment.
9) Go to pages 1-3 - everything works as expected.
10) Save in .odt, close, reopen.
11) As you can see - now all the footers look the same (right adj. pg. numbers).

Our company template was for several years using this feature, but I think after adding feature "Same content on first page" this became broken.
Comment 22 Vitaly 2013-10-11 09:25:09 UTC
I do not agree that this issue is marked as "Minor" (Minor - doesn't prevent professional quality work but does clearly make it harder and requires some knowledge of styles)

It makes professional quality work much-much harder.
If you have different page styles (common case), it becomes an unsolvable problem to make automatic styles queuing (left styles after right styles and vice versa) taking into account page count changes.

Before it was one of the main arguments to use LO istead of MSO that is not suitable for professional layout.
Comment 23 Paddy Landau 2013-10-11 10:11:08 UTC
@Vitaly — comment #21

I have tried your instructions, and I confirm that I get the same result as you using LibreOffice 4.1.2.3 on Ubuntu 12.04 64-bit.

So it's not just Windows.

I agree that this should be marked higher then "minor". I am still having to use work-arounds in my existing documents.
Comment 24 Jean Weber 2013-12-16 04:09:41 UTC
I confirm Vitaly's comments, using LO 4.1.3 and 4.1.4.2 on Mac OS X 10.9. I am not saving in DOC, but in ODT.

This is making extra work on the LO user guides. We use custom page styles, btw; I don't know if that is relevant.
Comment 25 Vitaly 2014-05-08 08:06:04 UTC
The bug is still present and it is a stop-factor to use LO newer, than 4.0.5.

See my comments to Bug 70232.

Kind regards.
Comment 26 Luke Deller 2014-09-06 13:16:30 UTC
There seem to be a few different issues being discussed here?

The original bug report sounds like the reporter expected to be able to control the header of each page independently when they turned off "same content left/right", and was surprised that odd pages retain the same header as other odd pages (likewise for even pages).  The reported behaviour there is actually what is intended.  I have made a UI change for LO 4.4 which will hopefully make this clearer (see bug 81227).

Ken in comment 2 + comment 4 raises an issue relating to saving as ".doc".  However in Microsoft Word the corresponding settings "Different First Page" and "Different Odd & Even Pages" are applied to both headers and footers in the section; they cannot be set independently for headers vs footers.  So the behaviour reported by Ken is I think the best we can do due to the limitations of the ".doc" file format.

Vitaly in comment 21 gives some steps to reproduce a problem saving as ".odt".  I can reproduce that problem in LO 4.1.4.2 but not in LO 4.2.4.2.  It looks like that issue is fixed now.

So I think we can close this issue as resolved.  I suppose it should be marked NOTABUG with reference to the original bug report.  Please reopen if I missed something.
Comment 27 Ken 2014-09-06 15:50:45 UTC
> in Microsoft Word the corresponding settings "Different First Page" and "Different Odd & Even Pages" are applied to both headers and footers in the section; they cannot be set independently for headers vs footers.

Oho, interesting.  In that case I would say there is still a bug, the UI allowing the user to make a setting which the document cannot support -- just look at all the trouble it has caused.  Can this be fixed?  Ideally it would mean modifying the UI on a per-doctype basis, such as eliminating one of the checkboxes or making the two behave as one (changing either immediately and automatically changes the other).  Or it could be just adding a universal note along the lines of "For .doc, both checkboxes must be the same, or else they will both become unchecked upon saving the document."