Bug 61835 - WRITER TABLE: Let user drag the border of a table column while keeping the other columns intact (workaround in comment 7)
Summary: WRITER TABLE: Let user drag the border of a table column while keeping the ot...
Status: NEW
Alias: None
Product: LibreOffice
Classification: Unclassified
Component: Writer (show other bugs)
Version:
(earliest affected)
3.6.5.2 release
Hardware: All All
: medium enhancement
Assignee: Not Assigned
URL:
Whiteboard:
Keywords:
: 63427 155618 (view as bug list)
Depends on:
Blocks: Table-Borders
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Reported: 2013-03-05 06:26 UTC by narayanaras
Modified: 2024-01-31 13:06 UTC (History)
7 users (show)

See Also:
Crash report or crash signature:

Attachments
Shows how MS Word handles the shifting of a column's border (2.05 MB, video/mp4)
2013-03-05 06:32 UTC, narayanaras 		Details
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Description narayanaras 2013-03-05 06:26:24 UTC 
Problem statement: Often a user needs to widen a column in a table. But when he drags the border of the column, that border alone moves sideways; thus affecting the width of the adjoining column. This disturbs the alignment of text in the adjoining column. Trying to correct it disturbs the column after that, and so on.

Thus one change ripples through all columns of the table; and the user is forced to re-adjust all the columns on the right.

This is a huge time-waster.

Desired: If the user presses a modifier key (ALT/CTRL) while he drags the border, all the borders on the right should move as a set. 

In other words, the columns on the right should not be disturbed at all.

This is how the table behaves in MS Word if the user first presses SHFT and then drags a border of the column.
Comment 1 narayanaras 2013-03-05 06:32:17 UTC 
Created attachment 75939 [details]
Shows how MS Word handles the shifting of a column's border
Comment 2 Joel Madero 2013-03-18 22:51:15 UTC 
Thank you for reporting this issue! I have been able to confirm the issue on:
Version 3.6.5.2 
Platform: Bodhi Linux 2.2 x64
+ + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + 
As I've been able to confirm this problem on an earlier release I am changing the version number as version is the earliest version that we can confirm the bug, we use comments to say that the bug exists in newer versions as well.

Marking as:

New (confirmed)
Minor - doesn't prevent high quality work but agreed, major time waster for anyone trying to manipulate columns in Writer
Medium (default for minor bugs is low but this one is useful enough to warrant medium)


It seems like it's tried to be emulated how Microsoft does it with Shift but it's still affecting other columns. What I notice in Microsoft the whole table will become smaller, in writer it seems table width never changes. 

+ + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + 
LibreOffice is powered by a team of volunteers, every bug is confirmed (triaged) by human beings who mostly give their time for free. We invite you to join our triaging by checking out this link:
https://wiki.documentfoundation.org/QA/BugTriage

There are also other ways to get involved including with marketing, UX, documentation, and of course developing -  http://www.libreoffice.org/get-help/mailing-lists/. 

Lastly, good bug reports help tremendously in making the process go smoother, please always provide reproducible steps (even if it seems easy) and attach any and all relevant material
Comment 3 Joel Madero 2013-04-11 18:45:01 UTC 
*** Bug 63427 has been marked as a duplicate of this bug. ***
Comment 4 QA Administrators 2015-04-19 03:22:45 UTC Comment hidden (obsolete)
Comment 5 QA Administrators 2016-09-20 09:24:17 UTC Comment hidden (obsolete)
Comment 6 Dieter 2018-01-10 20:38:35 UTC 
Still present in LO 6.0.0.1: The width doesn't change.

Personally I think, there are some situations where it is very helpful, if the width changes. But there are also situation you want to keep the width. So if this bug is resolved there should also be the possibility to add an option in the Table Properties dialog to fix the width of a table
Comment 7 Regina Henschel 2018-01-10 23:15:15 UTC 
Use Alt+Left/Right Arrow to change column width while keeping the width of the other columns. Of cause this can only work as long as the entire table width fits into the text area width.
Comment 8 Dieter 2018-01-11 07:07:45 UTC 
(In reply to Regina Henschel from comment #7)
> Use Alt+Left/Right Arrow to change column width while keeping the width of
> the other columns. Of cause this can only work as long as the entire table
> width fits into the text area width.

Thank you for this hint. But I suppose, that this possibility is really unknown and I couldn' change the width very exactly. So for me it's a workaround but perhaps someboy can improve it
Comment 9 QA Administrators 2019-01-12 04:02:28 UTC Comment hidden (obsolete)
Comment 10 Dieter 2019-01-13 10:57:42 UTC 
Still repro in

Version: 6.3.0.0.alpha0+ (x64)
Build ID: ffa5b8a82eab18041bbee4d6914892b82c7801d3
CPU threads: 4; OS: Windows 10.0; UI render: default; VCL: win; 
TinderBox: Win-x86_64@42, Branch:master, Time: 2018-12-19_03:24:54
Locale: en-US (de_DE); UI-Language: en-US
Calc: threaded

Steps to reproduce:
1. Open writer and insert a table (for example 3 columns; table width 12 cm)
2. move the right border of the second column to the right.

Alt+Left/Right Arrow offers the possibility to change column width while keeping the width of the other columns, but I sstill think, that this is very unknown and LO help gives not the right information: https://help.libreoffice.org/6.3/en-US/text/swriter/guide/table_sizing.html?&DbPAR=WRITER&System=WIN
Comment 11 Dieter 2021-01-02 12:47:57 UTC 
Having again a look at this bug I tend to close it as RESOLVED WONTFIX or NOTABUG.

Help says: "Place the cursor in a cell in the column, hold down the Alt key, and then press the left or the right arrow key" [1]. So the only thing, that is missing here is a description of the result. I would open a new report for that.

cc: Design-Team for further input and decision.

[1] https://help.libreoffice.org/7.1/en-US/text/swriter/guide/table_sizing.html?&DbPAR=WRITER&System=WIN
Comment 12 Heiko Tietze 2021-01-12 16:54:25 UTC 
(In reply to Dieter from comment #11)
> ... press the left or the right arrow key

Don't see a reason why this shouldn't work with the mouse. The alt+arrow interaction is exactly what's expected for alt+left_mouse (which is used for window movement in KDE). Perhaps an easyhack.
Comment 13 Buovjaga 2024-01-31 13:06:52 UTC 
*** Bug 155618 has been marked as a duplicate of this bug. ***