Freeform Lines don't save in Impress

[Huaidan]

Using LibreOffice Impress Version: 4.1.3.2
Build ID: 410m0(Build:2) on OpenSUSE 13.1.
The title says it all: If I draw a freeform line in Impress, then save it as a “.ppt”, close the file, then open it again, the freeform line disappears. The freeform will save as “.odp” and “.pptx”, but if I save it again as a “.ppt” then all drawn shapes disappear.
I haven’t checked in MS Office to see if Powerpoint “.ppt”'s support freeform lines, but IIRC it does.
So, is this a bug or a feature?
**Also, if I add the freeform line as a custom animation, and save it as a “.pptx”, then re-open the file, the shape appears, but as a square, not the freeform line I drew! This appears pretty buggy to me.

**Alright, now freeform lines won’t even save…in any format, whether I use it as a custom animation or not. This is starting to look extremely buggy.

[ROSt53]

I made a test using LibO Version 4.0.6.2 (Build ID: 2e2573268451a50806fcd60ae2d9fe01dd0ce24) on XP/SP3.

1 - Opened the default template of Draw and created a freeform and saved as odp.
2 - Opened odp-file, freeform visible and editable and saved as ppt
3 - Opened ppt-file and freeform was visible and editable
4 - Opened odp file and saved as pptx
5 - Opened pptx file and freeform was visible and editable

@Huaidan - did you make you test also 4.0.6 and if so what results did you get?

[ROSt53]

@Huaidan

In my answer I assumed you use Impress; see your title line.

If you use Draw you cannot save in odp format because it is not Impress.

I follow your suggestion and saved a freeform directly in ppt format without saving first in odp. In this case the freeform gets lost. I recommend you file a bug report at
https://www.libreoffice.org/get-help/bug/

In general I recommend to always save files in the native LibO format. I do it always this way and save only in another format if ththis is the only way to exchange a file. Most often (>95%) cases a pdf-file is sufficient. I recommend to consider pdf-files.

[Huaidan]

Hi ROSt52,
I’m not sure I understand. How do I save as odp from Draw? I only see options for odg, odt, sxd,sdt and fodg. Even if I could, that seems like an extra step to me.
The situation I’m asking about is using the drawing toolbar in Impress. Following the advice from your post, I get better results by saving as odp first, closing then opening, then saving as ppt. That seems to work. How does it work for you if you try saving a freeform-drawn object in Impress directly to PPT?