Fomatting not saved; text disappearing

[jdsmint]

More problems with editing .doc files in LibreOffice.

1. The journal requires all notes to be endnotes, not footnotes. To change footnotes to endnotes, I have gone to “Tool//Footnotes/Endnotes” and then selected “Footnotes” and “At end of document”. This gets me exactly what I need: Endnotes with 1, 2, 3…formatting at the end of the document. Problem is, when I save the document (.docx) and send it; and then open it up again ON MY OWN COMPUTER, the notes are footnotes again, AND more than half the content is missing, even though the numbers are there.

2. I compiled and wrote a complete Reference section by cutting and pasting from footnotes, and then editing. This was a two page Reference section, and it is not completely lost. All of my other editing marks/additions remains, including notes in text; but this is completely missing. I’m thinking it may be because it was copied from the footnotes, which are also largely missing? No idea.

[qubit1]

Hi @jdsmint,

“…formatting at the end of the document. Problem is, when I save the document (.docx) and send it; and then open it up again ON MY OWN COMPUTER, the notes are footnotes again, AND more than half the content is missing,…”

I compiled and wrote a complete Reference section by cutting and pasting from footnotes,…but this is completely missing…

Unfortunately, LibreOffice does not have perfect interoperability with Microsoft Office or implement all features of the .docx format. This is a known issue, and given the complexity of the file format, it may be some time before the two pieces of software can communicate “fluently.” It’s also possible that it’s not possible to directly translate the features in your document into the .docx format, and so some of your layout is lost when you save the file.

You may file a bug report and provide detailed information about what isn’t working.

In the meantime, if you need to retain all formatting in your files, I suggest that you save you work in LibreOffice using the ODF file formats like .odt, .ods, and .odt.

[djhope23]

This MAY be a solution to recover the lost text in to the above question, but it definitely worked for a similar problem…unfortunately only way to ensure there’s no repeat is to not save in docx, as stated.

I was working on a docx in libreoffice, and when it saved and then I closed and opened it again, it would cut off half the text. For a moment when I opened the file, it would say there were a full 12 pages, then after a second, it would say there were only 5…so most of my doc had disappeared.

SOLUTION TO RECOVER LOST TEXT:

1. make a copy of the file
2. rename the copy to a .zip
3. unzip the .zip file to somewhere e.g. documents/docRecover
4. open docRecover/Word/Document.xml using a text editor
5. search for the point in the text where it cuts off when opening (the last bit of plain text displayed in LibreOffice)
6. delete everything between the last character of the last bit of plain text that displayed, and the 2nd character of the next bit of plain text that doesn’t display. that was probably the hyperlink or bit of formatting that LibreOffice couldn’t handle saving as a Docx. Make a note of it so you can put the link in back later, when you’re not using a docx
7. Save the document.xml
8. zip up everything in docRecover again, call it something different
9. rename that new zip file to a Docx
10. open it, check it, tidy it up
11. save it as a doc, or odt, or something. just not docx. or stop using Libreoffice. Which I don’t really want to as it’s otherwise useful…

probably a much easier way to do that, but it worked…

[Thorsten]

Thanks, Mr. DJ! Your solution saved me a few hours of re-work.

[groovee]

You are the Boss!
Thank You, that works.
Hyperlinks kills libreOffice docx.

[fordcars]

I made an account just to thank you, you are amazing. You just saved me hours upon hours of tears.