LO Writer 6.3.5.2 looses page breaks - Doc hangs in LO 7.0.3.1

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#1

LO Writer 6.3.5.2 under Window 7 Prof 64bit ESU SPI up-to-date to Dec 20 updates on ASUS PC

I have a 60 page document split into about 10 page layouts of either 1 or 2 columns. Additionally the 1 column pages are usually formatted as 2 column sections. It’s in odt format.

After saving the document and reopening some of the page breaks are lost, usually from 2 column to 1 columns. I reinsert the manual breaks to correct it, save, close and reopen and they, or another page break, is lost again. It’s getting frustrating.

I downloaded and installed 7.0.3.1 but now the document wont open. The LO Window is either blank or the document is displayed but any click with the mouse or a key press (e.g. page down) causes it to hang (“program is not responding”) so I have to kill it. When I reopen, whether I choose recovery or not, the same problem occurs. Ditto in safe mode.

On a Linux laptop with LO 5.1.6.2 I opened the file OK, made a small change and saved but it still does not open in LO7 on the Windows PC.

On a Win10 PC with OO4 I opened OK and saved as Word 97 format but it still does not open in LO7 on the Windows PC.

I’ve now reverted to 6.4.7.2 and the problem remains but at least I can continue to work on the document.

Whilst the document is not confidential I’m reluctant to post it on the net but would be happy to make it available via Dropbox if anyone would like to investigate / fix it.

Thanks for reading.
Alan
UK

#2

A few questions to help understand your problem.
Are you using LibreOffice Styles to manage the page layouts and changes from one to two column format?
I understand that the single column layout is just using the first half of a two page layout.
Are you formatting the pages manually, rather than using styles?
Are you inserting page breaks manually?

#3

Many thanks for responding so quickly.

Q1. Are you using LibreOffice Styles to manage the page layouts and changes from one to two column format?

I’m selecting Insert/More Breaks/Manual Break and then selecting 1 Column or 2 Column in the Style drop down box.

For page breaks within the same page layout I select Insert / Page Break

Q2. I understand that the single
column layout is just using the first
half of a two page layout.

Don’t quite understand this. Please see my following comment as I’m over the text length for a reply and there is no facility to attach a document

continues…

#4

Document sections and breaks (had to insert blank lines otherwise the lines run on)

Page 1 Cover page - style: Yellow Cover (1 column) —> content —> Page Break

Page 2 Cover page - style: Yellow Cover (1 column) —> (blank page) —> Manual Break / style: Front Pages

Page 3 Front page - style: Front Page (1 column) —> content —> Page Break

Page 4 Front page - style: Front Page (1 column) —> content —> Page Break

Page 5 Contents page - style: Front Page (1 column) —> content —> Page Break

Page 6 Contents page - style: Front Page (1 column) —> content —> Manual Break / style: 2 Column

Page 7 Section A - style: 2 Column —> Column Break —> content (index) on RHS —> Page Break

Page 8 Section A - style: 2 Column —> (blank page) —> Manual Brteak / style: 1 Column

Page 9 Section A - style: 1 Column —> Insert Section: 2 Column —> content

continues …

#5

Page 10 Section A - style: 1 Column —> content continues —> Manual Break / style: 2 Column

Page 11 Section B - style: 2 Column —> Column Break —> content (index) on RHS —> Page Break

Page 12 Section B - style: 2 Column —> (blank page) ----> Page Break

Page 13 Section B - style: 2 Column —> content

Page 14 Section B - style: 2 Column —> content continues —> Manual Break / style: Table Page

Page 15 Section B - style: Table Page (1 column) —> 1st table content ----> Page Break

Page 16 Section B - 1 style: Table Page (1 column) —> 2nd table content ----> Page Break

Page 17 Section B - style: Table Page (1 column) —> 3rd table content ----> Insert Section: 2 columns ----> content —> Manual Break / style: 1 Column

Page 18 Section B - style: 1 Column ----> Insert Section: 2 Column —> content

Page 19 Section B - style: 1 Column ----> content continues

Page 20 Section B - style: 1 Column ----> content continues

continues

#6

Page 21 Section C - style: 1 Column ----> Column Break —> content (index) on RHS —> Page Break

Page 22-26 Section C - style: 1 Column ----> content

Page 27 Section C - style: 1 Column ----> content —> Manual Break / style: Table Page

Page 28 Section C - style: Table Page (1 column) ----> 4th table —> Manual Break / style: Landscape Page

Page 29 Section C - style: Landscape Page (1 column) ----> 5th table —> Manual Break / style: 1 Column

Page 30 Section C - style: 1 Column —> (blank page) ----> Manual Break / style: 2 Column

Page 31 Section D - style: 2 Column —> Column Break —> content (index) on RHS —> Page Break

Page 32 Section D - style: 2 Column —> (blank page) —> Manual Break / style: 1 Column

Page 33 Section D - style: 1 Column —> Insert Section: 2 Column —> content

and so on

continues…

#7

The reason for 2 column sections is to automatically have equal text columns length. On version 6 of LO there is no option to have automatic equal text column lengths with page columns.

Section B pages 12 to 13 was an exception as the content of page 14 neatly filled the page.
Another exception (in error) is Section C page 21. It continues the 1 column page / 2 column section from B.

Normally (from Section D onwards) a Section starts with a 2 column page for 2 pages (1st page is the content on the RHS, then 2nd page is blank) and then switches to a 1 column page / 2 column section for the main content. This is where problems happen when the Manual Break on the blank page is lost. I have tried inserting blank characters and carriage returns to give it some content, but it does not help.

continues …

#8

Q3. Are you formatting the pages
manually, rather than using styles?
Are you inserting page breaks
manually?

I am inserting Manual Breaks and then selecting a Style from the drop down list. I insert Page Breaks where I need to force a new page and I want the same page layout style to continue

As far as I recall, inserting just a Page Break continues the same page style and then if the page style is changed (using the Styles panel on the RHS) then both the current page and the pages preceding the page break change to the new style.

As an aside: I am reproducing a old document by scanning with OCR, then to PDF, then copy from PDF and paste into LO aiming as far as possible to keep to the same layout as the original, hence the numerous breaks and different page layouts. In the bound book a Section always starts on a right hand page with its contents (index) page and then the body of the section always starts on a right hand page (hence the blank page).

Alan

#9

You shouldn’t need to add blank pages. In Writer, a new page style will start on a right hand page, just make sure that in Tools > Options > LibreOffice Writer > Print you have ticked the box Print automatically inserted blank pages this also applies to Export to pdf. Have a look in File > Print Preview for blank pages with a large non-printing blank page across the middle. Or click Book View at the bottom right of the Writer screen.

Always save the documents in .odt format, even if you intend to export it in Word or other foreign format at the end (better to export to pdf as finished document). Word format cannot contain some of the formatting and layout available in Writer.

#10

Tools > Options > LibreOffice Writer > Print you have ticked the box Print automatically inserted blank pages this also applies to Export to pdf

That’s useful to know Earnest Al… Many thanks

#11

I find your problem interesting and hope you find some help in the comments below.

I suggest you read about styles in the LibreOffice WRITER GUIDE. It will give lots of useful help in your formatting issues. The comments below are expanded in the manual.

I also think it would be useful if you displayed the formatting marks (ctrl-F10), so you could see what formatting is inherited for the text you are copying.

I see that you are not creating the text but copying from a PDF formatted file. Remember, this will not include the source formatting but is a formatted file ready for printing. Hence each character is place on the page individually and not as meaningful text. You really need to remove the Formatting marks and reformat the text.

Page styles default according to the Page Style ORGANISER setting. Inserting a new page may or may not change the style, depending on the settings.
The Page Style selected when you issue an INSERT PAGE will be dictated by any settings on the first PARAGRAPH STYLE on the next page. This may not be the style you are expecting.

You have to be very careful mixing normal LibreOffice Styles and direct formatting. The latter will overwrite the styles and can give puzzling results

Good luck Peter

============= some additional thoughts followig your coments ===

Thank you for your useful input. I remember when Atari first started making boxes. I also remember using Ami Pro when it first came out. Not all LibreOffice users are still teenagers!

Do not forget that Writer has a very useful MASTER DOCUMENT facility for managing large documents with multiple sections.

I would use two different PAGE STYLES to manage a two column page and a single column page. You could define the single column page with margin settings to match the left hand column of the two column page and leave the area that matches the second column outside the printable area.

I would also move the pagination control to the first paragraph of new page. A paragraph defined for the top of the two column page and a second for the top of the single column page.

#12

Thanks for taking the time to help but I don’t think this answers the problem of either:

a) loosing pagination

b) not being able to open the file in LO7

It seems that by providing more information to the first respondent’s questions, I have muddied the waters :wink:

As far as the copy from the PDF goes. I have copied and pasted as Past Special / Paste Unformatted Text. This does transfer the CRs so I then replace CRs with blanks using Edit / Find Replace from “$” to " "

I then apply the required style. The text is mostly Text Body but new sections require a different style on the first and second paragraphs. I very rarely use direct formatting.

I’ve used F10 but all of the page breaks display as a simple paragraph break. The column breaks however are displayed as Manual Column Break. Is this a bug?

continues …

#13

Whilst I would not say I’m the worlds expert on word processing by any means I’ve been using word processing for over 35 years. Fortunately my first proper word processor was Time Works Desk Top Publishing on an Atari that instilled the habit of page and paragraph styles. I also liked Ami Pro as a quick right click gave the paragraph style properties.

Never been mad on MS Word and its sad that most other products follow its para-dime. Most users it seems to me use it in typewriter mode. Maybe OK for a 1 page letter but tends to result in horribly looking newsletter, reports etc.

However, I did find Word’s Master Document facility useful when writing an Invitation to Tender of 100s pages, particularly as Word was notorious for crashing on big documents and corrupting the files but the Project Manager didn’t like it as it was beyond their skill set! I see LO has that facility- nice :slight_smile:

End of rant!

#14

I thought I would close this down as the problem has gone away.

I did notice that the issue of loosing a page break always occurred on the 2nd to last page break. As I added more chapters to the document so the problem continued to move along the document. Then for some reason it went away!

If I was to repeat this document I would probably has just one page style with 1 column and use a 2 column section within the page. Where I needed to create a content page on the right hand side, I could use a section column break.

Landscape pages would still require a manual page breaks so there would still be the risk of corruption.

Thanks to all those that responded.

#15

Maybe there was an image anchored To Page that caused your problem. Best to anchor To Paragraph or As Character

#16

This happens regularly to me. Currently using 7.1.0.3 version. I’m working a lot with Writer. ~5-10 hours every day and for years. Reopening a file and there’s no page breaks anymore and it happens completely randomly. Doesn’t mater if it’s a page break between different pages styles or between the same page style. It’s really a problem.
After it created a new headache to me today I tried to find if someone is writing anything about the problem.

#17

This is no solution to OP’s question but the expression of your own problem. So, ask your own question, linking to this one as a global context. Mention your OS and the format in which you save your document. Attach a short sample file exhibiting the problem with clear comments about it (the tool for attaching files is the paperclip when you edit a question).

This site is not a forum and has different rules (Question & Answers). Once you’ve asked your question, please delete this “non-answer”.

#18

No, I will not be deleting this comment. This is the only page where there’s some talk about this problem although this is happening very often. Right now the only thing I know is that loosing page breaks happens when saving the document not when opening it because closing it and opening it again doesn’t solve it. When it happens it looses a lot of page breaks but not all of them. From my experience it happens when some of Heading styles are there after the page breaks. It happened also when I exported the file as PDF but stays ok in the document until it’s closed and opened agan. When I opened the PDF file the problems were there the same way and on the same pages as in the .odt file after opening it. That’s all I know for now. So, if you export the PDF file and the problem appears, then problems will happen after opening the file next time.

#19

You were suggested to ask your own question to abide by the site rules. This is not the same as deleting the “non-answer” once and for all (and you put a link in your question to this one). In your own question, add the missing technical information and attach a sample for in-depth analysis. Heading n styles should not damage your page breaks. Thus attach a short (3-page max) sample file with the issue to see what interacts with the breaks.

What is your formatting procedure: styles or direct formatting?

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