Footnote bug in Writer 4.2?

[nsivin]

I have encountered a serious bug in LibreOffice Writer 4.2.7.2 under Linux Mint 17.1 Mate,running on a desktop PC. I have drafted a book in a 1.2MB .DOC file. It is divided into 7 chapters, and includes a number of footnotes in each. I began the individual chapters as .ODT files, but converted them while still revising them, and before combining them. I no longer have the early .ODT drafts.

Whenever I close the book file and reopen it, in the first footnote in each chapter, a blank paragraph and a tab are interposed between the footnote superscript and the first character (or space) in the note. The same thing happens under LO 4.4.0 on in the same setup on a laptop. I even tried opening the file on a computer running Word 2000 under Windows XP; there is no problem there. I have avoided Windows for two years now, and want to keep avoiding it.

I have to use a .DOC file for this book, since the publisher needs a Word file, and .DOCX and .RTF files under LO are even less reliable. Since I have not noted this problem with small files, I cut the file down to less than 100KB (by copying the first couple of chaters into a blank file), but this smaller file still exhibits the same bug.

Has anyone encountered this odd bug? Should I report it to Bugzilla?

[ROSt53]

The bug you observe could be related to little differences between a MS created doc-file and an LibO created doc-file.

I would try to find out what your publisher exactly does with the WORD file and see if this could also be done with an odt-file. Very often people say they need WORD files but at the end they don’t.

[nsivin]

The problem is that my publisher doesn’t use Linux, and therefore can’t open .ODT files.

[rautamiekka]

@nsivin, that’s same as saying Chinese can’t eat Finnish food. Equally as stupid. And as not so true.

[nsivin]

I don’t think that calling my publisher (Springer, the largest in the world) stupid will solve anything.

[rautamiekka]

@nsivin, maybe, but at least it shows you’re not directly giving up to corruption.

[ROSt53]

@nsivin - If your publisher is Springer, recommend them to use LibO and save a lot of money for unnecessary MSO licenses… and additionally replacing Windows by Linux. Like the city of Munich.