AltSearch (Alternative dialog Find & Replace) no longer working with LibO Writer 5+?

UPDATE 2016.06.17 - Now working with AltSearch 1.4.1 under LibO Version: 5.1.3.2 (Build ID: 1:5.1.3~rc2-0ubuntu1~trusty1)


I have used the wonderful AltSearch extension for years, but with the upgrade to LibO 5 (I’m currently on Version: 5.0.2.2; Build ID: 00m0(Build:2)), it seems to have stopped working.

In particular, the “option” drop-downs are missing:

Compare that with the image from the help file (i.e., a working version):

I also manually entered values that ought to work in the search field, but nothing is found.

Are any other users of this extension experiencing these issues? I’m on Ubuntu 14.04 LTS, just in case platform makes a difference here.

(I always have trouble locating the docs for this extension - an older but still useful version is on the author’s website.)

UPDATE Now tested also on Mac OSX 10.10.5 with LibO Version: 5.0.2.2 (Build ID: ab9e2a14cfa5edd30bd74f156cfba09bfd5be3a0; Locale: en-US (en.UTF-8)) and the behaviour is identical to my Ubuntu experience. This is with freshly installed LibO and AltSearch.oxt.

P.s. I have sent a note to the developer in the hopes that this can be resolved. I’ll update the thread if there is any news.

I rarely use the extesion but kept it installed over years now. Just looked for the dialogue in an example using LibreOffice 5.0.2 under Win 8.1 and could not verify your stetement. The extension worked flawlessly with some basic examples. Did you already try a reinstall? (You know better than I do about user profiles, I suppose.) I cannot test with Ubuntu, however.

The first thing I would do is update to the 1.4.1 version (11/2015) of alternative find and replace. It’s what I use, and I believe it’s the latest, and I just checked and it seems to be fine with LO 5.1.0.3 -which also is an update from the LO you are using. I’m on Linux x64.

I have noticed though, that AFR runs much more slowly than the built-in F/R function, most probably because it runs on script rather than compiled code. So I have learned to do as much as I can with the built-in facility, especially on long documents, and only then go to AFR.

This will not show up as an update in Extension Manager (or at least didn’t for me)
Confirmed fix but currently it requires 1.4 to be deleted and 1.4.1 to be added.

Click on Tools>Extension Manager
Click on AltSearch and Remove, then click [Add] and find the new version.

My installation is:
Version: 5.2.0.4
Build ID: 1:5.2.0~rc4-0ubuntu1~trusty2
CPU Threads: 2; OS Version: Linux 3.16; UI Render: default;
Locale: en-GB (en_GB.UTF-8)

Some similar defects concerning menus, dropdowns and outline nodes occurred with my LibO 5.x.y versions if the option ‘Use OpenGL for all rendering’ was selected. I do not set this option any longer and the issues vanished.

The issue should depend on the hardware/drivers. It seems there is a blacklist in LibO that should prevent OpenGL rendering on systems not reliably capable of it. This blacklist was wrongly applied or not correctly maintained. There are bug reports. Issue resolved (from 5.1.1) expectably.

Unfortunately, this setting makes no difference for me (and in fact, was not set in any case). I tried toggling, alas to no avail. Thanks for comment, though.

I would try changing the icon style for LibreOffice, that sometimes fixes problems like yours. I’m sure it’s not the extension I use in in LO 5.0.3.2 in Linux and (perforce) Windows.

To change the icon style in LO: Tools > Options > View

Good luck!