Calc forms controls do not stay anchored to cell after inserting new lines

fluffyrex · May 6, 2021, 5:52pm

I use Calc to build individual question lists that I export to PDF as a form, which works beautifully, EXCEPT…

When I need to add new lines above existing controls, they do not stay anchored to their cells, despite having chosen “anchor: to cell” from the control’s context menu. I have also tried “anchor: to cell (resize with cell)” with no luck.

Also, when I copy/paste a checkbox from one cell to another, the default anchor position often turns out to be located in a cell other than the one that I just pasted it into. Why?

I have had the additional problem of text boxes disappearing after saving and re-opening the document. This problem has not affected check boxes.

Hrbrgr · May 6, 2021, 6:39pm

Please specify:

Which operating system do you use?
Which LibreOffice version?

they do not stay anchored to their cells,
What do you mean by this?

If I anchor a control, e.g. in row 5 (anchoring to the cell) and insert
a row above, the control is anchored to cell 6. That’s right.

With me:

Version: 7.1.3.2 (x64) / LibreOffice Community
Build ID: 47f78053abe362b9384784d31a6e56f8511eb1c1
CPU threads: 8; OS: Windows 10.0 Build 19042; UI render: default; VCL: win
Locale: de-DE (de_DE); UI: de-DE
Calc: CL

fluffyrex · May 11, 2021, 10:26am

I’m running WIN 10 Pro V.1909 and LibreOffice LibreOffice 6.3.4.2

The problem is definitely that when a cell with an anchored checkbox is copied and pasted, the anchor does not always paste into the cell that is selected, and which the checkbox visually pastes into. Then, because the checkbox is not actually anchored to the box it got pasted into, when lines are added/removed/row width changed, then the checkbox appears to float away from the cell I pasted it into.

So why won’t the anchor paste into the same cell as the checkbox? To use your format:

If I paste a control, e.g. in row 5 (it mysteriously anchors to the cell above it or diagonal to it) and insert a row above, the control is NOT anchored to cell 6. That’s wrong.

If I MANUALLY fix each anchor by messing with the sizing of the checkbox and making sure that the upper left corner is visually located inside the desired cell, then making it fit the cell, I can get the checkboxes to behave. But I shouldn’t have to.