Conditional Formatting Window in LO 24.8

[altasilvapuer]

I recently upgraded to the 24.x branch from somewhere in the 7.x branch, and I’m seeing some weird UI decisions in conditional formatting, and trying to figure out whether this is a bug or as-intended. Normally my google-fu is decent, but it seems to be failing me here.

The problem, in short:

1. On a new, blank ODS, create a Conditional Formatting rule for cells A1:D5, where the value “foo” produces a red-shaded style.
2. Insert a new sheet, “sheet2”. Create a Conditional Formatting rule for cells B3:F42, where the value “bar” produces a blue-shaded style.
3. Now, if you open “Manage Conditional Formatting” from any sheet in that workbook, you’ll see both entries, with no sheet name to disambiguate between them.

In this case, the ranges were different, so I suppose I could just try to remember which range goes with which sheet. But if the ranges happened to be the same, that doesn’t help.

From my testing, the actual rules themselves are only active on the sheet where they’re created, so there’s no bleed-over. But they’re visible from all sheets, which is an organizational nightmare.

Was this actually intentional, and if so, why? Or is this a UI bug/mistake of some kind?

[EarnestAl]

I don’t see that. Even if I select both sheets when I enter the conditional formatting, only the current sheet receives it.

Can you check in safe mode? Click Help > Restart in Safe Mode > Continue in Safe Mode and check again.
Upload a sample if it still includes the other sheet’s conditional formatting as well. Cheers Al
.
Please copy the information from Help > About LibreOffice (click the icon on the dialogue to copy the info)
.

Version: 24.8.4.2 (X86_64) / LibreOffice Community
Build ID: bb3cfa12c7b1bf994ecc5649a80400d06cd71002
CPU threads: 8; OS: Windows 11 X86_64 (10.0 build 22631); UI render: Skia/Raster; VCL: win
Locale: en-NZ (en_NZ); UI: en-GB
Calc: CL threaded

[altasilvapuer]

ConditionalFormatTest.ods (9.6 KB)
(NOTE: Ranges are different than in the initial post. The ones I quoted above were just a random example, and I went with a simpler, overlapping range for the test)

While creating this test, I also noticed if you go Format->Conditional->Condition->More Rules while I had cells $Sheet2.A1:B4 selected, it pulled up the conditional format I’d already created for Sheet1.

Backed out of that and went Format->Conditional->Manage and clicked “Add” to create the second set of conditions.

Above is a screenshot of the Manage window open while I’m viewing Sheet1. A1:B9 is the ruleset for Sheet1, and A1:B4 is the ruleset for Sheet2.

In this file, I am getting the conditions from Sheet1 applying to Sheet2, but I don’t remember seeing that in my live file (though I could’ve missed it)

---

Version Info. (Thanks for the reminder)

Version: 24.8.4.2 (X86_64) / LibreOffice Community
Build ID: bb3cfa12c7b1bf994ecc5649a80400d06cd71002
CPU threads: 16; OS: Windows 10 X86_64 (10.0 build 19045); UI render: Skia/Raster; VCL: win
Locale: en-US (en_US); UI: en-US
Calc: threaded

[EarnestAl]

I see on my computer that Sheet1 has only one conditional format showing, Sheet2 has two; both appear the same in 28.2.4.2 and 7.3.1.3

@altasilvapuer

I also noticed if you go Format->Conditional->Condition->More Rules while I had cells $Sheet2.A1:B4 selected, it pulled up the conditional format I’d already created for Sheet1.

I don’t see that either.
Have you clicked Start menu > Power > Restart recently? Power Off defaults to hibernate unless you turn off Fast Start.
.
And what do you see in LibreOffice safe mode?

[Edit]
If it still occurs after restarting Windows and in Safe Mode then you should report a bug, How to Report Bugs in LibreOffice - The Document Foundation Wiki

[altasilvapuer]

Weird. I created those two rules separately, on each sheet. I’ve restarted within the last couple days, but went ahead and did it again, just to be sure. I’ll go ahead and writeup a bug, as soon as I find those credentials again, but I’m also going to leave this here for clarity, and in case anyone else is seeing the same issue.

Procedure, immediately after startup fully finished:

1. Open LibreOffice
2. Create new Calc Sheet
3. Enter random values in Column A on Sheet1.
4. Add new sheet, “Sheet2”, via the Plus sign at the bottom.
5. Enter random values in Column A on Sheet2.
6. Navigate back to Sheet1.
7. Format >> Conditional >> Manage
8. Click “Add”
9. Manually input “A:A” in the range, put the value “foo” (in quotes) in the value field, and select a style. Hit “OK”.
10. Navigate to Sheet2.
11. Repeat steps 7–9, without ever going back to Sheet1. Note that the conditional from Sheet1 was already visible in the window.
    
    
12. Confirm: Effects of each conditional format is restricted to the sheet where it was created, but Both are visible in the Manage window from either sheet.

Ran that exact procedure in normal mode (test2.ods) and safe mode (test2_safe.ods). When in the prompt for safe mode, I hit the radio button next to the factory settings option, and then clicked “Continue with Safe Mode”.
test2.ods (10.0 KB)
test2_safe.ods (11.4 KB)

[altasilvapuer]

The issue with the cross-bleed of conditions to different sheets seems to be a different bug that’s been transient so far, but that I also haven’t been specifically looking for. It also didn’t pop up in the latest two tests. If I have time, I’ll try to do some testing on that, too.

[EarnestAl]

@altasilvapuer

12. Confirm: Effects of each conditional format is restricted to the sheet where it was created, but Both are visible in the Manage window from either sheet.

When I open the files both have one condition for the first sheet and two for the second sheet.
.
Confirmed if I follow your steps exactly. I get Sheet2 showing two conditional formats in the dialogue but only one on the sheet. I save, close and reopen then I see two conditional in the dialogue and two in the sheet.
.
I see you have created bug report tdf#164792
.
It does not occur in 24.2.4.2

[EarnestAl]

I believe the bug report is waiting an answer from you.

I downloaded and installed 25.8 dev and I cannot reproduce the problem in that.
I opened your test2_safe.ods in 25.8 and, in the second sheet, I deleted the “foo” condition. This one deletion, deleted it for both sheets. I pressed Undo and the condition was restored to the first sheet only, as intended originally. Unexpected behaviour I suppose, but I guess it is just writing the condition correctly.