Edit > Changes > Record no longer shows all replaced material

English
#1

I use LO to edit writing by others. Recently I had a catastrophic hard drive failure and needed to reinstall all my programs. I had been using an older version of LO but installed the newer version (7.5.7.1). When editing in the older version, if I replaced something, the new material would show as an addition (in red) while the replaced material remained in the text but showed in strikethrough font (also in red). In the current version the new stuff is highlighted in red but the replaced material is now in the margin by the vertical line change indicator. That’s fine if it a short word. But if I make a second change on that line or multiple words or a whole sentence, the replaced material is no where to be found. So unless the author has a copy of the original at hand or has memorized it, they have no idea of what the exact change was. This makes the current version of LO totally unusable for editing? And I have 2 writers waiting for me to be able to get back to editing.

So my questions: Is there a way to change the settings in the current version of LO Writer to go back to the old formatting for editing. If there isn’t, can anyone point me to an older version that’s still available that has the old editing style? Also, since I have lost all my LO bookmarks, where do I record my extreme displeasure at this really stupid change?

#3

Nothing changed in recent versions in that regard. The default settings here:

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#4

What you showed is exactly what I’m looking to happen but that’s not what I’m getting. The only thing I changed in the LO Writer settings was the color of the changes to red. When I do a deletion, it disappears from the original text and is in the left margin in blue microtype.

#5

Problem solved. I uninstalled the new version (7.5.7.1) and reinstalled an older version (6.4.7.2) whose installation file I still had. It works just the way it’s supposed to. Additions are underlined, deletions are in strikethrough font and nothing moves to the left margin.

There is, in the options menu of the latest version, under LibreOffice Writer/Web>View, a setting to show deletions in the margin. That option does not exist in the older version. The box was unchecked but nothing changed whether the box was checked or not. That tells me that a real bug exists here. They added a feature and keep it activated regardless of the state of the options box.

#6

What is your OS? This information can be beneficial to others.

#7

On Windows 11, when I moved from 6.7.4.2 to LibreOffice 7.2, I had to rename my user profile for the new version to work properly. Afterwards I copied across the useful folders from the old User folder to the new one.

Strange effects can come from “corrupted” user profile. I strongly suspect that had you tested in LibreOffice Safe Mode, or reset your user profile, then Record Changes would have behaved correctly.

#8

I don’t believe that a corrupted user file could have been involved. This was a new installation of LO on a new SDD because of the failure of my hard drive. Even the file I was attempting to edit was a new file. It also acted the same with a file I had previously edited on the old LO installation.

The new LO had an option to “show deletions in the left margin” which the older version did not was the problem. I think the developers just had set that as the default and selection box did not work to turn it off.

#9

The same check box is in Tools > Options > LibreOffice Writer > View. Unchecking it there would be the correct place to change the setting for Writer documents.

It is not set by default in my clean version of LibreOffice 7.6.2.1 on Windows 11.

#10

That check box did nothing in 7.5.7.1 so they must have fixed it in your version.

#11

The check box in Tools > Options > LibreOffice Writer > View is in a different location to the one you changed (Tools > Options > LibreOffice Writer/Web > View).

I tested on LO 7.3.1.3 and Tools > Options > LibreOffice Writer > View and ticking the box Tracked deletions in margin puts them into the margin and unticking it puts them back into the text, same as 7.6.2.1.

Doing the same in Writer/Web doesn’t seem to change anything, probably because View > Web has no margins.

Option was introduced LO 7.1, see Bug 34355 - Option to show track changes in margin is missing

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#12

Thank you. I will remember that if I ever update past the version I am using now. Right now it’s working so I staying where I am.

#14

Windows 11 Home Edition

#2

IMHO you search for track changes.

On the download page at LibreOffice.org scroll down to the bottom where it says “available in the archive” and guess wich word has a link on it.

If you don’t have a backup of your stuff, start with a mirror… No software will survive, what you named

#13

@jerrysg7 ,
Insert the Track Changes toolbar View → Toolbars → Track Changes you can adjust it there.

PKG_503

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