Indexing within a table is broken

[doktoroblivion1]

Problem: I have created a subdocument using writer that contains tables and have indexed certain names while inside those tables. The problem occurs when I attempt to edit those indexed entries. The editor becomes confused and highlight fields outside the table. I would have assumed that if I could index entries inside a table then it is supported and by extension I would be able to edit them. After editing a few entries the application may become so confused that it will hang and eventually crash.

Solution: My current workaround is to only focus on the editor and when the appropriate entry comes up, ignore the hightlight and delete or change the entry using the edit window only. I have to get out of edit mode every one or two entries and save, due to the potential for the application to crash.

Version: 7.2.6.2 (x64) / LibreOffice Community
Build ID: b0ec3a565991f7569a5a7f5d24fed7f52653d754
CPU threads: 8; OS: Windows 10.0 Build 19044; UI render: Skia/Raster; VCL: win
Locale: en-US (en_US); UI: en-US
Calc: threaded

[ajlittoz]

Please attach a demo file so that I can test under Linux. I never had trouble with indexing inside table. So I’d like to check your particular case.
If your present file contains private data, you can attach it to a private e-mail. Click on my name to access the mailer. If it doesn’t work (necause of your trust level), I’ll give you an @ddress.

[doktoroblivion1]

Here is part of the document that contains the problem and I can recreate it by opening the edit window. Starting from an entry outside the table and using the arrows to try to jump into the table, it will eventually crash the application.
TestDocument.odt (20.9 KB)

[ajlittoz]

There is probably a bug here.

Your document crashes my LibreOffice 7.2.5.2.0+ under Fedora 35. So I created a sample.

Insert entries has no issue, but trying to edit them results in what your describe: highlighting is not where it should be. I noticed an additional phenomenon: if the indexed word has spellcheck warning (the red wavy underline), then its entry is grayed out when the index editor reaches it. It can only be edited if accessing it backwards.
Worst, editing an entry in the table, attaches it to the closest entry preceding the table!

I remember a problem mentioned on AskLO site about contextual menus. When several objects “compete” for right-click menu, only one of them is shown. Here we have table, index and spell-check possibilities. Table takes precedence, consequently Index Entry is not shown.
This should be corrected because it cause a big user confusion.

Since my sample is very short and simple, it does not crash Writer. Another aspect may affect your document: you use direct formatting. For example, on Table Contents, you change manually language to Italian. It would be much better to create a separate paragraph style (or rather a set of paragraph styles, one for each context) for your Italian text. The first paragraph is Default Paragraph Style whose purpose is to set your common attributes shared by all other styles. The “standard” style for text is Text Body.

[doktoroblivion1]

I agree. In fact, I cannot remove some of the index entries that I have in some of my tables since it crashes the application on Win10, well hangs it and forces me to crash it. I assume you will open an issue on this in the bug reporting system and link the bugzilla or whatever you use here. In the meantime, aside from not using indicies inside tables, is there any viable workaround?

[ajlittoz]

Anybody can file bug reports. You should do it because you have a “crashing document” and you’re better fit to describe the issue than me.

The workaround I see is to insert the index entries at the end of the writing task when you definitively know which terms you’ll put into the entries.

[doktoroblivion1]

Do not index inside tables. For now I have removed all indexed entries from tables.

[ajlittoz]

More exactly, don’t attempt to edit entries inside tables. Delete them and insert the new version.