LibreOffice shuts down unexpectedly, recovered documents damaged

I’m using the latest LibreOffice 25.2.5.2 on a MacMini, Monterey 12.7.6.

With previous versions of LO all was well, but then I started to see unexpected crashes, with document recovery offered. Typically, the recovered doc was damaged. I realize a recovered doc could have issues with losing the latest edits, but this issue has been happening more frequently.

So I updated to 25.2.5.2 a few days ago. Still having the crashes.

In one case, the docx seemed to have lost several paragraphs after I attempted a “compare document” with another docx also created in LO.

In another case, I had two docx files open, and LO crashed, then offered the recovery. It took several tries to get it to do the recovery and open the documents.

Questions: What causes this type of crash? What steps should I take to prevent this from happening?

Many thanks for your help.

use odt format rather than docx

see also :
First steps to take before submitting a bug - The Document Foundation Wiki #Corrupted_user_profile
Preventing data disaster - The Document Foundation Wiki

2 Likes

I would like to keep using docx format. The main reason I use LibreOffice is because it is compatible with docx and other Word formats.
LibreOffice allowed me to initiate a “compare documents” on two docx documents. If this is not allowed, the menu option should be grayed out.
I will check on the corrupt user profile issue.

Mostly, yes. But…

How to open files from MS-Office 2007 or 2010 (.DOCX, .XLSX,…)?

There is nothing “not allowed”; but there are bugs. And when you encounter one, you are advised to file it (with sample documents and steps to see), to give a chance to fix it.

You can do this. Just be aware using .docx etc is essentially translating to an internal version of .odt on every load and translating back on (changed) save. There may be changes because of the double conversion.
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But to just compare this should work…

It was the latest version of docx, not 2007 or 2010, and the file was created using LibreOffice (not opening a file from elsewhere, e.g., Word). I’m reporting that something that should work seemed to be the cause of a crash.

on a site, where bug reports are off-topic. (Just reacting to the phrase I quoted directly; your original post indeed contains valid questions.)

I’m no tech expert. It’s a shame that this forum doesn’t make it a little easier to report problems. Maybe I don’t get the LibreOffice culture here.

Any idea why LibreOffice would crash when doing a compare documents on two docx documents created with LibreOffice?

It is enough to simply inform yourself:

In a way “we” can’t. This was created as a place where users help users. A lot of questions are repetitive. Some are trivial. And it is simply not a place where developers try to find bug-reports between all the other stuff.
So bug reports should go to bugzilla, if you wish to put them at the right place.
Ans yes there is maybe an attitude “If reporting a bug is to much labour, it can’t be very important”. But the main point is not to waste time of developers. The idea to use proper tools is natural for (most) developers.
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The second problem is “reports” being not specific. At the current stage we know

That is not much to begin searching for a reason in a big source code…