LibreOffice Writer v7.3.0.3 loses some tracked changes when saving as .docx

sadrx · February 25, 2022, 1:15pm

LibreOffice Writer v7.3.0.3 is not saving tracked changes properly in .docx files.

I am editing a .docx document with tracked changes in LibreOffice Writer v7.3.0.3 on Windows 10. There are no problems until I save and close the .docx file. When I re-open the .docx file again, the tracked changes are wildly different. Some edits remain unchanged. Some disappear. Some edits change on their own, making the document dramatically worse. A deleted word turned into an entire deleted paragraph.

Thank you for your help on this topic.

Hrbrgr · February 25, 2022, 2:12pm

It could be a compatibility problem between ODT and DOCX.

Basically:

Recommendation for clean working with LibreOffice when different Office programs are used.
Always create and save your files in LibreOffice and save them in ODF format (ODT, ODS, etc.).
Always keep these files as their source.
If you need other formats for distribution to partners, you can open an ODF file and save and distribute another format with ″ Save as… ″.
This way, you always have working files available in your system environment.

See:

Edit different file formats in LibreOffice

'-------------------------

Please report the behavior as a bug in Bugzilla .

See also:

How to Report Bugs in LibreOffice Please post the link from the bug here.
To do this, edit your initial question. Thank you.

mikekaganski · February 25, 2022, 2:43pm

Ftr: tdf#147655

Cerberus · February 26, 2022, 2:56am

I have experienced this, too. It happened with two .docx documents I received from someone and which I edited with Track Changes on.

It seems additions were erroneously converted into deletetions after saving.

I have added this info to the bug post.

Thank you, Hrbrgr, for your suggestion to first convert the document to .odt, then edit it with track changes on, then save a copy as .docx: I will try that.

anon87010807 · February 27, 2022, 9:50pm

All experienced users of OpenOffice at the Apache OpenOffice community forum recommend that if you have to share files for work with users of MS Office, you work with MS Office as well (or you convince them of using LibreOffice/OpenOffice). Solving compatibility issues takes up too much time to make working with a free office suite like LibreOffice worth it. Use LibreOffice for its own merits when you don’t have to share your files with MS Office users.

Cerberus · February 28, 2022, 6:04pm

@floris_v I do not have Microsoft Office, but I need to receive and edit .docx files and send them back. I think this applies to many users of Libre Office.

Until this enormous problem (substantial and unnoticed data loss), I have never, ever encountered any serious problems with editing .docx files in Libre Office.

But of course I appreciate that Libre Office is made by volunteers. I am grateful for what I get.

anon87010807 · February 28, 2022, 6:25pm

The problem isn’t that LO is made by volunteers, but that the commercial manufacturers of computer software don’t have an interest in compatibility of their software with that of their competitors, and that they therefore make it as hard as they can for others to make perfect import and export filters. By the time that’s completed, they totally change the document structure and the party can start all over. There’s a name for it: vendor lock-in, and because the present generation of politicians doesn’t understand that there’s a job for them here, we’re stuck with it.

Cerberus · February 28, 2022, 10:56pm

@anon87010807 Yeah I know that is a major issue. Even so, this is the first time I have come across a huge problem. I always use simple text documents. It’s just the track changes that is somehow horribly broken when you open a .docx document in Libre Office. I hope Libre can see why the added and deleted statuses are somehow reversed on saving, and somehow fix it.

mikerobertsbcn · September 4, 2022, 8:20pm

I solved this problem. The issue with totally messed up changes only happens when you have ‘deletions in margin’ or ‘insertions in margins’ activated. This seems to cause utter confusion when saving as a .docx. All you have to do is make sure that before saving, you switch back to ‘all changes inline’. As far as I can tell, as long as you do that, the tracked changes will all be rendered perfectly when you open them in Word.

sigrid · July 13, 2023, 5:49pm

I was not able to make the solution suggested by mikerobertsbcn work. I have been converting LibreOffice to/from Word using track changes for a long time, and the first time I had bad problems was when I started using LibreOffice 7. The worst problem is that with track changes on, the documents started scrambling the footnotes/endnotes. I ended up downgrading back to LibreOffice 6.4.7.2, and now things are working fine again.

I love LibreOffice and I’m not complaining, but I want to support the folks who maintain that this is a problem that should be fixed if at all possible (and it must be possible, since it works in 6.4.7.2) so that those of us who are compelled to interact with Word users can still be Liberated on our own machines. Thank you!!

Wanderer · July 14, 2023, 5:52am

but you should report this also at bugzilla, if possible with an example file, working in version 6.x but not in 7.x
Then developers can easier find out, where something changed and maybe fix it.