LibreWriter Malfunction? [Formatting toolbar "disappears" when selecting an area of the document]

English
#1

Greetings,

While using LibreOffice Writer, over the past 48 hours, when working on a Document, it starts up, as normal, with the bottom row of Paragraph style, Font Name, Font Size, Bold, Italics, Underline, Font Color etc, all showing
When I attempt to Highlight part of the Document, the Desired Bottom Row (Formatting Tool Bar),disappears, & is by replaced “Forward One”, “To background”, “Border Color”,“Filter”, “Flip Vertically” etc.
And when I try to “Highlight” an area of My Document, a “Cross with Arrows at it’s tips” appears!

Operating Libre Writer in Safe Mode, did enable me to Highlight part of what I wanted, but, that took several attempts for by clicking the “Bold Button”, caused the Document to jump back to it’s beginning.

My PC application is Windows 10

How can I restore Libre Document back to the Configuration that I’ve successfully used countless times, up to Today?

#2

The toolbar is somehow context-sensitive and adapts itself to the selected object. Are you sure you selected text and not some other object like a table, an image, … ?

Please attach a sample file and mention your LO version (exact number, not “latest” as it is dependent on the platform) and save format (though, will be apparent with the sample file).

#3

You can restore the User Profile to its original version after install same as safe mode) by resetting your profile.
Returning to a “working config” is only possible, if you have a backup of your files. Sadly Microsoft decided to hide this kind of data in a hidden folder, wich can be reached below %APPDATA%
.
Berfore you attempt to reset your current profile, save/backup it, or use rename instead of remove.

#4

It really sounds as if the text you are trying to highlight is, in fact, an image of text. When you click on it do you see 8 handles around the edge of a block of “text”? The four way arrow appears when you try to move an image.

If you install Microsoft Power Toys then you can OCR the image by pressing Win+Shift+T by leveraging Windows in-built OCR capabilities

#5

Greetings ajlittoz, Wanderer, & EarnestAJ,

Thank You All for replying!

I’ve been using LIbreOffice for my Work, with Documents, & Contracts, as well as my research for many, many years, & this has never happened before.

My Version of LibreOffice is 7.2

1.) I’m Absolutely Positive that I’m selecting Text, & not a table etc.

2.) I’m posting a before, & after “snip” of the Document below.

A.)

LIbre Office Format before Format disappears 6-16-2025
LIbre Office Format before Format disappears 6-16-20251189×671 184 KB

b.)

LibreOffice forrmat bar disapppears while trying to hi-lite text 6-16-2025
LibreOffice forrmat bar disapppears while trying to hi-lite text 6-16-20251195×675 204 KB

The only way that I was able to “re-set” LIbre, so as to bring back the “Format Bar” was to close the Document.

C.) here is the Text, that I was able to High-lite in Safe Mode:

Sucessful high- liting of Text in Safe Mode 6-16-2025 LibreOffice
Sucessful high- liting of Text in Safe Mode 6-16-2025 LibreOffice1186×657 81.6 KB

Wanderer, which “Original version” would that be? Would that be 7.2, or an older version? The reason that I’m asking is because I tried to revert to the earlier version, but it was not available. Regarding the “Backing up of Files”, are you referring to every single document that I’ve produced via LIbre?

EarnestAJ, I Copied & Pasted a training document to my desktop, & then set out to highlight important text items within the document. Matter of fact,… Here’s the Document: ,… Uhhh Your Site states that the File is to big, sorry.

And No Sir,… I do not see " 8 handles around the edge of a block of “text”,… I clearly see what I’m calling a “Cross”, with arrow points at the four ends of that “cross”. In Fact, when I try to Highlight, not only does that “Cross” appear but also a border appears to both sides of the document, when I release the Mouse Cursor, the “Cross”, & “Border lines” disappear.

I’m not going to install Microsoft Power Toys, in fact it is many difficulties, as well a Microsoft’s invasiveness that brought me to LIbre.

#6

A lot of interesting clues are missing in your screenshots because you didn’t enable View>Formatting Marks. In shot C, there are two small white squares suggesting this is not a text flow but either an image or a frame. The bottom toolbar is clearly one intended for Drawing Objects. Please attach a sample file reduced to this page and the surrounding ones.

#7

Greetings ajlttoz,

You will have to pardon me then. My “Skill Set” is not “Office Work”, nor “Computer Based Office Applications,” where I have Learned enough to get by.

I “Snipped” pictures of what I had been Accustomed to over more than a Five Year Period, where I have Successfully used “Libre Writer Document” in submitting Documentation to American State Courts,and State, & Federal Agencies, as well as many Interactive Platforms, with ABSOLUTELY No Problem, until this recent matter came about.

The beginning “Screen Shot” which included the “Format Tool Bar”, is again,… What I have been accustomed to for more than 5 years, which has resulted in possibly several thousand documents that have been accepted, by many Authorities,without fail.

This recent problem is not something that I knowingly/unknowingly caused, nor have I ever had to enable "View>Formatting Marks"

Because the "Formatting Tool Bar", has always been there, until now, wher I tried to "High-light Important Data".

=============================

ajlittoz
June 17

A lot of interesting clues are missing in your screenshots because you didn’t enable View>Formatting Marks. In shot C, there are two small white squares suggesting this is not a text flow but either an image or a frame. The bottom toolbar is clearly one intended for Drawing Objects. Please attach a sample file reduced to this page and the surrounding ones.

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#8

Hello @DavidDeBord,
It can be seen in the status bar that b. and C. screenshots are taken while a graphical object or a frame is selected: you can see there 6.93 x 12.50.
What I can’t understand is how, if the vertical scroll bar button is near the middle of the bar, the status bar says Page 1 of 10.

#9

To highlight some of the words in an image of text,

  1. Select the image and insert it into a frame. The easiest way is to right click the image and select Add caption. Set caption to None.
  2. Draw a rectangle shape to cover the words. Make sure the shape is anchored inside the new frame. Drag the anchor inside the frame of it is somewhere else
  3. In the sidebar, give the Area some transparency, say 80%
  4. Set the highlight colour
  5. Set the line to None
  6. Fine adjust the above settings to suit

You can use the built in OCR (Optical Character Recognition) capability of Windows directly but I can’t now remember the command.
If you have a printer, it might have come with some basic OCR capabilities
The are online OCR sites

#12

If it were Linux / KDE, I would suspect the result of LO copy&paste bug - copied content is pasted as image … and nothing prevents the same from happening on any OS, where a clipboard manager decides to do strange things.

#10

Greetings LeroyG & EarnestA1

Screenshot “B” is what happened when I scrolled down to Highlight the sentence in Screen shot C, which again, I only accomplished when I used the “Safe Mode”.

When I close the App, & re-open it, I see Screen Shot “A”, again, with the “Format Tool Bar”,… When I Scrolled down to Highlight the sentence about the TXV Superheat, with my Cursor… That is when the “Format Toolbar” immediately disappeared, & what I saw is Screenshot “B”.

And Again Ya’ll,… I have successfully carried this out for at least 5 years…

Does the Application need to be “Re-set”? And if so, will that affect/delete Documents that I have on my PC?

#11

Some of your text is an image. Resetting LibreOffice won’t solve that issue.

You could upload a sample if you like.

#13

Would the “Clipboard Manager” only relate to LibreOffice, or would that also have anything to do with “Copying & Pasting” an Article from one Web Site, & Posting it at another/

If that is the case,… Where I’m a member of several groups,… Copying & Pasting an Article from One Site to the other has not been a problem at all.

EarnestA1, what kind of sample are You speaking of, other than what I’ve already posted?

And, I’ve not seen any answer to what will happen to my Documents, if I were to delete the Application, & then re-install it.Would more than 5 years of Documents disappear?

When I deleted the Microsoft Office/Word Application, I didn’t lose any Documents that had been completed in Word,… Is this not the case wiyj LIbre?

#14

“Nothing” will happen to your created files.
.
Uninstall of LibreOffice will kerp your files and also the user-profile with your settings.
Simply “deleting” LibreOffice is no good idea, as some registry-keys may point to empty spots afterwards…
.
But users who can only find their “recent files” may not know where to find their files.
.
Having an aditional backup is always a good idea and no software will remove anything from a not connected usb-drive. (I will not rule out the possibility to code some malware for this.)
.
PS: Don’t search for your answer. Check for the uproar it would cause, if your idea would be real.

#15

A reduced sample file to test with.

are screenshots that we can’t test on.

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