Mail merge doc saved as .docx not displayed correctly in LO Writer

[lucky67]

Have had this issue before -

this image is of a document that is the result of a mail merge saved as a .docx. It is displayed correctly until I close it and then reopen. If I save before the merge (so the mail merge template .odt saved as a .docx) I get the same issue.
If I open these files in google docs they display correctly - I don’t currently have access to word but when I did and had the same issue it did display correctly - this is just in LO writer I get this…

The .odt file opens/is displayed as expected.

This document does contain several tables and is approx 6 A4 pages long but formatted as a single (very long -180cm) page. It isn’t 200+ pages long as indicated in the status bar, but the word count will be about right.

If I save as .doc file it is displayed correctly but changes to be 3 x 60+ cm pages.

Which makes me think it is because of the length of the page…but I really would like to keep it as one long page. I email this out to people and they edit and return it and then I edit further. Not having odd page breaks or empty pages makes it a lot easier …

Does anyone know if it is definitely due to the page length? Or could it be something else? Is there a way round it?
(I think I could send them out like this - as long as the recipients don’t want to open it with LO!)

EDIT - now have found out that these files have changed their page size to just over 2 cm long, if on opening you change the page size everything is still there and appears normal. I also found that if I set the page length to 60cm (so the maximum size accepted as a .doc) and then save as .docx on opening it goes back to 100s of pages 2cm long. If I change the page size to 20cm long (so still a user defined not standard format) it opens correctly. It looks like it is the length - last time (a year ago) I sent them out as emails as part of a mail merge and didn’t get any negative feedback. So I didn’t close and reopen them all as .docx.

Was going to say no one must have used Libre Office to open them - but actually I can’t remember having a problem opening the returned ones - but then guess if I did have an issue I might have used word…

EDIT 2 - Reported as Bug 143397 https://bugs.documentfoundation.org/show_bug.cgi?id=143397

(hope I’ve done this right!) Thanks for the help

[Wanderer]

I don’t use word for anything now, but the old MS-Word had a page limit of 22 inch, as you also find out via google.

Maybe you should use Editors for html or markdown, as you obviously don’t want to use the benefits of a Page-oriented Wysiwig-Program.

[lucky67]

Google docs displays.docx as one long page - writer opens old style word .doc as 60 cm pages. People I’m sending it to are not necessarily tech minded want to send them something they recognise/as comfortable with. (Also further discourages them from ignoring my request, printing it out, completing by hand and returning as images… Which i then need to decipher the hand writing and type in the data)

[Hrbrgr]

Please report the behavior as a bug in Bugzilla .
See also: How to Report Bugs in LibreOffice

Please announce the link from the bug here.

To do this, edit your initial question. Thank you.

[lucky67]

Sorry for delay - I will do the bug report shortly - I had to get these documents out asap and with this issue (and unrelated issues due to the document containing some tables and text from a document provided to me which have always had formatting issues such as tables containing random extra 1mm wide columns (why?) - they finally pushed me over the edge meaning that I saved it as a .txt and made a new doc) I have sent them out as 55cm long pages - not ideal but at least it is half as many pages/page breaks as A4.

[Zizi64]

Never store your important documents in a foreign file type. Use the international standard ODF file formats. Only save or export some copies of the original document into the foreign file formats.

[lucky67]

? I did the mail merge as an .odt. I have copies of all the files as .odt. But I need to send them out as files that different users, often not tech savvy, users can recognise and easily open. I know that word can be awkward opening .odt files - will often mess up the formatting or come up with errors and I have to work with that. I check how they are displayed in google docs and ms word and generally using .docx if opening in Word is normally the way that causes fewest problems (which I know is a MS problem not a Libreoffice one!) I have since discovered that the maximum page length for .docx in Word is actually 55 cm. So Writer (and google docs) can handle the longer format (as .odt and .docx respectively) - so another plus for .odt - but until the rest of the world catches up and ditches MS office …