New user of Writer - Struggling with first doc!

[johnsnowwy]

Just started using LibreOffice after moving from Mac to Linux (Fedora)
I was sent a .doc file and opened it in LibreWriter. But it doesn’t seem to display correctly. I can’t fill it in as it has inserted a load of boxes that prevent text input. I tried printing it and oddly the print out seems much more like how I think it should look.

Below is a screenshot from Librewriter, and then underneath (in my next post), a photo of the print out. Can anyone advise if this is a setting I can adjust, or just lack of compatibility due to file type (.doc)?

thanks

[ajlittoz]

There are lots of compatibility issues with tables between Word and Writer. It is also possible that “graphic objects” have been added to the document. It is impossible to diagnose from the screenshot. Since the document doesn’t seem to be confidential, attach it to a comment below my post (click on the callout icon).

Mention Fedora level (39 I assume?) and LO version.

Please, don’t use Answers for additional information. Answers are reserved for Solutions. By doing so, you mark your question as “answered” and this may prevent contributors from studying your question.

[johnsnowwy]

@ajlittoz

Please, don’t use Answers for additional information. Answers are reserved for Solutions. By doing so, you mark your question as “answered” and this may prevent contributors from studying your question.

I now know how not to reply, but no idea how to reply! I used “quote” here.
The document is confidential so I can’t attach it unfortunately.

I tried all the suggests from fpy above. I can adjust how it looks, but the fields don’t work right. I don’t have time to learn all the complex possibilities right now, I’ll see if my old Mac can open it cleanly and allow me to fill in boxes. thanks

[johnsnowwy]

[EarnestAl]

The screenshot looks the same as printed copy except in the screenshot you can see all the table lines including the non-printing ones. To toggle visibility of non-printing table lines click View > Table Boundaries

[fpy]

looks like non-breaking space, as in

Remove gray color of non-breaking spaces in Writer

Hi You can disable with View▸Field Shadings or you can do Tools▸Options▸LibreOffice▸Application Color▸Text Document▸Field shadings (untick, choose a color…). Regards

or

Remove gray color of non-breaking spaces in Writer

These are gray spaces that appear when I write in French. There, a such non-breaking space is required between a word and certain punctuation marks like the colon and guillemets: [image description] These spaces are automatically introduced even if Space key is not used, and are colored in gray even if the Space key is used. The solution that I have seen mentioned on this site of replacing those non-breaking characters with normal spaces seems awkward. Isn’t there a setting for just not color…

@johnsnowwy

prevent text input

not sure how it relates to the above.
some idea to provide more details :

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