Pictures that were cropped in Writer look different on another device

English
#1

I use LibreOffice Writer (24.2) on two computers (both Win 10). I created almost all my (.odt) files on the first computer. My files contain plenty of images copied from web (copy -paste). They were often edited (mostly cropped) directly in Writer. (Yes, now I know it would be better to edit them in another way, f. e. in IrfanView, but it´s too late.) If I open this files on another computer, they look different (for example gray blur instead of my picture or only part of my picture or some part of picture which was contained in original downloaded picture and that I cut off or some strange blur that wasn´t even contained in original picture). Recently, I reinstalled Writer on both devices. It didn´t solve the problem. (Experimentally, I tried to open some files on another device with Win11. Again: it didn´t solve the problem.)

I have thousands of .odt files. I need to have the same pictures regardless of where I open them. And I need to back up my files. If I don´t try to change pictures manually (for example I can manually copy all pictures to IrfanView and then back to Writer) and my main computer crashes, I cannot normally access my files with pictures and years of work are lost. If I try to repair them manually, it means months of work. I can create .pdf files but I need to edit my files: so I would backup my files but I would not be able to work with them normally.

Could you please propose a solution?

#2

On the second computer, if you start LibreOffice on safe mode, Start menu - Programs - LibreOffice 24.2 - LibreOffice (Safe mode) - Continue in safe mode, and then open a file from the first computer, is the picture as expected?

It is possible that the images that you thought you had copied were only links to the pictures online in which case they are at risk anyway.

#3

Even in safe mode, the pictures don´t look normal.
Please, how can I control if I copied only links?
(I don´t think so, as I copied images from various sites, the most of them have been cropped, and almost all images seem to be “damaged”. It seems to me unprobable that so many sites would be changed.)

#4

Can you upload a small sample document that exhibits the behaviour? Click the upload icon (up-pointing arrow) or drag file onto comment pane.

Maybe you can paste the details from both computers? Click Help > About LibreOffice and click the icon immediately after the words Version information.

#5

Thank you for your willingness to help.

DEVICE A (here the most files were created):

Version: 24.2.3.2 (X86_64) / LibreOffice Community
Build ID: 433d9c2ded56988e8a90e6b2e771ee4e6a5ab2ba
CPU threads: 4; OS: Windows 10.0 Build 19045; UI render: Skia/Raster; VCL: win
Locale: cs-CZ (cs_CZ); UI: cs-CZ
Calc: threaded

DEVICE B (here the most images don´t look normal):

Version: 24.2.3.2 (X86_64) / LibreOffice Community
Build ID: 433d9c2ded56988e8a90e6b2e771ee4e6a5ab2ba
CPU threads: 4; OS: Windows 10.0 Build 22631; UI render: Skia/Raster; VCL: win
Locale: cs-CZ (cs_CZ); UI: cs-CZ
Calc: threaded

File 1 - how it looks like on computer A.pdf (428.3 KB)
File 1 - how it looks like on computer B.pdf (536.9 KB)
File 1.odt (990.5 KB)

#6

Your file displays “normally” on my computer (Fedora 40, KDE Plasma desktop, LO 24.2.3.2). I wrote “normally” with quotation marks because I doubt your document is a normal one. It is written just like we’d have done it more than 50 years ago in the mechanical typewriter era. This technique is called direct formatting and is the cause of most problems (in any office document processor).

To make things worse you added drawing objects to show divisions in your page (lines at top and bottom) or to insert callouts (arrow + text box), not to speak of the page number at bottom. Drawing objects are “external” to text and don’t cooperate willingly with text. Just add a paragraph at top and everything desynchronises.

At least, you should read the Writer Guide to get an idea about what can be done with Writer and how to use it.

I can’t reproduce your issue with images but you should start by creating a normalised document. This would eliminate many problems hiding the image issue.

1 Like
#7

First of all, it looks fine in my version of LibreOffice
Version: 24.2.3.2 (X86_64) / LibreOffice Community
Build ID: 433d9c2ded56988e8a90e6b2e771ee4e6a5ab2ba
CPU threads: 8; OS: Windows 10.0 Build 22631; UI render: Skia/Raster; VCL: win
Locale: en-NZ (en_NZ); UI: en-GB
Calc: CL threaded

Secondly, your uncropped images are still there, both in the .odt and in the pdfs (open them in Draw) so no need to panic.

I do note that the first two images are distorted, they have different percentage height and width

It looks a bit like tdf#83734 but that would mean you cropped the images and then compressed them. It might affect the second computer if the screen resolution is different, see tdf#52598

Given they are screenshots, a better option would have been to right click the images, select Edit in external tool and cropped them in that. The images would be much smaller than with jpg compression, especially if you reduced the number of colours.
This is still an option, but keep in mind that the image has been damaged by compressing with jpg so you won’t get back the crispness of the screenshot. For the first two images, reducing the number of colours to 256 and saving as png would have been optimal.
To permanently crop the images, remove the LibreOffice crop, and reset the proportions:

  1. right click the image and select Edit with external tool, crop the image and close the external tool. You will be asked if you want to save the image, click Yes. Do you want to overwrite it? Click Yes
  2. right-click the image, select Properties and, in the Crop tab click the button Reset Crop, then set both height and width to the same percentage, for example both 35%. OK
2 Likes
#8

Thank you. I checked some images and it seems that all “distorted” images have different percentage height and width while all other images (that could be viewed normally on both devices) have the same percentage.

The screen resolution is really different: 1280 x 1024 (device A) / 1920 x 1024 (device B). I tried to set the screen resolution on device B to 1280 x 1024. Even after this, images don´t look normal. Could I change any other setting of screen so that it would solve my problem?

After this experience, I edit my images in IrfanView, but the problem is that thousands of files contain images edited directly in Writer. I know that it would be a solution to edit this particular images with an external tool, but it would be very complicated. The images are probably not thousands but tens of thousands, as there are usually more images in particular files…

(It´s not my primary concern now but: I tried to use IrfanView to permanently crop the images. It seems that if I copy an image, crop it and paste it back to Writer, the percentage height and width is the same then. So, could I leave out the step 2 without risk?)

#9

Thank you. Do you think there is any solution if the direct formatting causes my problem (except for changing all images manually)?

I checked the Writer manual, cleared direct formatting (Format > Clear Direct
Formatting) and then opened the file on device B. Unfortunately, the problem persists.

If it is the direct formatting that causes the most of problems, could it be avoided generally, without clearing it for each file?

Drawing objects are essential for me. If I eliminate the direct formatting, could they still put my files in danger?

#10

Thank you. Do you think there is any solution if the direct formatting causes my problem (except for changing all images manually)?

I checked the Writer manual, cleared direct formatting (Format > Clear Direct
Formatting) and then opened the file on device B. Unfortunately, the problem persists.

If it is the direct formatting that causes the most of problems, could it be avoided generally, without clearing it for each file?

Drawing objects are essential for me. If I eliminate the direct formatting, could they still put my files in danger?

#11

Because you followed this track without being aware of other better possibilities.

Regarding your separator lines, you should use the possibilities offered by Borders in page and paragraph styles. The lines will then be attached to these “primaries” (page or paragraphs) and you won’t need any more to worry about them.

The only remaining issue is your “callout” to comment an image. There is no really “stable” and reliable solution in Writer. Best but not perfect is to add the callout with Draw on the image, group everything in order to copy and paste a single image/object back into Writer. You’ll then be safe against further edits or reviews.

Direct formatting is not the primal cause of your problem. But, as your document is completely direct formatted, fixing it adds more and more direct formatting to the point the document becomes unmanageable. Once its structure is cleaned, it’ll be time to look carefully at it.

I don’t think screen definition (1280×1024 vs. 1920×1080) is important. It only changes the amount of document visible without scrolling. If distortions are different, something else is playing.

#12

See this comment in bug report, 52598 – Writer ignores original picture pixel density in .jpg files, and uses 120 dpi (refer comment 19 and 26)

#13

My comment targeted the different X-Y scaling where image does not keep its height-width ratio. Global scaling is another factor (very important too, to get predictable results). Sorry if I was not clear enough.

#14

“As your document is completely direct formatted, fixing it adds more and more direct formatting to the point the document becomes unmanageable. Once its structure is cleaned, it’ll be time to look carefully at it.” But once the structure is cleaned, then there is no more need to examine the cause of my problem as the problem is already resolved…

For example, File AB (here: the files were too big Dropbox - Writer (1) - Simplify your life ) contains some images that are not viewed normally on my second device. There is apparently a problem with this immages. If I copy them to another file (File AB - images viewed as cropped) which contains nothing but these images, then again, they could not be normally viewed on the second device (as expected, there was a problem in original file they were copied from and this problem persists). If I create another file, copy these images to IrfanView and than back to LibreOffice, these images can be normally viewed on both devices (as expected). The problem is that I would need weeks of concentrated work to do it with all my files manually and respectively.

It seems hard for me to imagine to abandon a direct formating (if I understand it right: even if I manually highlight a sentence, it is also a direct formating). It seems hard to define clear patterns and only “switch between these patterns”. I use “arrows” referring to text fields, speech bubbles etc. (see File AB). And my files are very different from each other.

Maybe it is not so difficult. My worries can be due to my ignorance, right. It is also possible that it would be better if I (considering my expectations) use another app (f.e. Draw not only to edit images but to create whole files). Or I should consider to switch to Word.

But it seems that the main problem is with images that were edited in Writer. I know it should be avoided, but it was not, and I wish my images would display in the same way on my both devices without focusing on every single file and repairing it manually. Can I hope that it succeeds or is it impossible?

Thank you for your help.

#15

Same problem here, in 7.6, I have 2 screens using two different resolutions. Bug happened 2 times , 1 for each release of my document.
Thanks for guidance using external tool.
Nonetheless a day to day task like cropping in Writer should work as efficiently as an external tool.

#16

It seems the problem is solved. Now, the files look indentical, as they should. So I provide some information for these who would experience the same issue.

I think there was an issue outside of LibreOffice. I changed the resolution settings of my both devices after I tried to find a solution elsewhere and I was adviced once more to focus on it.

(More precisely, I was told by an expert that “on Device B, the System DPI settings are on 120 DPI (instead of 96, like on the other device)”. As I was not able to understand where this information come from — I provided the expert with some additional information about my devices settings but could not find these numbers there at all — I visited another expert. He experimentally changed my resolution settings — and after it, my files look normally.)

What is striking is that my actual settings are the same as before — we experimented with changes but ended up with the same “configuration”. The screen resolution of my both devices was already a long time ago (at the time when I experienced the issue) the same as now.

As someone can find it helpful, I copy my communication with an expert (anonymized, as I am not authorized to public it here). There is no a clear solution of the problem, but someone experiencing the same issue could find it helpful.

A/ EXPERT wrote:
… Thanks for the link to the Ask discussion,
that already provides quite a lot of useful background information.

For any engineering solution we could attempt on our end though, first
of all we need to be able to reproduce the problem you see on computer
B.

I suspect the relevant difference is the resolution, but (like the
other people in the ask discussion), I’m so far not able to see your
problem here. Can you think of any other difference about the 2nd
computer? Like, graphics card, brand of the monitor, any ‘custom
display scaling’ used (like, 150 or 200% display size)? Any special
software installed, like image processing programs, or ‘monitor
calibration’ or similar things applied?

Was there any time in the past (or any LibreOffice version), where
this did work correctly on both machines? If you’re unsure, you can
try older versions of LibreOffice, from the archive download site:

https://downloadarchive.documentfoundation.org/libreoffice/old/

B/ I wrote:

I will try to provide the information you need - if I leave something out, please, tell me, I will be more specific.

In the attachment (Comparison graphics both devices), you can see graphics setting on both devices (left side of every page - device A, right side of every page - device B).

[The file is here.
Comparison graphics both devices_compressed.pdf (613.4 KB)
I must compress him as I was told it is “too big” to be loaded.]

‘Custom display scaling’: 100% is set on both devices. (The screen resolution if both devices was changed on the second device - so it matches the resolution of the first device which is 1280x1024. But it makes no difference if the resolution of the second device is 1920x1080 as usual or 1280x1024)

The monitor I use with the first device seems to be very old - it could be significant.

In the attachment (DxDiag comparison), there is the comparison of DxDiag file which includes information about monitor etc.

I am not aware of any special software installed, like image processing programs (I cropped and edited my pictures directly in Writer) or ‘monitor calibration’ or similar things applied.

“Was there any time in the past (or any LibreOffice version), where
this did work correctly on both machines?” I don’t think so. I was used to download all .odt files as .pdf to prevent different view on the second device. But since I have to edit my files on both devices, it becomes unmanageable (I also fear that my main device crashes.) On my main device where I create most of my files, I have had LibreOffice always updated. I noticed that on the second device, it wasn´t updated for two years, so my network administrator updated it (it´s a work device), but it didn´t solve the problem. I would like to experiment with the second device and install some older version (more than two years old) experimentally, but since it is a work device, I am not allowed to that. But I can ask the network administrator to experiment with it later. I don´t dare to experiment with LibreOffice on my first device as I fear I wouldn´t be able to restore images even on my main device.

A/ EXPERT wrote:

In the attachment (Comparison graphics both devices), you can see graphics

setting on both devices (left side of every page - device A, right side of
every page - device B).

Thx for that - sadly, nothing much stands out there.

‘Custom display scaling’: 100% is set on both devices. (The screen
resolution if both devices was changed on the second device - so it matches
the resolution of the first device which is 1280x1024. But it makes no
difference if the resolution of the second device is 1920x1080 as usual or
1280x1024)

Ok, so we can rule that out.

In the attachment (DxDiag comparison), there is the comparison of
DxDiag file which includes information about monitor etc.

That’s really valuable and very detailed input, thanks a lot! The one
thing that stands out there, is the fact that on Device B, the System
DPI settings are on 120 DPI (instead of 96, like on the other device).

That’s sadly not easily fixable (but perhaps Device A could be
upgraded with a higher-resolution monitor, just to check if that
changes anything?). Or use an older, low-res screen on Device B?

I am not aware of any special software installed, like image processing
programs (I cropped and edited my pictures directly in Writer) or ‘monitor
calibration’ or similar things applied.

Ok.

“Was there any time in the past (or any LibreOffice version), where
this did work correctly on both machines?” I don’t think so. I was used to
download all .odt files as .pdf to prevent different view on the second
device. But since I have to edit my files on both devices, it becomes
unmanageable (I also fear that my main device crashes.) On my main device
where I create most of my files, I have had LibreOffice always updated. I
noticed that on the second device, it wasn´t updated for two years, so my
network administrator updated it (it´s a work device), but it didn´t solve
the problem. I would like to experiment with the second device and install
some older version (more than two years old) experimentally, but since it is
a work device, I am not allowed to that. But I can ask the network
administrator to experiment with it later. I don´t dare to experiment with
LibreOffice on my first device as I fear I wouldn´t be able to restore
images even on my main device.

One way to install many versions of LibreOffice in parallel is
described here:

https://wiki.documentfoundation.org/…ows

(in short: run 'msiexec /A ’ to install LibreOffice into
an arbitrary place on your computer, with user rights)

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