Trying to stop fields and links from updating

English
#1

I am trying to use LibreOffice Writer in Linux to update documents which were created in Microsoft Office. The documents can contain links to other documents. I do NOT want those links to be updated to reflect the Linux folder structure. Each document contains a field with its own path and filename, which again I do not want to be updated.

I tried this:

Tools | Options | expand LibreOffice Writer | General

Automatically Update | clear checkboxes for Fields and Charts

Update Links When Loading | set to Never

When the documents are loaded back into a Windows computer and opened, the response is that the document is corrupted. I have tried saving in ODT as well as DOC and DOCX. The original documents were in Word RTF format.

Office can recover the documents, but the links are no longer correct. I can correct the filename and path field by updating it after the document is put back into its original location, but it would be easier to find the location if the field had not been updated.

Is there anything I can do to make this work?

#3

I think your problem comes from your decision of handling M$ Office documents with LO intending afterwards to use them under Window$.

When loaded, your document must be translated from a foreign formats into an internal one. It is likely this is where the path are converted from Windows syntax into local syntax, i.e. Linux running on your computer.

When you save, a second translation occurs but as the file is saved from a Linux system, paths are expressed in the local syntax.

I’m afraid there is nothing you do. Except I kind of remember there is a configuration option to store paths to other documents relative to the current location. But I don’t remember where this can be set.

Linking documents is not always a good idea. Tell us your usage of this feature and we could eventually suggest another solution.

#4

For many years, I have been making notes about how things work, and how to do stuff. When I was working, this was because I was learning a lot, too much to remember it all. Since I’ve retired, I don’t have so many things to remember, but my memory is not so good, so I still need to make notes.

For instance, I am currently making a document about my experience in using Linux. Part of that document now refers to LibreOffice. If the LibreOffice part becomes enlarged, I will break it out into a separate document, and put a link to it in the Linux document.

That’s the way I’ve always done things, and it works very well in MS Office (and has worked since Office 2000, I’m not sure about the latest versions, I see no reason to upgrade past 2007).

#6

You have two ways to do this:

  • Insert>Text from File but this copies the text into the current document, just as if you had typed the text
  • with a master document referencing other documents: text is not copied but displayed or printed from the other document(s); this is the most space efficient but there are subtleties, so master first single-file workflow before tackling master+sub-documents.

Writer manages without problem documents of more than 1000 pages.

#7

Thanks for your help, but I have the feeling that it’s not going to work for me.
I don’t necessarily produce a tree structure with these links. I can have doc A which links to doc B, which links to doc C, which then links back to doc A. In fact there could be a large number of documents in this circular pattern of links.
There is no real master document in these cases, and inserting text from documents which themselves insert text is probably going to create a death spiral. I would be surprised if LO could handle this reliably.

#8

Having a circular chain is generally the beginning of hell. Computers don’t like infinite loops.
To correctly answer your question need to understand what you call a “link” and how you use it. Can you provide a small example with 2 1-page linked documents?

#9

I’ll look for an example.

Are you familiar with Word? In every version I’ve used, you can insert a hyperlink into a document. The address you supply can be that of a Word document, an Excel spreadsheet, or any other type of file, even a folder. Either on your computer, or on any computer you are connected to, and of course webpage URLs can be the address.

This is not the same thing as inserting an object into a Word document, such as a spreadsheet chart. The link is not activated unless clicked on, and it causes a separate document to be loaded in a separate window, so there is no problem with a circular chain. If you go right round the chain, the document you request is already open, so its window goes on top.

I hope that makes it clearer.

#10

OK, this has been a very helpful discussion.

It’s now clear what I need to do, which is to create brand new documents in LO, and then use hyperlinks (or cut and paste) to integrate them into my existing Word stuff.

So now I’ll have to learn how to use Writer, and I’m sure you’ll be hearing from me again. :slightly_smiling_face:

#11

menu:Edit>External Links…
Update manually.

#12

Thanks for that.

But, Edit>Links to External Files is greyed out for me, even when editing a document which contains these links.

#2

Try the following:

Select the field.
Choose Edit>Cut
Choose Edit>Paste Special>Paste Unformatted Text

The field is no longer present. The text pasted in is the text that was in the field when it was cut.

#5

That’s a very good idea, and I could do something similar with the hyperlinks, although it would take longer, as I would have to edit each link (many of my documents contain several) in order to copy the path. And I would have to reverse the process when importing the docs back into Office.

But as a last resort, it would work, so thanks for that.

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