Very slow Writer

[Muzdrav]

Hello,

Specs: My laptop has 24gb ram and intel core i5. Used on win11 (Libre 24.2.5) and Linux Mint and Debian (Libre 24.2.5.2) with same results.

I use a writer with notes in tables over 600 pages, some rows have few kb-pictures (maybe 30 pictures of 10kb in the entire document). The .odt file is 3,2mb, while exported PDF is 26mb. I write there daily, have the document opened all day.

I don’t mind, that the .odt file opens ca. 4-5min at all. It also saves for ca. 4-5 min (which could be planned), but those autosaves drive me to insanity. It saves every ten minutes, it began to save after every sentence I do. When I write a few words and begin thinking, it again autosaves. Nowadays, It autosaves almost anytime I’m trying to write anything.

PDF opens instantly - after I adjusted the pdf-reader (acrobat or ocular) to not load the entire pdf to memory. Searching isn’t instant, but is still quick. I have no problem with it and started to use it more then the .odt file.

Tried to increase LibreOffice memory ram setting, forbid acceleration, tried low resolution. Nothing helped.
I also tried to forbid autosave - changed it to never autosave - it still autosaves.
It begins to be unusable.
I’m considering to remove pictures, and if that doesn’t help, then remover the tables and write in plane paper.

Some brainstorm would help.

Thank you.
M.

[ajlittoz]

600 pages is in the easy range for Writer … provided you use Writer “wisely”. 30 pics 10kB each is also a “small payload”. The remaining question is about the number of tables, but I assume it is “moderate”.

The big factor is your way to use Writer. If you’re still lagging in the mechanical typewriter-era where everything is formatting manually (direct formatting or DF), you put a considerable stress on Writer because every format directive is an individual item, resulting in zillions of occurrences in the full document.

Writer is intended to be controlled by styles. A single style provides formatting information for many many paragraphs, words, lists, pages, … Thus, file size is reduced and Writer has many fewer formatting information to handle.

You may also misuse line break Shift+Enter instead of paragraph breaks Enter. Paragraphs are delimited by paragraph breaks. According to a recent question on this site, it looks like Writer needs the full paragraph in memory to lay it out. Line breaks don’t delimit paragraph; they just wrap to next line. Consequently if the paragraph containing these line breaks spans several pages, once again you put a considerable stress on Writer.

A more accurate diagnostic can be assessed if you attach a reduced sample of your document (under 1 MB).

[Muzdrav]

Hello, again,
thank you very much for these suggestions!

I changed all line breaks to paragraph breaks with find and replace - it quickened the opening a little bit.
After that I changed a square symbol i was using in notes for the symbol ◦ - it quickened the opening a little bit.
I then forbid the recording of changes and viola, saving now takes only 10sec instead of 5min.
Thank you very much!