What happened to the page number tooltip when scrolling through documents?

[richard.martin.94]

It was a feature of the older version I had of LibreOffice Writer and appeared like this:

I just installed this newest version (v4.2.5.2) and I miss that feature as I scroll up & down thru the document frequently. I have the Tips box checked (in Options > LibreOffice > General) but it appears to have no effect on this feature. Has it been removed in recent Writer versions? Here’s hoping not. Yes, the page # is in the left lower corner but it’s difficult to view that while right-scrolling.

writer, English, Version: 4.2.5.2
Build ID: 61cb170a04bb1f12e77c884eab9192be736ec5f5

[bencomp]

What are you asking?
Is this something you think the current version of LibreOffice Writer should do, but that you can’t get to work, or is it a feature request?
Have you noticed the page number in the bottom left corner of the window?

[richard.martin.94]

Thanks. It was a feature of the older version I had of libreoffice writer. I just installed this newest version and I miss that feature as I right-scroll up & down thru the doicument frequently. I have the tips box checked (in options-libreoffice-general) but it does not display that feature. Has it been removed in recent writer versions? Here’s hoping not. Yes, the page # is in the left lower corner but it’s difficult to view that while right-scrolling. Thanks again.

[oweng]

It appears this feature was deprecated / removed as a result of bug fdo#43650 sometime during v4.1-4.2. The tooltip appearing when scrolling with the mousewheel or click-n-drag on the scrollbar. The flickering nature when scrolling with the mousewheel and distracting nature of it appearing at centre-right of each page while scrolling in this manner seems to have been the primary reason for removal. It even had a bounty posted as an incentive for removal. Unfortunately the removal of the code seems to also have removed the display of this feature when using the click-n-drag-on-the-scroll-bar method.

EDIT: The page number display in the status bar updates automatically instead (under v4.3.0.2 and v4.4.0.0alpha+ 2014-07-09) while scrolling via either method. We all just need to train our eye to look elsewhere on the screen.

[richard.martin.94]

Would it be possible to re-program the display of this feature just when using the click-n-drag-on-the-scroll-bar method? It was hugely useful. Is there some official way to request such a return of a feature? I don’t recall a flickering when using that method. It was a little unobtrusive box with the page number, as captured in the illustration above. Thanks again. Love libreoffice writer, but miss this feature a lot. P.S. Could you tell me the last version of LO writer which did include this feature? Thanks.

[oweng]

@richard.martin.94, I took the screenshot I added to your question from v4.1.6.2 Build ID: 40ff705089295be5be0aae9b15123f687c05b0a (i.e., GNU/Linux x86_64 deb). The only way to re-instate the feature for click-n-drag context would be to “raise a bug”:https://www.libreoffice.org/get-help/bug/ and clearly indicate the context. I would also link to the original bug and this thread for clarity. This would appear to be a UI regression, particular for large documents. If you do raise a bug please post a link to it using the form “fdo123456” in a comment back here. Thanks.

[richard.martin.94]

Thank you for that detailed guidance, oweng, and for the earlier helpful editing. While I am debating whether to raise a bug, is there a way to find out the last version of LO Writer that included this feature? Thank you again.

[oweng]

@richard.martin.94, only by looking at the date of the commit. In any case it now appears there is no need to raise a bug. I will update my answer to explain why.

[richard.martin.94]

Thanks, owen. I will train my eyeballs. I think the suggested viewing of the lower-left status bar while upper-right-bar-scrolling requires a slight adjustment in the parieto-occipital junction of the frontal cortex as well, which is still easier than raising a bug. Thanks again. Ask is a great feature of LO.

[mikekaganski]

It wasn’t removed; in an alternative fix ported from AOO during 4.2 cycle, an expert configuration was introduced: ShowScrollBarTips. It was merged with an error, so dropped the code to actually show the prepared tooltip text.

Details in tdf#155462.