Writer: How can I avoid Print changing the display of a reference field?

[chrisjj]

I open a read-only DOCX (created in MS Word) and see:

and

Fine. I then Print and see the preview has changed that field display. Returning to main view, the display changes to:

Not fine. I really do need Print to print the document as shown.

EDIT: Simply running Print then cancelling the dialog has the same effect.

Setting Show Tracked Changes OFF has the same effect. Then turn it ON does not return to the original state.

Version: 25.2.5.2 (X86_64) / LibreOffice Community
Build ID: 03d19516eb2e1dd5d4ccd751a0d6f35f35e08022
CPU threads: 4; OS: Windows 7 Service Pack 1 X86_64 (6.1 build 7601); UI render: Skia/Raster; VCL: win
Locale: en-GB (en_GB); UI: en-US
Calc: threaded

[EarnestAl]

Word 2010 acts the same way. I think the simplest way is to copy each field and past it as unformatted text, then print. Or see related question Writer: How can I convert all fields in a doc to fixed content? - #2 by mariosv

Sample created in Word 2010
MissingRefInDocx-Gone.docx (16.5 KB)

@chrisjj

Setting Show Tracked Changes OFF has the same effect. Then turn it ON does not return to the original state

File > Reload the document to return everything back to the original. I don’t think turning on Track Changes should register the missing reference because it was already missing before Track Changes was turned on.

[chrisjj]

Word 2003 too.

I think the simplest way is to copy each field and past it as unformatted text, then print.

As I feared. Would you say failure of Print to render as per screen should be considered a bug?

[EarnestAl]

No. The default is not to update modern Microsoft files on opening. If it were updated then the missing reference would show on opening.
Anyway, it is the same behaviour as Microsoft Word which shows the same error in the preview window when you click print