Writer: Paragraphs HIDDEN After Update - How Do I Remove That Attribute, Make NOT HIDDEN? (Update: it's a WEB VIEW BUG!)

English
#1

Hi. A couple of days ago, I updated LibreOffice (Linux) to:

Version: 25.2.6.2 (X86_64) / Community
Build ID: 520(Build:2)
CPU threads: 8; OS: Linux 6.8; UI render: default; VCL: kf5 (cairo+xcb)
Locale: en-AU (en_AU.UTF-8); UI: en-GB
Ubuntu package version: 4:25.2.6-0ubuntu0.25.04.1~bpo24.04.1

I opened my daily diet diary, went to the bottom, and saw that a couple of paragraphs were missing. Then I noticed the date in the heading for that day was actually 20 days earlier! I hoped that somehow I had managed to hide the paragraphs (or text) by a keyboard fumble 20 days earlier and just never noticed it, but now all the text/paragraphs after that point are somehow marked as hidden. So I looked around the menus, and in View I found Field Hidden Paragraphs so clicked on that, and all my text returned.

However, now I have to do that every time I open Writer. I’ve looked around forums for 2 days, but can’t find the answer. I know that in Tools - Options - LibreOffice Writer you can check Formatting Aids - Hidden characters and View - Hidden text, and I have done that, but each time I restart Writer everything below the first sentence for 10 September is hidden. So while it’s annoying that I have to do that each time, at least my text reappears. However, even if I can get Writer to show it by default each time it opens (which was the case until the update), everything I type at the end of the document is basically marked as hidden, so I am looking for how make all the paragraphs from the last 3 weeks not hidden.

I’ve looked around for what keyboard shortcut I accidentally hit to hide text/paragraphs, so I can reverse it for everything I’ve typed in the past 3 weeks, but I am not finding anything useful. For hiding text, apparently there is no built-in option - you actually have to create your own Style for hiding text. For hidden paragraphs, which this seems to be, you have to create a variable and apply it to the Hidden Paragraph function, and I certainly haven’t done that (and there is no Condition defined for Hidden Paragraph). As I said, the only thing I can think of is that on that day, I fumbled on the keyboard, accidentally hitting the keyboard shortcut for hiding paragraphs (which I can’t find any mention of online), and now everything I type after that point is in effect hidden. And for some reason that wasn’t an issue until this recent update, after which Writer always opens with it hidden.

Anyone who can help with this, I really thank you for your time and effort. Thanks.

EDIT: I know I can cut the “hidden” paragraphs and paste them as unformatted text, but that’s not really an option: every daily entry has at least 5 paragraphs, all of which contain character styles for certain things to stand out, and the date fields above them have a heading paragraph style. And also there is a heap of hyperlinks among them. So to redo it all for the past 22 days would be a real pain. And if I managed to do this again, I still wouldn’t know how to reverse it.

UPDATE: View > Field Names does not reveal a Hidden Paragraph field, so I can’t delete or edit that.

CAUSE IDENTIFIED: it appears this is a BUG in this latest version. I have this document shown in Web mode, as I do with all documents I won’t be printing, and when I change it to Normal, the rest of the paragraphs appear. I just opened my recipes document, and that shows probably less than the first half, as it’s a larger document, but changing to Normal, then back to Web, rectifies that.

#2

Maybe the paragraphs were always marked as hidden but were visible because of the settings in Tools > Options LibreOffice Writer > View. You can tick the boxes Hidden text and Hidden paragraphs. If this setting does not remain set then LibreOffice is not shutting down properly and saving the setting. Ensure that LibreOffice is closed before shutting down the operating system.

To see the Hidden paragraph attributes in your document, click View > Field Names and OK the dialogue that pops up. You should see a Hidden Paragraph field in the text

  • To remove the Hidden paragraph field, delete the field
  • To remove the condition but leave the field, right click on the field and select Edit field. In the dialogue that appears, delete the condition. Repeat for the other hidden paragraphs.

Or, you can just select from the last visible paragraph to the end, copy and Paste as Unformatted text

#3

Hi, and thanks for your response. Unfortunately, there is no Hidden Paragraph field - the only thing that changes is that the date headings, which are fields, turn to Date (fixed). So there is nothing indicating a hidden paragraph field whatsoever, so there’s nothing to delete or right-click to edit. But it was worth a try, so thanks for your idea.

As for cut and paste as unformatted text, I should have stated that’s not really an option: every daily entry has at least 5 paragraphs, all of which contain character styles for certain things to stand out, and the date fields above them have a heading paragraph style. And also there is a heap of hyperlinks among them. So to redo it all for the past 22 days would be a real pain. And if I managed to do this again, I still wouldn’t know how to reverse it.

Lastly, I always close documents before shutting down. But thanks for your input. The Field Names option is good to know, though it didn’t help in this case.

#4

Hidden is also a character attribute (not only conditional formatting). It is accessed in Font Effects of both paragraph and character styles. By default, no keyboard shortcut is associated to it. So, either you created one (check Tools>Customize, Keyboard tab) or you added inadvertently Hidden as direct formatting (DF).

In the latter case, if it is present in the last paragraph and you start from here for your new entries, current DF is kept and propagated to new text.

If you really mean you apply character styles (and also paragraph styles), then select your “hidden” text and Format>Clear direct formatting or Ctl+M to get rid of formatting not present in the styles.

But, if your character “styles” are in fact local attribute application with keyboard shortcuts or toolbar buttons, no luck, this is DF. You’ll have to reformat everything by hand. A lesser pain would be to select “hidden” text, then Format>Character, Font Effects tab and uncheck Hidden. After this, I recommend your learn to use styles, both paragraph and character.

#5

Hi. I use both character styles, which I have made keyboard shortcuts for (so I actually do know quite a bit about styles, hehe), and the standard Ctrl+b for bold and Ctrl+i for italic (no need to create styles for those, since they already exist - albeit as direct formatting). I know how to remove direct formatting, but this will remove all bold and italics, and the links will no longer be bold (which is how I like them). As for Format > Character > Font Effects Hidden, I should also have mentioned that I already checked that, and nothing is marked as hidden. Also, this is all assuming the issue has to do with hidden characters, which doesn’t explain why Field Hidden Paragraphs shows the text. So I think the solution lies in finding what is hiding PARAGRAPHS, not characters. I just tried with a copy of the document, removed direct formatting, saved and closed it, and the problem persists. Then with another copy, I cut all those paragraphs, pasted as unformatted text, removing every bit of formatting, hyperlinks and date fields, but still no go. As I said, it appears to do with paragraphs. But thanks for trying to help.

One other thing to point out, which may mean something: when I go to Field Hidden Paragraphs after opening the document, sometimes it is checked, other times not. In each case, those paragraphs are hidden on opening until I click that. When I go back and click it again, it makes no difference - the paragraphs are still visible. No matter how many times I click Field Hidden Paragraphs, the paragraphs remain unhidden. Could this be a bug in the new version?

#6

OK, it looks like I have indeed uncovered a BUG in this latest version. I have this document shown in Web mode, as I do with all documents I won’t be printing, and when I change it to Normal, the rest of the paragraphs appear. I just opened my recipes document, and that shows probably less than the first half, as it’s a larger document, but changing to Normal, then back to Web, rectifies that. If it wasn’t for the fact that Field Hidden Paragraphs also shows the missing text, I probably would have figured out it was a view-mode bug earlier. Now to look at filing a bug report…

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