Bullet issues with 3.0 and .doc files

[scroobious]

I've run into bullet issue with bullets with 3.0 on Ubuntu 8.04. With the official release, when I add bullets to a file in 3.0, I can only see the bullet for the first level; none of the other bullets appear. However, if I save that document and open it in Word, all the bullets are there. I have to save documents as .doc files, just for compatibility with what my students use, so that's set as the default.

In previous betas of 3.0, bullets wouldn't appear correctly in 2.4, and I believe in Word as well -- it's been a while, and I don't rightly recall.

I'm wondering if there's a setting I need to adjust, or if I've found a bug. Ideas?

[yosttheskanker]

I'm having the exact same issue.

[scroobious]

I have a number of screen shots for comparison.

• First is a bulleted document made in OO.org 3.0. This file was saved both as an .odt and a .doc. Note that all bullets past the first level are not visible
  
  Second is that OO.org 3.0 .odt file opened in OO.org 2.4. Note that the bullets are all flushed left. Despite the format problem, all the bullets on every level are visible here. So an .odt file made in 3.0 doesn't work in 3.0 or 2.4.
  
  Third is that OO.org 3.0 .doc file opened in OO.org 2.4. Note that the bullets are all formated correctly, yet like with 3.0, bullets past the first level are not visible.
  
  Fourth is that OO.org.3.0 .doc file opened in MS Word 2002. Note that the bullets are all formatted correctly and are visible. So a .doc file made in 3.0 works in Word, but not 3.0.
  
  Fifth is a .doc file made in MS Word 2002 and opened in OO.org 2.4. All the bullets are formatted correctly and visible.
  
  Sixth is that same MS Word 2002 .doc file opened in OO.org 3.0. All the bullets are formatted correctly and visible.

What this tells me overall is that OpenOffice handles .doc files better than .odt files, at least when it comes to bullets, and its own .odt file format doesn't convert well across versions of OpenOffice. This seems like a big oversight; I hope it can get fixed, and if it's a bug, tell me where to go and I'll file it.

[Hagar Delest]

Do you use a list style or the bullet button in the toolbar?
Here is what I get when I open a .doc file created with OOo 3 on my xubuntu (Hardy) box:

Bullets_OOo3.png (1.86 KiB) Viewed 6487 times

Bullets_OOo2.png (1.75 KiB) Viewed 6489 times

[pbouf]

Same problem here since going from 2.4 to 3.0. Very annoying. I take notes with OO writer and am used to just hitting Tab and Shift-Tab to change the indent level.

Using 'List 1' style seems to do more what I want, but why does the Bullets button not just do what it should do?

[Hagar Delest]

why does the Bullets button not just do what it should do?

Vote for it: Issue 9437 - Change default bullet type.

[scroobious]

Thought I responded to this, but I guess not. I used the bullet button, not the list. The pictures you show with the list are similar to how bullet lists made in 2.4 and opened in 3.0 beta worked for me in recent weeks.

[scroobious]

Just a bit of an update here.

I had this problem with the .deb files. I removed all of those files and installed OpenOffice 3.0 on Ubuntu 8.10 via this repository:

Code: Select all

deb http://ppa.launchpad.net/openoffice-pkgs/ubuntu intrepid main

I no longer have the same bullet issues. Things seem to work a treat in this version, so I'm guessing it was a tweak made by Ubuntu to work with its OS, or some such thing.

[Hagar Delest]

Thanks for the follow up. Indeed, Ubuntu version is based on the go-oo.org version that has improved support of MS Office file formats.

[tralex]

Steps to reproduce a manifestation of the problem:
- Win XP pro
- OO 3.0
- create new write document
- click on "Bullets on/off" button in toolbar
- add a few bullets with various indentation levels - change indentation either via (SHIFT+)TAB or OO's own "Bullets and Numbering" toolbar
- save as word 97/2000/XP .doc (to date very convenient for compatibility with other users/tools)
- close document and reopen in OO 3.0
- add more bullets with different indentation levels - result: bullet symbols do not change indentation as they should while text does.

Notes:
1. similar (if not identical) behavior is exhibited by creating the bullets via "List styles" (e.g. I have tried "List 4")
2. exported .pdfs exhibit the same incorrect formatting shown by OO
3. new files saved as .odt do not exhibit this problem

Can someone confirm if they get the same behaviour?

[xaviermaxenator]

I get the same behavior. I save all my files as .doc files by default (for compatibility), and am running OOo 3.0 on Mac OS X Leopard. I've looked around, but haven't yet seen a fix for this. Any ideas?