[Issue] Scroll and jump back to cursor position

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hare
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[Issue] Scroll and jump back to cursor position

Post by hare »

I am a new OO user using Writer 2.3. I have encountered two problems. I don't know how to report these problems to who ever fixes software problems. If someone can tell me how to appropriately report these problems for eventual fixing, it would be appreciated.

Problem #1
I am scrolling through a document. I see something needing change. I change it. The cursor remains at the end of my change. I then continue scrolling through my document (i.e. one or more pages (screens)). I then see something else needing change. Prior to making this change, I click the disk icon in the tool bar to save all previous changes made. This then "throws" my screen page back to the page where the cursor is. This forces me to again scroll forward and try to find the page (screen) which contains the error that I wanted to fix.

Problem #2
Very similar to problem #1, but different.
I am scrolling through a document. I see something needing change. I change it. The cursor remains at the end of my change. I then continue scrolling through my document (i.e. one or more pages (screens)). Without clicking anything, the computer performs some action (a behind the scenes action like saving the file automatically). This then "throws" my screen page back to the page where the cursor is. This forces me to again scroll forward to get back to where I was when this "behind the scenes" action was taken on my behalf.

Thanks in advance for the help
 Edit: Hagar -> changed the title (was 'Two software fixes needed'). 
Last edited by Hagar Delest on Mon Jun 09, 2008 4:58 pm, edited 2 times in total.
Reason: Tagged thread as Issue (link to a bug report).
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Hagar Delest
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Re: Two software fixes needed

Post by Hagar Delest »

hare wrote:If someone can tell me how to appropriately report these problems for eventual fixing, it would be appreciated.
See here: [Tutorial] Reporting bugs.

You can try to rename your OOo user profile (\Documents and settings\<user>\Application data\OpenOffice.org2), OOo will create another one. It sometimes improves the situation. Do you use the Euro dictionary extension?

Thanks to add '[Solved]' at beginning of your first post title (edit button) if your issue has been fixed.
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floris v
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Re: Two software fixes needed

Post by floris v »

I cannot reproduce #1, and I disabled autosave, so I won't test #2, but my guess is that it won't work as on your system either. What is your OS? Linux, Windows? There may be something wrong with your installation, but it doesn't seem to be a bug in OOo itself.
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acknak
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Re: Two software fixes needed

Post by acknak »

It's a (well!) known problem: scrolling with the mouse cursor (maybe the scrollbar as well) does not change the cursor position, and many operations cause Writer to re-position the document view to match the editing cursor, causing those nasty jumps.

It's been reported; I would recommend getting used to it, or working around it (try page-up/down, or click the mouse to move the cursor where you want to "anchor" the view), rather than waiting for a fix.

I'll see if I can track down an issue for it... here is is: Issue 22453: Unwanted-jump to cursor. You can register and add votes (up to two) or a comment.
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Re: [Issue] Scroll and jump back to cursor position

Post by TheGurkha »

Yep, simplest things is to click on the new bit of text you want to edit BEFORE you hit save.

I don't even really see this as an issue, the 'focus' of Ooo is where the cursor is, not where you happen to be viewing. Word has these 'jumps' that cen be unexpected when you don't realise what's behind them.
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Hagar Delest
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Re: [Issue] Scroll and jump back to cursor position

Post by Hagar Delest »

I've never seen that behavior with MS Word.
I agree this is a boring problem for Writer. I'm not sure it works as designed: what's the point jumping back to the cursor position when OOo performs something?
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Re: [Issue] Scroll and jump back to cursor position

Post by TheGurkha »

You're lucky - I get these jumps with Word all the time! (I have to use it at work all day.)

I suppose the question could be phrased as why does OOo move the viewpoint to the cursor following save? I would guess that the 'mental process' of OOo goes something like:

- I know where the cursor is, and that marks where they are 'working'
- They have scrolled away
- They are saving their doc
- I'm assuming they want to start working again, I'll be jolly helpful and take them back to the cursor

If you are in a long document, use your mouse wheel to scroll down several pages from the location of the cursor and then type a few characters. You'll hop back to the cursor and see your newly typed letters. It's a little different with a 'hop' following a Save action, but it is sort of analogous. If you want to anchor your 'position' in the doc you move the cursor.
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Re: [Issue] Scroll and jump back to cursor position

Post by floris v »

I've seen it too. :( There is some sense in OOo doing it - after all it saves the cursor position in the saved file, if you close the file after saving and open it again, you'd be taken back to your last edit, not to where you were last.
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Bhikkhu Pesala
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Re: [Issue] Scroll and jump back to cursor position

Post by Bhikkhu Pesala »

I like the behaviour. Once you are familiar with it there is no problem.

Take a look at this pair of macros for locating your cursor position that replicates a WordPefect feature.

Set and Find Quickmark
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Re: [Issue] Scroll and jump back to cursor position

Post by Phil »

I am not able to reproduce problem #1 either using OOo 2.3.1 on Win XP Pro.
hare, do you use OOo 2.3.0 or 2.3.1? The exact version number is displayed on the splash screen that you get via Help - About OpenOffice.org.

I think I can reproduce problem #2, but I observed it a bit differently:
In large documents with large tables (that are split over multiple pages), if I scroll down using the mouse wheel right after opening the document, Writer jumps back (sometimes by several pages) as it seems to reformat the tables. I notice that the cursor is flashing frequently while this happens. If I wait long enough (until the reformatting has ended), this does not occur anymore. So this could be would hare referred to as "some action".
Indeed it does not happen when using the PageUp/PageDown keys that does reposition the cursor (other than mouse wheel scrolling).

I find this really annoying, and it has been there since some time (back to version 2.0?).

Apart from the issue mentioned by acknak that could apply to problem #1, I found Issue #61649 describing problem #2. I have added a comment with a link to this thread, so maybe we do not need to open a new issue.
Bhikkhu Pesala wrote:I like the behaviour.
Are you refering to problem #1 or problem #2? In any case, I could not see what the advantage of the behavior could be. But I'm always willing to learn, so maybe you can give me a hint. 8-)

And BTW (although not of any impact for OOo): MS Word 2003 definitely does not show neither of the described problems. :mrgreen:

BR, phil
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Re: [Issue] Scroll and jump back to cursor position

Post by Bhikkhu Pesala »

I like it that if I move the text cursor with the keyboard the view changes back to show the edit cursor.

I do not see this happening on saving a document, nor do I see it happening or other reasons such as a background save (problem 2). It wouldn't trouble me if the view moved back to the cursor on manual save, but it doesn't do that.
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Re: [Issue] Scroll and jump back to cursor position

Post by Phil »

Bhikkhu Pesala wrote:I like it that if I move the text cursor with the keyboard the view changes back to show the edit cursor.
OK, now I see. :) I agree this is indeed a good feature (as long as now automatic jumps are performed when saving, but this does also not occur to me).
Bhikkhu Pesala wrote:nor do I see it happening or other reasons such as a background save (problem 2)
As I wrote I suspect problem #2 may not be due to background save but rather due to some reformatting actions.
I'm curious to hear about the opinion of hare about the possible cause.

KR, phil
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Hagar Delest
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Re: [Issue] Scroll and jump back to cursor position

Post by Hagar Delest »

Bhikkhu Pesala wrote:I like it that if I move the text cursor with the keyboard the view changes back to show the edit cursor.
Me too, and it's standard behavior I guess because using the keyboard is linked to the physical location of the cursor (mentally, you do know that the arrows are for moving the cursor). But the problem is when you try to scroll the document. I just checked it with a 135 pages document (300kB). As soon as it's open, I scroll with the mouse. Documents slightly blinks for a while telling that it's performing some kind of action (repagination I guess) and after 20s, I'm back to the cursor position :evil:
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Re: [Issue] Scroll and jump back to cursor position

Post by Phil »

Hagar de l'Est wrote:As soon as it's open, I scroll with the mouse. Documents slightly blinks for a while telling that it's performing some kind of action (repagination I guess) and after 20s, I'm back to the cursor position
Yes - this is exactly what I also observe! Probably it's really related to repagination rather than to table reformatting (as I guessed).

BR, phil
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Re: [Issue] Scroll and jump back to cursor position

Post by foxcole »

Phil wrote:In large documents with large tables (that are split over multiple pages), if I scroll down using the mouse wheel right after opening the document, Writer jumps back (sometimes by several pages) as it seems to reformat the tables. I notice that the cursor is flashing frequently while this happens.
This is happening because the document has not fully loaded yet. I thought the QuickStarter was designed to help avoid this problem, but apparently even people who use that feel it would be nice to have a visible progress bar.
Cheers!
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Re: [Issue] Scroll and jump back to cursor position

Post by Phil »

I have noticed that the behavior of the 3.0 Public Beta 2 version is different what concerns the page jumps.

See also this thread.

Regards. phil
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Re: [Issue] Scroll and jump back to cursor position

Post by PeaceByJesus »

Just came across this thread looking for a fix, and see that there are 2 different issues. One is an old one that was related to Eurodictionary, and I think has been fixed. The 2nd one is that OOo (3.1.1) jumps back to the last cursor position when autosaving the document. This should not be, as you can do many pages scrolling only to have you lose the text page you were looking at, in a large document (unless you want to click every place you move to). I have Save user-specific settings checked, but do not have auto scrolling on (that causes a different problem when moving pasted images to other pages, as does not stop when mouse is released, which would be another thread). Still much appreciate OOo (heavy user)
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