Data loss in Math in LO Writer: Some Formulas irrecoverably lost every now and then

users
#1

Hi all,

every now and then some formulas get lost irrecoverably in my documents. Some boxes are empty then and a double-click into them opens the editor showing an empty pane.

This behaviour is not reproducable and happens somewhere in my documents, not just where I edit it.

This is really bad and I have to check the whole documents for lost formulas. Not a pleasure with dox having 200 pages and are steadily increasing in size. This is kind of a time bomb, where you never know when you get hit.

Googling around revealed, that this must be an old bug, e.g.: http://ask.libreoffice.org/en/question/17773/formulas-disappearing-or-shrinking-in-lo-writer-documents/

Yet, I didn't find an answer.

Any idea?

I'm on Linux: LO Writer Ver. 4.2.6.3 ArchLinux build-4

Cheers
Paul

#2

Hi :slight_smile:
This is just in Math, nothing to do with Calc is it?

I don't know what is causing it. Is there an alternative such as using
Scribus or LaTeX? I think it's fairly easy to get LibreOffice to "Save As
..." into a format that Scribus can use easily but i don't know how
difficult Scribus is to learn in a hurry. I only gave it 2mins and that
clearly wasn't enough, for me.
Regards from
Tom :slight_smile:

#3

Tom, *, of course there are alternatives among the LaTex editors and Tex
renderings, but rather than sending Paul off on a wild goose chase, better
to ask him for the additional details we need triage his issue.

So, Paul--are you working natively only with ODF format in Writer .odt, and
Math .odf components?

Are you using a LibreOffice extension (TexMaths, or OOoLatex) to manipulate
your formulas or just Math? If so, version?

Are you moving document round trip (export/reopen) to OOXML?

Are you making any use, by import, of Microsoft formula originated
materials?

Stuart

TomD wrote

#4

Hi Stuart,

Tom, *, of course there are alternatives among the LaTex editors and Tex
renderings, but rather than sending Paul off on a wild goose chase, better
to ask him for the additional details we need triage his issue.

So, Paul--are you working natively only with ODF format in Writer .odt, and
Math .odf components?

Always one .ODT. document.

Are you using a LibreOffice extension (TexMaths, or OOoLatex) to manipulate
your formulas or just Math? If so, version?

No extensons, just LO.

Are you moving document round trip (export/reopen) to OOXML?

No.

Are you making any use, by import, of Microsoft formula originated
materials?

No. The dox were created by LO Writer on Linux, by me. The dox never left my computer to be edited with an other version of LO Writer or the like.

Stuart

Cheers
Paul

#5

Paul,

Great. In a sense that simplifies things tremendously. It also means it is a
problem that falls squarely on the project to resolve. Need to try to pin
down specifics of a cause--I know you've said it is spurious.

So, one place to start, and I hate to do it to you--but scan through this
listing of BZ issues related to Math formula
<https://bugs.freedesktop.org/buglist.cgi?list_id=467865&query_based_on=math%20formula%20issues&query_format=advanced&bug_status=UNCONFIRMED&bug_status=NEW&bug_status=ASSIGNED&bug_status=REOPENED&bug_status=RESOLVED&longdesc=math%20formula&component=Formula%20Editor&product=LibreOffice&longdesc_type=allwordssubstr&known_name=math%20formula%20issues>
, you likely will not find your exact issue and version, but should give you
some hint of the challenge.

Unfortunately, since the formulas are internal objects that get individually
manipulated when a document is open, a number of things could cause them to
go missing. The key to getting this addressed is finding a specific case
that will reproduce it.

Finding a place to start using your corrupted document(s), or some reduced
set, and catching it in the act is going to be necessary. Sometimes,
comparing a before and after of the ODF archive gives hints.

For what it is worth--have similar problems with complex documents with many
images embedded, and seemingly randomly the images get dropped. Driving
the devs crazy for months.

Stuart

#6

Hi Stuart,

Paul,

Great. In a sense that simplifies things tremendously. It also means it is a
problem that falls squarely on the project to resolve. Need to try to pin
down specifics of a cause--I know you've said it is spurious.

So, one place to start, and I hate to do it to you--but scan through this
listing of BZ issues related to Math formula
<https://bugs.freedesktop.org/buglist.cgi?list_id=467865&query_based_on=math%20formula%20issues&query_format=advanced&bug_status=UNCONFIRMED&bug_status=NEW&bug_status=ASSIGNED&bug_status=REOPENED&bug_status=RESOLVED&longdesc=math%20formula&component=Formula%20Editor&product=LibreOffice&longdesc_type=allwordssubstr&known_name=math%20formula%20issues>
, you likely will not find your exact issue and version, but should give you
some hint of the challenge.

Did it, but couldn't recognize "my" bug.

Unfortunately, since the formulas are internal objects that get individually
manipulated when a document is open, a number of things could cause them to
go missing. The key to getting this addressed is finding a specific case
that will reproduce it.

Finding a place to start using your corrupted document(s), or some reduced
set, and catching it in the act is going to be necessary. Sometimes,
comparing a before and after of the ODF archive gives hints.

Seems impossible to me: When I open the doc it already has happened. OTOH: When I then close the document w/o changing and saving anything, then reopen it the formulas are still lost. So, did they get lost upon savinf the document? Actually, I don't know.

For what it is worth--have similar problems with complex documents with many
images embedded, and seemingly randomly the images get dropped. Driving
the devs crazy for months.

When they had' built in some logging mechanism I could activate...

Stuart

Cheers
Paul