Dear LibreOffice Team, As a LibreOffice user running Debian 13 (Trixie), I would like to submit three observations and improvement requests based on a comparison with ONLYOFFICE. I have included screenshots demonstrating the reported differences. My goal is to help LibreOffice improve Microsoft Excel file compatibility and offer a more efficient multi-document workflow. This submission contains all three requests: correct rendering of mixed font colors within XLSX cells; in-cell multilingual word autocomplete in Calc; and a top document-tab bar, at least separately in Calc, Writer, Impress, and Draw.
DISPLAY OF DIFFERENT FONT COLORS WITHIN THE SAME SPREADSHEET CELL In the attached ONLYOFFICE screenshot, some cells in Vocabulary.xlsx contain text segments displayed in different font colors, particularly red and black. When the same workbook is opened in LibreOffice Calc, those individual font colors do not appear in the same way in the displayed view. The red spell-check underlines visible in the LibreOffice screenshot are not the same as the actual font colors defined in the spreadsheet. I understand that Calc already supports applying different formatting to selected characters inside a cell. Therefore, I am requesting an investigation into possible XLSX rich-text import, interpretation, or rendering issues—not the creation of an entirely new text-color feature. Expected behavior: individually formatted text segments inside a cell should preserve their original font colors and other character-level formatting when an XLSX file is opened, edited, saved, and reopened. A minimal reproducible sample and the exact LibreOffice version can be supplied to support testing. MULTILINGUAL WORD AUTOCOMPLETE IN LIBREOFFICE CALC LibreOffice Calc offers AutoInput for previously entered values in a column, while Writer offers word completion. However, Calc would benefit from a separate feature that suggests individual words as users type text inside a cell or in the formula/input bar, particularly when working with English, Spanish, and other languages. I would appreciate a native, optional word-autocomplete feature with language-aware suggestions, locally stored personal vocabulary, configurable acceptance shortcuts, and the ability to enable or disable suggestions. Ideally, an extension interface could also allow third-party autocomplete providers. The feature should work offline and should not interfere with formula entry. The attached ONLYOFFICE Autocomplete plugin screenshot is provided as an example of the desired capability. UNIFIED DOCUMENT TABS — OR AT LEAST MULTIPLE FILE TABS IN EACH MODULE My preferred solution would be an optional unified LibreOffice window featuring a document tab bar at the top. Users could open and switch among multiple Calc workbooks, Writer documents, Impress presentations, and PDF files handled by LibreOffice, without managing a separate top-level window for every document. However, if a single shared window for different LibreOffice modules is not technically feasible in the near term, I would strongly encourage implementing document tabs within each individual application as a minimum improvement: • LibreOffice Calc: allow multiple Excel/Calc workbooks (.xlsx, .xls, .ods) to open as separate tabs in a top tab bar, above the spreadsheet. These must be document tabs, not the worksheet tabs already displayed at the bottom of each workbook. • LibreOffice Writer: allow multiple Word/Writer files (.docx, .doc, .odt) to open as separate tabs at the top of the Writer window. • LibreOffice Impress: offer equivalent top-level tabs for multiple presentation files (.pptx, .ppt, .odp). • LibreOffice Draw and other applicable modules: offer the same document-tab behavior, including for PDF files opened and edited using LibreOffice Draw. For example, when users have three Excel workbooks open, their filenames should appear in three visible tabs across the top of Calc. Switching workbooks should require only one click on the corresponding tab, while each workbook retains its own worksheets and worksheet tabs. Useful tab actions would include opening a new document, switching between files, dragging tabs to rearrange them, closing each document separately, showing unsaved changes, and moving a tab into its own window. Please keep the traditional multiple-window workflow available as an option. To clarify, the existing Tabbed Notebookbar organizes commands and tools; it does not provide the requested ability to switch between multiple open documents using a document tab bar. REQUEST FOR REVIEW AND FOLLOW-UP Please consider the first issue for Calc/QA review as a possible XLSX interoperability problem and the other two as feature and user-experience enhancement requests. If related tickets already exist, I would appreciate receiving their references so that I can contribute screenshots, a minimal sample workbook, or additional test results. Thank you for the LibreOffice community’s work and for considering these suggestions. A per-application document tab bar would already be a significant usability improvement, even before a fully integrated cross-application window is available. Sincerely, Andrés Castaño Castaño LibreOffice user — Debian 13 GNU/Linux Bogotá, Colombia -- To unsubscribe e-mail to: [email protected] Problems? https://www.libreoffice.org/get-help/mailing-lists/how-to-unsubscribe/ Posting guidelines + more: https://wiki.documentfoundation.org/Netiquette List archive: https://listarchives.libreoffice.org/global/design/ Privacy Policy: https://www.documentfoundation.org/privacy
