https://bugs.documentfoundation.org/show_bug.cgi?id=42346
--- Comment #71 from Lars Jødal <[email protected]> ---
This is an attempt of summarizing a very long discussion.
Background: Items like illustrations, tables etc. can be numbered automatically
by insertion of a number field. This happens automatically when inserting a
figure legend. The number field can then be referenced in the text, providing
both a link to the referenced object, and ensuring that the numbers change if
the number of the original object changes, e.g. because a new illustration was
added earlier in the document.
The problem: While the references works fine within LibreOffice and the .odt
format, the cross-references are lost or garbled if the document is saved in
.doc or .docx format. This loss of data is not seen until the .doc or .docx
file is re-opened (in either LO or in MS Word).
As described in comment #15 (and in compliance with my own experiments), the
behaviour depends on which format was used:
a) Saved from LO as .doc: The reference turns into plain text, i.e., it is lost
as a reference and will also no longer be updated if the number of the original
item changes.
b) Saved from LO as .docx: The reference number turns into the field text, e.g.
"Illustration 4" may become "Illustration Illustration".
Possible work-around: Comment #67 indicates that Google Docs can be used to
work around this problem (I have not tested this myself).
Part of the discussion has been about the importance of this bug and how come
it can persist for years without being fixed (the original posting is from
2011, and the bug persists by 2016 and LO version 5.1.3.2). However, I would
like to take a different angle.
As a user, I have a very high regard of the people who have developed and
maintains LO, and makes it available for free. Thanks! I have little or no
knowledge of the details of the .doc and .docx formats, but I guess this is a
complicated problem - otherwise it would probably have been fixed a long time
ago.
As a user, I am among the people who consider this a very problemtic bug, which
hinders my use of LO when working together with people who prefer MS Word.
Comment #37 describes some of the reasons why the .odt format cannot always be
used in exchange with other people. Like it or not, MS Word and their formats
have the advantage of majority - at least for now. Put another way: Saying "I
have a problem with your format, so you should use my format" will not win many
friends or convince people that LO is a good product. (Yes, in effect MS Office
is saying the same - does that win friends among anybody reading this posting?)
So, as a user, I hope very much that some volunteer(s) will invest time and
creativity in nailing down and solving this annoying and problematic bug!
Hopefull addition: Comment #4 to comment #11 contains examples to work with and
at least one technical observation...
Still hoping - regards to everybody dedicating time to maintaining LO,
Lars J
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