https://bugs.documentfoundation.org/show_bug.cgi?id=103036
Bug ID: 103036
Summary: Document Language Settings are confusing and not
particularly useful
Product: LibreOffice
Version: 5.1.4.2 release
Hardware: x86-64 (AMD64)
OS: Windows (All)
Status: UNCONFIRMED
Severity: enhancement
Priority: medium
Component: Writer
Assignee: [email protected]
Reporter: [email protected]
Description:
This is a complex issue. It pertains to the Tools -> Language menu in Writer
and the Options -> Language Settings -> Languages property-page.
If resolve, I believe this issue would also solve bug #91119, bug #95842, bug
#58591. All of these are relevant but none of them describe my issue exactly.
The first part of the problem is this: under Tools -> Languages -> For all Text
(et al.), only the U.I. language and document language is listed by default. To
use another language, the intuitive thing to do is to click "More..." but that
takes you to the Languages property-page. You can then change the current
document's language using the combo-boxes underneath "Default Languages for
Documents" but this is counter-intuitive because that title suggests (quite
correctly) that you are changing the program-wide default, not the current
document's attribute.
The problem then continues because, to effect the desired change, you have to
check the box captioned "For the current document only." This caption is a
direct contradiction. If it is for the current document only, it isn't a
default for documents.
Confusion reigns once more when you later create a new document - the new
document will not have the language you just picked if you checked the box
because it isn't that document. (I'm almost certain that the creator of #95842
ran into this issue and simply described this poorly... but his report was
vague in the extreme.)
The second part of the problem is that, even once you do understand how the
system works, it is extremely inconvenient and tedious. Suppose you alternate
between two languages in your daily work. You can pick one as your actual
default, being careful not to check the "current document only" box, but every
time you want to work in the other, you will have to do battle with the
combo-boxes under "For the current document only." Those combo-boxes list every
language in the known universe - they are not useful. (Bug #47896 identifies
this issue in the Font tab of the style editor - another way to work, but
suffering from the same inconvenience)
I believe that this is a major issue. Here, in Europe, lots of people (myself
included) speak and work in many languages, not only their U.I. language, and
commonly need to select from three or four. They might also be editing
documents created by other people, originally in a different language.
I propose the following solutions:
Firstly, duplicate the three combo boxes on the Languages property-page and
remove the current-document-only check box. One trio of combo boxes can be the
default for documents, the other can be for the current document. This will be
far more intuitive.
Secondly, instead of taking the user to the Languages property-page, the
"More..." links under the Tools -> Languages -> For all Text (et al.) sub-menus
should show a dialog with which the user can select which languages to show in
the sub-menus. This setting should be program wide, not just for the document.
This will allow multi-lingual users to select their common languages and, in
the future, they will not have to battle any dialogs or combos in order to
reach those languages.
Steps to Reproduce:
1. See Tools -> Language
2. See Options -> Language Settings -> Languages
Actual Results:
Confusion and tedium.
Expected Results:
Intuitive usefulness and convenience.
Reproducible: Always
User Profile Reset: Yes
Additional Info:
Tested under Windows 10 in 5.1.4.2 and 5.2.2.2
User-Agent: Mozilla/5.0 (Windows NT 10.0; WOW64; rv:49.0) Gecko/20100101
Firefox/49.0
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