LibreOffice Bugs and Workarounds

LibreOffice is a great free software project, but they don't have enough volunteers with the time and energy to do justice to the bug reports that are sent in — especially when the bug interferes with long-term backwards compatibility.

Contents

Launching LibreOffice is Ridiculously Slow

Saving a file or exporting pdf changes all timestamps in folder

Making Print or Export PDF Fit to Page Width

Launching LibreOffice is Ridiculously Slow

This problem occurs on Macs in LibreOffice versions 4.2.x.y.

I haven't investigated this one too far, but you can definitely avoid it by running an older version of LibreOffice. I suggest 4.1.6.2 or 4.0.6.2 or even 3.6.7.2.

After finding a suitable version of LibreOffice, don't forget to go into Preferences > Online Update and disable automatic updating, so you don't have to keep reverting to an older version to avoid this bug.

If you do some benchmarks and find a version that launches suitably fast, contact me (link at bottom of this page) and let me know what you find.

Saving a file or exporting pdf changes all timestamps in folder

This was reported as bug #84133 to the LibreOffice Bugzilla on 2014 Sep 20:

Recently I upgraded HD on Macbook 10.6.8 os x. Used time machine to update new HD.

Problem:

If using LibreOffice, cal or writer, to open existing file and then saving the file for the first time in the folder, or exporting pdf, all files in that folder, the date stamps are change to the same time stamp. This only happens for the first save operation. After that only the file being saved has time stamp updated.

Using Time Machine, I restored a test folder so original timestamps were back intact. Did an export pdf of document to another temporary folder. The dates were changed in the original home folder and the temporary folder.

Future saves or pdf export of documents in the folder, all timestamps for other files are preserved. This only happens the first time.

In typical fashion, the bug was tested under different (and irrelevant) operating systems (including Ubuntu 14.04 and Mac OS X 10.9 "Mavericks"), and when it didn't happen under those environments the original bug was closed due to a (false and erroneous) resolution of "CLOSED WORKSFORME".

However, the bug does actually happen in Mac OS X 10.6 "Snow Leopard", as originally reported and which I can confirm.

Conditions

This bug happens under Mac OS X 10.6.8, using LibreOffice versions:

4.2.5.2 (as originally reported in bug #84133)

4.2.8.2 (as I verified on 20150103)

The file modification times are not trashed when you simply launch LibreOffice.

The file modification times ARE trashed when you execute the "File > Export...", "File > Export or "File > Save As..." command, regardless of whether you actually decide to save as a file or Cancel the export.

File modification times are not trashed in any given folder, unless you navigate into that folder within the modal Save dialog presented by the "File > Export..." or "File > Save As..." command.

Workarounds

Workaround #1. If you are going to stick with Mac OS X version 10.6 ("Snow Leopard") then you might as well go back to LibreOffice 4.1.6.2. It launches more quickly and probably does everything you'll ever need (i.e. opening Microsoft Office documents that others have sent you by email), and lacks bug #84133.

You might also find that other versions of LibreOffice are suitable. If you do some testing and learn more, contact me (link at bottom of this page) and let me know what you find.

Workaround #2. If you want to stay in LibreOffice 4.2.x.y, you can avoid the destructive effects of the Export... and Save... commands by working carefully.

Before opening any file into LibreOffice, first move the file into a "LibreOffice temp" folder. Perform all saves and exports within that folder. Do NOT navigate out of the "LibreOffice temp" folder at any time during your LibreOffice work.

Workaround #3. Since this bug was reported in Mac OS X 10.6 ("Snow Leopard"), but not in later versions of Mac OS X, it is likely (not guaranteed) you could avoid the bug by moving up to a newer version of Mac OS X (10.7 "Lion" or later). Most people do this eventually. It is very likely you'll not see the bug if you move up to 10.9 "Mavericks", as evidenced by the testing reported in Bugzille bug #84133.

If anyone has the chance to test this bug in Snow Leopard and also in Lion or a later Mac OS, contact me (link at bottom of this page) and let me know what you find.

Making Print or Export PDF Fit to Page Width

Choose Format > Page...; a Page Style window will appear.
You'll see a row of buttons: Organizer, Page, Borders, ...; select "Sheet"
Under "Scale" select "Fit print range(s) to width/height"
Set "Width in pages" to the maximum number of pages across that you want to get. Select "Height in pages" to the maximum height in pages. The more restrictive number will be the one that actually takes effect. For example if you choose a width of 1, height of 5, you might only get 3 pages because that is enough to show all the rows in the spreadsheet.
Select "OK" to indicate you're done with the Page Style window.
Select each sheet in your Calc document, and repeat the same steps.
Test your settings using Print > Export to PDF... and examine the resulting PDF file.

This page was written in the "embarrassingly readable" markup language RHTF, and was last updated on 2015 Jan 04.

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