desktop-packages team mailing list archive

[Gretha <782406@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Christopher, re #9

(1) "The same Document Compare options in OOo are still found in LO at
Tools -> Options -> LibreOffice Writer -> Changes."

This is not quite correct. If I remember well, the ability to choose the
more fine-grained comparison option was in what in LO now is Tools ->
Options -> LibreOffice -> General. (I know it was a rather counter-
intuitive place, and not on the Changes tab.) The option has, however,
been dropped in LO since LO replaced OOo in Ubuntu.

Also, by the way, as you can see in the sample documents uploaded
yesterday, the "Changed Attributes" selection in Tools -> Options ->
LibreOffice Writer -> Changes does not work.

(2) You quote http://help.libreoffice.org/Common/Compare_Document:

I have also seen this, and it is simply stunning. It effectively tells
you that you should never use footnotes, headers, frames or fields if
there is even the slightest chance that you or someone else will ever
edit the document and you then want to identify what has changed.

(3) Overall, the point is, as the 3 uploaded documents show by way of
typical example, LO Writer Document Compare identifies 70% changed
contents, when the actual changes are only 1.8% in total (0.5% in the
text and 1.3% just formatting). And it does not even flag that it is
unable to check your footnotes. It's pathetic for a top word processor.

This lack of even the most elementary decent document version comparison
forces clients off Ubuntu back to Microsoft Windows with MS Office. I
just get depressed when we've put another client on Ubuntu and they come
back with this. For many, there is nothing more important than tight
document version management and control - otherwise aircraft crash, oil
platforms sink, telecomms satellites go dead, confidentiality cannot be
guaranteed, legal compliance cannot be enforced, contracts end up in
court, you name it.

Please push it hard with whoever pulls the strings on LO. Given the vast
efforts spent on OOo and LO over the years, writing a decent fine-
grained comparison algorithm must be trivial. (If you fail to convince
the powers that be, though, then at least sincere thanks for trying!)

-- 
You received this bug notification because you are a member of Desktop
Packages, which is subscribed to the bug report.
https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/782406

Title:
  LibreOffice Writer Document Compare (regression)

Status in “libreoffice” package in Ubuntu:
  Incomplete

Bug description:
  Binary package hint: libreoffice

  Comparing two files has reverted to the old OOo behaviour of flagging
  entire long sequences of paragraphs as different, when in fact they
  are actually identical except maybe for just one or two minor
  typographical differences.

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