I did a search for any Libreoffice newsgroups and found none...did not think
to search for editors, though. Hmmm.

As long as I'm here:

My wife writes long legal briefs on pleading paper format for these pro
se things she's working on. Libreoffice on Mint 20.1 Ulyssa, Raspberry pi
4.0.

If she takes a document on a thumb drive to the library and tries to edit
it there it puts diagonal lines across the whole page--about a dozen--which
are then there forever, both if she brings the drive back home back to Linux
or whatever.

It does not matter if I save the file for her in a MS format.

I've poured through all the formatting menus and found nothing applicable.

Anybody hear of this before or know the right newsgroup to ask?

pH in Aptos

Am 19.07.2023 um 00:18:38 Uhr schrieb pH:

> It does not matter if I save the file for her in a MS format.
>
> I've poured through all the formatting menus and found nothing
> applicable.
>
> Anybody hear of this before or know the right newsgroup to ask?

Libreoffice and MS Office are not 100% compatible when it comes to
formatting or special features.

On Wed, 19 Jul 2023 00:18:38 -0000 (UTC)
pH <wNOSPAMp@gmail.org> wrote:
> I did a search for any Libreoffice newsgroups and found none...did not think
> to search for editors, though. Hmmm.

There does exist comp.editors but I don't think "editors" includes
word processors. There should be groups for MS Office but I've never
searched. As for your actual issue , the only minor suggestion I can
make is to try and save the documents in different formats from
Libreoffice and see if some format causes MS Word not to mess up the
document. For example , have you tried saving in PDF ?

> As long as I'm here:
>
> My wife writes long legal briefs on pleading paper format for these pro
> se things she's working on. Libreoffice on Mint 20.1 Ulyssa, Raspberry pi
> 4.0.
>
> If she takes a document on a thumb drive to the library and tries to edit
> it there it puts diagonal lines across the whole page--about a dozen--which
> are then there forever, both if she brings the drive back home back to Linux
> or whatever.
>
> It does not matter if I save the file for her in a MS format.
>
> I've poured through all the formatting menus and found nothing applicable.
>
> Anybody hear of this before or know the right newsgroup to ask?

--
vlaho.ninja/prog

On 19/07/2023 09:27, Spiros Bousbouras wrote:
> As for your actual issue , the only minor suggestion I can
> make is to try and save the documents in different formats from
> Libreoffice and see if some format causes MS Word not to mess up the
> document. For example , have you tried saving in PDF ?

The problem is that PDFs are not editable.
Moving documents between word processors is always fraught.
I wouldn't be surprised if there isn't some signature in a libre office
file that microsoft detects and barfs on.

The answer is to install libre office everywhere and dump MS office

--
There’s a mighty big difference between good, sound reasons and reasons
that sound good.

Burton Hillis (William Vaughn, American columnist)

The Natural Philosopher wrote:

> The problem is that PDFs are not editable.

The real problem is that nobody ever liked the answer that "PDF is
intended to be non-editable" so now with varying degrees of success, you
can edit them.

> The answer is to install libre office everywhere and dump MS office

Certainly don't keep flipping it between word and libre office formats.
If you ever have to edit it with office, then leave it in .docx or .doc
format, even when editing with libre office.

On 2023-07-19 10:27, Spiros Bousbouras wrote:
> On Wed, 19 Jul 2023 00:18:38 -0000 (UTC)
> pH <wNOSPAMp@gmail.org> wrote:
>> I did a search for any Libreoffice newsgroups and found none...did not think
>> to search for editors, though. Hmmm.
>
> There does exist comp.editors but I don't think "editors" includes
> word processors. There should be groups for MS Office but I've never
> searched.

There is <https://ask.libreoffice.org/c/english/5>

--
Cheers, Carlos.

On 2023-07-19, Spiros Bousbouras <spibou@gmail.com> wrote:
> On Wed, 19 Jul 2023 00:18:38 -0000 (UTC)
> pH <wNOSPAMp@gmail.org> wrote:
>> I did a search for any Libreoffice newsgroups and found none...did not think
>> to search for editors, though. Hmmm.
>
> There does exist comp.editors but I don't think "editors" includes
> word processors. There should be groups for MS Office but I've never
> searched. As for your actual issue , the only minor suggestion I can
> make is to try and save the documents in different formats from
> Libreoffice and see if some format causes MS Word not to mess up the
> document. For example , have you tried saving in PDF ?

Hmm. Not yet. I have to keep things very simple for wife as she is not at
tech savvy--even after being a user so long--she just wants
it to do whatever she wants it to do at the moment.

I'll try that and see.

Thanks for the comments everybody.

pH

>
>> As long as I'm here:
>>
>> My wife writes long legal briefs on pleading paper format for these pro
>> se things she's working on. Libreoffice on Mint 20.1 Ulyssa, Raspberry pi
>> 4.0.
>>
>> If she takes a document on a thumb drive to the library and tries to edit
>> it there it puts diagonal lines across the whole page--about a dozen--which
>> are then there forever, both if she brings the drive back home back to Linux
>> or whatever.
>>
>> It does not matter if I save the file for her in a MS format.
>>
>> I've poured through all the formatting menus and found nothing applicable.
>>
>> Anybody hear of this before or know the right newsgroup to ask?
>

On 2023-07-19, The Natural Philosopher <tnp@invalid.invalid> wrote:
> On 19/07/2023 09:27, Spiros Bousbouras wrote:
>> As for your actual issue , the only minor suggestion I can
>> make is to try and save the documents in different formats from
>> Libreoffice and see if some format causes MS Word not to mess up the
>> document. For example , have you tried saving in PDF ?
>
> The problem is that PDFs are not editable.
> Moving documents between word processors is always fraught.
> I wouldn't be surprised if there isn't some signature in a libre office
> file that microsoft detects and barfs on.
>
I would not be surprised either, the way they detected and barfed on DRDOS
back in the DOS days.

> The answer is to install libre office everywhere and dump MS office

I'll ask her to check if the libraries have LO installed alongside
MS....it's possible.

I wonder if I could also just LO on her thumb drive.....don't know if the
libraries lock out execution of non-local binaries. All these fun
questions.

pH

>
>

On 2023-07-19, Carlos E.R. <robin_listas@es.invalid> wrote:
> On 2023-07-19 10:27, Spiros Bousbouras wrote:
>> On Wed, 19 Jul 2023 00:18:38 -0000 (UTC)
>> pH <wNOSPAMp@gmail.org> wrote:
>>> I did a search for any Libreoffice newsgroups and found none...did not think
>>> to search for editors, though. Hmmm.
>>
>> There does exist comp.editors but I don't think "editors" includes
>> word processors. There should be groups for MS Office but I've never
>> searched.
>
> There is <https://ask.libreoffice.org/c/english/5>
>
>
Thanks, Carlos!
pH

On 7/19/23 03:29, Andy Burns wrote:
> The Natural Philosopher wrote:
>
>> The problem is that PDFs are not editable.

They are in Master PDF Editor a Linux tool.
>
> The real problem is that nobody ever liked the answer that "PDF is
> intended to be non-editable" so now with varying degrees of success, you
> can edit them.
>
>> The answer is to install libre office everywhere and dump MS office
>
> Certainly don't keep flipping it between word and libre office formats.
> If you ever have to edit it with office, then leave it in .docx or .doc
> format, even when editing with libre office.

Maybe a transpotable in a Flash Drive Distribution Like Easy OS. It
will run on any X86 computer where the user can modify the bios to boot
from a Flash Drive and on a relatively small Flash Drive 16-31 GB
will give you plent of persistent memory. Use it with LO to edit the
documents she generates. As for the short reply she must save copies
of her work on the machine she generates the document on.

bliss

--
bliss dash SF 4 ever at dslextreme dot com

On 7/19/23 11:01, pH wrote:
> On 2023-07-19, Carlos E.R. <robin_listas@es.invalid> wrote:
>> On 2023-07-19 10:27, Spiros Bousbouras wrote:
>>> On Wed, 19 Jul 2023 00:18:38 -0000 (UTC)
>>> pH <wNOSPAMp@gmail.org> wrote:
>>>> I did a search for any Libreoffice newsgroups and found none...did not think
>>>> to search for editors, though. Hmmm.
>>>
>>> There does exist comp.editors but I don't think "editors" includes
>>> word processors. There should be groups for MS Office but I've never
>>> searched.
>>
>> There is <https://ask.libreoffice.org/c/english/5>
>>
>>
> Thanks, Carlos!
> pH

Search the WWW for "LibreOffice Forumss" no guarantees.

bliss

--
bliss dash SF 4 ever at dslextreme dot com

On 2023-07-19 19:59, pH wrote:
> On 2023-07-19, The Natural Philosopher <tnp@invalid.invalid> wrote:
>> On 19/07/2023 09:27, Spiros Bousbouras wrote:
>>> As for your actual issue , the only minor suggestion I can
>>> make is to try and save the documents in different formats from
>>> Libreoffice and see if some format causes MS Word not to mess up the
>>> document. For example , have you tried saving in PDF ?
>>
>> The problem is that PDFs are not editable.
>> Moving documents between word processors is always fraught.
>> I wouldn't be surprised if there isn't some signature in a libre office
>> file that microsoft detects and barfs on.
>>
> I would not be surprised either, the way they detected and barfed on DRDOS
> back in the DOS days.
>
>
>> The answer is to install libre office everywhere and dump MS office
>
> I'll ask her to check if the libraries have LO installed alongside
> MS....it's possible.
>
> I wonder if I could also just LO on her thumb drive.....don't know if the
> libraries lock out execution of non-local binaries. All these fun
> questions.

Yes, AFAIK it is possible to have LO on a thumb drive. I think it is
called "a portable installation".

Googling...

<https://www.libreoffice.org/download/portable-versions/>

I think that would be the best thing if LO is not available at the library.

One suggestion more: don't use an USB stick, but rather a true hard disk
(SSD is fine) on USB. They are far more durable. An USB stick will
eventually break or destroy the files.

A small capacity one should be cheap.

--
Cheers, Carlos.

Andy Burns <usenet@andyburns.uk> wrote:
>
> Certainly don't keep flipping it between word and libre office formats.
> If you ever have to edit it with office, then leave it in .docx or .doc
> format, even when editing with libre office.

I've stuck to RTF. It supports everything that I ever want out of
a document in a word processor, and works everywhere - even Windows
PCs that don't have M$ Office.

Seems a no-brainer to me, but nobody else seems to agree. At least
others can open my files in an editable format, even if I often
struggle with (and sometimes just ignore) theirs.

--
__ __
#_ < |\| |< _#

On 7/19/23 1:36 AM, Marco Moock wrote:
> Am 19.07.2023 um 00:18:38 Uhr schrieb pH:
>
>> It does not matter if I save the file for her in a MS format.
>>
>> I've poured through all the formatting menus and found nothing
>> applicable.
>>
>> Anybody hear of this before or know the right newsgroup to ask?
>
> Libreoffice and MS Office are not 100% compatible when it comes to
> formatting or special features.

Wouldn't expect them to be. Indeed certain M$ features
are probably patented - it'd be a big chore to emulate
them with 'virgin' code. How often do YOU fill-in
the "donate" pop-up for LO ???

Some M$ "features" are also STUPID and/or BUGGY, so
you don't WANT to try and emulate them :-)

LibreOffice is Pretty Damned Good - and the price is
decidedly right. I never use Word or Excel (or Winders
for that matter).

On 19/07/2023 23:58, Computer Nerd Kev wrote:
> Andy Burns <usenet@andyburns.uk> wrote:
>>
>> Certainly don't keep flipping it between word and libre office formats.
>> If you ever have to edit it with office, then leave it in .docx or .doc
>> format, even when editing with libre office.
>
> I've stuck to RTF. It supports everything that I ever want out of
> a document in a word processor, and works everywhere - even Windows
> PCs that don't have M$ Office.
>
I'd completely forgotten RTF.
I would have thought it wouldn't cope with a lot of advanced tabulations
and formatting though

> Seems a no-brainer to me, but nobody else seems to agree. At least
> others can open my files in an editable format, even if I often
> struggle with (and sometimes just ignore) theirs.
>
It would be fine for basic editable stuff, but not for complex styles I
would have thought.

--
Renewable energy: Expensive solutions that don't work to a problem that
doesn't exist instituted by self legalising protection rackets that
don't protect, masquerading as public servants who don't serve the public.

The Natural Philosopher <tnp@invalid.invalid> wrote:
> On 19/07/2023 23:58, Computer Nerd Kev wrote:
>> I've stuck to RTF. It supports everything that I ever want out of
>> a document in a word processor, and works everywhere - even Windows
>> PCs that don't have M$ Office.
>>
> I'd completely forgotten RTF.
> I would have thought it wouldn't cope with a lot of advanced tabulations
> and formatting though

Tables are well supported. Also dot-points, images, hyperlinks,
page numbers, page sizes, all sorts of text and paragraph
formatting.

>> Seems a no-brainer to me, but nobody else seems to agree. At least
>> others can open my files in an editable format, even if I often
>> struggle with (and sometimes just ignore) theirs.
>>
> It would be fine for basic editable stuff, but not for complex styles I
> would have thought.

Probably the main limitation is that you can't make text boxes or
drag images anywhere you want. Everything follows the paragraph
formatting, like in HTML. That isn't a feature that I value in a
word processor though. I'm sure some people use it (even some
electronic component data sheets seem to be composed in Word these
days), but I think then a word processor is the wrong tool for the
job anyway.

--
__ __
#_ < |\| |< _#

The Natural Philosopher wrote:

> I'd completely forgotten RTF.

I often use WordPad and save in .rtf when documenting installs, you can
type in notes and include screenshots for later tarting up.

> I would have thought it wouldn't cope with a lot of advanced tabulations
> and formatting though

Yes, I know that Word has numerous features that only a tiny fraction of
users ever use, but WordPad is pretty lacking.

On 20/07/2023 08:21, Computer Nerd Kev wrote:
> but I think then a word processor is the wrong tool for the
> job anyway.

Yes. If you want real typesetting capability Scribus is a useful
addition to your libre office shit.

https://www.scribus.net/

I use it a lot - especially to fill in forms I have been sent. I scan
the forms,. make them locked background images and then add text boxes
on top.

I so seldom use a pen and paper I always make mistakes and make a mess
of the form anyway.

--
"A point of view can be a dangerous luxury when substituted for insight
and understanding".

Marshall McLuhan

On 20/07/2023 08:41, Andy Burns wrote:
> The Natural Philosopher wrote:
>
>> I'd completely forgotten RTF.
>
> I often use WordPad and save in .rtf when documenting installs, you can
> type in notes and include screenshots for later tarting up.
>
>> I would have thought it wouldn't cope with a lot of advanced
>> tabulations and formatting though
>
> Yes, I know that Word has numerous features that only a tiny fraction of
> users ever use, but WordPad is pretty lacking.
>
I find that mostly I use either plain text or a page layout program.
Word and its clones are so damned complicated to use. By the time I have
the styles set up I could have done the job in scribus ten times over.
Only for writing letters, reports and white paper style documents do I
use it. Where the features like automatic indexing and pagination, are
worth the bother of setting them up

--
"I am inclined to tell the truth and dislike people who lie consistently.
This makes me unfit for the company of people of a Left persuasion, and
all women"

Andy Burns <usenet@andyburns.uk> wrote:
> The Natural Philosopher wrote:
>
>> I'd completely forgotten RTF.
>
> I often use WordPad and save in .rtf when documenting installs, you can
> type in notes and include screenshots for later tarting up.
>
>> I would have thought it wouldn't cope with a lot of advanced tabulations
>> and formatting though
>
> Yes, I know that Word has numerous features that only a tiny fraction of
> users ever use, but WordPad is pretty lacking.

RTF supports a lot more than WordPad's feature-set. I haven't done
much testing between WordPad and more capable RTF-writing word
processors myself, but according to Wikipedia:

"WordPad can read, render, and save many Rich
Text Format (RTF) features that it cannot create, such as tables,
strikeout, superscript, subscript, "extra" colors, text background
colors, numbered lists, right and left indentation, quasi-hypertext
and URL linking, and line-spacing greater than 1."
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WordPad

If the Windows user opening the file has Word installed and opens
it with that instead, then even better. Mind you, I didn't know
that WordPad claims support for ODT format now, I don't think I've
used it on Windows later than XP. This thread suggests that the ODT
implementation probably isn't all that great though.

Personally I like Ted (on Linux), which uses RTF as its default
file format.

--
__ __
#_ < |\| |< _#

On 2023-07-20 10:59, The Natural Philosopher wrote:
> On 20/07/2023 08:41, Andy Burns wrote:
>> The Natural Philosopher wrote:
>>
>>> I'd completely forgotten RTF.
>>
>> I often use WordPad and save in .rtf when documenting installs, you
>> can type in notes and include screenshots for later tarting up.
>>
>>> I would have thought it wouldn't cope with a lot of advanced
>>> tabulations and formatting though
>>
>> Yes, I know that Word has numerous features that only a tiny fraction
>> of users ever use, but WordPad is pretty lacking.
>>
> I find that mostly I use either plain text or a page layout program.
> Word and its clones are so damned complicated to use. By the time I have
> the styles set up I could have done the job in scribus ten times over.
> Only for writing letters, reports and white paper style documents do I
> use it. Where the features like automatic indexing and pagination,  are
> worth the bother of setting them up

I find word or LO far easier to use than scribus. Yes, even using styles.

Although for a long document I'd probably use LyX.

--
Cheers, Carlos.

On 21/07/2023 14:37, Carlos E.R. wrote:
> On 2023-07-20 10:59, The Natural Philosopher wrote:
>> On 20/07/2023 08:41, Andy Burns wrote:
>>> The Natural Philosopher wrote:
>>>
>>>> I'd completely forgotten RTF.
>>>
>>> I often use WordPad and save in .rtf when documenting installs, you
>>> can type in notes and include screenshots for later tarting up.
>>>
>>>> I would have thought it wouldn't cope with a lot of advanced
>>>> tabulations and formatting though
>>>
>>> Yes, I know that Word has numerous features that only a tiny fraction
>>> of users ever use, but WordPad is pretty lacking.
>>>
>> I find that mostly I use either plain text or a page layout program.
>> Word and its clones are so damned complicated to use. By the time I
>> have the styles set up I could have done the job in scribus ten times
>> over.
>> Only for writing letters, reports and white paper style documents do I
>> use it. Where the features like automatic indexing and pagination,
>> are worth the bother of setting them up
>
> I find word or LO far easier to use than scribus. Yes, even using styles.
>
Almost impossible to fill in a scanned form with LO

Horses for courses.

> Although for a long document I'd probably use LyX.
>

--
"Corbyn talks about equality, justice, opportunity, health care, peace,
community, compassion, investment, security, housing...."
"What kind of person is not interested in those things?"

"Jeremy Corbyn?"

On 2023-07-21 16:03, The Natural Philosopher wrote:
> On 21/07/2023 14:37, Carlos E.R. wrote:
>> On 2023-07-20 10:59, The Natural Philosopher wrote:
>>> On 20/07/2023 08:41, Andy Burns wrote:
>>>> The Natural Philosopher wrote:
>>>>
>>>>> I'd completely forgotten RTF.
>>>>
>>>> I often use WordPad and save in .rtf when documenting installs, you
>>>> can type in notes and include screenshots for later tarting up.
>>>>
>>>>> I would have thought it wouldn't cope with a lot of advanced
>>>>> tabulations and formatting though
>>>>
>>>> Yes, I know that Word has numerous features that only a tiny
>>>> fraction of users ever use, but WordPad is pretty lacking.
>>>>
>>> I find that mostly I use either plain text or a page layout program.
>>> Word and its clones are so damned complicated to use. By the time I
>>> have the styles set up I could have done the job in scribus ten times
>>> over.
>>> Only for writing letters, reports and white paper style documents do
>>> I use it. Where the features like automatic indexing and pagination,
>>> are worth the bother of setting them up
>>
>> I find word or LO far easier to use than scribus. Yes, even using styles.
>>
> Almost impossible to fill in a scanned form with LO

I have done it, no big deal. :-)

>
> Horses for courses.
>
>> Although for a long document I'd probably use LyX.

--
Cheers, Carlos.

LO isn't perfect. Even can't format correctly from old MS Word docs.
Also, try asking this in http://reddit.com/r/libreoffice and
LibreOffice's forum and mailing list. :)

pH <wNOSPAMp@gmail.org> wrote:
> I did a search for any Libreoffice newsgroups and found none...did not think
> to search for editors, though. Hmmm.

> As long as I'm here:

> My wife writes long legal briefs on pleading paper format for these pro
> se things she's working on. Libreoffice on Mint 20.1 Ulyssa, Raspberry pi
> 4.0.

> If she takes a document on a thumb drive to the library and tries to edit
> it there it puts diagonal lines across the whole page--about a dozen--which
> are then there forever, both if she brings the drive back home back to Linux
> or whatever.

> It does not matter if I save the file for her in a MS format.

> I've poured through all the formatting menus and found nothing applicable.

> Anybody hear of this before or know the right newsgroup to ask?

> pH in Aptos

--
"[The Lord, the everlasting God,] gives strength to the weary and increases the power of the weak." --Isaiah 40:29. BUSY very warmy outty worky Friday.
Note: A fixed width font (Courier, Monospace, etc.) is required to see this signature correctly.
/\___/\ Ant(Dude) @ http://aqfl.net & http://antfarm.home.dhs.org.
/ /\ /\ \ Please nuke ANT if replying by e-mail.
| |o o| |
\ _ /
( )

Ant wrote:

> LO isn't perfect. Even can't format correctly from old MS Word docs.

Conversely, I have used LO to open and re-save Word documents for
colleagues that Word refused to open as "corrupt".