Comment 0 for bug 424044

Binary package hint: openoffice.org-writer

There is an issue with mathematical object size preservation when saving to Microsoft Word Document format.

Steps to reproduce:
1) Insert > Object > Formula

2) In the Formula edit pane enter the following two lines:
size 21{ Prod cSub { size 14{ ital "k="1} } cSup { size 14{N} } {p rSub {size 14 {k}
}^{size 14 n_{size 10 k} } } }

#this can be seen in attachment db-screenshot-1.png

3) Save the file as odt, open the file

#this can be seen in attachment db-screenshot-2.png

4) Save the file as doc (Microsoft Word 97/2000/XP), open the file

#this can be seen in attachment db-screenshot-3.png

I can confirm that by saving to doc format the code has now changed to the following line:
size 12{ Prod cSub { size 8{ ital "k="1} } cSup { size 8{N} } {p rSub { size 8{k} } rSup { size 8{n rSub {k} } } } } {}

The user is not notified of this resizing. My guess is that Microsoft format uses a different way of using math, and there is most an issue making a one to one conversion. I have been told that there are known issues with how picking the Microsoft document format translates math objects.

Other than saving to the standard OpenOffice document format .odt, there is no way to prevent this resizing from happening.