Comment 0 for bug 915059
Revision history for this message
| Leo H (leo-h-hildebrandt) wrote Compare Document Functionality in LibreOffice Writer | #0 |
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f33e652
(Get the code!)
(CONCERNS: LibreOffice version: 3.4.4; OOO340m1 (Build:402), complete install from the Ubuntu repo, fully up to date.)
The "Compare Document" functionality of LibreOffice Writer is deeply flawed and woefully inadequate. For example, type (without quotes):
"LibreOffice Writer. Compare Document."
Save as version1.odt. Then just add one space at the start and add one paragraph marker after the first period (.), as follows (again without the quotes):
" LibreOffice Writer.
Compare Document."
Save as version2.odt. Now use "Compare Document" to identify the changes in version2.odt relative to version1.odt:
As the result we are simply presented with the full text of version1.odt mixed into that of version2.odt. So we have THE WHOLE TEXT TWICE. Worse, EVERYTHING is MARKED AS CHANGED, either as inserted or as deleted. THIS IS PLAINLY WRONG. But, on the other hand, the TRUE CHANGES are NOT UNIQUELY IDENTIFIED.
Now think of editing and then comparing not a single page with just 4 words, but a 40-page report or a 400-page book: The result is simply a catastrophe with entire multi-coloured swathes of repeated identical or near-identical text, but all identified and marked by LibreOffice Writer as completely different.
Moreover, all text in footnotes, endnotes, fields, headers, footers, frames, etc, and all non-text objects are currently still completely ignored by design in LibreOffice Writer "Document Compare".
CONCLUSION: "Compare Document" in LibreOffice Writer at the moment is defective, completely clueless and completely useless.
However, in the real-world of professional document production and editing, especially in collaborative contexts, precise, complete and fine-grained change identification, revision management and version control is absolutely essential.
The unambiguous identification of THE DIFFERENCES, ALL DIFFERENCES and NOTHING BUT THE DIFFERENCES, and presented with the greatest clarity, are pivotal here.
Sadly, at present, Microsoft Office Word still remains the only real choice for competent change tracking between versions of a document.
Prior to LibreOffice, this issue has already dogged OpenOffice all its life. A detailed current overview of relevant unresolved bugs and issues is available at http://
Can the resolution of this issue please be made an urgent priority in Ubuntu's LibreOffice.
(Acknowledgement: Elements of this submission were inspired by Gretha on Launchpad.)