[Bug 166835] Warn when first introducing an opened-file-format-incompatible aspect into a document

bugzilla-daemon at bugs.documentfoundation.org bugzilla-daemon at bugs.documentfoundation.org
Tue Jun 3 22:06:56 UTC 2025


https://bugs.documentfoundation.org/show_bug.cgi?id=166835

--- Comment #5 from Telesto <telesto at surfxs.nl> ---
(In reply to Eyal Rozenberg from comment #3)
> It's the fact, for at least one change - the first format-breaking change,
> the user will be _fully_ aware of what they're doing and what they're
> risking. Yes, it might not be the most critical change that might be lost,
> but we would not need to keep track of different kinds of changes, nor will
> the user need to rummage through their memory and decide what's important.
> The first format-breaking change is the _best_ time to warn the user, and
> when they are the least invested in format-breaking change and will be the
> least frustrated.

This would be the solution in the ideal world. However there is not even a list
of 
format-breaking changes. And in case of Writer it's likely so common, that's
rather absurd to do this on case basis. At least if you take full compatibility
as the norm. There is so much emulation going on. 
So you might get file which looks the same, but acts differently compared to
native generated one. Say a single style in Writer, becoming split 20
(paragraph) styles on docx export. Looks fine, but less useable. Defying the
point main for using (paragraph) styles. 

Other alternatives
* Info bar appearing when you start editing a foreign format, some general
warning about non-standard file format

* Foreign formats opening in read-only. Forcing/proposing to save as native
format before editing. Related: Being able to (directly save (as) foreign
format XYZ suggest (full) compatibility. Save as should be limited to fully
supported formats. Else it would be  better to put it under export. Technically
speaking; not sure if this being feasible from real world perspective

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