Issue 119921

Successfully replicated the bug on: 06/13/2012
Version: Open Office 3.4.0
Build: AOO340m1 (Build: 9590) – Rev 1327774
Platform: Mac OS X 10.7.4
Using Microsoft Word 2011 for Mac
Bug #: 119921


By using the author’s attachment, it lead me to confirm that a crash can occur when working with or near columns, but the columns alone do not produce the crash. I tested the transition from Microsoft Word to Open Office with 2, 3, 4, and 5 columns and it worked perfectly. My research indicates that the crash I observed happens in a slightly different manner.  I found that columns do not seem to be the direct cause of the failure but instead the failure is due to the insertion of continuous breaks in certain places of the document. 


After modifying the original author’s attachment, I found plenty cases in order to replicate the bug. I will provide two examples to replicate the bug. One will be at it’s most simplest; the other will have more content. I will give the precise steps for the simpler example and attach the longer example.

First Approach (Simplest):

1) Open Microsoft Office

2) Click on the “show all nonprinting characters” button located in the standard menu, 5 buttons to the left from the question mark.

3) Click on the Layout tab

4) Click on Break and select Continuous Break

5) Type anything on the line under the break, leave enough space for a break to be on the same line

6) Click on Break again and select Continuous Break. Make sure it is on the same line you previously typed in

7) Save the document

8) Open the document with Open Office and it crashes


I made this replication very simple using two breaks and a line of text. I realize that in a document this is not very insightful but my point is that this is the core of making a well-presented document. Without using breaks, it is difficult to format a document the way you want or need.


Follow-up Tests:
My suggestion for follow-up testing is to modify the place where the continuous breaks are placed, how far apart are they placed from each other, how many are present in the document while checking if this occurs with other versions of word as well (for example: switch between docx and doc formats).


Customer Impact:
This bug would disappoint many users of Open Office because documents are written with the intent to be visually attractive and breaks play a big role towards attractiveness. Because of this bug, it would be impossible to open up many word documents in Open Office and that is a critical function. As a user I would be surprised, disappointed, and very frustrated to see my application crash before it even opens.


Similar bugs:
After looking through the database, there seems to be another bug similar to this one; the number is 119714. I believe they are related because the sample attachment has columns and breaks, but most importantly it crashes when tried to open. They potentially could be the same bug since both have breaks next to each and the breaks have text along the same line.

Created attachment 78305 [details]
Example of Crashing Document

Kevin's notes are for a Macintosh, and he replicates the crash. I am running a 64-bit Windows 7 system and I don't see a crash. However, when I open the original document (column_2) in MS-Word, I see a 5-page, dual-column academic paper, but when I open the document in OpenOffice (download and open in OOo instead of Word), I see a 1-page document with only the initial heading text. Everything else was apparently deleted.

I do not crash when I create a new document following Kevin's instructions (he walked me through this by phone) and OOo does not crash on my system when I hope "Example of Crashing Document". I am testing with the same build, version 3.4.0m version 340m1, build 9590.

I have now worked with another student who also worked on this bug. He borrowed a Macintosh and replicated Kevin's steps and result. Apparently, on the Mac, Kevin's crash is reproducible.

confirmed~