Issue 5608

Hi OOo-staff,
it is quite dispiriting for all helpers if there is absolutely no
reaction from OOo-staff to the bug-reports - not even a "later" entry
for the target-milestone.

This bug should not stay with status UNCONFIRMED forever!

Rainer

Reassigned to Bettina.

Please try using the latest OOo 1.1 Rc4, 
Your version already old enough, and many bug fixes since your version 
and 1.1 RC4. If the problem still happend in 1.1 RC4 please report back 

Hi Utomo,

i think the problem still exists in RC4.

Example:
Use a hyperlink to an other OOo document. How can I go back, If I see,
that this is not the document which I wanted? A browser has a
"Back-Button", OOo not (or is there anything I do not know?)

In WORD (for example) you can find such dialog with a "Back" and
"Forward" function.

For some applications t is very annoying that this is missing in OOo,
for example "technical documentation", where hyperlinks could eb a
very useful tool to navigate from document to document, text mark to
text mark. The URI pane is no alternative for a "Back-Button".

So I will set this issue to NEW (whatever this might mean for a
FEATURE issue)

Rainer

I think you must submit one suggestion/problem for one issue. 

I think we only discuss about one things in here. please create other
issue for other suggestion
Navigation button on writer for hyperlink navigation

I agree that this Navigation button is necessary for navigating in
witer documents, if it is not saved as html 
Navigation button necessary is standard navigation button: back,
forward, stop, refresh/reload

 

I think you must submit one suggestion/problem for one issue. 

I think we only discuss about one things in here. please create other
issue for other suggestion
Navigation button on writer for hyperlink navigation

I agree that this Navigation button is necessary for navigating in
witer documents, if it is not saved as html 
Navigation button necessary is standard navigation button: back,
forward, stop, refresh/reload

 

Hi Utomo,

I agree with your Ideas.
Additional functions (all to be discussed in separate issues) might be
"rightclick functions" as known from Internet Browsers ("open in a new
window", ...), but also additional editor functions (make link
relative/absolute).

I added keyword "ms_interoperability" , because these functions are
necessary for reading complex documents and file systems created with
WORD for use on PC (and not printout) -again example "technical
documentation". Such complex structures use many hyperlinks, and
without at least "Back Button" it would not be useful to import those
documents (what would be possible), because they could not be used.

Rainer

It definitely still exists in RC4.  I like the suggestion that a
right-click bring up options to change, edit or remove a hyperlink. 
Having the option to change back and forth from relative to absolute
addresses is a really good suggestion.  These changes would really
make OOo much easier to use.

*** Issue 8894 has been marked as a duplicate of this issue. ***

*** Issue 14126 has been marked as a duplicate of this issue. ***

*** Issue 13647 has been marked as a duplicate of this issue. ***

*** Issue 16817 has been marked as a duplicate of this issue. ***

as stated before: one issue per problem. This issue will be kept for the
back/forward navigation buttons.

As a workaround: use markers. Use the navigator to set a marker before following
the hyperlink and set the mini-navigator to jump to markers (then the arrows of
the mini-navigator will be the back button)

*** Issue 36470 has been marked as a duplicate of this issue. ***

forgot keyword.

I miss the keyword "Regression", because StarOffice 5.2 had these Browse-
Buttons. Not for the browser, but for e.g. jumping from toc to number... and 
back or jumping to a reference and back.
My vote for this.
Peter

Just to clarify what should the BACK button / hotkey do.

Every time you use Navigator (or seach or any other mean) for jumping to some
other part of document (heading, bookmark, etc.) you may need to go back either
immediately (you have not found what you were looking for) or after some
editing. This especially holds for any type of reference - usually you follow it
to look/correct st. in at the referenced place, but you want to very often to
come back after where you had been before to continue work.


PS: MS Word have this and I use it quite extensively.

In general, I support this issue. In special, I think it is absolutely necessary
to have a means to jump to a reference and back to the prior position.

Günter Marxen 

This feature is very essential in scientific documentation where cross
references to tables and figures are used in text. The feature is lacking even
in version 1.1.4, Windows and Linux. Do wish that this gets fixed soon, for
1.1.5 (if such a release is planned) or at least in version 2.0. 

Hi,
I plan to move away from MS Office and adopt Open Office; yet an important
volume of my work (requirements engineering documents) is based on hyperlinks;
navigation keys (as provided by MS Office) are then critical to browse through
different products (word, excel and power point documents). 
I hope to find this functionality incorporated in Open Office soon; then I’ll be
ready and happy to completely move to it.

Guillermo

*** Issue 52350 has been marked as a duplicate of this issue. ***

I agree fully with this (I submitted a duplicate issue 52350 on this very 
topic). I really hope this issue can be implemented in the near future as it's 
very frustrating once you're used to having it!

Again, like others here, I too write complex documentation which requires me 
to click on hyperlinks (cross references), make small edits, and quickly 
navigate back again. Just clicking a back button (or a keyboard shortcut) 
would enable this process much more smoothly.

This is so useful that I would suggest such a feature should be implemented in 
V2 of Oo.

As a final remark, in my view, many "other word processors" do not support 
scientific writing as well as they might (considering how many iterations some 
get!), and this is an area where Oo could take a clear lead. In some aspects, 
it does already stand above the competetion. However, this is one of many 
details Oo could address to achieve excellence.

Nick

I'm a translator for OOo-documentation and I'm wasting a lot of time (and some 
motivation too) scrolling back to the place where I used the cross reference. 
I've to test them! So I'll vote as much as I can. It is not only a requirement 
it is a prerequisit in order to work effectively! Please make the function 
available in 2.0 - thank you!

This feature is still not available in 2.0. 

It not only wastes the reader's time, but it also breaks the reader's
concentration as he has to deal with the endless scrolling.

@bettina: any chance to get this feature with 3.0?

Peter

The usage of hyperlinks is very importend. Without a hyperlink navigation the
usage of hyperlinks is difficult. I know a smart hyperlinknavigation from
Framemaker and it's a very very good feature.

Please do something about this. There is so little sense in having hyperlinks
one-way, contrary to all hyperlink experience. And please, dear developers, give
us some response. The last apparent comment from a developer is from 2004! Is
this request imposible to implement? Does it contradict ooo concept? Why can it
not be done?
Thanks
Fabian

I'd like to back the notion that a developer feedback is in order.  This issue
already has 30 votes.  If I could I would give more votes to it.  Please, give
us hope or reason.

Gustavo.

I am adding my vote to this.  As some previous comments I have read, I have a
large Word document that requires a very large number of "traversals" between
bookmarks and hyperlinks.  Word can do "both ways".  It would be nice to have
"both ways" in OpenOffice, as well.

Thank you!
Barry

For help file, these functions are essential.
Help files is a great vector to diffuse file format as "odt".
No response since 4 years is quite irresponsible !!

Can you implant it in an extension very quickly ?  and put it in OOo Writer in
the next future ??
Please, this is a big restrain to use OOo Writer for many people.....

We are trying to implement OOo 2.x on a medium installation (900 PC), and in the
first week this issue has been the biggest problem of all. We 
have been using Word 97 for many years and our users have been using the
hyperlink function of Word in hundreds of documents. 
When we install the OOo suite the problem arises in a few minutes as they make
the first try with a "hyperlinked" document and realize they can't navigate at all. 
Please implement the back and forward button as soon as possible, or let us know
if it is going to be impossible to take some kind of alternative for our users.
Thanks in advance

Implementation of navigation buttons would be greatly appreciated. Not having
this feature is a big disadvantage compared to MS Word.

Just to log that this issue is still (?) unresolved in v 2.4.0 (ubuntu). Other
comments have flagged the significance of this; also the strong desire for
feedback from ooo developers on whether this is even being considered, or how
its priority can be escalated.

This is a show stopper for me.  I am writting a book & tutorial.  The person reading 
the tutorial can click on a term an be taken to the book where it is defined or 
discussed.  Without a way back to where he was in the tutorial it does not work.

I will have to move to another tool.

I must also agree with the comments made here. Having the functionality to have 
a link in a document that takes you to some where else in the document is 
useful but extremely frustrating when you can get back to where you started. 
Like most of the people here I navigate complex documents and need this 
functionality.

What surprises me is how long this issue has been around. The version of OOo I 
just downloaded is 2.4.1 - this issue was originally flagged in OOo 1.1. RC4. 
Considering 66 others have flagged this issue as important it is a bit 
disconcerting that nothing has been done on the issue.

Although just getting into OpenOffice and OpenSource Software it seems 
surprising that this issue has not been addressed yet. One would presume that 
all hyperlinks have unique ID codes and destination data. It would seem a 
simple task to record the current destination in a toolbar before moving the 
cursor to the hyperlink destination.

I agree 100% with simoncropper and all the other

I can't believe that an OpenSource project doesn't care about a problem that
exist from so long time and that many people ask to solve it.

I agree with 3v0's comment. As long as there's no way to go back to the point
where the reader previously was, OOo is only a good toy to try and to be left on
the "shelf". I wonder if someone actually uses it in a slightly serious way?!
It's a real PITA I have to remember to type a character each time I have to
browse the document and press CTRL+Z to go back.

Save your energy. :-)

This is on the list for the next release(s).

I changed the target to 3.x - this reflects that the RFE will be part of the
continuous review process. I'm not sure that we will have a button (the main
toolbar is quite full already and many people will never need this button),
maybe it will be a keyboard shortcut. But I will not act prematurely, let's see
what the specification work will deliver.

mba,
to be honest, I'd really like to have both the keyboard shortcut AND the button
:-). Seriously, I'm not sure there's anybody who doesn't need this feature since
it seems quite fundamental -for a word processor- to me. 

Just my 0,02€ :-)

I don't deny that this feature is useful - but it's not indispensable. I for
myself never missed it a lot. But yes, I know others do miss it. But I hope that
in the same way as I try to understand these users that they try to understand
that this is not the single must-have feature of Writer.

Implementing this feature isn't self-explaining. The best implementation I found
so far is that it is just an "undo" step. The biggest weakness of this
implementation is that you can't go back if you changed text at the landing
point (at least not without reverting the changes). OTOH this can be seen as a
strength - the implementation might become pretty complicated if it had to deal
with the fact that the "jump back target" might not exist anymore.

I know some editors that implemented "go back" as an undo step and I really like
it that way. This would also solve the problem of additional control. ;-)

Hello, I'm one of those who really miss this feature. My vote would clearly be
for a "MS Word"-like implementation, i.e. just navigate but not do any
undo/changes. In the (for me) rare cases the jump (back) target is no longer
existing Writer might go to the position right before or after it or go to the
previous/next existing target in navigation history or even just do nothing.
Maybe this could be implemented with a linked list.

Hi,
an Undo step is not very useful as a Go Back function.
Normally, you write at a main location. Then you remember, there is another
location which has to be modified. You search it and modify it and want to go
back to your main location (without any Undo)!

From my point of view, you have two difficulties to solve (I assume, you create
a linked list with Go Back positions):
(1) what happens, when the Go Back position does not exist anymore (see comments
from twixtwix, I can fully agree with that)
(2) When should a position be added to the list?
 - when a hyperlink is called (of course)
 - when the cursor/focus is moved to another document by any means?
 - when the cursor is moved within the current document by more than one page,
independent from type of cursor movement?
 - when the cursor is moved within the current document by more than one page
and the current position has been modified?
 - or/and ???
Doing this, it would become better than Word.

Thanks for the suggestions, we will consider them when we specify the new function.

IMHO adding positions to the list should not happen on "normal" cursor
travelling, but everytime when the cursor/selection is moved between locations
in a jump: hyperlink, navigator, perhaps mouse click.

Hello, my preference would be, too, to only add used hyperlinks/references but
no "normal" cursor moves.

This probably should go without mention, but it would be advisable to see how
this feature is implemented in Word. I'm not familiar with it and I don't know
if it is the best approach, but unless it's totally broken it would be the path
of least resistance to those considering a migration to OOo.

I would also suggest that the designers take a look at how Emacs implements the
same concept:
http://www.gnu.org/software/emacs/manual/html_node/emacs/Mark.html. It's a
little old... ok, it's god damn old, but it has served me quite well for the
last 17 years. :-)

For the record, Emacs doesn't mix the concepts of the "mark ring" (the list of
previous locations) with the concept of the undo. I think it's terribly wrong to
mix them up. Also, when a point in the mark ring has been deleted and you try to
go back to it, Emacs simply sends you to where that point had been previously.
Exacly what twixtwix said.

I think that forward/back link and navigation history (may be one list for back
and forward like in Firefox3) are VERY NEED in mechanism of hyperlinks. It is
RELATIVE context of navigation. Like '16.08.2008' vs 'tomorrow'. Feel the
difference! It`s not just undo/redo option (very important too) - it`s other
abstraction. Other philosophy. Other document working technics.

You have to implement relative navigation, if you are using hyperlinks. IMHO.

Thank you.

We have the same request for CALC as Issue 77391.

I believe WP/viewing is an unsuitable component, a general solution for an UI/UI
issue is required. 

This hyperlink navigation is missing into recent Microsoft Office releases,
while this feature has been present into more older releases.

Including this feature into OpenOffice would (1) much more improve usability
(when users are using hyperlinks) and (2) add to OpenOffice a little, but
important, feature Microsoft Office should have and to take an advantage over
this last product.

"-- Additional comments from rainerbielefeld Fri Oct 3 10:47:43 +0000 2008 -------
We have the same request for CALC as Issue 77391.

I believe WP/viewing is an unsuitable component, a general solution for an UI/UI
issue is required. "

Looking for a common solution for the problems may not be the right way to go.  I 
have no idea what code is shared between the two applications.  But get the feeling 
that this thinking will ensure that we never get a solution.

This is the most important feature for me in Writer!  It would make my work much
more efficient.  I would use it 100 times a day for sure!
Now I work with Navigator with "Content View" alternately disabled (for going
back) and enabled (when useful).  But it takes 3-7 seconds. Since I would set
this back button feature to my mouse or keyboard this would take me maybe 0,5
sec. or less
Result:
Now: 100 x 3-7s. = 300 - 700 seconds  = ~10 minutes per day! ~= 1 hour a week !!
With this feature: 100 x 0,5s. = 50s  = ~1 min. a day    ~=5 min/week
DEFINITLY WORHTWILE!  DEFINITLY USED IN (former) Word!

I don't want to be impolite, dearest and lovable developers, just sharing my
view!  You 're doing a great job nonetheless!

*** Issue 102087 has been marked as a duplicate of this issue. ***

The feature seems to be missing still in 3.1.

I spent time looking for this feature today (3.0.1). Wikipedia (!) notes that it
is not available. Finally found this issue (along with many duplicates--a lot of
people have wanted this since 2002).

I agree with others that the Back feature should not be conflated with /
implemented as an Undo feature. They are conceptually different: Back should
just be a positioning thing, whereas Undo in general makes changes.

If you're looking for other implementations of similar functionality, you could
look at kpdf: I use its "back" button all the time. It doesn't always do what I
want, but is mostly pretty useful.

I hope the Back button / feature can be added soon.

Sure this is "must-to-present" feature. Tried to work with cross-references link
- almost impossible to handle them property.
Maybe it is possible to open new links in a new window of the same document? It
can solve a part of this problem. 

One more vote for the back/forward functionality on hyperlinks. Spreadsheets are
used a lot in scientific applications (notably in biology) and hyperlinks are so
handy for navigating in intricated data. I understand that there are a lot of
priorities (depending on user field) and not enough manpower to cover everything. 

Maybe one developper could give a hint on where to start to implement such feature ?

ph.

vote for this too.
it's a must to have back/forward buttons at spreadsheets for hyperlink navigation.

*** Issue 18926 has been marked as a duplicate of this issue. ***

*** Issue 116292 has been marked as a duplicate of this issue. ***

9 years and 97 votes for this issue.

Has there been any progress?

A "Back" and a "Forward" button would be very useful for me as well. 
Not only in Writer, but also in Calc, eg as an additional OO toolbar.
2 Votes for this. 
It's somehow disappointing that this bug is still "new" since 2002...

I vote for this, too, both in Writer and Calc

I VOTE FOR IT! 5 YEARS OF WAITING!

Switch over to Libre Office they solved the issue already.

 
Re. "Switch over to Libre Office they solved the issue already," no, they haven't! At least not from what I've been able to tell (Win version). And if the issue's been solved, I cannot for the life of me figure out how.
 
There is some form of new "navigation" toolbar apparently with forward/back buttons, but these don't seem to work with cross-references.
 
That this has now remained outstanding for nine years -- 9 years -- is nuts.

 
Re. "Switch over to Libre Office they solved the issue already," no, they haven't! At least not from what I've been able to tell (Win version). And if the issue's been solved, I cannot for the life of me figure out how.
 
There is some form of new "navigation" toolbar apparently with forward/back buttons, but these don't seem to work with cross-references.
 
That this has now remained outstanding for nine years -- 9 years -- is nuts.

 
Re. "Switch over to Libre Office they solved the issue already," no, they haven't! At least not from what I've been able to tell (Win version). And if the issue's been solved, I cannot for the life of me figure out how.
 
There is some form of new "navigation" toolbar apparently with forward/back buttons, but these don't seem to work with cross-references.
 
That this has now remained outstanding for nine years -- 9 years -- is nuts.

I was wondering what the keyboard shortcut for this feature is but eventually I found out that it has not been assigned at all!

And to my surprise, this bug will have it's 10th anniversary in a couple of months!

Amazing!

107 votes only so far - how many is needed?

And yes, I am using LIbreOffice... Well, maybe I'll forget it and continue with Word after all (the same that I thought already over 10 years ago)

Hi,
have a look at this very nice extension written by Risto Jääskeläinen
http://extensions.services.openoffice.org/project/Retro

He already solved the problem.

Unfortunately this extension works only with Writer, that is text documents. Does anyboby have an idea of a solution that also works with spreadsheets?

"Unfortunately this extension works only with Writer, that is text documents."

Yes, of course. Look on Top, this issue was opened for Writer.

(In reply to comment #68)
> Hi,
> have a look at this very nice extension written by Risto Jääskeläinen
> http://extensions.services.openoffice.org/project/Retro
> 
> He already solved the problem.

Hi jmpoo,

thanks very much for this info. I will test it. Hope that it solves this issue.

By the way, I used issue 5608 as an example to argue against resetting all "old" votes.

G.Marxen

The extension crashes in OO 4.0 when you try to use it.  I came up with this code that turned out to be useful to me until someone finally does something to address this issue:

sub MakeBookmark
	rem ----------------------------------------------------------------------
	rem define variables
	dim document   as object
	dim dispatcher as object
	rem ----------------------------------------------------------------------
	rem get access to the document
	document   = ThisComponent.CurrentController.Frame
	dispatcher = createUnoService("com.sun.star.frame.DispatchHelper")
	
	rem ----------------------------------------------------------------------
	dim args1(0) as new com.sun.star.beans.PropertyValue
	args1(0).Name = "Bookmark"
	args1(0).Value = "BackMarker"
	
	dispatcher.executeDispatch(document, ".uno:DeleteBookmark", "", 0, args1())
	
	rem ----------------------------------------------------------------------
	dim args2(0) as new com.sun.star.beans.PropertyValue
	args2(0).Name = "Bookmark"
	args2(0).Value = "BackMarker"
	
	dispatcher.executeDispatch(document, ".uno:InsertBookmark", "", 0, args2())

end sub


sub ReturnToBookmark

	Dim Doc As Object   
	Dim Cursor As Object
	Dim Proceed As Boolean
	Dim oDesktop, oDocument, oVCursor as Object
	
	oDesktop = createUnoService("com.sun.star.frame.Desktop")
	oDocument= oDesktop.getCurrentComponent() 
	oVCursor = oDocument.currentcontroller.getViewCursor()
	Doc = ThisComponent
	oVCursor.gotoRange(Doc.Bookmarks.getByName("BackMarker").Anchor(),false)

end sub

I set a key for each, and then I can set a marker with one keypress, and quickly get back to where I last set my bookmark with the other.

*** Issue 77391 has been marked as a duplicate of this issue. ***

*** Issue 70183 has been marked as a duplicate of this issue. ***

Thanks to CodeLurker for the macros.

I had to modify the second one a little to run on (LibreOffice) 5.1 : 

sub ReturnToBookmark

    oVCursor = ThisComponent.CurrentController.getViewCursor
    oVCursor.gotoRange(ThisComponent.Bookmarks.getByName("BackMarker").Anchor(),false)

end sub


It's a pity that hyperlink navigation is not supported still even in OO 5

(In reply to phil_shvarcz from comment #75)
> Thanks to CodeLurker for the macros.
> 
> I had to modify the second one a little to run on (LibreOffice) 5.1 : 
> 
> sub ReturnToBookmark
> 
>     oVCursor = ThisComponent.CurrentController.getViewCursor
>    
> oVCursor.gotoRange(ThisComponent.Bookmarks.getByName("BackMarker").Anchor(),
> false)
> 
> end sub
> 
> 
> It's a pity that hyperlink navigation is not supported still even in OO 5

It is nice that you got it to work.

However, the LibreOffice community is not going to see this if you continue to comment on the Apache OpenOffice Bugzilla.  There is no [A]OO 5.

I have removed the "assigned to" entry, since no Apache OpenOffice developer has taken on adding this into the software.  I am also resolving this as fixed without code since "confirmed" makes no sense here.  Nor does "accepted."  Maybe there is a better status, but we don't seem to have a great set for feature/extension requests.

[Off-topic: My personal approach to this limitation is to make a PDF and then use the Acrobat forward/backward cross-reference navigation.  That doesn't help when a document is under active editing, of course.]