Apache OpenOffice (AOO) Bugzilla – Issue 14487
Allow Editing Sub-Documents of a Master-Document and Save Changes
Last modified: 2013-08-07 14:38:26 UTC
OpenOffice Writer should allow editing of Sub-Documents within the Master- Document. I know that you can unprotect a sub-document, and edit the sub- document in the Master-Document, but the change are not saved back into the sub-document. Therefore, the changes are lost when you do an update. This feature is necessary in situations where many people are working on the overall document at the same time, with different people editing the sub- documents. It is nice to be able to edit the sub-document within the master- document since you have access to bookmarks in the other sub-documents at that time, for example. Without this feature, you have to open each sub-document, and manually type in bookmark references from other documents which is time- consuming and very error-prone. This is something that you can do in Microsoft Word.
Reassigned to BH
This is a must have, or I need to switch back to Microsoft Word. It is very difficult to work in subdocuments as you can't access or see bookmarks in other sub-documents without working in the master document. However, if you work in the master document, your changes are not saved back to the sub-documents.
Is the problem one with lost references between sub-documents? Why don't other users have access to the sub-documents?
You can open the sub-documents and edit them with no problem. The problem is that you cannot edit all of the documents at the same time "inside" the master document when the master document is open. The reason it is necessary to be able to edit the sub-documents within the master document is so that you can setup bookmarks between the various sub-documents. Otherwise, you have to keep manually tabulated lists of the bookmarks in other sub-documents. When you edit a sub-document by itself, it can't "see" the other sub- documents. Only when you have the master document open can sub- documents see all of the rest of the entire document, but you can't edit the sub-documents "inside" the master document. What needs to happen is to have the master document be able to edit the sub-documents when viewed in the master document. When you hit save, the master document would update all of the sub-documents with the changes you made. One benefit is that you are able to edit the document as if it was a large, single text document instead of multiple sub-documents. In a multi-user environment using a source management system (such as SourceSafe or CVS), people can work in the main document, but only edit those sub-documents they have checked out. (i.e. marked read- only). Hope this helps.
As described this would solve several problems with Master Documents. For one thing, most users of MD's have a strong need for references between sub-documents, so that, even if their positions are reordered, the references remain correct. The other is something like global editing or global find/replace. I like the idea of "editing" an MD somewhat like keeping revisions in a file and having a "save" amount to "accept all changes" applied to each document. I realize this would require opening, changing and reclosing each document, so the shut-down time for a MD would be rather long, but it would surely be handy. (To keep users from being bored, a message box could say "File <ABC> being updated." as it goes along. I certainly do NOT see this as a potential 1.1 change, though. Probably more like 2.1 or something similar.
For OO.o 2.0 it is not planned to change the sub-/master-document handling, but it is worth rethinking about the concept.
reassigning & adding keywords according to new RFE process - sophie -
*** Issue 96048 has been marked as a duplicate of this issue. ***
*** Issue 18506 has been marked as a duplicate of this issue. ***
*** Issue 54103 has been marked as a duplicate of this issue. ***
*** Issue 110080 has been marked as a duplicate of this issue. ***
Ok. If this is a 'design' problem, then giving the user some kind of warning dialog might be a low cost work-around. For example, if the master document is edited, then upon saving, the dire consequences are explained or instructions on how to save the changes should be given. Or upon opening and selecting the choice 'updating links' the user should be presented with a dire warning that the data in the Master document is newer than the data in the link... or something like that.
from issue 18506 rblackeagle : This is a suggestion for, perhaps, a post-2.0 version,but one I think would be very welcome by most users of MD's: Let us edit files directly in the Master Document. One way to achieve this is to "edit" a document and have the program open the file for editing and then save when finished "Click here when finished editing this file." and automatically update that selection. This preserves the integrity (and functionality) of the MD while allowing it to be handled a bit more "as if" it were a single document. ------- Additional comments from sba Mon Sep 8 16:32:49 +0000 2003 ------- SBA: Reassigned to Bettina from the User Experience team for consideration. ------- Additional comments from rblackeagle Fri Mar 5 18:31:52 +0000 2004 ------- Any idea if this is likely to be accepted? ------- Additional comments from ace_dent Fri May 16 01:10:58 +0000 2008 ------- OpenOffice.org Issue Tracker - Feedback Request. The Issue you raised is currently 'Unconfirmed' pending review, but has not been updated within the last 3 years. Please consider re-testing with one of the latest versions of OOo, as the problem(s) may have already been addressed. Either use the recent stable version: http://download.openoffice.org/index.html or consider trying the new OOo 3 BETA (still in testing): http://download.openoffice.org/3.0beta/ Please report back the outcome so this Issue may be Closed or Progressed as necessary - otherwise it may be Resolved as Invalid in the future. You may also wish to search for (and note) any duplicates of this Issue that may have advanced further by checking the Issue Tracker: http://www.openoffice.org/issues/query.cgi Many thanks, Andrew Cleaning-up and Closing old Issues as part of: ~ The Grand Bug Squash, pre v3 ~ http://marketing.openoffice.org/3.0/announcementbeta.html
from 54103: vogella : Hello, It is possible to remove the write protection of the subdocuments in a masterdocument but changes to the subdocuments are not saved. Example: Unzip the attachment. Open the masterdocument, update the links. Go anywhere in the document. Double-click on the right button of the OO application on the read-only description. Remove the write protection. Change something, save and re-open -> Still the old test is shown. Best regards, Lars ------- Additional comments from vogella Thu Sep 1 12:06:04 +0000 2005 ------- Created an attachment (id=29246) Zip file with masterdocument ------- Additional comments from mru Thu Sep 1 12:22:09 +0000 2005 ------- Reassigned to ES. ------- Additional comments from es Thu Sep 1 13:09:52 +0000 2005 ------- This is one of the limits of the OOo master document concept. Sub documents are integrated as linked section in the master document. Link sections or only "1 way" data relations, meaning you can change the content of the source doc to show in the terget doc but you cannot update from the target doc to the source. This is one of the enhancement we'll have to bring to the masterdocument concept. ------- Additional comments from ace_dent Fri May 16 00:41:51 +0000 2008 ------- OpenOffice.org Issue Tracker - Feedback Request. The Issue you raised is currently assigned to 'Requirements' pending review, but has not been updated within the last 2+ years. Please consider re-testing with one of the latest versions of OOo, as the problem(s) may have already been addressed. Either use the recent stable version: http://download.openoffice.org/index.html or consider trying the new OOo 3 BETA (still in testing): http://download.openoffice.org/3.0beta/ Please report back the outcome so this Issue may be Closed or Progressed as necessary - otherwise it may be Resolved as Invalid in the future. You may also wish to search for (and note) any duplicates of this Issue that may have advanced further by checking the Issue Tracker: http://www.openoffice.org/issues/query.cgi Many thanks, Andrew Cleaning-up and Closing old Issues as part of: ~ The Grand Bug Squash, pre v3 ~ http://marketing.openoffice.org/3.0/announcementbeta.html