Apache OpenOffice (AOO) Bugzilla – Issue 69720
Columns in Alphabetic Index always go from left to right
Last modified: 2013-08-07 14:44:35 UTC
The "Alphabetic Index" feature works almost perfectly in right-to-left languages (such as Hebrew or Arabic): entries are correctly formatted, the page numbers appear in the correct order and place, and so on. Only one thing isn't correct: the column order. When in the index's configuration form you specify that you want several columns (this is what is almost always done), these columns always appear from left to right: the first bunch of entries in alphabetical order appear on the leftmost column, then come the second-to-left column, and so on, until the last items alphabetically come on the rightmost column. This isn't the appropriate thing to do in a right-to-left language: There, you'd want the first entries to appear on the rightmost column, not the leftmost. I think the insert-index form should give you an option to choose "column order" (left-to-right or right-to-left). Alternatively, since you already ask in the form for the entries' language (to which I answer "Hebrew"), you could use the default direction for that language.
Reassigned to ES.
Reassigned to Requirements
By sheer chance I found how to properly format the index. I'm not sure whether this means that this is not actually a bug, or whether the workaround is so obscure and unintuitive that it needs to be fixed anyway. To get the index columns properly ordered from right to left, what I need to do is go to Format -> Page and choose Text Direction -> Right To Left! It appears that this setting does absolutely nothing except exactly what I need - switch the column order in the index (and I guess, in other places as well). After you make this change, you need to Update the index and everything then looks fine.
fme->nyh: The page direction sets the order of columns (page columns, section columns, table columns) and it sets the default direction of your paragraphs (if they have no hard direction attribute). So no bug here. Your index basically is a section, therefore setting the page direction to RTL fixes your problem. Works as designed => I'll close this issue.
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FME: Giving it a second thought I think I should reopen this issue. The "columns" tab page in the section options has an entry "text direction". This is missing in the "columns" tab page in the index options.
FME: I guess calling SwColumnPage::SetInSection( TRUE ) in SwMultiTOXTabDialog::PageCreated() would add the direction entry to the column tab page in the index dialog.