Random page breaks in document

born2respawn · Blue Pill Joined: Dec 03, 2005 Posts: 3

Hi, forgive a new user posting straight away with a problem.

When I open a document to edit OOo adds some seemingly random page breaks. These aren't like the usual Ctrl+Enter line breaks, they don't have a character that can be edited, it's like the page is only a few lines long.

I opened the same file on the computers on campus, and the same error occured (along with it going insane on the paragraph/header numbering, but that's for another time, I can always make a PDF and print that). I'm using edited styles for the headings, and I've created styles for the text following that so it all lines up okay.

Obviously, I'm hesitant to get too far in to my work only to have to re-edit the whole thing.

I'm using OOo 1.1.2 on OS X 10.4.3, with X11 1.1 (XFree86 4.4.0). For compatibility I've got to use DOC format for my work; although saving the file in SXW format didn't resolve the problem.

Thanks for any help you can offer.

jjmckenzie51

yoxi · Posted: Sun Dec 04, 2005 2:23 am Post subject:

Also, maybe this is a red herring, but I'd check that it's using the same paper size as was defined on the document's original platform - I've had all sorts of layout trouble that came from letter vs. A4 vs. legal paper size mixups between different versions/platforms of OpenOffice.

- yoxi

born2respawn · Blue Pill Joined: Dec 03, 2005 Posts: 3

Thanks for your thoughts, lets see now...

Is this with OpenOffice or Word? If it is Word, then something is terribly wrong with your document. If it is the same version of OpenOffice, then this is understandable and the problem exists on multiple systems, not just one.
All computers on campus have Word 2002 on them, and the problem was the same on that. I spent a good half an hour messing with it on campus, fiddling with the styles and stripping formatting, but to no avail. When I loaded the document up just now there wasn't a problem, but it had added page breaks on other pages.

Can you get OpenOffice 2.0? If you can, try and use this for your project. OpenOffice 1.1.2 is very old and is not maintained.
When I came to install an office program on this thing OpenOffice 2.0 wasn't released for OS X, although glancing at the site they said it was still being worked on.

Also, maybe this is a red herring, but I'd check that it's using the same paper size as was defined on the document's original platform - I've had all sorts of layout trouble that came from letter vs. A4 vs. legal paper size mixups between different versions/platforms of OpenOffice.
I just checked, everything's set up for A4.

I'll make the hop over to OpenOffice 2.0 shortly, and stick with the document styles I threw together on campus. Thanks for your time guys.

jjmckenzie51 · Posted: Sun Dec 04, 2005 7:19 pm Post subject:

born2respawn · Blue Pill Joined: Dec 03, 2005 Posts: 3

The document was originally created in OpenOffice 1.1.2, not sure what patches, I just used the DMG that was available for download at the time.

The errors occured under both Word 2002 and OO 1.1.2.

It's (should be) downloadable from here: link to file

rays · Posted: Tue Dec 06, 2005 12:44 pm Post subject:

An entirely unscientific approach which requires someone else to verify or ridicule:

Using the Stylist, modify the styles by changing the font only in each of the styles Heading 1, Heading 2, Heading 1 - contents, Heading 2 - contents form (the mysterious and evil) Arial to (in my case) Verdana.

Document layout changes dramatically and removes the strange page breaks.

Could someone else do the same steps and tell me I'm crazy?

Thanks.

jakeOSX · Ninja Joined: Aug 12, 2003 Posts: 1373

i'll tell you that you are crazy

but when i get home i'll try out this out to see if this is proof =)

rays · Posted: Tue Dec 06, 2005 1:49 pm Post subject:

A small confession...

I did those style changes using NeoOffice on my home Mac. For my own peace of mind, I'll repeat the same steps when I sit down in front of Mac OS X X11 version on my office Mac tomorrow...

Ray

rays · Posted: Wed Dec 07, 2005 4:48 am Post subject:

It is even simpler than I imagined! It's only one change required.

In OOo Mac OS X 1.1.2, I only had to change the font in "Heading 1" style by using the Stylist to Verdana and - hey presto! Instant gratification and no lousy page breaks....

So, I am not crazy methinks - but I should not be the only judge of that!

I await confirmation of my sanity from someone else in this thread. Wink

If you have found my posting here useful in resolving such an issue with your documents on Mac OS X then please support more development work on delivering OpenOffice.org in a Mac OS X friendly way by making a small donation here.

ericbachard · Pure-blooded Human Joined: Sep 07, 2004 Posts: 37

>If you have found my posting here useful in resolving such an
>issue with your documents on Mac OS X then please support more
>development work on delivering OpenOffice.org in a Mac OS X
>friendly way by making a small donation

Yes, good idea : if you want to support OpenOffice.org, the correct URL is :
donation for OpenOffice.org

Currently, native port is in progress.

Eric Bachard

Guest · Posted: Wed Dec 07, 2005 10:01 am Post subject:

i didn't realize that openoffice.org was contributing to the upkeep of trinity.

rays · Posted: Wed Dec 07, 2005 10:02 am Post subject:

You may be asking yourself, quite reasonably, why I should have chosen to promote donations to NeoOffice in the "OpenOffice.org MacOS X X11 Support" forum?

In part, it is perhaps in recognition that I solved this user's issue quickly and painlessly through my installed copy of NeoOffice. [edit]In part, it is perhaps because this forum is paid for by the NeoOffice project.[/edit]

[edit]Contrary to Eric's assertion, there is no "correct" or "wrong" link for support.[/edit] Whichever donation link you choose to follow, dear reader, you will either be helping fund a project that has already delivered an integrated and stable Mac OS X look and feel to OpenOffice.org or you will be contributing to a project which should provide a stable OpenOffice.org 2.0 code base which, in turn, can be delivered by the same means with a Mac OS X look and feel.

For the moment, my loyalties clearly lie with a project which has already delivered a well-integrated 'Mac-like behaviour' solution and which meets the cost of hosting this forum for the Mac OS X X11 version.

It is not unreasonable then to seek donations to help continue this forum's existence since it clearly serves its purpose well for the Mac OS X X11 community. As many here are aware, I have very publically shared my backing and support elsewhere in these forums and beyond for those involved in the essential task of the initial porting required to deliver OpenOffice.org to the X11 environment on the Mac.

Despite my reasonably long association with NeoOffice, I look forward in the shortest possible time-frame to testing the earliest 'direct native' port of OpenOffice.org to Mac OS X, the existence of which is repeatedly hinted at by Eric and his team, which might allow some dust to settle on the present situation.

However, I have to say that it is not in the best interests of any individual in the OpenOffice.org effort to attempt to dissuade or divert anyone from making donations to support the open source software which many already have running 'natively' in Mac OS X until such times as they too have produced the native goods themselves. Eric, you cannot afford to lose the tacit support of existing NeoOffice consumers, like myself, before you have delivered a viable version of OpenOffice.org 2.0 which uses directly the Mac print menus and Mac fonts. When you deliver, it will provide a logical upgrade path. I wish your team well in that task as there can be no winners or losers there.

Until you deliver, I and many hundreds of others must remain loyal and financially supportive of the NeoOffice project in order to ensure that we can still use OpenOffice.org on our Macs with the latest versions of Mac OS X, whether on PowerPC or Intel. My organization would not wish to abandon the path to OpenOffice.org 'Nirvana' down which NeoOffice has allowed us to freely tread.

Quite frankly, Eric, the World Scout Bureau would not have moved to OpenOffice.org if an X11 environment was all there was on offer. I have read your reported remarks elsewhere on the general Mac users' somewhat negative attitude to X11. I concur with the commentator who remarked that if we wanted to live in X11, we would have migrated to Linux, not Mac OS X.

With kind regards,

jakeOSX · Ninja Joined: Aug 12, 2003 Posts: 1373

ok, sorry for the delay, i tried this out last night on OO.oX11 2.0. Now, I don't have veranda font, just the base openoffice.org ones...

when i selected all and changed the font, the strange page breaks went away. when i played with the headings (something i don't usually deal with) the page breaks didn't seem to be affected...

i can try again in 1.1.2...

however. it would see that the headings (and or font) are the issue, so to the original poster, by playing with them, you should be able to remove the page breaks.