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fred2028
General User
Joined: 24 Aug 2006
Posts: 6
Location: Canada
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 Posted: Thu Nov 30, 2006 3:41 pm Post subject: Opening multiple files in the same window |
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| Can OOO open multiple files in the same window like Microsoft Office 1997? If so, how do I turn it on? |
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jeanweber
Moderator
Joined: 30 Dec 2005
Posts: 674
Location: Queensland, Australia
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Bhikkhu Pesala
Super User
Joined: 23 Aug 2005
Posts: 2324
Location: Seven Kings, London, UK
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| Posted: Thu Nov 30, 2006 8:40 pm Post subject: |
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Another frequent request is to be able to split a window (see this issue), but Open Office has a Single Document Interface. You can open two documents or two views on the same document, and tile them using the Windows taskbar. That is a workaround.
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fred2028
General User
Joined: 24 Aug 2006
Posts: 6
Location: Canada
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| Posted: Sun Dec 03, 2006 8:44 pm Post subject: |
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| Bhikkhu Pesala wrote: | | Another frequent request is to be able to split a window (see this issue), but Open Office has a Single Document Interface. You can open two documents or two views on the same document, and tile them using the Windows taskbar. That is a workaround. |
What I wanted to do is save taskbar space though. Like Fire Fox 2 I have tabs so only 1 item shows up on the taskbar, MSN I use Plus! to group all convos, so I wanted the same for OOO. |
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foxcole
Super User
Joined: 19 Jan 2006
Posts: 2771
Location: Minneapolis, Minnesota
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| Posted: Mon Dec 04, 2006 2:47 am Post subject: |
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What OS are you running? If it's Windows XP, you can right-click on the taskbar, choose Properties, and mark the box "Group similar taskbar buttons." This places all buttons of the same program (so, for example, all Writer buttons) under a rolled-up button. Not exactly the same thing as you're looking for, but it does save taskbar space.
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---Fox
WinXP Pro SP2, OOo Portable 2.3.1, OOo local 2.4 RC4
New OpenOffice forum: http://user.services.openoffice.org/en/forum/
Manuals: http://documentation.openoffice.org/manuals/index.html |
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justkurt
Newbie
Joined: 07 Aug 2008
Posts: 4
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| Posted: Fri Oct 31, 2008 1:08 pm Post subject: |
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| anyone know if this is a feature we can expect in future release? |
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bobban
OOo Enthusiast
Joined: 02 Jan 2008
Posts: 172
Location: Australia
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| Posted: Fri Oct 31, 2008 6:37 pm Post subject: |
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| Quote: | | anyone know if this is a feature we can expect in future release? |
If you vote for it then it is more likely. It seems to have a lot of votes already so hopefully, but it has no target milestone yet. I just gave it my vote too since this would be a great feature.
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giuseb
Newbie
Joined: 06 Dec 2005
Posts: 2
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| Posted: Mon Jan 05, 2009 12:23 am Post subject: Terrible, terrible design flaw |
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| Bhikkhu Pesala wrote: | | Another frequent request is to be able to split a window (see this issue), but Open Office has a Single Document Interface. You can open two documents or two views on the same document, and tile them using the Windows taskbar. That is a workaround. |
Hello, let me start by saying that I have just lost 2 days worth of work because of the issue I am about to describe. Sorry in advance for the yelling and screaming that follows.
Usually, when you open a new window for an open document (Tools -> New view), what you get is a distinct view of the same buffer (as they say in the text editors' world), i.e. any changes to the content of one window is immediately reflected in the other window(s). The obvious reference for such behavior is MS-Word.The different windows are just different views of the same live document.
If I am working on a large document, I often keep two windows open, one for writing, the other for searching stuff I already wrote up and down the same document. I was giving OO Writer another try (v.3 for the mac), and had been working on a manuscript for a couple of days as I just described, saving my work every few minutes. When I finally decided to quit OO, I was asked to save the document, and I said Yes, and then I was asked again. To which I distractedly thought "didn't I just told you that? I said YES".
Little did I know that the second time around I was writing the content of my "side" window, OVER the file just saved. The thing is that my "side" window had been the one I had used to look up older text, and did not contain any of the work I had put on my "main" window.
When I reopened the file and saw all that work vanished I could not believe it. But I verified that OO Writer's behavior when you do Window -> New view is NOT to open a new view of the same "live" document, but to load the disk file with the same name of the currently open buffer, and to consider it completely independent of the other document window.
THIS IS AN INSANE DESIGN CHOICE.
It goes against any reasonable expectation of long time GUI software users. If I want to load a disk file I do File -> Open, or I go to the finder/explorer and double-click on the file icon. By asking my word processor's Window menu to open a new View, I DO NOT EXPECT it to load a disk file with the same name as the currently open document, which may be completely out of date, and I DO NOT EXPECT to have two open document buffers COMPETING with each other for access to a disk file of the same name.
It is probably a generally bad idea to allow a word processor to open two independent buffers pointing to the same disk file, as I can only imagine a highly experienced user deliberately doing that occasionally, and for very specific purposes. Otherwise, it's a recipe for disaster.
But again, in my view it is completely INSANE that this happens through a command (Window -> New view) whose effect should be exactly what it says, and none other.
Am I the only user to feel this way?
Again, my apologies for the harsh language, but I am extremely frustrated by the loss of work.
Cheers,
Giuseppe |
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Pauli
Newbie
Joined: 24 Mar 2009
Posts: 1
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| Posted: Tue Mar 24, 2009 8:43 am Post subject: Multiple windows is a deal breaker |
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I'd love to switch to OpenOffice, and have been trying to since version 1, but although new features are added with each iteration, OO's most critical shortcomings remain unaddressed: that is, the need to have multiple resizeable & moveable documents open in a single window.
I typically need have 8-14 documents variously sized and arranged within a single window in order to copy/cut/move data among them. I don't understand why, since even creaky old Word97 can do this, why OpenOffice *still* cannot.
Sadly, the lack of this essential feature renders OpenOffice unusable for business. |
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ftack
Moderator
Joined: 27 Jan 2003
Posts: 3102
Location: Belgium
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| Posted: Tue Mar 24, 2009 9:52 am Post subject: |
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| Quote: | | OO's most critical shortcomings remain unaddressed: that is, the need to have multiple resizeable & moveable documents open in a single window. |
As soon as I switched to OOo, it was a relief for me to get rid of this inconsistent multiple document interface that Microsoft invented. I am glad to find all my documents on a consistent place in the task bar.
You might have noticed that even Microsoft has returned somewhat from their MDI with later versions. Perhaps they consider the MDI, which came with Windows 3.0, a bit outdated now.
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