Libre Office, grrr

[Simpo Two]

I don't know who designed the text box aspect of this software but I'm completely stumped.

A while ago I drew up a document, added a text box, typed some text into it and saved it. Fine.

I now want to edit that text. But I simply can't select it - everything I try just selects the box and not the text. Can't find the answer on Google. Any ideas please?

[Monsterlime]

I assume double clicking on it does nothing?

[Simpo Two]

Whether I click or double-click on the box or the text, it selects the box every time.

I thought maybe if I select the box then move an arrow key (as you have to when entering text the first time) it would move to the text, but no, it just moves the box...

[gmasterfunk]

F2 ?

Or

https://ask.libreoffice.org/t/i-seem-to-be-unable-...

Edited by gmasterfunk on Tuesday 18th July 19:56

[Simpo Two]

gmasterfunk said:

F2 ?

Or

https://ask.libreoffice.org/t/i-seem-to-be-unable-...

Edited by gmasterfunk on Tuesday 18th July 19:56

Thanks, I'll try again later.

'Text boxes... cause many many (should be written seven times) difficulties'
Well they certainly do in Libre; when I had Office they were simple and intuitive.

[Simpo Two]

Nope, the box was totally frozen. F2 didn't do anything.

So I opened a similar document and the text box in that worked as normal. So I just created a new doc from that one.

[Monsterlime]

Simpo Two said:

Whether I click or double-click on the box or the text, it selects the box every time.

I thought maybe if I select the box then move an arrow key (as you have to when entering text the first time) it would move to the text, but no, it just moves the box...

Odd! What version of Libre Office and which app of Office, Writer?

On my copy of Writer, for instance, double clicking the text of a text box allows it to be edited.

[Simpo Two]

Monsterlime said:

Odd! What version of Libre Office and which app of Office, Writer?

On my copy of Writer, for instance, double clicking the text of a text box allows it to be edited.

This is 7.1.7.2 (x64) Libre Office Community running on Win 11. It's been 'OK' to use in the past though text boxes have always been clunkier than MS Office.

[Monsterlime]

7.1 is quite old now, 7.2 came out in 2021, and they are now on 7.5 (stable, 7.6 is beta). Even if the above suggestion does work, I would advise upgrading to the latest version as there will be bug fixes and security fixes in the more recent releases.

[Simpo Two]

Odd because I downloaded it on November 2021... anyway, 7.4.7.2 is downloading now, thanks.

I tend not to update things because half the time it seems to make it worse - but here I have nothing to lose...!

[motco]

Partial hijack: I have a document from A-Plan in .docx form but Libre Office 7.5 will not open it in a readable form. The earlier version wouldn't either.

[Simpo Two]

That's a timely bump. Somehow I must have deleted a crucial element of Libre Office because it stopped loading.

So I downloaded Open Office instead, a program I used before to open .docx and .xlsx files when my old software wouldn't. I haven't used Open Office much for word processing yet but text boxes are intuitive - hooray!

[motco]

I may well try that SP, thanks.