A request recently went out to get advanced or serious word processor users to use KWord "basically all the time and complain about things I want to do [but can't]."

Here goes!

1) I notice that the default save is the open document text, .odt but "Save As..." option does not appear to offer a doc option for exchange with Microsoft users.
Is that an intentional move? Recognizing the interaction with the rest of the computer world, it is necessary to include the ability to import and export files in MSWord format.
There is also an "Export" option which seems to be limited at the moment. Google search indicates that the lack of export/save filters is an issue of the 2.x series which is "not ready for production/end-users".

2) A moment ago, I was adding text which pushed a Head 1 line down across a page boundary. The bottom of the current page had a few pixels of the bottom of the heading text while the actual heading went onto the next page. For a while, the heading number did not appear. Finally, after I had added enough text, to completely push the heading down to the "next" page, the index number reappeared. While attempting to capture the image, I inadvertently got the screen draw to refresh because the image capture appeared right on top of the stray pixels. I'll try to do a better job of capturing the effect when it happens again.

3) Choosing the Insert -> Special Character -> Latin Extended-A or -B or -C or -D all cause crash with DejaVu Sans. Extended Additional worked, but then shifting back to Basic Latin caused a crash. Small Form Variants can be selected.

The missing doc export isn't intentional. Nobody was interested in writing it yet, but if someone would write and export it would be added. Since MS Office 2007 SP 2 ODF can also be read by the Microsoft products so this might be an alternative.

4) After a couple of days, I tried to open my initial practice file. KWord crashed. I was able to open the file in OpenOffice. I copied the whole document from OpenOffice and pasted into a blank KWord document. I cleaned up a few gaps between paragraphs that happened after the paste. I saved the document with a new version name. I then closed and successfully reopened it in Kword. The subheadings show as an inverted paragraph...all black. The text is still there, but I can only see it by selecting it.

5)
I just ran into the end-of-page redraw issue again.

I added an image and then experimented with moving it (see issue 6). I put the image near the bottom of a page. The image frame wasn't quite wide enough to completely cover the width of the text frame.

While trying to adjust the text so that it jumped past the image, I got some text to the right of the image...as the frame settings indicated it should be, but the text didn't look good that way.

Deleting the carriage returns that make room in the text frame moved text up from the top of a page to the right of the graphic. Hitting the Enter key moved the text, but it also left a piece of text (which happened to be the second line "at the top of the") at the right of the image. The actual text can be seen in the correct place after the Enter taps. This is a screen redraw issue. It is repeatable. In order to capture the image, I had to have KSnapshot already open and moved out of the way. If I simply tried to launch KSnapshot, it plops onto the spot of the error and moving it does the needed screen redraw. The out-of-place text is a "ghost" artifact, but needs to be prevented.



6)
I inserted an image which appears at the top of the page with handles and I had to move it into place where I wanted it. Somewhere I read that the image is in its own frame, independent of the text frame in which I am typing. After I moved the image, I could no longer select it to move it.

How does one move an image after the initial placement? Is it a frame layer problem? I did a little effort to move frames up and down and couldn't discern any effect. (See update below!)

There also seems to be a strange "focus" behavior. If I click on the image, the Styles Docker slides down, making more space for the KWord Docker, but showing nothing but blank space. The cursor changes to a pointer. To return to typing, I must do a left button double-click, which returns the dockers to their prior state, and then do a single click over the text to get an I-beam cursor for typing. I definitely do not understand the logic of this. After I left click the image and the pointer appears, a double-click on the image brings up the file selection dialog.

If I right click the image while I have an I-beam cursor, I get an image frame option popup. But, when I've got the pointer, right clicking does nothing.

Update: I stumbled onto the way to move a graphic. It is in the KWord Docker. Click the pointer arrow button there (It has a hover text: "Default tool". Though that pointer looks the same as the other one, the Default tool pointer has the ability to click an image. Handles then appear and moving the pointer over the image gives a traditional four arrow pointer. A simple left click allows dragging the image around.
I don't think that stumbling on that is effective. How can that be made more obvious?

7)
I went to the Help menu and attempted to access the KWord Manual. The KDE Help Center reported as follows.

Images sometimes cover text.



Is this a frame issue or an end-of-page control issue?

The missing/covered text continues the sentence which begins at the end of the preceding page. Only part of the text of the first line is covered.

I would also guess I'd encounter printing problems with the image that currently is right at the top margin of the page. Most printers (laser) have about a quarter of an inch at the edge which is beyond the edge of the electrostatic process.

With a new blank page document, I clicked the KWord Docker "Default tool" and the outline of the main frame became highlighted with a color. When I then double clicked with the pointer over the empty typing space, the right edge of the document shifted right (or the scroll control disappeared) and then went back to normal. Using Ctrl+W to close the document and starting a new one didn't fix the issue. The new document continued to flash.

Quitting and restarting KWord did fix the problem.

The following image is a GIF animation captured from my screen as I did the steps above.



Update: After many repeats of this sequence, I tried using the pointer to select the Text Editing tool instead of double clicking into the frame. The first time I did that, the result was the same, a flashing redraw of the screen. Then I closed the active document with Ctrl+W and opened a new one. Three times since then, the flicker hasn't occurred no matter which way I tried to go back to typing (double click or clicking the leftmost T in the docker.

I added a text frame to put a NOTE into a page. Then I used the click-drag method of selecting the first line so I could enhance the text to a fancy font and larger size. If I dragged from right to left and inadvertently crossed the left boundary of the note frame, the insertion cursor jumped to the master frame of the document. A simple double click didn't get me back to the note frame. I had to go to the docker's default tool and click the frame and then either double click the selected frame or go back to the docker to select the text editing tool.

The same thing happened when click-dragging to the right. If I slid past the right edge of the frame, the insertion cursor jumped into the master frame.

Being so easily able to slip out of the frame in focus and then needing so many steps to get back into the frame is not a comfortable work sequence.

If I used the slower, but more "accurate" method for selecting the text (holding down the shift key while using the arrow keys) the selection stopped at the first letter of the frame as one would expect.

After I finished the note, I was intuitively able to click into the main text frame and continue my typing there. The text insertion cursor moved from the left edge of the frame to the right of the note frame as I started typing. It did seem a little odd that the cursor began its flashing at the left.

I would think that the overlying note frame dictated that the text space for the master frame was overlapped and that the insertion cursor should automatically jump to the right of the note frame instead of effectively starting under (behind) it.

I am doing my testing with KWord's window not maximized and the view zoom level set to Page Width. The window extends too low. It goes behind the KDE panel at the bottom of the screen. If I click the button to Maximize the window, the bottom edge of the screen adjusts above the panel.

I can see the bottom part of the window if I move the KDE panel to the right or left edge of the screen, but it seems to me that KWord should be aware of the KDE panel and set the geometry of KWord to not be covered if the panel is at the (default) bottom of the screen.

I just moved the panel back while working in Firefox for this post, and the Firefox window geometry changes to accommodate the panel at the bottom of the screen.

I filled a page with text and some other frames with a shape, a text box, a call-out and worked to get it to keep from overflowing to a second page. I was able to do so, but still got a second totally blank page. Tapping delete at the end of the final sentence didn't remove the second page.



If I were planning to print this, I'd get two pages...one blank if I chose the default printing procedure. I know I could prevent the second page if I chose to only print page one, but that's not good for a basic user.

There doesn't seem to be any documentation for KWord.
http://docs.kde.org/stable/en/koffice/
The site shows KOffice and many docs for the other parts of the suite, but not KWord. That makes it difficult to seek guidance on the parts of the program I don't understand. Is there a wiki or other place the docs are being worked on or is the program in so alpha a state as to make any docs fragile?

Okay, I don't know what happened. I can now start a blank document and not have the screen edge flash.

I've started several blank documents today, and each time

Still version 2.2.2 - no updates since the problem manifested.

Except for the screen capture in a prior post, I'd think I was just crazy.

Can I set the default font? I want to use something other than the current default.

It appears that KWord 2.2.2 does not offer the option to set the document default font. It is SansSerif Ubuntu at the present time. I think KWord is picking it up from the system settings for my install. I read a developer message that the setting was to be found in the Settings menu. No Document Default settings option is currently in the menu.
http://lists.kde.org/?l=koffice-devel&m=112288258010055

I changed the font in the Standard Style using the style manager and most of the page updated. Somehow part of my text was set as "Default" Style, which I don't remember doing.

I tried to fix it by selecting the default text and applying the Standard style. No effect. Then I saved the document and upon reopening it, the majority of my text is invisible. It is the reverse of what happened in an earlier post. This time, I can see the headings and subheadings, but the standard text is "gone". Actually the text is there, but is only visible if I select the text by dragging through it with the left button down.

A user-led effort at documentation has been started at http://userbase.kde.org/KWord/Manual (and has been discussed in the topic viewtopic.php?f=96&t=39933&p=174701#p174701. It's probably a good idea to keep a page of notes either as a sub-page of the topic, or on the discussion page, about issues met, so that they can be documented as this grows. All contributions are appreciated.

I have just started to use KWord instead of OpenOffice. I'd like to start by saying there's a lot right with it. The whole office suite feels likes it's going to be really good. Rendering is amazing. It's vastly better than OOo and also that other product.

There are a few issues that I've shoved on bugs.kde.org so I won't rehearse them here.

In overall terms there are a lot of things that look like they should be possible but it's not clear how to achieve them.

Usability: I am left handed, (One of the things about OOo is that the layout is handed-neutral) I would like the dockers to be on the left hand side of KWord. It's not going to save my life but it would be a great nice to have (and to show off). They're moveable, I've seen someone else's screen shot but it's less than obvious how to achieve it

Default settings: they're not, I'm sure they will be, but in terms of selling/convincing others, this one feels important

Doing Stuff: thematically... if it's not obvious it's impossible to find.

I've jumped in at the deep end and I'm learning the hard way that some things just appear to be impossible.

- Right hand margin adjusting
- inserting footnotes
- headers, footers, page numbers,

right hand margins might be a text layout issue for frame based WP but it's not obvious what to do

Googling footnotes tells me that they are in koffice somewhere but they're not in the insert menu.

Alumnus' screenshots suggest that that headers and footers are good, but they're not working over here. It could be that I'm not fully au fait with frame based WP but they are on the insert menu - inserting page count and page numbers is not very good.

These issues are not showstoppers in the sense that thy make KWord unusable. However, if I can't crack the doing stuff issues, then it currently remains easier to start and finish in OOo.

Thanks for joining in, gerryg. This tread/topic is intended to provide some examples of usage issues for the KWord developers as they make version 2.x a usable tool. All over the place, it has been said that the 2.x version is in early stages of development and NOT ready for daily use.

Please add in as many recommendations and problems you run into while making your "conversion" to KWord/KOffice. I was particularly interested to see your recommendation about the Docker placement for left handed use. The option to switch the Docker placement seems very logical. Let's hope it is easy to implement.

[Not that it matters, my name is Algot. I'm tagged Alumnus because I took a Userbase course (which I highly recommend). To remind of the old joke: You can call me anything as long as you don't call me late for dinner. ]