Libreoffice Calc annoyance

I have been seeing problems in Libreoffice Calc since 19.10 days on and off. Either icons disappear or screen is painted, covering parts of the spreadsheet. I am dual booting Kubuntu 20.04 alongside Lubuntu 20.04 and does not experience the problem. Resizing and restoring the window usually takes care of the problem. There is no easy way to repeat it but here is my take:
1- The very first use: Open an existing or read-only document. Closing the read-only and/or LO first use notice should show the problem.
2- Normal use. This seems to occur at random so I enclosed a picture:

This does not happen in any Ubuntu across the board and easily remedied by minimizing or resizing the window.

Let me know I’m not alone. :wink:
Cheers,
a.

I had the same problem.
There’s another thread here about graphicals problems with LibreOffice https://discourse.lubuntu.me/t/bug-in-the-libreoffice-graphical-interface/1790.
I agree that could be a qt5 issue.

By the way I solved with:

  1. purge all libreoffice packages
  2. reinstall them with sudo apt install libreoffice libreoffice-l10n-it libreoffice-help-it --yes (change “it” with your own language).

Maybe sudo apt purge libreoffice-qt5 could be enough, but when I did that I didn’t know the qt5’s problem

3 Likes

Thanks, that indeed solves the problem, though screws up the qt-sie feel. Interestingly, Kubuntu 20.04/10 both carry lireoffice-qt5 and I do not observe this problem. I’ll check LO forums for a clue.

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You’re welcome.

I’ve remembered I saved the different packages installed (I posted it in the Italian Ubuntu forum last month), maybe it could help to solve the issue
The original Lubuntu iso installed:

ii  libjuh-java                                   1:6.4.6-0ubuntu0.20.04.1            all          LibreOffice UNO runtime environment -- Java Uno helper
ii  libjurt-java                                  1:6.4.6-0ubuntu0.20.04.1            all          LibreOffice UNO runtime environment -- Java Uno Runtime
ii  libreoffice-base-core                         1:6.4.6-0ubuntu0.20.04.1            amd64        office productivity suite -- shared library
ii  libreoffice-calc                              1:6.4.6-0ubuntu0.20.04.1            amd64        office productivity suite -- spreadsheet
ii  libreoffice-common                            1:6.4.6-0ubuntu0.20.04.1            all          office productivity suite -- arch-independent files
ii  libreoffice-core                              1:6.4.6-0ubuntu0.20.04.1            amd64        office productivity suite -- arch-dependent files
ii  libreoffice-draw                              1:6.4.6-0ubuntu0.20.04.1            amd64        office productivity suite -- drawing
ii  libreoffice-gtk3                              1:6.4.6-0ubuntu0.20.04.1            amd64        office productivity suite -- GTK+ 3 integration
ii  libreoffice-help-common                       1:6.4.6-0ubuntu0.20.04.1            all          office productivity suite -- common files for LibreOffice help
ii  libreoffice-help-en-us                        1:6.4.6-0ubuntu0.20.04.1            all          office productivity suite -- English_american help
ii  libreoffice-help-it                           1:6.4.6-0ubuntu0.20.04.1            all          office productivity suite -- Italian help
ii  libreoffice-impress                           1:6.4.6-0ubuntu0.20.04.1            amd64        office productivity suite -- presentation
ii  libreoffice-l10n-it                           1:6.4.6-0ubuntu0.20.04.1            all          office productivity suite -- Italian language package
ii  libreoffice-math                              1:6.4.6-0ubuntu0.20.04.1            amd64        office productivity suite -- equation editor
ii  libreoffice-qt5                               1:6.4.6-0ubuntu0.20.04.1            amd64        office productivity suite -- Qt 5 integration
ii  libreoffice-style-breeze                      1:6.4.6-0ubuntu0.20.04.1            all          office productivity suite -- Breeze symbol style
ii  libreoffice-style-colibre                     1:6.4.6-0ubuntu0.20.04.1            all          office productivity suite -- colibre symbol style
ii  libreoffice-style-tango                       1:6.4.6-0ubuntu0.20.04.1            all          office productivity suite -- Tango symbol style
ii  libreoffice-writer                            1:6.4.6-0ubuntu0.20.04.1            amd64        office productivity suite -- word processor
ii  libridl-java                                  1:6.4.6-0ubuntu0.20.04.1            all          LibreOffice UNO runtime environment -- base types and types access library for the Java Uno typesystem
ii  libuno-cppu3                                  1:6.4.6-0ubuntu0.20.04.1            amd64        LibreOffice UNO runtime environment -- CPPU public library
ii  libuno-cppuhelpergcc3-3                       1:6.4.6-0ubuntu0.20.04.1            amd64        LibreOffice UNO runtime environment -- CPPU helper library
ii  libuno-purpenvhelpergcc3-3                    1:6.4.6-0ubuntu0.20.04.1            amd64        LibreOffice UNO runtime environment -- "purpose environment" helper
ii  libuno-sal3                                   1:6.4.6-0ubuntu0.20.04.1            amd64        LibreOffice UNO runtime environment -- SAL public library
ii  libuno-salhelpergcc3-3                        1:6.4.6-0ubuntu0.20.04.1            amd64        LibreOffice UNO runtime environment -- SAL helpers for C++ library
ii  libunoloader-java                             1:6.4.6-0ubuntu0.20.04.1            all          LibreOffice UNO runtime environment -- (Java) UNO loader
ii  uno-libs-private                              1:6.4.6-0ubuntu0.20.04.1            amd64        LibreOffice UNO runtime environment -- private libraries used by public ones
ii  ure                                           1:6.4.6-0ubuntu0.20.04.1            amd64        LibreOffice UNO runtime environment

After reinstalling

ii  libjuh-java                                   1:6.4.6-0ubuntu0.20.04.1            all          LibreOffice UNO runtime environment -- Java Uno helper
ii  libjurt-java                                  1:6.4.6-0ubuntu0.20.04.1            all          LibreOffice UNO runtime environment -- Java Uno Runtime
ii  libreoffice                                   1:6.4.6-0ubuntu0.20.04.1            amd64        office productivity suite (metapackage)
ii  libreoffice-base                              1:6.4.6-0ubuntu0.20.04.1            amd64        office productivity suite -- database
ii  libreoffice-base-core                         1:6.4.6-0ubuntu0.20.04.1            amd64        office productivity suite -- shared library
ii  libreoffice-base-drivers                      1:6.4.6-0ubuntu0.20.04.1            amd64        Database connectivity drivers for LibreOffice
ii  libreoffice-calc                              1:6.4.6-0ubuntu0.20.04.1            amd64        office productivity suite -- spreadsheet
ii  libreoffice-common                            1:6.4.6-0ubuntu0.20.04.1            all          office productivity suite -- arch-independent files
ii  libreoffice-core                              1:6.4.6-0ubuntu0.20.04.1            amd64        office productivity suite -- arch-dependent files
ii  libreoffice-draw                              1:6.4.6-0ubuntu0.20.04.1            amd64        office productivity suite -- drawing
ii  libreoffice-gnome                             1:6.4.6-0ubuntu0.20.04.1            amd64        office productivity suite -- GNOME integration
ii  libreoffice-gtk3                              1:6.4.6-0ubuntu0.20.04.1            amd64        office productivity suite -- GTK+ 3 integration
ii  libreoffice-help-common                       1:6.4.6-0ubuntu0.20.04.1            all          office productivity suite -- common files for LibreOffice help
ii  libreoffice-help-it                           1:6.4.6-0ubuntu0.20.04.1            all          office productivity suite -- Italian help
ii  libreoffice-impress                           1:6.4.6-0ubuntu0.20.04.1            amd64        office productivity suite -- presentation
ii  libreoffice-java-common                       1:6.4.6-0ubuntu0.20.04.1            all          office productivity suite -- arch-independent Java support files
ii  libreoffice-l10n-it                           1:6.4.6-0ubuntu0.20.04.1            all          office productivity suite -- Italian language package
ii  libreoffice-math                              1:6.4.6-0ubuntu0.20.04.1            amd64        office productivity suite -- equation editor
ii  libreoffice-nlpsolver                         0.9+LibO6.4.6-0ubuntu0.20.04.1      all          "Solver for Nonlinear Programming" extension for LibreOffice
ii  libreoffice-report-builder                    1:6.4.6-0ubuntu0.20.04.1            all          LibreOffice component for building database reports
ii  libreoffice-report-builder-bin                1:6.4.6-0ubuntu0.20.04.1            amd64        LibreOffice component for building database reports -- libraries
ii  libreoffice-script-provider-bsh               1:6.4.6-0ubuntu0.20.04.1            all          BeanShell script support provider for LibreOffice scripting framework
ii  libreoffice-script-provider-js                1:6.4.6-0ubuntu0.20.04.1            all          JavaScript script support provider for LibreOffice scripting framework
ii  libreoffice-script-provider-python            1:6.4.6-0ubuntu0.20.04.1            all          Python script support provider for LibreOffice scripting framework
ii  libreoffice-sdbc-firebird                     1:6.4.6-0ubuntu0.20.04.1            amd64        Firebird SDBC driver for LibreOffice
ii  libreoffice-sdbc-mysql                        1:6.4.6-0ubuntu0.20.04.1            amd64        MariaDB/MySQL SDBC driver for LibreOffice
ii  libreoffice-sdbc-postgresql                   1:6.4.6-0ubuntu0.20.04.1            amd64        PostgreSQL SDBC driver for LibreOffice
ii  libreoffice-style-colibre                     1:6.4.6-0ubuntu0.20.04.1            all          office productivity suite -- colibre symbol style
ii  libreoffice-style-elementary                  1:6.4.6-0ubuntu0.20.04.1            all          office productivity suite -- Elementary symbol style
ii  libreoffice-style-tango                       1:6.4.6-0ubuntu0.20.04.1            all          office productivity suite -- Tango symbol style
ii  libreoffice-wiki-publisher                    1.2.0+LibO6.4.6-0ubuntu0.20.04.1    all          LibreOffice extension for working with MediaWiki articles
ii  libreoffice-writer                            1:6.4.6-0ubuntu0.20.04.1            amd64        office productivity suite -- word processor
ii  libridl-java                                  1:6.4.6-0ubuntu0.20.04.1            all          LibreOffice UNO runtime environment -- base types and types access library for the Java Uno typesystem
ii  libuno-cppu3                                  1:6.4.6-0ubuntu0.20.04.1            amd64        LibreOffice UNO runtime environment -- CPPU public library
ii  libuno-cppuhelpergcc3-3                       1:6.4.6-0ubuntu0.20.04.1            amd64        LibreOffice UNO runtime environment -- CPPU helper library
ii  libuno-purpenvhelpergcc3-3                    1:6.4.6-0ubuntu0.20.04.1            amd64        LibreOffice UNO runtime environment -- "purpose environment" helper
ii  libuno-sal3                                   1:6.4.6-0ubuntu0.20.04.1            amd64        LibreOffice UNO runtime environment -- SAL public library
ii  libuno-salhelpergcc3-3                        1:6.4.6-0ubuntu0.20.04.1            amd64        LibreOffice UNO runtime environment -- SAL helpers for C++ library
ii  libunoil-java                                 1:6.4.6-0ubuntu0.20.04.1            all          LibreOffice UNO runtime environment -- UNO interface library
ii  libunoloader-java                             1:6.4.6-0ubuntu0.20.04.1            all          LibreOffice UNO runtime environment -- (Java) UNO loader
ii  uno-libs-private                              1:6.4.6-0ubuntu0.20.04.1            amd64        LibreOffice UNO runtime environment -- private libraries used by public ones
ii  ure                                           1:6.4.6-0ubuntu0.20.04.1            amd64        LibreOffice UNO runtime environment

I cross-checked the packages Lubuntu shipped with Kubuntu’s (20.04.1). The only difference is Lubuntu has libreoffice-gtk3 whereas Kubuntu has not (I did not check styles, icons, etc). As I have just recently converted my hard disk to GPT from ms-dos, I have no Lubuntu available at the moment. After 3 failures, I ended up with Kubuntu 20.10 and Kubuntu 20.04 with success. I will create a live usb for Lubuntu and try to remove libreoffice-gtk3 package and report the result. Once again, many thanks for your help.

Libreoffice-gtk3 is not the culprit unfortunately. I removed it to no effect (live usb). FYI.

LibreOffice has been no small source of pain for us, based primarily on the VCL which is responsible for a LOT, but most importantly the UI. AFAIK Kubuntu (or rather KDE) has their own sort of proprietary Qt option (the Kf5 one) that brings along a ton of dependencies. We didn’t want to use that, so we opted for the Qt one. Only it seems there are lots of bugs with the Qt one. That’s the long and short of the problems with LibreOffice in general. You can switch the VCL used on the fly (via environment variables) regardless of packages used. If you want something totally stable, just use the GTK3 one, but it won’t be as Qt-sie, which is now my word of the day.

3 Likes

Thanks for the clarification.

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