Hello,
we are considering using OnlyOffice to collaborate on our reports.
We strongly use MS Word “Fields” to define strings of text that we need to have in several locations in our documents, we can edit those fields once in “Quick Parts/Field…” and see the new value everywhere in the document.
I notice that OnlyOffice doesn’t have that feature. If I open a docx document created in MS Office containing such Fields they will be displayed in OnlyOFFICE but it’s not attached to a single variable, like OnlyOffice ignores those Fields defined in the docx headers. I can right-click on the text and hit “Refresh field” but OnlyOffice replaces the text with “!!! can’t find field”. Although other that that right-click menu item, I see no menu item leading to the fields editor.
Why is that? Is it a missing feature? Is there a workaround to define a small piece of text in one place and repeat it to several places in the document?
It was crerated with libreoffice Write application. It’s possible to do it with MS Word as well, I just wanted to show that LibreOffice does it as well so it’s not limited to Microsoft only.
It shows a word that has been defined in “File/Properties/Custom Properties” and added to the document using “Insert/Field/More Fields”.
This is useful when you need to define a small piece of text that is repeated several times in a document and that could change over time while you work on a document for several weeks or you deliver several versions. You edit it only once in the properties and it updates everywhere in the document.
Why does OnlyOffice doesn’t support that? Is it on purpose? Is it going to be implemented later?
Why does Onlyoffice have “Refresh field” right-click menu on the item but will show Error! Reference source not found.
It looks like someone tried to give the feature but the software doesn’t fully handle the fields feature yet.
I hope it’s coming soon, our business could use the software only then.
Dear @Jimmy
Sorry if my answers upset you. But I need an example of the file which you mentioned to check it out (open in a few different editors > compare behavior which you described). It’s a necessary step in troubleshooting.
The file you provided doesn’t open.
Hello @Jimmy
Sorry for the late reply. We checked the situation and we added a bug to internal tracklist (internal number - 56430). We have started working on it.
Hello @Rico
Please provide us with test file and describe the usage scenario. We will check out if your situation is related to the one described in this thread.
Hi Alexandre,
Thank you to take care.
We try to do merge mail (publipostage in french) with Word files, we try to migrate to onlyoffice, but we can’t do merge mail because the ms word’s fields are not reconized by onlyoffice
You will find 2 files, one with the XML generated buy MS WORD and ONlYOFFICE, you’ll can see the differences, and you’lll also find the original MS WORD file used for it Processing: BNSSA Féminin saison .docx… Processing: Diff_Word_OnlyOffice_MERGEFIELD.xml…
Thank you Alexandre,
The xml format differences between MS WORD and ONLY OFFICE for merge mail, fldChar and fldSimple, we can’y use MS word files wirh only to do merge mailBNSSA Féminin saison .docx (25.6 KB)
<w:r>
<w:rPr>
<w:rFonts w:ascii=“Comic Sans MS” w:hAnsi=“Comic Sans MS”/>
<w:iCs/>
<w:sz w:val=“22”/>
<w:szCs w:val=“22”/>
</w:rPr>
<w:t xml:space=“preserve”>Word : </w:t>
<w:fldChar w:fldCharType=“begin”/>
</w:r>
<w:r>
<w:rPr>
<w:rFonts w:ascii=“Comic Sans MS” w:hAnsi=“Comic Sans MS”/>
<w:iCs/>
<w:sz w:val=“22”/>
<w:szCs w:val=“22”/>
</w:rPr>
<w:instrText xml:space=“preserve”> MERGEFIELD “Titre” </w:instrText>
</w:r>
<w:r>
<w:rPr>
<w:rFonts w:ascii=“Comic Sans MS” w:hAnsi=“Comic Sans MS”/>
<w:iCs/>
<w:sz w:val=“22”/>
<w:szCs w:val=“22”/>
</w:rPr>
<w:fldChar w:fldCharType=“separate”/>
</w:r>
<w:r>
<w:rPr>
<w:rFonts w:ascii=“Comic Sans MS” w:hAnsi=“Comic Sans MS”/>
<w:iCs/>
<w:sz w:val=“22”/>
<w:szCs w:val=“22”/>
</w:rPr>
<w:t xml:space=“preserve”>«Titre»</w:t>
</w:r>
<w:r>
<w:rPr>
<w:rFonts w:ascii=“Comic Sans MS” w:hAnsi=“Comic Sans MS”/>
<w:iCs/>
<w:sz w:val=“22”/>
<w:szCs w:val=“22”/>
</w:rPr>
<w:fldChar w:fldCharType=“end”/>
</w:r>
<w:r>
<w:rPr>
<w:rFonts w:ascii=“Comic Sans MS” w:hAnsi=“Comic Sans MS”/>
<w:iCs/>
<w:sz w:val=“22”/>
<w:szCs w:val=“22”/>
</w:rPr>
<w:t xml:space=“preserve”> </w:t>
</w:r>
<w:r>
<w:rPr>
<w:rFonts w:ascii=“Comic Sans MS” w:hAnsi=“Comic Sans MS”/>
<w:iCs/>
<w:sz w:val=“22”/>
<w:szCs w:val=“22”/>
</w:rPr>
<w:fldChar w:fldCharType=“begin”/>
</w:r>
<w:r>
<w:rPr>
<w:rFonts w:ascii=“Comic Sans MS” w:hAnsi=“Comic Sans MS”/>
<w:iCs/>
<w:sz w:val=“22”/>
<w:szCs w:val=“22”/>
</w:rPr>
<w:instrText xml:space=“preserve”> MERGEFIELD “Nom” </w:instrText>
</w:r>
<w:r>
<w:rPr>
<w:rFonts w:ascii=“Comic Sans MS” w:hAnsi=“Comic Sans MS”/>
<w:iCs/>
<w:sz w:val=“22”/>
<w:szCs w:val=“22”/>
</w:rPr>
<w:fldChar w:fldCharType=“separate”/>
</w:r>
<w:r>
<w:rPr>
<w:rFonts w:ascii=“Comic Sans MS” w:hAnsi=“Comic Sans MS”/>
<w:iCs/>
<w:sz w:val=“22”/>
<w:szCs w:val=“22”/>
</w:rPr>
<w:t xml:space=“preserve”>«Nom»</w:t>
</w:r>
<w:r>
<w:rPr>
<w:rFonts w:ascii=“Comic Sans MS” w:hAnsi=“Comic Sans MS”/>
<w:iCs/>
<w:sz w:val=“22”/>
<w:szCs w:val=“22”/>
</w:rPr>
<w:fldChar w:fldCharType=“end”/>
</w:r>
<w:r>
<w:rPr>
<w:rFonts w:ascii=“Comic Sans MS” w:hAnsi=“Comic Sans MS”/>
<w:iCs/>
<w:sz w:val=“22”/>
<w:szCs w:val=“22”/>
</w:rPr>
<w:t xml:space=“preserve”> </w:t>
</w:r>
<w:r>
<w:rPr>
<w:rFonts w:ascii=“Comic Sans MS” w:hAnsi=“Comic Sans MS”/>
<w:iCs/>
<w:sz w:val=“22”/>
<w:szCs w:val=“22”/>
</w:rPr>
<w:fldChar w:fldCharType=“begin”/>
</w:r>
<w:r>
<w:rPr>
<w:rFonts w:ascii=“Comic Sans MS” w:hAnsi=“Comic Sans MS”/>
<w:iCs/>
<w:sz w:val=“22”/>
<w:szCs w:val=“22”/>
</w:rPr>
<w:instrText xml:space=“preserve”> MERGEFIELD “Prénom” </w:instrText>
</w:r>
<w:r>
<w:rPr>
<w:rFonts w:ascii=“Comic Sans MS” w:hAnsi=“Comic Sans MS”/>
<w:iCs/>
<w:sz w:val=“22”/>
<w:szCs w:val=“22”/>
</w:rPr>
<w:fldChar w:fldCharType=“separate”/>
</w:r>
<w:r>
<w:rPr>
<w:rFonts w:ascii=“Comic Sans MS” w:hAnsi=“Comic Sans MS”/>
<w:iCs/>
<w:sz w:val=“22”/>
<w:szCs w:val=“22”/>
</w:rPr>
<w:t xml:space=“preserve”>«Prénom»</w:t>
</w:r>
<w:r>
<w:rPr>
<w:rFonts w:ascii=“Comic Sans MS” w:hAnsi=“Comic Sans MS”/>
<w:iCs/>
<w:sz w:val=“22”/>
<w:szCs w:val=“22”/>
</w:rPr>
<w:fldChar w:fldCharType=“end”/>
We are trying to build a format converter from complex to simple fields for onlyoffice to work, but it will be nice to have a real compatibility if possible
Thank you for provided file, but entire scenario issue isn’t clear for me at the moment. Could you please provide us with detailed steps how to reproduce the situation you faced?
As far as I can see, the issue described by topicstarter was related to ‘update fields’ scenario. But there’s no similar issue with your provided file.