Right tab handling and overflow in slideshow

Desktop editors
1

I have many existing files created in PowerPoint which make use of right tabs to show a right-aligned Scripture reference.

In OO these files exhibit a cluster of problematic results. The following behaviours are noted, and illustrated in the attached example which is an unmodified PPTX created in PowerPoint:

  • The right tab is interpreted as being approximately 0.2 inches outside of the right margin of the text box, whereas in PowerPoint it was aligned with the right edge (see various examples starting with Slide 6)
  • This overflowing text is cut off when in presentation mode
  • When a right tab would push the entire reference off screen (there is not enough room for it at the end of a line, PowerPoint would wrap to the next line instead and the reference would be appropriately right-aligned on that next line. OO does not do this and so the reference flows off further to the right (see various examples starting with Slide 12)

Attempting to solve this issue on existing files also reveals some kind of incorrect/inconsistent behaviour:

  • My expected solution for incorrect alignment of the right tab would be to edit the slide master for the corresponding layout, and set the paragraph tab back to a value which would not cause the text to align to a point outside the frame. However, doing this does not update the tab values for paragraphs in slides based on that master layout
  • Further to above, the edited tab setting does not stick in the master page. When I save, close, and reopen the document, the previous tab value is still present

As you can see, there are a cluster of issues, some of which are probably not related to each other, but all affecting my workflow.

My only solution has been to manually edit the tab setting on every paragraph in every affected slide. This is obviously not a good solution when I have many hundreds of slides coming over from PowerPoint.

I’m running Desktop Editors version 8.3.3.21, flatpak build, on Fedora 42 with KDE 6.3.

Example file:
Behold the Lamb of God.pptx (4.1 MB)

3

Hey @linuxkangaroo :handshake:

Thank you for your detailed feedback and for attaching the example file — we really appreciate it!

We’re currently reviewing the issues you’ve reported. However, to better understand the inconsistent behavior you’ve mentioned regarding editing tab stops in the slide master, could you please provide a short video recording that demonstrates:

  • How you’re editing the master layout
  • How the changes are not reflected in slide content
  • How the edited tab settings do not persist after reopening the file

You can either upload the video directly to the forum (if size allows), or use any external file sharing service and share the link with us here.

This will greatly help us in reproducing and addressing the problem. Thanks again!

4

Ok here’s a screen recording with steps as requested. At the end I also show my manual workaround that must be done for each slide affected.

Since last post I have updated to version 9.0.0.172 (flatpak), which is what this screen recording was made with.

5

Hi @linuxkangaroo,

Thank you for providing the video — it really helps in visualizing the issue.

We’re currently reviewing the problem and working to understand the root cause. If we discover a potential quick fix or workaround, I’ll let you know right away.

Thanks again for your detailed report — I’ll keep you updated!

7

Hi @linuxkangaroo

Thank you very much for your detailed report and for providing the example!
We’ve reviewed your feedback and created two separate bug reports based on your observations:

  • [Slide Master] Tab settings from the slide master are not applied to dependent slides when edited in Slide Master view (PPTX file).
  • Incorrect text rendering when using right-aligned tabs — content overflows or is misaligned compared to how it appears in PP.

We truly appreciate your effort in helping us identify these issues.
Your input is incredibly valuable for improving compatibility and user experience in ONLYOFFICE. We’ll keep working on this and update you if we have any relevant progress.

9

Thank you @Nikolas, I appreciate your attention to this and I hope some engineering time can be spent on this some time in the near future.

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