Disappearing selection when document loses focus

I open two documents side-by-side. I select text on one document. Then I click on the second document and the selection in the first document is invisible until I click back on the first document.

How do I retain the visibility of the text selection in 1st document while interacting with second document?

I asked about it on LibreOffice forum and they said it's something related to window manager and OS, so I'm moving the question to this forum.

$ garuda-inxi
System:
  Kernel: 5.15.86-1-lts arch: x86_64 bits: 64 compiler: gcc v: 12.2.0
    parameters: BOOT_IMAGE=/@/boot/vmlinuz-linux-lts
    root=UUID=4bc99fd1-6a7e-4096-8fca-ccd010a3944b rw rootflags=subvol=@
    quiet quiet splash rd.udev.log_priority=3 vt.global_cursor_default=0
    loglevel=3 ibt=off
  Desktop: Xfce v: 4.18.0 tk: Gtk v: 3.24.35 info: xfce4-panel wm: xfwm
    v: 4.18.0 vt: 7 dm: LightDM v: 1.32.0 Distro: Garuda Linux base: Arch Linux
Machine:
  Type: Laptop System: Acer product: Aspire A315-56 v: V1.15
    serial: <superuser required>
  Mobo: IL model: Sleepy_IL v: V1.15 serial: <superuser required>
    UEFI: Insyde v: 1.15 date: 07/13/2020
Battery:
  ID-1: BAT1 charge: 40.2 Wh (100.0%) condition: 40.2/47.8 Wh (84.1%)
    volts: 12.2 min: 11.2 model: LGC AP18C8K type: Li-ion serial: N/A
    status: full
CPU:
  Info: model: Intel Core i3-1005G1 bits: 64 type: MT MCP arch: Ice Lake
    gen: core 10 level: v4 note: check built: 2019-21 process: Intel 10nm
    family: 6 model-id: 0x7E (126) stepping: 5 microcode: 0xB6
  Topology: cpus: 1x cores: 2 tpc: 2 threads: 4 smt: enabled cache:
    L1: 160 KiB desc: d-2x48 KiB; i-2x32 KiB L2: 1024 KiB desc: 2x512 KiB
    L3: 4 MiB desc: 1x4 MiB
  Speed (MHz): avg: 1609 high: 2303 min/max: 400/3400 scaling:
    driver: intel_pstate governor: powersave cores: 1: 2303 2: 1622 3: 1263
    4: 1250 bogomips: 9523
  Flags: avx avx2 ht lm nx pae sse sse2 sse3 sse4_1 sse4_2 ssse3 vmx
  Vulnerabilities: <filter>
Graphics:
  Device-1: Intel Iris Plus Graphics G1 vendor: Acer Incorporated ALI
    driver: i915 v: kernel arch: Gen-11 process: Intel 10nm built: 2019-21
    ports: active: eDP-1 empty: HDMI-A-1 bus-ID: 00:02.0 chip-ID: 8086:8a56
    class-ID: 0300
  Device-2: Quanta HD User Facing type: USB driver: uvcvideo bus-ID: 1-7:3
    chip-ID: 0408:a061 class-ID: 0e02
  Display: x11 server: X.Org v: 21.1.6 compositor: xfwm v: 4.18.0 driver: X:
    loaded: modesetting alternate: fbdev,intel,vesa dri: iris gpu: i915
    display-ID: :0.0 screens: 1
  Screen-1: 0 s-res: 1920x1080 s-dpi: 96 s-size: 508x285mm (20.00x11.22")
    s-diag: 582mm (22.93")
  Monitor-1: eDP-1 model: BOE Display 0x07cb built: 2018 res: 1920x1080
    hz: 60 dpi: 142 gamma: 1.2 size: 344x193mm (13.54x7.6") diag: 394mm (15.5")
    ratio: 16:9 modes: 1920x1080
  API: OpenGL Message: Unable to show GL data. Required tool glxinfo
    missing.
Audio:
  Device-1: Intel Ice Lake-LP Smart Sound Audio vendor: Acer Incorporated ALI
    driver: snd_hda_intel v: kernel alternate: snd_sof_pci_intel_icl
    bus-ID: 00:1f.3 chip-ID: 8086:34c8 class-ID: 0403
  Sound API: ALSA v: k5.15.86-1-lts running: yes
  Sound Server-1: PulseAudio v: 16.1 running: no
  Sound Server-2: PipeWire v: 0.3.64 running: yes
Network:
  Device-1: Realtek RTL8111/8168/8411 PCI Express Gigabit Ethernet
    vendor: Acer Incorporated ALI driver: r8169 v: kernel pcie: gen: 1
    speed: 2.5 GT/s lanes: 1 port: 4000 bus-ID: 01:00.0 chip-ID: 10ec:8168
    class-ID: 0200
  IF: enp1s0 state: down mac: <filter>
  Device-2: Qualcomm Atheros QCA9377 802.11ac Wireless Network Adapter
    vendor: Lite-On driver: ath10k_pci v: kernel pcie: gen: 1 speed: 2.5 GT/s
    lanes: 1 bus-ID: 02:00.0 chip-ID: 168c:0042 class-ID: 0280
  IF: wlp2s0 state: up mac: <filter>
  IF-ID-1: wg-mullvad state: unknown speed: N/A duplex: N/A mac: N/A
Bluetooth:
  Device-1: Lite-On Qualcomm Atheros QCA9377 Bluetooth type: USB driver: btusb
    v: 0.8 bus-ID: 1-10:4 chip-ID: 04ca:3015 class-ID: e001
  Report: bt-adapter ID: hci0 rfk-id: 2 state: up address: <filter>
Drives:
  Local Storage: total: 238.47 GiB used: 147.76 GiB (62.0%)
  SMART Message: Required tool smartctl not installed. Check --recommends
  ID-1: /dev/nvme0n1 maj-min: 259:0 vendor: Kingston
    model: RBUSNS8154P3256GJ1 size: 238.47 GiB block-size: physical: 512 B
    logical: 512 B speed: 15.8 Gb/s lanes: 2 type: SSD serial: <filter>
    rev: E8FK12.3 temp: 32.9 C scheme: GPT
Partition:
  ID-1: / raw-size: 238.21 GiB size: 238.21 GiB (100.00%)
    used: 147.76 GiB (62.0%) fs: btrfs dev: /dev/nvme0n1p2 maj-min: 259:2
  ID-2: /boot/efi raw-size: 260 MiB size: 256 MiB (98.46%)
    used: 594 KiB (0.2%) fs: vfat dev: /dev/nvme0n1p1 maj-min: 259:1
  ID-3: /home raw-size: 238.21 GiB size: 238.21 GiB (100.00%)
    used: 147.76 GiB (62.0%) fs: btrfs dev: /dev/nvme0n1p2 maj-min: 259:2
  ID-4: /var/log raw-size: 238.21 GiB size: 238.21 GiB (100.00%)
    used: 147.76 GiB (62.0%) fs: btrfs dev: /dev/nvme0n1p2 maj-min: 259:2
  ID-5: /var/tmp raw-size: 238.21 GiB size: 238.21 GiB (100.00%)
    used: 147.76 GiB (62.0%) fs: btrfs dev: /dev/nvme0n1p2 maj-min: 259:2
Swap:
  Kernel: swappiness: 133 (default 60) cache-pressure: 100 (default)
  ID-1: swap-1 type: zram size: 7.56 GiB used: 578.4 MiB (7.5%)
    priority: 100 dev: /dev/zram0
Sensors:
  System Temperatures: cpu: 70.0 C mobo: N/A
  Fan Speeds (RPM): N/A
Info:
  Processes: 259 Uptime: 1d 19h 26m wakeups: 24 Memory: 7.56 GiB
  used: 2.15 GiB (28.4%) Init: systemd v: 252 default: graphical
  tool: systemctl Compilers: gcc: 12.2.0 clang: 14.0.6 Packages: 1639
  pm: pacman pkgs: 1633 libs: 400 tools: paru pm: flatpak pkgs: 6 Shell: Bash
  v: 5.1.16 running-in: qterminal inxi: 3.3.24
Garuda (2.6.14-1):
  System install date:     2022-09-11
  Last full system update: 2023-01-14 ↻
  Is partially upgraded:   No
  Relevant software:       snapper(custom) NetworkManager mkinitcpio
  Windows dual boot:       No/Undetected
  Failed units:            shadow.service 

I do not think this is accurate. With just a quick test I am able to reproduce this in LibreOffice Writer, although I am running Sway at the moment which is obviously a different window manager.

It also appears to be limited to switching between two instances of LibreOffice. If you highlight text in LibreOffice and switch to another application (web browser, terminal, file explorer, whatever) the selection remains highlighted in the inactive window.

I discovered this behavior goes away if you open the “Styles” sidebar, even if you immediately close it without making any changes. You can open it in from the menu (View → Styles) and close the sidebar with the mouse, or you can open and close it by pressing F11 twice. You have to toggle the Styles sidebar separately in each open instance of LibreOffice.

I’m not sure why this works. :man_shrugging:

2 Likes

I solved it by switching to OnlyOffice. The people in LibreOffice forum were very happy when I told them that this was the solution :rofl:

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