QA/FirstSteps/en

The very first step: reproduce bug using latest fresh/still version
The two latest major releases, LibreOffice Fresh and LibreOffice Still ( /  ) are both regularly updated with bug fixes. If your version is not the latest Fresh or Still release, the bug you are about to report might already be fixed. First update your LibreOffice installation, then check if the issue still persists.

You can also install a new version without disrupting the existing installation as described here: Installing in parallel.

NOTE: If the issue didn't go away, use the original version number in the bug report's Version field, which is for the earliest affected version.

Corrupted user profile
Symptoms:
 * Almost any kind of unusual behavior (especially if LibreOffice has been upgraded several times).

Steps to take:
 * 1) Locate your user profile.
 * 2) Rename or delete user profile.

For details see User profile location and Resolving corruption in the user profile (backing up the existing profile is highly advised).

NOTE: Corruption in the profile is notoriously hard to catch. Unless you are encountering this issue regularly, or you have specific steps to reproduce the issue, it isn't worth submitting a bug report. However, if you are uncertain, don't hesitate to submit one.

Issues related to slideshows (OpenGL)
Symptoms (only on some slide transitions):
 * Graphical glitches.
 * Crash.

Steps to take:
 * 1) Check you've got last stable driver for your graphic card since it includes OpenGL part.
 * 2) Restart LibreOffice.

If the issue is not gone and you are using Windows, locate \cache\opengl_device.log and attach it to the bug report. The development team will propose a change in a file named opengl_denylist_windows.xml located under share\opengl in LibreOffice's installation directory.

Add your observations to the bug report.

Computation-related issues in Calc ( OpenCL )
Symptoms:
 * Incorrect formula results.
 * Crash during calculation.

Steps to take:
 * 1) Uncheck.
 * 2) Restart LibreOffice, check if issue still occurs.
 * 3) If it does, uncheck.
 * 4) Restart LibreOffice, check if issue still occurs.

If the issue is gone after step 2, locate  and , and attach them to the bug report (these files are created since version 5.1.4). This will help the development team assess whether the issue could be with the OpenCL implementation in your system, or within LibreOffice.

Add your observations to the bug report.

NOTE: If the number of data cells used in formulas is small, OpenCL is not used even if enabled (OpenCL is used to speed up calculation on large datasets, and is usually not efficient on small amount of data). The lower limit is 100 by default, and can be adjusted in by selecting, clicking , and adjusting.

Graphics-related issues ( Skia )
Symptoms:
 * Graphical glitches.
 * Crash.

Check if the following string appears in : "UI Render: Skia/Vulkan".

If there is other or even "UI Render: Skia/Raster" instead, it usually means the symptoms aren't caused by Skia, and the rest isn't applicable.

Steps to take:
 * 1) Check you've got last stable driver for your graphic card since it includes Skia part.
 * 2) You can also force the use of Skia/Raster:
 * 3) On Windows, you can use the adhoc checkbox on
 * 4) On Linux/MacOS: before launching LibreOffice from console, you can export the variable  ,
 * 5) On every environment you could force Skia:, put   to

However, there are known cases when using Skia/Raster still crashes LibreOffice when starting, and in those cases (when you will not be even able to look at ) you would need to try these manual steps.

 false
 * 1) Locate your user profile (see details above).
 * 2) Open   in a plain text editor, and search for   text string there.
 * 3) If found, replace   with   in that line.
 * 4) If not found, add this line to the file before the final  :

If the issue is gone, locate, and attach it to the bug report. This will help the development team assess whether the issue could be with the Skia/Vulkan implementation in your system, or within LibreOffice.

Fonts issues
Symptoms:
 * Graphical glitches.
 * Crash.

Some types of fonts or some old versions of a font are not well managed by LibreOffice and can cause these symptoms.

Steps to take:
 * 1) Close LibreOffice.
 * 2) Disable the fonts which have been installed after OS install.
 * 3) Restart LibreOffice and try to reproduce the problem.

If the issue is gone, try to find the font which caused the problem and check if there's a more recent version to install. Once it's done, if the problem can still be reproduced and if the font is the cause, indicate it (with version) on the bugtracker.

Rendering issues specific to Linux
Symptoms:


 * Graphical glitches.
 * Crash.

Sometimes gtk3 or kf5/qt VCL backends trigger bugs.

Steps to take:
 * 1) Close LibreOffice.
 * 2) Launch LibreOffice from a terminal/console with
 * 3) Try to reproduce the problem.

If the issue is gone, it means it's related to the rendering you use by default (gtk3 if Gnome, kf5 for qt/Plasma for example).