Bugzilla – Bug 131728 — FILEOPEN DOCX Support style separators

Microsoft Word has a built-in Style Separator function that allows the user to mix two different styles in the same paragraph; LibreOffice, as of the date of this post, does not have the same capability. Below is a comment I appended to the bug number referenced in the subject line of this post. I'm sure I will be kicked out of the forum…again. 

If you don't care to read a snarky vs. snarky post, here is the summary:
First, LibreOffice Writer does not have a Style Separator function and the Document Foundation does not (at this time) intend to develop one. Second, the alternatives suggested by the devs and by users in the forum are clever but worthless to the serious user.
"This is an ongoing issue that has been reported in at least two separate bug reports and the developers have responded, once with "there are ways to accomplish this without developing an actual style separator" (my description) and, in this bug report, "Looks like this is a bit of an obscure feature as this article says MS doesn't include any help content for it."

In the case of both bug reports with which I am familiar, the users were trying to compose legal documents that have very specific formatting requirements. I have also had this requirement when I was composing Contract documents, and I can insure the developers that the suggested workarounds (they hate that word) are not acceptable to the attorneys. That is one reason why we were forced to use MS Word, because it has a built-in Style Separator. And I can assure the developers that if this is an "obscure" feature for most users, it is not a trivial or obsolete feature and it is not obscure for those whose work requires it. If it was trivial and unnecessary, MS would not have included it in Microsoft 365 Word, and they would have by now removed it from the desktop version of Word.

If the devs simply don't want to be bothered with something that is critical to some small (but significant) portion of users and potential users, just say so; however, the tone of this and other discussions on this topic is one that seems to me to be a bit too incredulous and dismissive on the dev side. If there is no appetite for ever addressing this issue with the one acceptable solution—to develop a built-in Style Separator that mimics the outcome of the MS Style Separator—please spare us any more efforts on our part in making the request, providing the rationale, and sending example files. 

Thanks for all that you do, and thanks for listening. LO is a great product, much better than MS Word in most respects, but not an option for those people who work with legal documents, unfortunately."

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