Images delete themselves after opening doc

[Dachimotsu]

I have a manuscript that's about 600-700 pages, and a few dozen images sprinkled in here and there. A light novel.

I've been trying to format it for days, but the program keeps deleting my images randomly and crashing. When I reopen the saved document, the images disappear after being open for about ten seconds. I've raised the memory settings in the Options to maximum, and disabled hardware acceleration. Neither worked. I also tried opening it in LibreOffice, and the same thing happened.

I've already had to re-insert my images so many times... It's gotten to the point where I've made a list of what page each chapter and image should be on so I can re-insert disappeared images more easily. This is maddening.

[RoryOF]

In what format is the file saved? .odt, .doc or something else? Has the file ever been Saved in .doc format, or edited using MS Word?

Are the images Linked or are they inserted into the file? Are they sized to the correct size and resolution?

[Dachimotsu]

In what format is the file saved? .odt, .doc or something else?

.odt, the default.

Has the file ever been Saved in .doc format, or edited using MS Word?

Nope.

Are the images Linked or are they inserted into the file?

Embedded. Insert > Picture > From File

Are they sized to the correct size and resolution?

No, but they're just .jpegs with dimensions no higher than 2000 pixels, so they still shouldn't be that intense.

[RoryOF]

I suggest that when you next reinsert your images, on the /Insert /Picture /from File menu you check the "Link" box in bottom left corner to link rather than to embed your images. This may make opening of your file slower, but if it gives better stability that may be a good trade-off.

I have little experience of using images in text files (and not in nearly 20 years with Windows) - my experience is limited to images in approximately 32 page brochure-type publications.

A rule of thumb is that in a writer document to be printed, a resolution of 210 dpi is all that is needed; often this, to save arithmetic, is rounded to 300 dpi.

[Bidouille]

Too many images can slow down the document and may even corrupt it.
Next time, it would probably be a good idea to compress the images as you insert them.
Use for that: https://extensions.openoffice.org/en/pr ... press.html

[RoryOF]

One other question: does this spontaneous deleting of images apply to all files, or merely to the one large file? If necessary, make a small test file with a few images, just to check.

I don't think the file size in terms of word count and pages should matter - I have frequently edited files of 2,500 pages and 550,000 words; however the addition of the images to a large file may be causing problems. Your computer has adequate resources in terms of RAM memory? 8 GB should be quite adequate.

[RoryOF]

I note that the OP is using OpenOffice 4,1,6; there was/is an old problem with spontaneous deletion of images which user John_Ha looked into in detail some years ago. LibreOffice spent a large sum to fix this problem and it seems to have been cured on that platform, although there are very rare complaints of it reoccurring, which may be due to user errors.

I came across the same problem using Impress while running on linux (Xubuntu versions); I fixed it by disabling the automatic Saving of a backup copy (/Tools /Options /Load-Save /General: uncheck "Always create a backup copy"). This strategy works on linux for me. The responsibility of making a backup copy and Saving the file at regular intervals then devolves on me as the user. My ad hoc diagnosis was that there was some failure in the code to preserve stackpointers correctly when the automatic save started. From memory, I do not recollect that this strategy worked on Windows when tried by others.

My best advice is that you change to LibreOffice, where such problem was triaged and fixed.

[Dachimotsu]

I note that the OP is using OpenOffice 4,1,6;

That was a typo on my part. I do and have had .16, the latest version.

My best advice is that you change to LibreOffice, where such problem was triaged and fixed.

I tried opening my doc in my LibreOffice, and the problem still occurs.

[RoryOF]

As far as I remember, the problem occurred between Saving the file in OpenOffice, and opening again for another editing session. If it occurred in the process of Saving and closing, then that damaged file would reopen in LibreOffice with the pictures missing.

[Dachimotsu]

The extension that Bidouille suggested makes OpenOffice crash, and using Linked for images makes cropping not work.
I dunno, I think I'm just gonna divide the project into five different docs, export them as pdfs, and then combine the pdfs.

[MrProgrammer]

The program keeps deleting my images randomly and crashing

Perhaps related; perhaps not. But potentially useful advice which may help you in other ways.
[Tutorial] Some useful hints on using images