Bug 340637 - Highlighting in a two-column document highlights both columns instead of one
Summary: Highlighting in a two-column document highlights both columns instead of one
Status: CONFIRMED
Alias: None
Product: okular
Classification: Applications
Component: general (show other bugs)
Version: 20.12.3
Platform: unspecified Linux
: NOR normal
Target Milestone: ---
Assignee: Okular developers
URL:
Keywords:
: 343355 (view as bug list)
Depends on:
Blocks:
 
Reported: 2014-11-04 16:06 UTC by icymist
Modified: 2023-12-08 16:41 UTC (History)
7 users (show)

See Also:
Latest Commit:
Version Fixed In:
Sentry Crash Report:

Attachments
Shows both the columns highlighted instead of just the first column (as intended). (282.14 KB, image/png)
2014-11-04 16:09 UTC, icymist 		Details
pdf as requested (838.87 KB, application/pdf)
2014-11-04 19:50 UTC, icymist 		Details
I just selected "However," but the selection became a mess (297.34 KB, image/png)
2023-12-08 16:41 UTC, Julio Augusto de Castilhos Borges 		Details
Show Obsolete (1) View All Add an attachment

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Description icymist 2014-11-04 16:06:19 UTC 
I am using the default Okular on opensuse 13.2.

Highlighting a two-column document (journal article http:dx.doi.org/10.1021/ja3080117) on its first page highlights both the columns instead of just one.

I can attach a screenshot, but I don't know how.

Reproducible: Sometimes

Steps to Reproduce:
1. I guess it depends on the page set up in the pdf. On other pages, I can highlight the columns separately without a problem.
2.
3.
Comment 1 icymist 2014-11-04 16:09:15 UTC 
Created attachment 89442 [details]
Shows both the columns highlighted instead of just the first column (as intended).
Comment 2 Albert Astals Cid 2014-11-04 19:45:17 UTC 
We will need the pdf to fix this.
Comment 3 icymist 2014-11-04 19:50:09 UTC 
Created attachment 89446 [details]
pdf as requested
Comment 4 Albert Astals Cid 2014-11-04 20:17:55 UTC 
Yeah, our algorithm gets confused by the first paragraph that is just one column.
Comment 5 Albert Astals Cid 2015-02-16 22:18:44 UTC 
*** Bug 342892 has been marked as a duplicate of this bug. ***
Comment 6 Albert Astals Cid 2015-03-16 20:49:34 UTC 
*** Bug 343355 has been marked as a duplicate of this bug. ***
Comment 7 Justin Zobel 2020-11-20 03:12:50 UTC 
Confirmed still an issue on 1.11.3, tested with attached PDF.
Comment 8 Massimiliano L 2021-03-17 11:47:51 UTC 
Problem is still present in 20.12.3, does not happens with all two-column PDFs but it still occurs with the example provided here. Evince on the same document behaves correctly.
Comment 9 Laura David Hurka 2021-07-13 09:38:56 UTC 
Happens with any document, even in .txt with just many spaces between words.
Comment 10 mrgono3 2022-06-02 03:52:18 UTC 
also having problems with this windows 10 Okular 22.04.1 PDF: https://www.ajronline.org/doi/full/10.2214/AJR.19.22076
Comment 11 Julio Augusto de Castilhos Borges 2023-12-08 16:41:37 UTC 
Created attachment 164012 [details]
I just selected "However," but the selection became a mess

Yesterday I had to edit a two column document, however Okular sometimes copies the entire line (ignoring the columns). This behavior doesn't happen on Chrome or Firefox. 

I decided to do some experimentation with the raw (without any modifications) template document: https://www.acm.org/binaries/content/assets/publications/word_style/interim-template-style/interim-layout.docx and it seems to be a LibreOffice Write PDF export related issue in tandem.  I believe it to be because if I just download the PDF sample from ACM: https://www.acm.org/binaries/content/assets/publications/word_style/interim-template-style/interim-layout.pdf  Okular correctly copies text as expected. Can't say for sure all multi-columned LibreOffice Write documents exported as PDF will cause this, but all I generated to test had that issue or worse! When selecting a single word, the selection picks the first word of multiple lines! (see attatchment)