Local docs conversion problem

Bugs and issues
1

I’ve always used Account preferences > Docs Conversion > Convert Google ... format to OpenDocument but recently it has begun resulting in local ODT files that are too big.

For example;

  1. If I simply drag and drop an ODT file of 3 KB size in my web browser, which is converted to Google Documents format online with a similar size, Insync then downloads it as an ODT file of 6 MB size.
  2. On the other hand, if I copy the contents of the original local ODT file, and paste it into Google Documents to create a new file online, Insync downloads it as an ODT file of 3 MB size - copying and pasting the contents in plain text format doesn’t make any change in size.

I wonder if this weird behavior is caused by the fact that some recent changes in LibreOffice and/or Google Documents formats require some changes in the way Insync implements that local conversion?

Software details:
Debian 14 (Forky)
KDE Plasma 6.5.3
Insync 3.9.7.60031

2

Hi @Sadi! Many thanks for reporting this. This seems to happen as well when you download the file directly from Google Drive (File > Download as ODT). Could you confirm on your end?

3

Oh, sorry, this seems to be the fault of Google! :frowning:
So, it seems I should better use a shell script that removes these embedded fonts, until they stop doing this.

1 Like
4

@Sadi No worries! Thank you nonetheless for posting here so other users are also informed.

5

I’ve also checked other formats, and apparently Google has only made things worse for OpenDocument files like ODT.
I’ve reported this as a user feedback, and asked them to undo whatever they’ve done in late October, or make it optional if they’ve decided to embed fonts in ODT (and any other) files.
So, it might be a good idea to ensure they receive similar feedback from as many users as possible.

1 Like
6

Thank you for advocating for Google to fix this issue! If you like, you may share where you sent or posted the feedback so users can be guided accordingly.

Thank you!

7

Unfortunately, Google doesn’t provide a proper bug-reporting/issue-tracking channel, except suggesting the users to go to the menu in Google Docs “Help → Send feedback / Report a problem / Help Docs improve” where one can write about the problem.
So, this might attact their attention if the problem is reported by as many users as possible.

1 Like
8

@Sadi This is much appreciated!