Multiline Titles saved with empty fields, removes those fields

[leodf1]

Describe the bug: Saving a Title that has multiple lines (fields), with any of them left blank, creates a saved Title with those fields removed

Steps to reproduce the behavior:

1. Add any Title that has more than one line
2. Leave any line field blank
3. Save the Title
4. Select that Title from the Project files
5. Edit that Title
6. The empty fields have been removed and can no longer be used

Expected behavior: Empty fields should still be available for later use

System Details:

• OpenShot Version [e.g. 2.4.3]: {{ log_context.openshot_qt_version }}
• Operating System / Distro: [e.g. Windows 10, Linux Mint 17.1]

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[leodf1]

Leaving fields of a Multiline Title ('Standard 1', 'Standard 3', 'Standard 4'....etc.) empty is useful for spacing and later editing etc.. They should not be lost, just because you did not fill them in at that moment

[Colorjet3]

Hello @leodf1. I agree with your assessment on this. This is very interesting since you can bring back those empty lines back by leveraging Inkscape. As you may already know, OpenShot integrates with Inkscape for Advanced Editing of static text titles. Give this a try:

1. Install Inkscape.
2. In OpenShot, go to Edit | Preferences | General tab.
3. Find the "Advanced Title Editor (path)" and configure the path Inkscape. On my Windows 11 environment my path looks like this: c:/program files/inkscape/bin/inkscape.exe <---I am running the latest Inkscape.
4. Now create a static title with multiple lines.
5. Leave any line blank.
6. Save the title.
7. Edit the title and note that the empty line has disappeared as you mentioned above.
8. Now click on "Use Advanced Editor". This will open your static title in Inkscape.
9. In Inkscape, add a Text box and type "Line 4" without the quotes.
10. Align this with actual text from say Line 1 when you first originally created it.
11. Ensure the font size matches your original text.
12. Click on the X to close Inkscape.
13. When prompted, click on Save.
14. Inkscape will close and return to OpenShot.
15. You will now see the new line you typed added back into your Static template.

Please confirm that this worked for you.

I don't consider this as the solution but a workaround so you don't have to start over creating a static title. If it is a simple one that might be just as fast. However, if you have done some more extensive changes and have added effects/animation than this will work nicely.

It will be interesting to hear back from the lead developer on this.

[leodf1]

I did read what the manual had to say about Inkscape, but had no intention of learning one more program

So I would have to make time to try this out.

Thank you for the instructions. If only paid programs had as much support as free programs....

[Colorjet3]

I am just a volunteer trying my best. Since I benefit from other free programs, I wanted to find a way to give back to the community. I started video editing in mid-2020 and really liked OpenShot. It is a small project and under funded and not many consistent developer volunteers to help the project. So it is all on the lead developer.

Because of some of the bugs and lack of features, I am learning other video editors as well. But I am not giving up on OpenShot!

[Colorjet3]

Hello @leodf1. I have put this in the queue for the lead developer to review: https://trello.com/c/sfumo5Gs/168-when-a-multi-line-static-text-title-is-used-and-one-of-the-text-lines-is-left-blank-the-line-disappears-from-the-template-once-s

[Colorjet3]

Hello @leodf1 I wanted to circle back on this since another user reported this issue just recently in a differnt posting. However, the info I wanted to share is that I found out that Inkscap is not mandatory. Pretty much any advanced text editor can be used (Gimp, Glaxnimate, etc.). So, if you have knowledge of any other advanced editors then you can configure OpenShot to integrate with it. I did test Gimp and it worked well. I primarily been using Inkscape.