See https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/openoffice.org/+bug/384249 https://bugzilla.novell.com/show_bug.cgi?id=541013 This bug was reported in Ubuntu in June ... It is specific to go-oo and does not exist in official openoffice.org builds. Ubuntu Karmik was released with this bug and I just can hope Debian won't do the same. For scientific presentations, the only workaround right now is to use the official openoffice.org debs. didit