I have alternating story and image sections on a book I am formatting. I finally figured out how to add a style to the story sections and a style to the image sections. So far things are good on almost all the chapters but there are four story sections with images in them that always look messed up when added to the master document. I am using the same template in subdocument as in master document. I have been told that my subdocuments look like I am using a typewriter to format. The only way I can move the cursor down in a document is shift/enter which leaves tick marks. I don’t know how to move the cursor on a document below text, without leaving tick marks or paragraph marks. Help. And thanks for all the help up to this point. I am beginning to believe I am the stupidest person on this site.C:\fakepath\Screenshot (7).pngsleeping arena 24 odt sample.odt
Your document references only four paragraph styles:
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Default Style
As already mentioned, this style purpose is only to set default attributes for all other styles. Since you have only one occurrence (the very first paragraph), I think this is only a remnant of your initial writing. Easy to correct.
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Text Body
Implicit, as the ancestor of Story 1.
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Story 1
Your customised style for your discourse. Difference is in spacing after (0cm) and first line indent (0.36cm).
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Header
In the header area, but empty.
All these styles don’t show any technical anomaly. On a personal aesthetic point of view (YMMV), I’d prefer some clearance between paragraphs (spacing before/after in paragraph style definition) and perhaps a wider first line indent.
A side remark: since you have an indent, don’t use an initial space on the first line (several occurrences in the sample file); instead, if this is not a typo, enlarge the first line indent. Similarly, since you seem to adhere to the (bad) US convention of double space after full-stop, be consistent: there are several occurrences of triple space!
Your document begins with something looking like a chapter or document title. There are built-in (customisable) styles dedicated to these roles: Title for book title, Heading 1 for chapter title.
To get your layout, you applied direct formatting (center alignment) to a Story 1 paragraph. Instead, you should have styled it Title or Heading 1, without the empty lines before. (And remove also the empty lines at start of next paragraph because it disables the indent on the first significant line.)
You then modify Title or Heading 1 to include the desired vertical space in its spacing before/after parameters.
If this is a chapter title, you can force the chapter to always start on a new page by setting a page break in the Text Flow tab.
but there are four story sections with images in them that always look messed up when added to the master document.
The sample file seems OK. You didn’t describe how it is messed up, so I can only guess.
Your images are attached to an empty Story 1 paragraph (they could have been attached to the next non-empty paragraph with appropriate positioning parameters). If your intent is to control separately image position and properties, you should have created another paragraph style. Thus, you could, for instance, force the image paragraph to always start on a new page, independently from the story flow.
Please edit your question to describe the “mess” for proper advice.
I also note that you happen to add empty paragraph before or after the images to separate them from text. Don’t do that. Instead, adjust the Wrap properties (right-click on image, Picture and go to the Wrap tab): increase Top and Bottom spacings.
Even better: if you want all your images appear the same without having to change them individually, notice that they are all formatting by frame style Graphics. Customise this style Wrap properties just as you would on a paragraph style and instantly, all your images will be updated.
I am using the same template in …
Technically wrong! You follow the same layout but you have not defined a template document (.ott file extension) as reported by File>Properties. I also checked in the XML. Templating is very powerful and has many advantages but master base LO styling first.
I am beginning to believe I am the stupidest person on this site.
Not at all. You’re learning and you have the courage to ask. It takes a long practice before you feel at ease with the tons of features in Writer and know how to use them efficiently.
To show the community your question has been answered, click the ✓ next to the correct answer, and “upvote” by clicking on the ^ arrow of any helpful answers. These are the mechanisms for communicating the quality of the Q&A on this site. Thanks!
I added an image in edit above of extra page in subdocument added to master document. Thanks for all these suggestions. Just what I needed. When you say all titles should be under Heading 1 does that mean all chapters will be under heading 1 just for placement on page or do I need heading 1…2…3 on down the line for each story? On the double space after each sentence, I went into tools and had spell check fix them for me but I notice it doesn’t change them all. Is there another method? Also would my text be better with left side aligned with ragged right for better word spacing? Thanks again.