Change default style in writer 6

How to change the default styles in writer. I wish to permanently change the margins to 1 inch going forward. I don’t want to have to change the margins for every document.

Your question is rather vague. Do you want to have your own defaults for all your future documents?

Edit your question to answer, don’t use an answer which is reserved for solutions.

All new documents are based on the default template (except sometimes under Windows, see below).

LO Writer ships with a collection of templates, one of which is called Default and is used, by default, to pre-format new documents (created with File>New>Text Document. You can display the list of installed templates with File>Templates>Manage Templates.

You can’t easily customise the Default template because it is located in a “system” directory on which you probably have no write permission. However, you can create your own default template which will be saved in your default directory.

  • Create a new document. It will inherit all attributes and properties of the Default template.

  • Make modifications to the styles to fit your needs

    In your case, you must modify page style Default Style.

    • Display the side style pane with F11 if not already there
    • Click on the fourth icon from left in the tool bar (it looks like a page outline)
    • Right-click on Default Style and Modify
    • Go to Page tab and change the Margins parameters
    • OK

    If your documents use several page styles (e.g. Left Page and Right Page or Landscape), change also the margins there. Usually there is no need to modify First Page because it is the cover page and you rarely set discourse text (extending from margin to margin) there, rather short centred lines for title, author and subtitles.

  • Instead of File>Save which would save an ordinary document, use File>Template>Save as Template. Give it a name and select a category. My Templates is a good choice. Writer may (erroneously) display errors about already existing categories when you press OK, but you can safely ignore these.

  • To make your newly created templates your default (and also check that creation was completed with success), File>Templates>Manage Templates. Right-click on your template and Set as Default.

Next time you create a new document, it will be based on your template.

Note 1: a template may also contain initial text which will be present in new documents.

Note 2: under Windows, documents created from the file navigator with right-click Create new … (or equivalent, I have no Windows computer) will bypass custom template reference and always use the default system template.

Final advice: read the freely downloadable Writer’s Guide about styles and templates. This can really simplify your life.

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!

In case you need clarification, edit your question (not an answer) or comment the relevant answer.

Thank you!!!

Do you mean default styles / paragraph styles?

Place your cursor in the paragraph and double-click on the style.

See: Tutorial exercise: Styles in Writer - LibreOffice 6.4

and: Style templates in_Writer - V6

If my answer has solved your problem, please click on the checkmark in the circle Bildbeschreibung to the left of the answer for upvote. This will tell the community that the question has been answered correctly.

With me Windows 10 Home; Version 1909; 64-Bit | LibreOffice, Version: 6.4.3.2 (x64).

I mean default styles/page styles- I’d like each document to have 1 inch margins, top, bottom, right, and left.