Entering superimposed text in LibreOffice Writer

[FedKad]

I need to create some text that has superimposed characters in LibreOffice Writer.

An example is like the one given on the left of the picture below. Here, the letters “O” and “M” were superimposed to create a strange looking digraph. The superimposed text need not consist of single characters though. In the example in the middle I have shown four "I"s superimposed with a slanted “/” character. The example on the right shows a (chemical) formula were a subscript and a superscript take up the same horizontal space.

MS Word allows such things to some extent by using the old EQ \o (x,y) overstrike field. But, I haven’t found a simple and efficient way to do this in LibreOffice Writer.

My version of LO is 7.0.3.1 running on Ubuntu 20.10.

Please, note that my question is a rather theoretical one. I am trying to find the most efficient and maintainable way to do such things, before I really start editing large documents in Writer with such requirements.

[ajlittoz]

This can be solved using the Math application through Insert>Object>Formula in Writer.

I am not aware of an easy formatting for the first case (superimposed characters).

To overstrike a sequence, the formula is overstrike { any character sequence }. Note the the overstrike is horizontal, not slanted.

Chemical formulas use superscripts and indices as in N^3_2.

Full description of the formula description language is given in the Math Guide. The guide has not been updated for quite a long time but since the application has not been either, it is still valid.

Back on the first case: use Draw

• Create a first text box with M. With F4 adjust exactly the dimensions of the box.

• Copy it and paste it. It will lie exactly on top of the first one. Change the M for O.

  By default, the background of text boxes is “None”. You should see both characters superimposed.

• Group the two boxes so that they always remain glued together. Select the group, copy it and paste it into Writer.

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[FedKad]

Thanks for the correct pointer to solve the third problem. However, for the first two problems we need a kind of an “overstrike” operator in Math, similar to the one provided in MS Word. Or is there already something like this and we have failed to find?

[ajlittoz]

See my revised answer for the first case.

If you are not satisfied with the horizontal overstrike for the second case, do it in Draw: type your sequence in a text box. Draw a line segment and position it precisely over the text box with the right angle. Group them and paste into Writer.

In case those strange looking objects are not “isolated” but part of a larger formula, edit your question to give more details about context because my “simple” solutions will become very tedious when trying to insert in a larger formula.

[FedKad]

Yes, Draw will always be the last resort for such things. Of course, it will make the task tedious and inefficient, if there are many such things in a Writer document. Math seems better (for some of such tasks that it can address). But, an integrated solution within the Writer itself would be a much more preferred method considering styling, searching, indexing and other such requirements.

[ajlittoz]

If you have many occurrences of the same “composite character”, no need to generate it every time in Draw. Just copy/paste the previous one in Writer.