Writer - Is there a "default" page style?

Libreoffice Writer has many page styles which must be individually modified. (F11, click page icon)

  • Default Style
  • First, Left, Right Page
  • Envelope
  • Index
  • HTML

Do the page styles inherit properties from a parent page style?

No. In fact, there is a request for this enhancement documented in bug #41316 [1]. The last comment makes a reference to a Vote for Enhancement entry [2].

[1] https://bugs.documentfoundation.org/show_bug.cgi?id=41316

[2] https://wiki.documentfoundation.org/Vote_for_Enhancement#tdf.2341316_-Page_styles_should_support_hierarchical_parent-child_relationships.28like_paragraph_or_character_styles.29

Yes, there is a Default Page Style but it requires a bit of understanding.

When you take a virgin LibO - no customization made at all - open a new Writer document, this documents is the full Default Page Style. It is not only the Default Style of all styles under the page tab in the style window, but all other styles listed in this window reflect the Default Page Style.

When you next change one of these styles listed in page tab and apply it to the document you have open, this change is only in this very document. When you close this file and open a new one, your change in one of the styles is gone.

If you want to create your personal default page style do the following:

  • Open a new Writer file
  • Change all styles under the page style tab to your needs
  • Save this file as a template

Whenever you use this template to open a new Writer file, the new Writer file has this very page style.
You can also set this template as your default template, then, whenever you open a new file without selecting a specific template, Writer uses this template and all your page style settings are there.

You can not only change the page style but also all other styles (paragraph, list, character, frame) to create your personal template or even templates.

I have close to 10 different Writer templates and included in this is also my own default template which is highly customized to my needs.

I recommend to have a look at the free guides, which you can download from http://www.libreoffice.org/get-help/documentation/

I you say that the word “default” is kind of misleading I agree with you - I had the same problem at the beginning.
However, once you understand the basic concept to make your own templates and set one of them as your personal default template, you will love the Formatting & Styles functionality of Writer. For other file types (Impress, Draw, Calc, etc) it is similar.

No, the default template is automatically applied to newly created documents. You seem to misunderstand my question. You didn’t tell me whether document styles inherit from the Default Style within the same document. Looking at the other answer, there’s no inheritance, which is unfortunate.