Replace new paragraph with space

Using Writer, How can I replace the paragraph break character with a space? Many text files I have downloaded, have end-of-paragraph mark at the end of each line. I need to condense the text. MS Office has a box that let you specify which formatting characters to find or find/replace i.e. ;new line or new paragraph, etc.

Q32879.

In general, the Alt find/replace extension has been well-recommended in these pages, but has not been extended beyond support for v4.1.

If this helps then please tick the answer (:heavy_check_mark:)

…and/or show you like it with an uptick ()

I know two ways to repair single line paragraphs:

Using regular expressions

  • Mark the lines, which you want to join to a paragraph, otherwise the whole document is used.
  • Goto Edit > Find & Replace
  • Extend the dialog by clicking on “Other Options”
  • Check the option “Regular expressions” (and option “Current selection only”, if you work on a marked area only)
  • Enter the character $ into the “Search for” field. Enter a space character into the “Replace With” field.
  • Click “Replace all”

Using AutoCorrect

  • The lines need to be in paragraph style “Default Style”. Clear other paragraph styles before continuing.
  • Make sure, that option “Combine single line paragraphs if length greater than 50%” is checked in tab “Options” in the dialog “AutoCorrect Options”. You can adjust the value “50%” to a higher value if needed, for example if otherwise some to be headings are caught too. The dialog is in menu Format > AutoCorrect till LO 5.0 and in Tools > AutoCorrect in LO 5.1.
  • Mark the part you want to repair.
  • Goto Format > AutoCorrect again and now use item “Apply”. The lines are combined to longer paragraphs and the paragraph style “Text Body” is assigned. Some short lines remain, that are likely headings and you can identify them easily and assign a heading style.

Hi- in the last point I think you wanted to write Goto Format AutoCorrect Apply

Regards

It depends on the version. In 4.5 it is in menu Format, but in version 5.1, which I have used for testing, it has been moved over to menu Tools. I have no 5.0 installed to look where it is there.

Still in Format menu for version 5.0, hence my comment… :slight_smile:

I have changed it.

Auto-correct method direct from LibreOffice: Removing Line Breaks - LibreOffice Help

However, in release #5.2.5.1, the clicks to apply the formatting are: TOOLS > AutoCorrect > Apply.