Applying imported page size to an entire document

[JohnJR]

Hi Folks,

I imported a standard sized 5.25"x8.0" novel into LibreOffice (from Word 2011 Mac if it matters). I was pleasantly surprised to see fonts, spacing, point size, and so forth preserved. However on closer inspection the 5.25"x8.0"page sizing was expanded to 8.5"x11" and the imported header format was not preserved. It was easy enough to reformat the page size and the text conformed–happy. I assume it will be easy enough to re-construct the header format as well.

The issue I’m having is that I see no path to apply the page size (and header formatting) to the entire novel except at a page or a few pages at a time. I’m sure there must be a way to do this; can you help? I’m very new to LibreOffice so if you can describe it in baby-steps it would be helpful.

Bye the way your captcha is stuck on Italian (I think) even when English is selected. Also “Tags” is an un-intuitive blank to activate, I’m a layman and not a computerize devotee and can’t find a clear answer as to what “tags” even are.

Thanks,

[LibreTraining]

The page size is controlled by the page style.
Press F11 to open the right side bar, click on the Styles and Formatting icon.
There are icons across the top for the different types of styles.
The forth icon from the left is the Page Styles icon. Click on that.
Right click on on Default Style, select Modify, and then change the page size.

Alternatively, the current page style is displayed in the Status Bar (at the bottom of the window).
Double-click on that text, (e.g. Default Style) and then you can modify the page style from there.

.

[mikekaganski]

Page settings are defined as page styles that are assigned to portions of text. I.e., a mark is set to a paragraph or a table, saying that “from this point, use page style X”. The marks I refer to are called page breaks with page style, and are set in paragraph/table properties or styles (Text Flow tab).

If you put cursor to an arbitrary point in your document, and change page settings (or apply page style double-clicking a style on Page Styles tab of Styles and Formatting), the settings aren’t applied to this point, but rather to current text run from previous page break with page style to next. If it happens that you don’t have any such breaks in your document, then it will apply to entire document at once (your case). But if you have multiple such breaks, then you’ll have to look for those one-by-one. Or (alternatively) if you need only one type of page throughout your document, then you need to remove all such breaks - select all and clear the page styles on the above-mentioned property tab (note that this is manual formatting, though, and if you have your page style application controlled using paragraph styles, then you need to use Styles and Formatting for that).

[JohnJR]

Hi,

An update: Somehow when I applied the page size changes to the first page of the manuscript text the pages reformatted to the right size for the duration of the novel, voila. But how did I do that?

Thanks,

Well I guess this update does sort of provide a partial answer my original question and I might have ferreted out solution.
I do use a Mac (os x 10.11.6) so some of the suggestions wouldn’t activate for me (F11). Here is the route I think I used that reformatted the entire book. I selected Format > Page > page tab > organizer tab to set the book’s page size over, I guess, the default letter-size the manuscript was imported into.

As is the nature of novels you have an initial blank page followed by a sparse title page, followed by a copyright page, followed by a sparse dedication page, followed by a blank page, followed by an acknowledgement page, followed by a blank page, followed by the first page of actual text. I think it was all those blank pages that created fits and stops formatting only a page or two at a time.

Once I actually arrived at the first lotta-little-words pages (with in this case no blank pages intervening), clicking on that text and once more using the > organizer tab–off it went to the end of the novel changing those letter-sized pages into the book page-sized format and flowing the text to match. Also the fonts, line spacing, and point sizes carried through.

The moral seems to be, if you start with a full-text page and reformat from there, it will run to the next blank page, say a chapter divide, or to the end of the book. Am I right or did something else occur?

But what about the chaptca language thing and what about those “tab” things?

Thanks,

[mikekaganski]

It’s unclear if you intended this comment to be an answer… but if it’s not, just a comment, then please don’t post it as an answer, but as a comment to your question, or alternatively just edit the question to add additional information. Thank you.