Hello there, I am trying to edit just one line in OfficeDraw, to make it a dotted one instead of a continuous one.
When I select the ‘‘edit style’’ window, and change the style, some of the other lines also become dotted.
No matter what I do or if I try drawing more lines, it seems impossible to change the style of just one individually, it always affects others.
Any help?
Thanks in advance.
What do you mean by “just one line”?
Is it the line property of any drawing object (like a circle)? OR
Do you want to change the style for one of the (e.g.) 4 edges of the border around a rectangle? OR
Are you talking of one of the lines occurring in a sequence defining a polygon? OR …
If this isn’t completely clear to you, you may look into this example:
disask70234SpecialLineStylesInShapesProbablyNeedingGrouping.odg (13.8 KB)
.Make sure to see the defined styles in the Stylist (F11 by default). Also open the subtrees Graphic and Shapes for the purpose.
Also enter the groups to see more details.
…it seems impossible to change the style of just one individually, it always affects others.
Yes, and that is the right thing to do for systemic reasons.
You need to create a new style!
Right-click in the Sidebar ( Ctrl + F5 ) on “Default Drawing Style” and select New....
Enter a name for the new style in the “Graphic Styles” dialog.
In the “Line” tab, select the desired line style and possibly a different color and line width.
Click OK.
Select the line you want to have different and double-click the new style.
I realize this is an older post but however, like myself, other may run into the same thing, find this solution and… well while I’m not an expert on LibreOffice but I’m really, really sure this solution in WRONG with regards to the issue the submitter described what was not working out for him. The stated solution can really lead a person down a… difficult path.
Ok, I believe the issue was the gentleman was trying to change the "properties of a single entity in his drawing. In his case it was a line, in my case it was a rectangle. He was using the attributes within “Style” in an attempt to edit a single line. “Style” was the 1st place I saw to edit an entities properties but “Style” is not the correct function to use. For a single entity, when you right mouse click “Style” is at the bottom of the Box Menu, however there is a “Line” and an “Area” function above “Style” around the middle of the Menu Box. Changes made with the “Line” and “Area” function appear to edit the properties of a single entity. When I found this solution I just couldn’t believe I would have to have a “Style” for potentially every entity with which the properties needed to be different from others.
I could be wrong in my assertion, and if so please forgive, however while he may have “Stated” he was using “Style” to achieve his stated goal, that goal as described would be better served using the “Line” function to modify the properties of the line he was trying to modify.
Thank you.
You will find this discussion to use styles often in other threads. It is not enforced, but if you ever was in the situation to change 50 singular “lines/ shapes/ sentences in italics” to “more dots please/ another color / bold font” you may be glad you could simply change a style instead of searching and changing all objects by “manual edit”.
Therefore @Hrbrgr wrote on creating a new style for this:
2 Likes
Hello Wanderer, Thank you for responding. Oddly the rational you just conveyed is the rational I would use to humbly agree to disagree. In a given context your rational and Hrbrg’s solution I would strongly agree with but without that additional context it would seem, to me, to go against the rational we both appear to hold true. Let me risk embarrassment with the perspective on this I, rightly or wrongly, have in my head.
When creating a drawing, or series of drawings, there is a default set of attributes used for elements being created. Should requirements, be they be preference or institutional, give reason to change the default attributes I see “Style” as the mechanism to do so. If within the drawing I were to create an object using a set of elements, such as a figure of a car or some other group of elements for which need to be different from the defaults, I also see “Style” as the appropriate vehicle. In both of these examples the prospect of performing a mass change seems likely and would be consist with the rational of “situation to change 50 singular lines/shapes/sentences in italics to more dots/another color/bold font”. In the context of that rational I see it as not only correct but an imperative.
However to use “Style” as the primary or singular method of assigning elements attributes which differ from those of the “Default Attributes/Style”, in my mind, would make life difficult.
So within the context of the “Issue” the gentleman sought assistance with " changing a singular element using the Style function also changed elements where change was not desired" it would be more consistent with our shared Rational to simply change that elements attributes verses creating an individual “Style” to the element. To me using “Style” as the primary means of controlling attributes creates the very thing which the Style function seeks to prevent. I can see no difference in overriding the default set of attributes for an using Style verses overriding the individual attributes of the outlying element. IE, if you have 50 elements with individual Styles or 50 elements with 50 individual attributes it going to be a pain to change them all regardless. But using Style within the context of our shared rational can indeed make life less difficult.
In summary, using Style for elements that have relations to each other that apart from the Default set of attributes of the Drawing, is extremely useful. Using Style for outlying elements requiring attributes outside that of the defaults would likely make life a lot less enjoyable.
Either way I appreciate the discussion and hopefully folks seeking assistance in the future will find our viewpoints helpful in whatever the context of their specific goal to be resolved. I do not believe it hurt to agree to disagree but, trying to follow a perspective from within my head… yea that might hurt 
Thanks
Dee
2 Likes