Is there a way to change the default anchor and wrap for images? I’ve been manually changing both for every image I add for a while and I was wondering if there is a way to set a global setting. I looked around and people were talking about styles.xml editing, but the only styles.xml I found was in calc folder and it didn’t have the things that people were talking about.
I too wish this option existed in normal settings somewhere.
I have found the behaviour of anchoring to character far too random when editing larger documents with numerous pictures over the years. I’m not sure why but screen redraws seem to be affected and in some instances about 8 years ago I’m pretty sure on a couple of documents it was crashing as a result. These days it’s just the visual confusion.
So yes, daily I bugger around inserting images, wasting my time with mouse moves to set those two items because the keyboard shortcuts aren’t quite up to it speedwise and I know no better way of customising.
I’m sure there was a good reason to create it the way it was but as with all these things they really should be designed to be flexible to user needs.
From Lupp’s description it sounds like you can do some of this through styles but I don’t see why it takes a root style’s parameters, why not create something more specific. That probably just shows my ignorance of styles, but each time I try to learn ways of using these effectively I find that half of it helps and half of it hinders what I’m actually trying to do.
I’d like to be able to set just those two options you mentioned, anchor and wrap- somewhere, don’t care where.
The only way to do it is by using frame styles. You can create as many frame styles you need, the same way you create paragraph styles. The best method is to derive your styles from some built-in so that many parameters are already set.
This will not change the default application when you insert an image. But, once the image is there and selected, double-click on the taget frame style name in the side style pane and you’re done.
Anchor and wrap modes are part of the style definition. So, you can indeed change those by applying a style.
However, I won’t hide myself behind my little finger. Mastering frame style is very hard. There are many deviations from standard style behaviour. The meanest of all is the fact that frequently you need to apply some other change then reapply the style whose configuration was changed because thse changes don’t always immediately propagate when you hit OK.
Regarding anchor To character, the anchor position will very easily change if you use you mouse unwisely. You must be very careful before clicking or dragging. Unless you have reason to anchor your frame in the middle of a paragraph (or end of paragraph, which is less sensitive to drag errors), prefer To paragraph (= before first character of paragraph) which is more robust. Never use To page unless you have fully understood the implications; this mode is reserved as a surrogate for DTP (desktop publishing) job.
And last but not least, frames are much more vulnerable to direct formatting than text:
- either work completely with direct formatting,
And every frame is a particular case to be handled individually and we’re back to the criticism about time wasted to tune every frame. - or apply frame styles without any direct formatting
This method is very difficult to achieve because it requires you think twice (probably more than than) about the abstract properties of your frames: how they are positioned relative to which reference; how they interact with page break; how they interact with text; what happens if two frames compete for the same location; …
The last point has been worsened by an unfortunate decision to allow overlap by default. So, take care.
There are two difficult points in Writer styles: list styles and frame styles. I think the latter is the harder.
Thanks for your informative response.
I think that you’ve confirmed most of what I thought I had observed as I played around to find my least painful workaround.
I had come to anchor paragraph as the most stable by trial and error. I wasn’t actually aware that frames had their own styles. Unfortunately while they could offer a different solution it sounds like they are probably no easier in practice.
Rgds.
As a side note - if any UX analysts or devs are reading
I have to say that I struggle with styles in Libre Office. I’m always drawn in to try them by the power they offer but for whatever reason I find that:
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The interface to set styles is not intuitive. …and I really hate the fact that sometimes putting in what I consider direct formatting seems to change the style definition and other parts of the document that you can’t see suddenly change too as a result.
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In some senses with the number of options they are probably too powerful as many parameters impact others and occasionally seem to change others to make the result work. This would all be great if you understand how Writer builds it’s page up and have this fixed in your mind but this is not so when you are a beginner/casual user/experienced and trying to learn to use advanced features a bit more. I’d guess that covers 80-90% of users.
The reality for me is that even though I love tech and like to understand how it works I’m using this as a tool to get things done in my own time and there’s a practical limit to the time that I want to and can spend on learning the more complex aspects of these functionally rich tools.
… so things like this I only go to look at in depth at the point where I’ve reached a limit of patience. That’s definitely not the best way to work things out and I would suggest that there needs to be a less complex way to set up styles in addition to what’s already there help budding power users through the learning curve.
Hmmm, having read carefully through one of the links below in one of the indented reply chains was this nugget from Hrbrgr.
You need to be in Writer with an open document to see the section of options under tools options that he talks about but it actually works as long as you apply and it stays set following closure and new document opens.
I would have linked but couldn’t find a way to link to the particular line. Simpler to copy in this instance.
Presetting the anchorage - as of version 7.1
The anchoring for inserting images can be preset from LibreOffice version 7.1.
Select Tools>Options>LibreOffice Writer>Formatting Aids from the menu.
For Image/Anchor you can select: To Paragraph, To Character or As Character
…so just the wrap to crack.
I am no developer, nor affiliated in any way with TDF.
It took me years to build a practical and useful mind model of Writer formatting. I agree this is not immediate for beginners because it deviates from street common principles, but for the better. Once you’ve understood these principles, you find they have a rock-solid base. Yes, there are many parameters and this gives power to Writer. But the more you progress in mastering the tool, the more you feel other parameters are still needed to reach what traditional lead typography could achieve.
The correct approach to Writer requires the acceptance of abstraction about text and a change of routine.
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abstraction
You must accept to stop thinking about “decorations” on you text. In fact, you switch to a meta-description of what you write. You use style to tell Writer “this is my main topic”, “this is a heading”, “this is remark”, “tjis is a note”, “I put irony on this word”, “this word is alien”, … As you can see, there is nothing like font face, size, weight or colour, distance from margin or preceding paragraph.
Your meta-description remains valid whatever look you give to your document. This meta-description translates into style application (you choose whatever name to mean your significance).
You configure your styles to give a distinctive visual look to your document. More on that later. -
routine
Forget about menu commands and toolbar buttons.
When you write a letter or even a technical paper, you won’t use hundreds of styles. If your meta-values are correctly enumerated, they are few enough to be attached to Ctrl and Alt keyboard shortcuts. I use the former for the most frequent paragraph styles, the latter for the most frequent character styles.
Thus typing is very fast because I don’t leave the keyboard to grab the mouse. You could tell it is similar to direct formatting except I attached my shorcuts to styles instead of “actions” like italic or bold.
Thus the chore of the job is to design your set of styles in a consistent manner. You don’t do this in 5 minutes. You must think deep about the kind of document you’ll write: a family letter, a contract, a novel, a technical paper, … You’ll end up with ~10 paragraph styles (plus built-in Heading n for chapter headings), ~10 character styles (including built-in Emphasis and Strong Emphasis), a variable number of page styles (depending on the kind of document and its typographical “richness”), 5 frame styles max. if you have graphical material and perhaps 1-2 list styles.
The best way to face this design is by iteration, both in the number of styles (and their names) and their configuration (the look). You won’t reach perfection on first trial.
Once you think your design is usable, keep it in a template file. This allows you use over and over your painfully crafted design: you sweat once to create it and you use it hundreds ot times instead of redesigning every time you start a document.
Make one template for family letter, one for business mail, one for novel, …
And you can also create AutoText entries for repetitive text like formal salutations. As an example of AutoText entry type “lorem” (without quotes) and F3. This will give you an idea of what can be done.
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No. You cannot do so concerning the anchor type. The fix default is To character.
Yes. You can do it - in a sense - concerning the wrapping, and some other settings.
LibreOffice Writer has implemented the great idea of using styles also for graphic objects. However, the style applied to a newly inserted image or graphic (not a shape!) is always the root style of the Graphics style hierarchy. If you are decisive to always want the same wrap settings, you simply can edit this style insofar as you want it. Done! If you also want to set size properties and/or the relative position of the inserted object, it may not be advisable to do this for the root. You may then better create a hierarchy of one or two additional levels, and accept the need to do the appropriate doubleklick on the styles panel after having inserted an image.
I sure hope this is changed in the future. I do this several scores of times almost every day (some days even a couple of hundred). It is a real pain to have to do that manually for that many images that often.
LibreOffice development isn’t generally steered hierarchically, though there is an EngineeringSteeringCommittee. Implementation of minor features and bug-fixing often are done the cherrypicking way if a developer (probably a volunteer) is interested in the case.
The feature you are requesting may be problematic. As I see it, it’s rather a major piece of development (since the anchoring isn’t independent of wrapping options e.g). I even doubt if it would be compatible with current ODF specifications. Lots of open questions! And a provisional “solution” regarding only a very small scope might aggravate a good and more general one.
Anyway, you can file an “enhancement-bug” to bugs.documentfoundation.org. Please first read through related reports like (shortlist) tdf#133291, tdf#132789, tdf#133299 for enhanced understanding.