Changing font size in cross reference number

[basmbk_net]

To create a list of references, it was used not the bibliography mechanism, but cross-references to numbered paragraphs in the list of references.
I have found that a number of paragraph numbers in the cross references in this list are in font size 10 instead of the required 12. My various attempts to change this size are not working.
The reason for this, in my opinion, was once an erroneous saving of the used font 10 for the “end of line” character (Ctrl+F10 was not enabled then).

How can I now increase the font size in these some reference numbers in this bibliography (or in all these reference numbers) ?

Attached to the text is a print-screen of a piece of bibliography with different font sizes of numbers. Cross-reference numbers inserted in the text itself, as well as the entire text, are in font size 12.

Attempts that didn’t work:

1. Left-click on any of the numbers, highlighting the entire field of numbers - and change the size from 10 to 12
2. When deleting the text of a paragraph in the reference list, the cross reference number returns to font size 12, but inserting/typing any character in the area of that paragraph returns the reference number size to 10.

The old version of LibreOffice 5.3.6.1 is used (rpm packages from CentOS 7). So a large number of hotkeys, unfortunately, do not work.
But I guess my question has nothing to do with CentOS at all.

Mikhail

[Zizi64]

Please upload an ODF type, real sample file here. We can not check the applied styles and direct formatting properties of your document - based on a picture.

[ajlittoz]

Your document is saved as .docx. All the suggestions I can think of are based on smart use of character styles which don’t exist in DOCX. Saving the document will convert to direct formatting and you’ll lose central management control on next reload. So, work in .odt to be able to use Writer features on a stable basis. Note that saving your existing document to .odt is not sufficient to clear the situation because it is already damaged but the cumulative conversions to/from DOCX.

Follow @Zizi64’s request and attach a 2-3 pages sample file so that we can see how you technically proceed.

[basmbk_net]

Thank you !
I’m putting here a 3 page .odt file, with nonsensical parts of the source text containing problematic cross-references
(but, naturally, under different numbers - since the original complete list of numbered paragraphs is very large for 3 pages).
my_58M.odt (26.8 KB)

[ajlittoz]

I am afraid your problem is hopeless in the present state of your document.

I see at least two reasons. First, your document is already damaged by the conversions from/to DOCX as shown by the WWNumx list styles (which would indicate some work with Word at some time, just like the internal funny names for the cross-references). Second, the document is almost exclusively direct formatting (not only there is no usage of character styles but everything is written under Default Paragraph Style*, except for an accidental Preformatted Text use).

Your most urgent task is to learn how to use Styles. Read the Writer Guide for an introduction and practice on example files.

A correct solution for your bibliography would be to create a dedicated list style so that the bibliography numbers don’t conflict with other lists.

Structure your document with paragraph styles. Paragraph styles are used to mark the “category” of the paragraph (heading, main topic, comment, bibliography). They are not meant to designate how the paragraphs look. This comes as a consequence of the “category”, not as the primary goal. Don’t use Default Paragraph Style. Due to a smart inheritance feature, Default Paragraph Style, which is the root of the inheritance tree, is intended only to define global settings shared by all other styles. Changing them only for the purpose of the main topic text may have unwanted consequences on headings for example.

Whenever you want to highlight a word or alter the appearance of a sequence in a paragraph, do this with a character style. Again a character style is a mark up for a different “significance” inside a paragraph 'emphasis, importance, understatement, trademark, software application, math, hardware product, …). You give it a distinctive look by configuring the style, but don’t do it the other way round (don’t create an Italic or Bold style because Italic could cover many disparate categories).

Considering the high degree of “pollution” in your present document, I suggest you restart from scratch by pasting your text as unformatted in a new document and then apply styles to it (of course, recreating the cross references).

Also, since many bugs have been fixed and new valuable features have been added, I recommend you update to a more recent release in the 7.x series.

[basmbk_net]

Thank you !

There is simply a well-known concept of “software portability” for different hardware - and in the case of LO writer and Word there is a question of “compatibility” of the processed files. The LO clearly indicates possible incompatibility, which is understandable and unavoidable.
In a situation where several authors are working on an article, the probability that someone is working with Word and not with LO is quite high.

I am a clear supporter of LO, but to achieve maximum compatibility I believed that it was better to use “primitive” low-level functions, where the probability of compatibility is maximum - unlike, for example, templates and styles. Previously I turns out to do without this - the texts were simpler. And I’ve never studied higher-level functions.

Here, of course, the cause of the problem was once my inattention/neglect of differences, and immediately it was probably easily resolved.
Will using a style provide enough compatibility with Word?

[ajlittoz]

Compatibility with Word requires some writing discipline. Considering DOCX features are “weaker” than those of ODF, you must stick to the “least common divisor” (the common intersection) of both standards. Unfortunately this bars out much of the automation.

• paragraph styles: the concept is common to both suites; you can expect most of the settings to be accepted by both
• character styles: only in Writer
  Consequently, you’ll fall back to direct formatting. This is not viable in a document larger than 3 pages.
• page styles: different concepts in the suites; in addition basic geometry definitions are not same (regarding margins) but Writer can do some elementary arithmetics to convert behind the stage
  Word sections cover approximately the same role as Writer page styles but original features diverge
• sections: only in Writer, not to be mistaken with Word “sections”
• frame styles: only in Writer
  It is such a long time I practised Word that I don’t remember how pictures are positioned.
• list styles: only in Writer
  Consequently expect difficulties with numbering schemes, even moderately complicated. Problems will occur both in chapter numbering and lists (because both rely on some general numbering features in both suites)
• tables: expect difficulties except in very simple tables (no cell merges, no fancy row/column sizes); fancy formatting (background colours, border decorations, …) not guaranteed to survive conversions.
  
  I think however that the “best” approach is, for you, to work .odt and send converted .doc(x) to your conservative recipients. When they return a modified copy, don’t use it, but transfer manually the changes. You can enable Track Changes before the conversion. It will propagate to DOCX.
  
  A few years back, it was preferable to work with .doc than with .docx because the former format was better understood. I don’t know if it still holds.
  
  When it comes to formatting and layout tuning, it is more comfortable to do this with a fully styled ODF document because you need not make corrections in the middle of the text. With DOC(X), the lack of all style categories, except for paragraph, reverts all the “decorations” to direct formatting. You’ll then spend a tremendous amount of time sweating on every word to get it according to your final design.

[basmbk_net]

I went to another place that had old Word on Windows 7 - and it fixed it easily. So this was definitely a problem of incompatibility between Word and LO writer - thanks for the recommendations!

In addition, the behavior with this text of the newer version of LO (also in Windows 7) was also different - but there they only managed to make the font size in paragraph numbers larger than in “normal” paragraphs.

Thanks again for the recommendations - it didn’t occur to me that this was an incompatibility problem between Word and Writer!