Hello,
I’m having to remove some drop caps prior to ebook creation.
When I remove the drop cap (I’ve clicked “clear direct formatting” on it, in case there’s a better way) this then creates a space under the first paragraph. When I then try to remove this space the best I can do is to be left with what seems to be a larger gap than typical, despite the fact that I’ve set paragraph spaces above/below on it to 0%,
Any thoughts on how to solve this are greatly appreciated.
Does it?
Attach a sample file (make sure the problem is still present) and mention OS name, LO version and save format. Are you practising “styling” or do you format everything manually?
Thanks, but I meant the gap between the lines starting “any” and “Not”
That is the setting in the paragraph style or direct formatting dialogue, Indents & Spacing > Below paragraph spacing
I now wonder what the arrow is? Maybe a tab at the beginning of the paragraph? It is poor practice to indent by tabs rather than setting the indent in the paragraph style. It might cause issues with the ebook
Yes, I applied “0” to both, but the space is bigger than other paragraph spaces
By removing the direct formatting you may have also removed any direct formatting that applied 0" or cm over the original paragraph style.
Or maybe you switched from one paragraph style to another. A sample is definitely needed.
Please find a sample attached (the problematic new paragraph line starts “Not”)
I have only added styles for headings, but the typesetter (who did the file for the physical book) may have put other styles in
Paragraph Spacing Sample.odt (32.5 KB)
OS: Windows 10, LO: 25.2.3.2
There is a mixture of different fonts, Aptos (looks a bit like Liberation Sans) & Times New Roman. Also direct formatting over Default Paragraph Style which should be used only for settings that apply to all paragraph styles except those attributes specifically excluded.
Default Paragraph Style is grandparent to all the other styles. Body Text is intended to be used for the body of the text. It is automatically the next style for a paragraph following a heading.
Given the Aptos font I suppose it has been through Word. I think the best thing would be to paste as unformatted text into a new document, apply Body Text style to everything and then go through applying Heading styles to the relevant paragraphs. Reserve Heading 1 style for Chapter headings. After that you just alter the styles as needed to suit. Start as high up the style hierarchy as sensible to avoid multiple paragraph style changes.
You might be able to use Find & Replace to remove the manually applied tabs
^\t
This will remove all tabs at the beginning of paragraphs. If all paragraphs start with an indent then there is no reason not to add a suitable indent for the Body Text style. This will get you a consistent indent through the whole document with just a few clicks.
Thanks for the info.
I’m not sure why there are two fonts in the sample. I tried deleting the drop cap on a different chapter, again using “clear formatting”…both paragraphs show up as “Default Paragraph Style” with Times New Roman, and the larger than normal paragraph space is there.
(Confusingly, throughout the document, if I click on an area of text it goes to “Default Paragraph Style”, yet if I actually click on that style with the text selected the text changes.)
To start from scratch seems overkill as there is other formatting (footnotes etc) that the typesetter left in which all work, and this is one of the last problems I have left.
Is there a way to just delete the drop caps without clearing the formatting/creating other issues?
Drop Cap Sample.odt (16.7 KB)
You are inconsistent in your formatting.
Instead of controlling tour drop cap through the paragraph style and associating it with an optional character style (in the paragraph style dropcap configuration), you applied a 12 pt uppercase direct formatting to it. Next word “LIFETIME” has a 9 pt uppercase direct formatting and your paragraph is 10.5 pt.
These inconsistencies are responsible for the problem. The 12 pt initial character increases the inter-paragraph spacing (because it is at head of paragraph).
EDIT: I see that 12pt is in fact the default and 10.5pt is direct format.
Also, avoid spaces at end of paragraphs, before the paragraph mark.
Do you mean you delegated formatting and layout to someone else? In this case, this third party is really amateurish.
Even if it takes time, you should consider fully styling your book and remove all direct formatting. This will really soothe the editing and tuning work.
You new sample just needs direct formatting and the tab at the beginning of the second paragraph removed. It is relatively straightforward compared to the first sample but maybe you want the first paragraph not to have an indent but the second and subsequent ones to have an indent?
There are also some unconnected, unused paragraph styles inheriting from *No Paragraph Style showing with Minion Pro-Regular.
Your sample is an awful mess of direct formatting. You should absolutely use styling and avoid direct formatting.
Your first paragraph “Oliver … squire” uses Aptos font face with a 116% line spacing.
Your second paragraph “Not till …died” uses Times New Roman with At Least 0,45cm line spacing.
The different line spacing combined with the different metrics of the fonts is enough to explain the gap.