I’ve been googling for half an hour for what I thought would be answered dozens of times on the web: In LibreOffice Writer, what’s the difference between Frames and Text Boxes, and why would I want to use one over the other?
Thanks!
What do you call Text Box? I only know of Frames.
The ‘Text Box’ from the ‘Drawing’ toolbar (or from the ‘Insert’ menu) can only contain a text under grave restrictions concerning structure and the editing. There are no named styles, e.g, and neither graphical objects nor tables can be inserted.
A frame is usable nearly like a little subdocument.
Just try and you will see.
(Edit1:)
The simplicity of text boxes can, of course, be an advantage under specific circumstances. Another fact I want to mention is that a text box created under ‘Writer’ can be pasted into a drawing under ‘Draw’ and vice versa without losing functionality or changing appearance. Frames do not exist in ‘Draw’ / ‘Impress’. If you paste a Frame into a drawing it is inserted as an OLE object.
Hi - Just for the record, since (4.4) Writer shapes can now have a Textbox, meaning that it’s possible to have complex Writer content and full drawinglayer geometry for a shape at the same time.
Regards
@PYS: Thanks! I had completely missed that.
By the way: Do you also know how to edit the relevant properties (size and relative position, VertJust …) of the inserted TB?
I will soon post a question “Editing properties of ‘Text Boxes’ added to shapes” concerning this.
@Lupp - directly, no I do not know, sorry. My (ugly) workaround:
- Rotate the shape (the textbox does not move)
- Use the Select tool (Drawing toolbar) to surround the textbox and select then edit
- Restore the shape position