Hanging Indents Still Don't Work

English
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#1

The idea of a hanging indent is pretty fundamental to a good word processor. However, Writer does not have it.

The utilization of the concept in Writer is based upon adapting a paragraph style by applying a negative number to the first line indent.

Here’s why that does not work. Two problems exist. The first is that the style is adapted and then becomes available as a style, but only for that document.

The second is that a button exists which can be added to a tool bar. Sadly, it does nothing.

Without a way to always insert a hanging indent on demand, it remains a weird workaround that is not worthwhile.

#2

Have you looked in the Sidebar > Styles?

HangingIndent
HangingIndent280×850 12.4 KB

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#3

I don’t usually use the sidebar, but rather the drop-down style listing on the tool bar. Of course, like I mentioned, the hanging indent style is only there on a particular document.

So I opened the sidebar window and found it there. Double-clicking on the hanging indent style applied it.

So we know that the program knows that it exists, but can’t apply it to the button bar where it belongs. (Last thing I want to do is open another window or a side pane to use up precious real estate.)

#4

I also tried adding the hanging indent icon to a toolbar and found it didn’t work. I don’t use toolbars much, however, because of the screen space they take up and temptation to use direct formatting.

Do you know that you can easily hide and reveal the Sidebar as needed by clicking on the little arrow in the center of the border that divides the Sidebar from the editing portion of the screen.

#5

I would suggest getting comfortable working with LibreOffice. The Writer Guide and the Getting Started Guide are both very helpful, English documentation | LibreOffice Documentation - LibreOffice User Guides. The chapter on Styles in the Writer Guide is worth spending a little time with.

  • If you use Hanging Indent style a few times, it will appear in the drop-down style listing.
  • If you use it for every paragraph then you should modify Text Body to have a hanging indent as Text Body is the next style after all headings, horizontal line, etc. See the Organiser tab of the paragraph style.
  • If you frequently use hanging indents for your Text Body style then make a template, File > Templates > Save as template and use that as the start for your document.
    • If you always have hanging indents then set that template as Default (to stop it it being default click File > Templates > Manage templates, right click the template and click Reset default)

The point of using styles is that you really don’t need to click buttons very often. Once you have done a few pages of a document you might find it easier to change the view of Styles in the side pane from Hierarchical to Applied Styles so you can quickly change to another style.

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#7
  1. LO’s Hanging Indent button works like a toggle.
  2. Your paragraph already needs a “First Line Indent”.

What the button does is swaps the “First Line Indent” with the “Before Text Indent”.

Source: https://bugs.documentfoundation.org/show_bug.cgi?id=146787#c1

#6

Make a keyboard shortcut to apply that hanging indent style. Smooth workflow, and zero screen real estate wasted.
The format settings for the style is tied to each document/template, but the keyboard shortcut you assign will be persistent on your system. It may look cumbersome, but it is really not difficult, and you only have to do this once.

  • Select menu item Tools - Customize …
  • Select tab Keyboard
  • In the Shortcut keys pane, locate an available keypress (function key or kbd combination)
    “available keypress” is an entry without anything to the right of it in the list. You can also redefine a shortcut you are never going to use.
    • For hanging indent I would choose keyboard combination Ctrl+Shift+H
      This is of course subject to your personal preferences
  • In the Category pane, scroll down to the bottom, expand the Styles entry and select Paragraph
  • In the Functions pane, select the Hanging indent style.
  • Click the Modify button. Now, style selection should appear in the upper Shortcut keys pane, and the chosen keyboard combination in the lower Keys pane.
  • Click OK.

You can now use your chosen keyboard shortcut. You may want to adjust the formatting of the style to suit your taste. Alas, those settings will only apply to one document/template at a time. You can assign a default template with your preferred formatting in the styles, so you have a consistent look for your new documents.

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#8

Thank you all very much. Coming from Windows it is difficult to find the same quality and intuitive nature of word processing I’m used to. I will attempt to adapt.

@EarnestAl I do not know how to get “comfortable” with a non-intuitive program. I believe you mean “resign yourself” to it. Of course, making it all the worse is the poor documentation.

@LeroyG Thanks for the link. Yes, it does show that the others here and there are having similar problems.

#9

You can be pretty sure that the hanging indent in Word is achieved in exactly the same way as in Writer, it’s just that Word will do the math for you.

#10

Off-topic, but couldn’t resist: people do not realize that “intuitive” means exactly the same a “what I got used to”. People believe that “intuition” is some separate quality, but it 100% depends on your prior experience, and e.g. for me now, after not using Word for many years, I find Word’s ways of doing things unintuitive most of the times.

#11

Not knowing the definitions for words in the English language is what hampers communications and causes confusion. The word intuitive actually means “obvious to use”. It has nothing to do with personal perception.

#12

:slight_smile: Sorry, but “obvious to use” is exactly the same - and 100% “personal perception”, based on prior experience.

Not saying that there’s something wrong with that - just that realizing this often helps building correct expectations. LibreOffice is not MS Office, and many concepts are different, making approaches to similar tasks different - and making things “obvious” after getting familiar with the “how it is architected here”.

#13

@mikekaganski No, obvious to use does not mean the same. Check a dictionary. It has little to do with personal perception.

Comparing one badly designed office suite with another does not prove anything.

Your suggestion of causing every user to relearn how to do common tasks is what is wrong with the industry today.

It doesn’t matter to the user how the underlying architecture is built, as long as the common task works with a button. We have clearly proven that the function in question does not work correctly by any standard.

#14

Oh?
Ok, I see I’m trying to clarify something to those who simply don’t need my clarifications. Sorry.

1 Like
#15

That’s all right. Thank you.

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