There are two styles which are built-in and which I want to use such that the font size doesn’t get changed when they are applied. For example, if my standard text is in 12pt and the footnotes are in 10pt then applying “Emphasis” to text in either should leave the font size unchanged and just change the format to italic.
If I create a new Writer file and do this, it works fine.
However, if I copy the contents into another file, it doesn’t seem to work any more and I have to create two separate styles with different font sizes.
I’m using LibreOffice 7.3.6.2 because my version of Mac OS is out of date
Style settings have a not-well described state I call “transparent”.
As long as you don’t touch the setting in any way, this setting will not override what is inherited from ancestor styles or context.
Unfortunately, this “transparent” state is not reported in the UI. There is always some value shown (either explicitly set, or inherited).
EDIT
The only way to see what is exactly kept in a style definition is to go to
Generaltab (formerlyOrganizertab). Attributes mentioned there are in “forced” state; those not mentioned in “transparent” state.
END OF EDIT
If font size changes when you apply your style, then you have explicitly set a value in some way. To restore the value to “transparent”, press the Reset to Parent button. This erases all values in the current dialog tab. Just reselect the values you really want to override.
Note: retyping a value or unticking a check mark is an explicit action which wipes out “transparent” state. Only Reset to Parent can revert to “transparent”.
1 Like
So here is what I did. I “reset to parent” in the “Font” tab (in the “Modify character style” dialog box). Since Emphasis inherits from “none” it went back to some default setting which was not the font I want, nor italic. So then I changed the font setting to Garamond italic (without changing the size setting), and that seems to have worked.
As you say, that is very, very confusing and nonsensical
Thanks for your help though, it does seem to have worked
1 Like
This may not always give what you expect.
Since Emphasis is independent (inherits from “None”) what is displayed has in fact no relationship with what is kept in the configuration. So, don’t bother for what is displayed. In particular, don’t care for font family. DON’T TOUCH IT because any selection will force (override) the setting.
In your case you set Garamond. That’s fine as long as you apply it to text already Garamond. But if you apply Emphasis on source code in a monospaced font, you’ll replace this font by Garamond (because you forced the family).
You should set the Style attribute independently from the font Family. You may bump on an apparent difficulty. Depending on which default font displays in Family, you may have to select Oblique instead of (missing) Italic because there is no standardisation of wording for “italic” variant.
If you set only Style, your Emphasis character style can be applied on your main discourse, source text, headings in gothic fonts, … without changing the current font.
This is indeed confusing. It took me years to discover the behaviour and understand the concept of “transparent” state (which unfortunately is not reported by the GUI).
1 Like