How much user control of vertical line-spacing does LibreOffice offer?

[mkraft]

I want to position some 7-pt. text directly under a horizontal line in a document that otherwise uses standard size (10 or 12 pt.) text.

I would like there to be only a very small amount of vertical space between the mentioned small (7-pt.) text and the horizontal line directly above it.

As created just using default settings, however, there is currently a lot of ‘white space’ separating them.

How I can eliminate the ‘white space’ and, relatedly, how can I make the small text as ‘tight’ against the horizontal line above it as I want it to be?

I had thought that adjusting the ‘leading’ (in Properties) would do the trick, but that didn’t work – possibly because there isn’t (as far as I know) a way to adjust the leading to be less than the standard for single-spaced text (i.e., referring to the vertical ‘line height’).

Thanks.

[ajlittoz]

You didn’t tell how the horizontal line was produced.

Usually, an horizontal line is created as part of a paragraph border. This border can be added as the bottom side on the previous paragraph or the top side of the current (7pt) paragraph.

Vertical spacing is the sum of inter-paragraph spacing, defined by Format>Paragraph, Indents & Spacing tab, as Space below from the previous paragraph and Space above from the current paragraph, and also of the distance between text and border, defined by Format>Paragraph, Borders tab, as Spacing to contents.

In your case, I’d recommend setting a top border in the 7pt paragraph so that you can tune all aspects in a single location (and make a paragraph style for it if this used several times in your document).

Concerning Line spacing in Indents & Spacing:

• Leading: extra vertical space added to font size between lines; don’t use is to contract your text.

• Fixed: overrides any size from font(s) definition inside the paragraph; don’t use it or use with caution because it may clip glyphs is set too small.

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[mkraft]

Thanks. I’m working on trying to understand your reply.

The horizontal line was selected from the ‘Insert’ menu. Even if it was inserted with a corresponding default line spacing value (e.g., 10-pt.), if directly below it I change the font to 7-pt. it seems to me the line spacing should adjust accordingly, and the text I then type should be using a line spacing value that has hardly any white space separating the horizontal line from the 7-pt. text. For some reason that’s not what happens.

[mkraft]

In reply to: “recommend setting a top border in the 7pt paragraph”:

I assume that a horizontal line (got from LO’s ‘Insert’ menu), directly under which 7-pt. text is placed, serves as its own ‘top border.’

Moreover, one doesn’t normally expect to have to ‘set borders’ when just typing text. It’s a bit like having to put everything in a table or text box, etc.

Test: Insert ‘horizontal line’ (‘Insert’ menu) in GDocs. Directly under it, 7-pt. text. Done.

Should be as easy in LO Writer.

[ajlittoz]

In fact Insert>Horizontal Line inserts a paragraph with a special style. This style has 6pt font size, 0cm above, 0.5 cm below and a bottom border at 0.05pt below text.

My suggestion about a top border is equivalent (you modify the 7pt-paragraph style so that you don’t do it manually every time) but uses only one paragraph instead of 2 (Horizontal Line + 7pt-paragraph).

It only depends on the complexity/versatility of your template or style dictionary. YMMV.

[mkraft]

Thanks. I know styles are key to using Writer, but are you suggesting that one needs to create a style that includes both a horizontal line AND pre-formatting for the text that is inserted immediately below it in order to achieve the simple result I wanted?

I think of styles more for complex combinations of text + formatting. What I want is just a simple ‘insert horizontal line,’ then start typing 7-pt. text immediately below it. Isn’t doing that manually (i.e., without styles) possible?

[ajlittoz]

Even for so-called simple tasks, designing an ad hoc style is always beneficial. As I wrote, your choice is a custom style laying out both the horizontal separator and the small-size paragraph, or a double manual editing operation (insert line, then select the style for the paragraph). It is up to you.

For repeated operation, I prefer the first one. For quick-and-dirty single-shot doc, the second one is OK.

[mkraft]

Thanks. I haven’t had a chance to explore this further yet, but my recollection is that I couldn’t find a way to adjust the formatting of Writer’s own ‘horizontal line’ – that is, it had its own ‘line spacing’ parameters that I couldn’t find a way to alter.

Also, with regard to all of the text I’ve tried to adjust to date, the measurements that would seem to control the amount of vertical ‘white space’ have been slight, leaving me confused as to the source of all the unwanted ‘white space.’