I no longer have access to MS Word (retired), and people keep hyping LibreOffice as the best alternative So far, I’m not impressed.
I’d like to set the default (OPEN) view to display the document page width, overriding any existing document settings, without having to manually adjust the zoom slider each time. Is this possible?
It is enabled for 25.2, see Can I set a default view for all documents? - #19 by EarnestAl
Note that Writer is quite different to Word. It emphasizes the use of styles over direct formatting. The styles are easily accessible and easy to alter consistently. Once you have set up the styles for document by template, manually changed it just using the default styles, you can concentrate on the context knowing that the appearance will be automatic.
It might be worth checking out the Writer Guide in English documentation | LibreOffice Documentation - LibreOffice User Guides
And Designing with LibreOffice, linked from English documentation II | LibreOffice Documentation - LibreOffice User Guides
Both free downloads
IMHO there is no law against using MS-Word for retired people, but I don’t know where you are… I thought MS was still selling it.
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Actually there is a common misunderstanding. Open/LibreOffice was never planned as a clone for MS-office. Several things are designed differently. You may do the same stuff, as with MS-Office, and some pretty advanced things, but if you wish to have Word use it or look elsewhere. Perhaps try OnlyOffice. While having the same origins the aim more at being an replacement.
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If you are open to learn something new/again, welcome here.
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For your actual question (already answered above) be warned: “Always” can be changed by using macros (same in MS-Word), so not every document may comply…
Same origins with what, and in which sense?
I thought they also started with a fork of OpenOffice-source code as base (like LibreOffice), but I can’t see that on their page now. Maybe I mixed some names of Office-suites…
Yes, something got confused you. They are 100% separate project with completely different origin.