The default table in Writer has a minimal row height around 3 times the text height. This does not look good, but I have failed to make it more compact.
This post deals with this problem
https://ask.libreoffice.org/t/row-height-get-compact-rows/84540
but it does not work for me. I still get the same tall rows.
Dragging the lines only works to increase the height - not reduce further.
Any hints are welcome
Version 24.2.2.2
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Think I found a solution:
The problem lies not in the table but in the paragraph properties!
- Select table
- Right-click → Paragraph → Paragraph
- Tab: Indents Spacing → Spacing Above/Below → adjust to your preferences
- Ok
Now it is possible to drag the table lines to a desired height
Can someone show me how to make this custom table format the default?
There are unfortunately no table style (like paragraph styles). What is presently called “table style” is in fact a set of macros which get triggered on some events (and they will wipe out your customisation).
Height of a table cell is the result of paragraph styles used in this cell, notably the font size, line spacing, space above and below settings plus padding for the border (padding is also taken into account if you have no border! as if you created an invisible border).
Then the minimal raw height is equal the tallest cell height in the row.
Table>Size>Height can be used to force an arbitrary height, eventually clipping text.
PS: avoid to drag lines; this is direct formatting and this leads you into formatting nightmares. Prefer formatting with styles so that the end result is predictable and automatically set.
The expected paragraph style for the body of a table is Table Contents, or Table header for the header row.
What paragraph style do you have inside your table? Heading n?
No, it is a custom Table Text UIC Tabbed. Next style parameter is not involved in the split operation.
Format is “Table Contents”. So should be fine
Paragraph style Table Contents is derived from Default Paragraph Style and the only difference is it has disabled Widow and Orphan control, and count lines.
From this, I conclude you have modified Default Paragraph Style which will change all derived styles. Default Paragraph Style shouldn’t be used in the document; it is there to make global changes, such as Font or Language, to the derived styles. By default, it has single line spacing and therefore Table Contents will have single line.
For the body of your document, Body Text is the intended paragraph style. It has different line and paragraph spacing and can be applied by Ctrl+0.
Heading n, e.g. Heading 1 (Ctrl+1), will have Body Text as the next paragraph style so it is designed to make it easy to work this way.
I recommend reading the chapter on styles in the Writer Guide and if you are still not sure, you could read the first chapter of Designing with LibreOffice, both download from English documentation | LibreOffice Documentation - LibreOffice User Guides
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@rokejulianlockhart your screenshot seems to come from Draw. Question is about Writer tables.
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