Very annoying to see the images be automatically shuffled and rearranged in incoherent matter, sometimes for no apparent reason, but for sure when there is an input before the images. Actually, that goes for the text as well. Is there a way to prevent this? Basically, I want to be able to lock the content to a page and that page format unchangeable unless manually done so. Any suggestions very much appreciated.
Thank you
Tom
If you are familiar with Word then you try the anchoring that it uses. Right click and select Anchor - As Character.
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If you are happy with that then you can set it as default for images. Click Tools - Options - LibreOffice Writer - Formatting Aids and in the right pane change to As Character
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There is a possibility to anchor images To Page. This will anchor the image to that page (like page number). If you delete pages before that page they will be replaced with blank pages so the image can remain anchored to that page number. This caused a lot of angst for unwary users so the option was removed from the right click menu. The option is only available in the properties of the image .
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Text will flow and create new pages. If you insert text earlier in the document, it will move the text that exists after the insertion point. You can mitigate this to a certain extent; if you want a paragraph to start at the beginning of a new page then place a page break (Ctrl+Enter) immediately before the paragraph.
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You could instead have a frame filling every page and have your text and images inside it. You are then limited to a single page of text for each page unless you link frames. If this sounds something like what you want then consider using a DTP program like Scribus instead.
You hit one of the most frustrating aspects of Writer when you don’t understand clearly the relation between “decorations” and text. However this requires a precise definition of your goal.
It is perfectly normal that images are repositioned when text is reflown and layout changes. an image is associated (anchored) to some reference (a paragraph or a character inside a paragraph – don’t use page anchor unless you understand this counter-intuitive variant). When the reference is moved, the image also moves.
An important factor to consider is the independence between anchor and position relative to the anchor. The anchor determines the page inside which the image is drawn. Once the page is known, the image can be sent anywhere in the page or constrainded in the vicinity of the anchor.
This is not obvious if you manipulate the image with the mouse as do all beginners with Writer. Manual operation created direct formatting (DF) in a form which is more pernicious than DF on text. This image DF is next to impossible to clear easily. The more you try to fix it, the more messy your document becomes.
The “correct” way to handle the situation is to create and apply a frame style on your image (here I issue a warning: if you save your document as DOC(X) instead of native .odt, you revert to messy DF on next load because Word has no notion of styles). Frame styles show explicitly the difference between anchor and position. Position parameters are versatile enough to support automatic locations relative to anchors so that you reliably send the image to an expected position. But, caution again, don’t manually adjust position with the mouse or you’ll fall back to the dreaded DF which will ruin everything.
Frame styles are difficult to master. You need to experiment a lot before being able to predict reliably which settings need to be set.
Your question is not precise enough to provide useful help. Images can be repositioned to avoid overlap. Is this the case? Or do they overlap? A change in default configuration a few releases ago enabled systematic overlap while IMHO the opposite setting is preferred by most users.
How do you want your images positioned relative to text? If images are part of the text, anchoring them As character as suggested by @EarnestAl is the simplest solution. They become a huge character which always occupies the same position inside text and moves with it. This has also drawbacks since text does not wrap around the image (the image is part of the text) and can make text look weird (unless the image is the only “character” in the paragraph)
This calls for formatting through styles exclusively, banning any direct formatting.
.Don’t. Direct formatting is the main source of problems. Contrary to common belief, DF requires super-guru-expert to achieve reliably expected text layout and leads to the impossibility to quickly reformat your document.
Styles are powerful enough to provide you with a global, consistent and deterministic control over all aspects of formatting and layout.
But this requires you accept to spend time to learn.
Thank you all for the helpful suggestions.