Hi,
I have been sent a book manuscript by my editor which is a .dotx file. The document opens fine, the format is correct and the editors workings are showing correctly. My problem is that when I try to change the text (Which it allows me to do!) I am unable to make the font black no matter what colour I change the font too. I need the font to be black.
I am currently using LibreOffice Version 7.5.6.2(x86_64) Mac OS X12.7
I am hoping this will be a simple and quick fix.
Please advise
dotx is the filename extension for Word document template files.
What to do depends on context, specifically how you relate to your editor. Are you an author, proofreader, journalist, printer, or something other than those? Feel free to skip my thoughts and see the likely solution at the bottom.
A few thoughts
If your editor meant to send you a template for you to use when creating a book manuscript, you need to communicate better. A template typically contains styles, macros and possibly other structural elements which you are expected to employ to your finished work. Those elements will not always behave as expected when used in a different tool.
Either you need a template file stored in Open Document Format (using the ott extension) so it behaves properly in Writer, or you need to use Microsoft Word for the current template, to write your book for submission to your editor (who will undoubtedly open it using Word).
If your editor sent you an actual book manuscript (a finished book for you to review or do other work on) as a template file, I’d consider finding a different editor. Saving your work as template files carries a potential for clutter. You have been warned.
One likely solution
If you just want to do further work on the file at hand, changing the font color should not pose any problem. To you it does, so, most likely the options “record changes” and “view changes” have been enabled. The first option makes Writer keep a record of every user’s edits, and the second option displays each user’s edits in a different color (which is sometimes useful when several people collaborate on one file).
Track changes can be toggled from the Edit menu. You most likely should not change this setting. Someone expects to - in the future - find tracking info concerning your edits.
View tracked changes can be toggled from Edit or View menu. You may want to disable viewing while you work, but should probably enable it again before submitting your work.
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