The button toolbars result in direct formatting, i.e. manual one-shot “anonymous” formatting. The buttons for bullet and numbered lists are equivalent to Format
>Bullet & Numbering
.
Since direct formatting is not a named style, it won"t be saved in templates and can’t either be loaded with Load Styles
.
Writer works with several style categories:
- paragraph styles: define the base appearance of paragraphs (e.g. Text Body, Heading 1)
- character styles: override paragraph style for words (e.g. Emphasis,Source Text)
- frame styles: define properties of an area containing a picture, secondary text, …
- page styles: define attributes of a sequence of pages (header, footer, margins, numbering, alternation, …) (e.g. Default Page Style, First Page, Landscape)
- list styles (badly names): define numbering/bullet level attributes (e.g. Numbering 123); must be attached to a paragraph style to be effective
- table styles: are not “styles” formally but a set of macros, which causes behaviour differences (IMHO it is better not to use it for long term maintained documents)
Only styles named in the categories (except table “styles” because they are not styles) can be loaded with Load Styles
.
These categories translate to a different small icons in the side style pane toolbar (from left to right). To display the list of existing styles, you first click on an icon. Hover your mouse over the icons to reveal the name.
Mastering the various categories is the key to taming Writer and making it easy to writer sophisticated documents. Follow @mikekaganski’s advice and read the Writer Guide.
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