My documents changed format after I formated my system!

English
#1

EDIT:
I wanted to do some fixes on my CV but the format of my file is all wrong now.

  • The font is different (I can’t remember exactly which fonts I had originally used but I do remember that it would always look different if I opened that file from Linux or Windows so I ALWAYS used windows to edit it).
  • Some words are bold (but why?!?)

Facts:

  1. I regulary update LO but I always
    use the stable versions.
  2. I use odt for this document
  3. I fully formated my disks and installed a dual boot
    system (linux mint & windows 10)
  4. I have it never opened it from Linux
    after my format but I do have it on
    dropbox (a dropbox account that’s
    also synced on linux & windows &
    android)
  5. Even older versions that I
    had saved with different filenames
    have this issue now! (I know this
    because for each version of my CV I
    have an odt file + the pdf file that
    I exported.)

Thank you for your time fellow Libre-rians

This is my file:
Antonis_Savvidis.odt

This is how it’s supposed to be (notice that even the font looks different)

#2

If you have problems with a particular file, share it.

#3

Please edit your question. You say tou “formatted your system”. What does it mean in technical term? Fully reformatted your disk and install new system? Upgraded OS without reformatting?

Don’t forget to mention OS name and also whether the list of fonts is the same as previously.

Did you upgrade LO? From which version to which version?

Have you edited your file on several computers? With different OS’s (Windows, MacOS, Linux)?

Are you using styles consistently? Or do you format directly with buttons and keyboard commands?

#4

Thisis only part of the answer from superficial analysis.

Your whole document uses only one paragraph style Default Style. Everything is “direct formatting”. You are then vulnerable to the slightest change in PC/OS/LO. Formatting your document is probably a daunting task.

Bad habits leading to problems:

  • vertical spacing with empty paragraphs

  • horizontal spacing with tabs and spaces

  • inconsistent use of line-breaks (Shift+Enter) and paragraph breaks (Enter)

    As an example of this, your “profile” description and the subsequent “skills” heading are parts of the same paragraph, while semantically they are two different things.

  • break to next page with empty paragraph

Since you don’t use paragraph styles, you forgot to manually apply the same formatting attributes to the “previous” heading as those in “current”. I could say the same for the underlined items in “current”. Styles are made to guarantee consistency.

Since I have no Arial font on my Linux box, a replacement was used. Metrics are different and text flow is different. You seem not to know the usage of indents for paragraph. As a consequence, word “performance” which could not fit in the line is rejected on the next line, flushed at left margin instead of aligning with “360 Stereo ⋅”.

The one to blame for erratic formatting is you.

The only sound advice is learn how to use styles. It won’t protect you against font metrics and replacement hazard, but it will dramatically limit the consequences and keep the global formatting (even if lines do not contain exactly the same words).

Since you claim you like experimenting with new techniques, invest in Writer styling technology. It is an extraordinary powerful tool and the results are rewarding.

(Edit didn’t add anything, just removed some typos)

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#5

In addition to @ajlittoz:

Tutorial exercise: Styles in Writer

English documentation

#6

Thank you for your time and long answer ajlittoz but the truth is that it doesn’t really solve my case here. I understand what you say about the profile and skills section now (thank you!) but at the end of the day LO still makes no sense to change my fonts, font sizes, and turn phrases into bold that are not in adjecent to other phrases I already had in bold.
So, does an odt file send to another computer might always look different?!? Why the heck doesn’t it show up like it used to be? As you also wrote “It won’t protect you against font metrics and replacement hazard, but it will dramatically limit the consequences and keep the global formatting (even if lines do not contain exactly the same words).” Does that mean that we are ALWAYS at risk of loosing our formatting… when? When upgrading LO? When changing OS? And why the heck 25 years now using Excel, open office and around the last 13years using LO (since 3.4 if I remember correct) I never ever faced this even if I did format?

#7

The biggest mistake in document design is to assume that the sendee computer has the same set of fonts (you’re Windows, I am Linux; due to intellectual property rights, only free (libre) fonts are installed here). A text document must not be thought in graphical terms (such word is x points wide, this space is always y points) but in contents terms (my paragraph is preceded/followed by spacings of z points, no matter how many lines). This way, the relative positions of objects are preserved. Highlighting inside paragraphs is made with character styles.

With styles, you are guaranteed that the general aspect of the document and its semantic emphasis are kept. Of course, differences due to availability of proprietary fonts cannot be fully avoided. But you can mitigate that.

In case you are completely “in the blue”, send simultaneously a PDF of your document as a reference.

If font licence is not too stringent, you can embed it in the document. See File>Properties, Font tab.

#8

I know exactly what you mean, I had such an issue in the past, easy to spot, easy to solve, Styles are awesome for most cases but NOT for micro changes (such when you format a CV and you want to avoid weird page brakes etc). Styles are also too blind to know not to leave an “above paragraph” gap in case of a presiding ctrl+enter. Everything you wrote makes sense (and tough me a few things too) but I can’t neglect that 1. I do have calibri as I had, 2. it randomly selected to bold things. Being a linux friend too I’m sure you know how the worst thing in computing is not being able to trust your tools. I’ve won award finding/solving bugs with Unity/C# and I’m about to cry like a baby due to a text editor for crying out loud! LOL. I’ve already started the tedious conversion using styles for this document but since it will only be edited by me I can’t say I agree 100% on that. I am FORCED to assume that I used weird fonts (I’m pretty sure I didn’t) and still that bold random haunts me.

#9

If you are designing with the exact position of words within the page (which does not exist in Writer until needed by text flow), go for a DTP application like Scribus in the libre world, or Quark XPress and InDesign in the proprietary world.

With them, you position blocks of text (or images) precisely in the page. Block do not extend if they overflow, thus they don’t ruin your layout, but text is chopped unless there is a linked block for the excess text.

In your case, writing a resume is not a difficult task. It can be done elegantly with ~5 paragraph styles and a couple of character styles. Composing it this way will convince the HR guys you’re really mastering Writer while in its present form, I’d question your claim.

#10

Ctrl+Enter is nonsense in such a short document. It is much better to control page breaks with the Keep with next paragraph, don’t break paragraph or orphan/widow parameters. This will make sure that the general semantics is kept when document is edited.

Random bolding may mean you are a victim of AutoCorrect (some sequences are recognised as a command to bold/italic/underline …). When I’m writing an elaborate document, I disable all the “automatic” while-typing features of Writer to keep a tight control on what I do.

Yes, the most important thing is predictability. And styles are the key tools for that. Learn, it is really rewarding, but there are so many parameters … You really appreciate only after many deceptions.

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