New to Headings - How to Make SubHeadings?

[NikNak]

So I’ve been reading through several posts here and I’m still not sure how to properly use Headers and SubHeaders, as the way it’s set up is very awkward to me.

What I have is this:

I want the part labeled “Unit” to be collapsible, and I want the part labeled “Lesson” to be collapsible, which they currently are, so that’s good! (In Yellow).

HOWEVER, I also want the “Unit” to be like a Header and the “Lesson” to be like a SubHeader, so that multiple “Lessons” would collapse into a singular “Unit”, if that makes sense. Like a tiered system, or indented folds, if that kind of description helps. (In Red).

I’ve tried making “Unit” the style of Header 1 and “Lesson” the style of Header 2, but Header 2 [and 3 and 4 and 5, etc] don’t actually do anything except change the font.

I’ve seen Youtube videos trying to explain how this works, but they don’t seem to go through any step by step process, it’s just a constant reminder on how to view the Navigation bar.

[ajlittoz]

A remark about Writer conventional vocabulary:

• a header is a text which is repeated at top of every page
• a heading is a “title” beginning a “part” of a document
  We can therefore have “main” headings like chapter titles and sub-headings for subdivisions.

A header can be “computed” and automatically generated from heading information. A header can also be structured (after all the header area behaves like a sub-document and can have several lines) and present a main header with sub-headers.

I suppose your question is about headINGs.

You allude style usage. Unfortunately there no built-in Header 1-5 styles. Either these are custom styles you designed or you mean Heading 1-5. But your screenshot shows your document is not correctly styled. Although “Unit 1” and “Lesson 1” look different, the Navigator side pane reports they have the same heading level. This suggests you have changed the look of your paragraphs with direct formatting (i.e. you change typographical parameters with toolbar buttons or keyboard shortcuts) instead of applying styles and optionally changing style definition.

It is next to impossible to diagnose the source of a problem from a screenshot. Please attach a sample file. Mention also OS name, LO version and save format.

I highly recommend you read the Writer Guide for an introduction to styles. This is much more reliable than YouTube videos.

[NikNak]

Thank you; I changed the Header / Heading bit.

I have read the Writer Guide, and I felt like that was on par with the issue of Youtube Videos: I may have missed something, but when I read through it, I didn’t see much of anything on how to get Subheadings, just a lot of repetition on how to view Outline Tracking.

You did mention the difference between direct formatting versus applying styles - I was using this toolbar and thought it was supposed to apply the ability to create SubHeadings:

Is that not how to create SubHeadings?

I tried the “Promote Outline Level” for the “Lesson” part but all that did was delete “Lesson” from the whole Navigator Bar [which was what my understanding had been from the Writer Guide, but since it didn’t work, I presume that wasn’t it].

This is the document:

Units Lessons.odt (14.3 KB)

[NikNak]

Basically, what I’ve been trying to do [and it may very well be something that LibreOffice isn’t able to do] is make something similar to how Google Docs works [I am trying to shift away from Google Docs, which is why I picked LibreOffice]:

Like this, where the Lessons collapse into Unit, and also what’s in the lessons collapse into Lessons, like a multi-tier collapsible outline.

[ajlittoz]

The Navigator shows this.

But there is a requisite: your document must correctly “tagged”, i.e. styled. The sample file you provided is plagued with direct formatting.

Nearly everything is styled Default Paragraph Style patched with DF. Default Paragraph Style in Writer has a specific technical role: it is the ultimate ancestor of all other styles. What you configure will be forwarded to all others (unless a setting in overridden in one of the children). As such, this style must not be used for anything else than defining your preferred attributes (giving a personal distinctive look at your documents). In particular, no text should be so styled. The “standard” Writer style for narrative is Body Text which can also be accessed with Ctrl+0.

Your outline is uniformly styled Heading 1, i.e. your “unit” and “lessons” are all at level 1. Style your lessons with Heading 2 and you get what you expect.

Once your document is correctly structured, the Navigator will show you the outline tree. This tree is collapsible in the Navigator pane. Double-clicking on an item navigates you to this heading.

Don’t enable Outline folding in Tools>Options. I find this new feature not reliable enough. At least, it does not work as I expect it.

DF (direct formatting) is your worst enemy to achieve your expected formatting and layout. Contrary to common belief, DF is not “intuitive” at all. Succeeding in DF requires super-guru-expert skills. DF may seem to be easy and handy, but it will always play nasty tricks on your back. Unfortunately you can’t do otherwise in M$ Word. Drop your Word routine (you have to accept that Writer is based on different principles) and learn the Writer way with humility as if you know nothing about document processing.

[NikNak]

Got it, so Direct Formatting is not the way to go.

Thank you!

[NikNak]

As a reminder to self and anyone else who might see this:

That’s the place that changes this [and does proper Headings], not the Navigation Sidebar “Style” part.

[ajlittoz]

The Styles sidepane is also a great tool. However, you must double-click on a style name to apply it.

If you’re presently playing with Heading 1-4, there is even a faster way to apply them: press Ctrl+1 to 4. “Standard” Body Text is available with Ctrl+0 (digit zero).