Switching from AOO to latest LO. How do I format images in Writer? Before AOO stopped handling JS routines I could drop image into document and size it (without changing proportions) with cursor. This seems to be impossible in LO. I cannot find simple, non-technical response in LO help pages. Can someone clue me in?
Instead of “latest LO”, explicitly mention version number (with 4 components) because updates proceed at their own independent paces on different platforms (which you didn’t mention either, making difficult to guess which “latest” it is).
Images can be resized after being selected, making “handles” visible. Pressing Shift keeps image proportions while dragging.
However, I don’t recommend modifying images in anyway (cropping, scaling, moving, …) in Writer because Writer is not an image processing program and its rudimentary features puts a heavy stress on resource usage. The right way to proceed is to prepare your image outside Writer so that the image is used “as is” without any adjustment. To be on the really safe side, apply a frame style on the image after pasting it. And, above all, don’t move it or resize it with the mouse after application.
I know that unfortunately frame styles are very very (should be written seven times) difficult to master but it is the only method to guarantee position and formatting stability in a document.
Pasting and formatting
If you paste an image it will be stored in the file in png format. This is a non lossy format but comes at a cost of potentially increased size.
Photographs are best sized and saved in an image editor as JPG then the file dragged onto the page, or click Insert - Image.
Screenshots and other drawings can be converted to a limited colour mode (256 colours) or greyscale and saved as png to keep sharpness and reduce file size.
Output from Draw can be pasted directly into Writer.
The Gimp image editor might appear to be overkill for such simple image manipulation operations but it does a good job.