Hi
I open an existing document.
I go to: Tools > Options > Libre Office Writer > Basic fonts
I set the default paragraph style to liberation serif 12pt.
I drop some text in from another doc (arial 12pt).
I change the style of that text to default paragraph.
It doesn’t change it to liberation serif 12pt. It changes it to liberation mono 12pt
I check the style. It still says the default is liberation serif 12pt.
What am I doing wrong?
Thanks
You didn’t tell how you “dropped some text in Arial”. I guess you selected from the Font menu in the toolbar.
This type of operation is called direct formatting and is the cause of “formatting nightmare” until you understand how Writer works.
Writer is based on styles which are ubiquitous: paragraph, character, page, frame, list. Use of styles allow for formatting automation, i.e. you concentrate on your text, not its appearance. When it comes to text, some categories interact which each other. Text is formatted as if it was composed of layers:
Given this hierarchy, your manual action to change font face to Arial overrides the definition in the paragraph style. Direct formatting “masks” any formatting in the lower layers.
For your peace of mind, read the Writer Guide and learn how to work with styles. Avoid direct formatting except for “exceptional” actions such as resetting list numbering, or inserting one-of-a-kind page break.
Direct formatting is provided mainly to ease Word-switchers because you can’t do otherwise in Word (it knows only of paragraph styles). With full styling, you can dramatically change the appearance of your document in a matter of minutes without the need to review text.
By the way, in Writer, the “standard” paragraph style for text is Text Body, not Default Paragraph Style. Styles are organised in a tree-like structure where styles inherit from their ancestor (except for attributes which are forced in the definition). Default Paragraph Style is the ultimate ancestor of all other styles. This is the ideal item to define your own preferences, but remember any change you make to it cascades down to all others onto the non-overridden attributes.
Thanks.
“You didn’t tell how you “dropped some text in Arial”. I guess you selected from the Font menu in the toolbar.”
No. I just copied and pasted some text from another doc. It happened to be Arial, but could have been another font.
" By the way, in Writer, the “standard” paragraph style for text is Text Body, not Default Paragraph Style."
Exactly the same thing happens if I use text body.
I set the default style to liberation serif 12
I copy and paste some text from another doc (could be any font)
But when I apply text body, it changes it to liberation mono 12, even though it’s still saying the default is liberation serif 12.
" Styles are organised in a tree-like structure where styles inherit from their ancestor (except for attributes which are forced in the definition). Default Paragraph Style is the ultimate ancestor of all other styles. This is the ideal item to define your own preferences, but remember any change you make to it cascades down to all others onto the non-overridden attributes."
Sorry - read this several times, but don’t understand.
I’ll look at the writer guide, thanks. If I work out how to set the styles, will it apply to all my existing documents?
Thanks
When you copy text from another document, all its formatting is also imported. I.e;, if source snippet is direct formatted, the direct formatting layer is pasted in the destination document, overshadowing the paragraph style.
Direct formatting is a real plague because it is “sticky” in unpredictable ways for a newbie.
To have an idea, open the side stylepane and select Hierarchical from the bottom menu. The styles are now grouped in the list in expandable “families” as dictated by their configuration. Whatever you change in an “ancestor” style also applies downwards in the “family”. This is very handy to make “global” changes. E.g. change the font face in Header, the face is now used in all Heading n. This is fast and guarantees homogeneity for all the headings, instead of modifying each Heading n individually.
Note it takes time to get used to it.
This remark has nothing to do with your question. It is mentioned to emphasise a difference with Word. Also considering the tree-organisation of styles, it will avoid you “surprises” if you’re tempted to optimise Default Paragraph Style for your text. It has side effects on other styles. Text Body is more “isolated” and what uou change here is less liable to have undesirable side-effects (it will impact only similar styles and list-intended styles).
No. Consider that styling is some “markup” for your text. My approach is to consider this a way to tag my text as to its significance, a way to forward what I think of my text to Writer. I use Heading n to mark my headings, Text Body for the main topic* and user-defined styles like Comment, Citation, Reference to make a distinction about these paragraph against the main discourse. The same goes for character styles (and page styles).
Note that I don’t name my styles like Paragraph in red, Paragraph in italic, … This gives me total freedom on how I want to render my comments.
Your existing documents will need to be restyled to fully benefit your own collection of styles.
Thanks very much for this. I’ve learnt that I really mustn’t just copy and paste text from other docs.
Really respect what FOSS developers do, so I’ll continue to support you.
“Note it takes time to get used to it.”
Yeah, that’s the one thing I don’t have, however. swamped with work, so I’ll probably just do what works. I wish I had more time to do it more elegantly, but I don’t.
Keep up the good work.
The first thing I would advise is to not simply paste copied text into your documents. This can create problems with direct formatting overriding styles. Instead, after copying the text, go to Edit>Paste Special>Paste Unformatted Text. This practice will solve many formatting problems people run into.
That’s great advice - thank you.