I’m trying to set up a Writer template for outline processing, which I use a great deal. One thing I need is to add an extra line in between outline header entries. I was using the shift + enter shortcut for this, but it abruptly quit working. Can someone please explain what I may have changed to cause this? Thanks in advance.
What is your purpose? Shift+Enter will probably mess up your document more than you think. If you want to space apart heading entries (not “header” which is same text repeated at top of each page), play with spacing parameters in Indents & Spacing tab of Heading n paragraph styles configuration dialog.
PS: when asking here, always mention OS name, LO version and save format.
ajlittoz: my apologies; I should know better. I’m running LO 7.3.7.2 on Linux Mint 21.2 Cinnamon. What I’m trying to do is create what to me is a classic outline processor with the Writer outline format. I’m trying to have each outline entry single spaced, with double spaces between entries at all levels. That way I can use the tab key to move the level of an entry back and forth, and keep the entries separated for easier reading. My specific question is that I had that working well; all I had to do to double space between outline entries was to hit shift + enter to insert an additional line at the end of an outline entry, and then enter again to begin a new outline entry at that level. It was working really well, and then abruptly, shift + enter quit adding a line. I’m assuming that I erred in clicking on something or hitting an odd key set, and I’d like to know how to get back to that original behavior.
Hrbrgr: Thanks, but closing LO after saving and reopening it did not fix the problem.
Trying to translate your description into “normalised Writer technical language”
- Usually, “outline” is associated with chapter, sub-chapter, … hierarchy
This translates by using Heading n paragraph styles or equivalently Ctrl+1 to 4 (no standard shortcut defined for levels above and including 5). These shortcuts allow you to set your entry directly to some level. You can also Tab or Shift+Tab to move one level higher or lower.
Typing Enter will end the heading and create a Body Text-styled paragraph, not a new heading. - But I wonder if you are instead building a list
In this context, Enter closes the current item and opens a new one at the same level.
I bet you are rather in the second case: a list.
The question is: how do you create this list? By pressing on a toolbar list button (either for bullet or numbered list)? By using a dedicated list style?
The first choice is equivalent to menu Format>Bullet & Numbering which is an ugly compatibility (with Word) hack causing subtle problems (because it is kind of “one size fits all”). But this choice or a list style only sets level indentation, not spacing between items.
Your items are formatted by some paragraph style (unless everything is Default Paragraph Style and you practice direct formatting). You should then configure this paragraph style to define spacing above and below. And to avoid unwanted interference with other parts of your document, you should use/create a paragraph style dedicated exclusively to your list.
Am I becoming closer to the problem?
ajlittoz: thanks for your patient response! Yes, your description is closer. Here’s what I’m trying to create:
Example of an Outline
1. Entry 1
2. Entry 2
(a) Sub-entry 1
i. Sub-sub entry 1
A. Sub-sub-sub entry 1
B. Sub-sub-sub entry 2
ii. Sub-sub entry 2
(b) Sub-entry 2
3. Entry 3
This entry was created with the “Toggle Ordered List” icon on the toolbar, followed by a selection from “Outline”. Hitting Enter brings up a new entry. The one exception is that I really want to find a way to insert an extra line in between entries. I found a discussion on this forum which suggested using the “Shift + Enter” command to insert an additional line, and at first this worked and I thought I had my complete solution. But suddenly, it quit working, and that command simply started a new line at the current entry level. I assume that I somehow changed a setting, and my original question was about how I could reverse this. I have picked through the various menus to no avail.
Your suggestion about digging around the Indents & Spacing tab was what I needed. If I open Styles/Text Body and then Edit Styles, the Indents & Spacing tab gives me a choice of how much space I want below a paragraph. That gives me what I wanted: hitting “Enter” now creates a new outline entry at roughly two lines below the last one, while maintaining single line spacing within the entry. I will now create an Outline template that will include all these mods.
Thanks again for your help!
If your outline is the backbone of your document, i.e. the core upon which you build everything else, I encourage you to explore list styles. What you do presently (using Format>Bullet & Numbering through one of its avatars) is akin to direct formatting. Since you’re heavily editing your outline (adding/removing items, changing their level, …), there is high probability that the “one-size-fits-all” paradigm will play nasty tricks on the numbering sooner or later.
By using a dedicated list style over a dedicated paragraph style will isolate your outline from other elements in the documents and make it reliable and “accident-safe”.
PS: this site is not correctly advertised. There are two contributions categories: answers and comments because it is not a forum. There is no “conversation” or “thread” here. The site engine can, and does, reorder answers according to its relevance rules.
- Answers are reserved for solutions and can be moved in the topic
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Comments are entries providing or requesting more information needed to understand the issue; they are used to progressively converge towards an acceptable solution
IMHO, your post above belongs to the Comment category but you wrote it as an Answer, which may confuse visitors.
PS2: when posting on this site, always mention OS name, LO version and save format because there are subtle differences between platforms and most cures are only valid in .odt format).