Show sublevels numerically, even if the higher level is written out, i.e., 2 vs TWO

ap122 · November 17, 2023, 11:12am

Hello,

I am trying to customize a “bullets and numbering” so that the output looks like this:

Unfortunately, the best I can do is this:

So, what I need to figure out:

(1) Sublevels. Is it possible to force the “show sublevels” to list a number and NOT the word, while having the word and not the number shown on the higher list level?

(2) List Bold. How can I set the list levels to always be bold without affecting the content of the lists? Right now, I try to highlight and set to bold but this doesn’t reliably work. Sometimes only parts of the list are bold, other times it affects the content of the list.

(3) List Spacing. How can I force the list to automatically add the space between each list item? Right now, I have to manually hit enter, then backspace, and I have found with complex documents this can lead to errors. Also, I would like to increase the spacing between ARTICLE TWO and the prior sublevels, relative to the spacing between sublevels.

(4) Character Feature. I set character / font effects / case to “Capitals” to set list level one to write “ONE”, “TWO”, etc. This works, but it means I have to manually set the sublevels to NOT go to uppercase. So, is there a way to make this capitalization apply ONLY to the written out list level, and not everything after it?

(5) Font Size. Is there a way to set the top list level, e.g., “ARTICLE ONE” to be a different size font then the rest? In my ideal case, that is size 14. Then, the subtitle, e.g., “Identification” is size 10, and everything else is size 12.

Any help appreciated. Thank you!

mikekaganski · November 17, 2023, 11:16am

Show sublevels numerically, even if the higher level is written out, i.e., 2 vs TWO

Legal numbering was implemented in the upcoming LibreOffice 24.2.

ap122 · November 17, 2023, 11:21am

Forgive the dumb question but this means that this isn’t feasible until 24.2 is released?

Villeroy · November 17, 2023, 11:25am

LibreOffice leaves behind the old versioning scheme. The next version following version 7.6 will be version 24.2 in January.
https://wiki.documentfoundation.org/ReleasePlan/24.2

mikekaganski · November 17, 2023, 11:25am

This feature is unavailable until 24.2 is released. So the first bullet of your list is only doable is you create the list manually, meaning the rest wouldn’t make sense (you’d have to do it manually anyway).

By the way, for the rest - you need to use styles (paragraph and character); set up correct character style in the list style / chapter numbering you use; and set up respective settings (boldness, spacing, fonts and sizes) there.

Basically, in early February (hence, the “.2”).

ap122 · November 17, 2023, 11:37am

I understand. Thank you for the help!

mariosv · November 17, 2023, 8:27pm

You can download and test dev version, it is installed in parallel.
https://dev-builds.libreoffice.org/daily/master/

ajlittoz · November 17, 2023, 1:06pm

There is a workaround while waiting for 24.2. It is based on direct formatting unfortunately. This means that application of list style doesn’t achieve what you are looking for.

The workaround takes benefit of the weaknesses of Format>Bullets & Numbering which has been naughtily tweaked for compatibility with the badly designed feature in Word (while list styles are more rigorous).

The idea is to break membership of the item to some global abstract list, thus making list in each “Article” independent from the list in an other article. You’ll have to manage adjustments to TOC creation if the list items are to be collected there.

don’t use Heading n for sub-articles
number your items with Format>Bullets & Numbering
edit each first item in an article to change the Start at number to match the one of the article and Format>Lists>Restart Numbering to detach the current article list from the one in the preceding article

There another workaround which allows you to use Heading n, n>1 on the articles and not worry about them. Instead you create a dummy hidden Heading 1 paragraph (it may require a non-hidden space to avoid automatic removal) only for the sake of setting article number. You use a standard list for the visible article heading where the number is set to ordinal. TOC generation remains standard.

This may be easier to implement than the previous one because it does not disturb Heading n numbering. However, you must be careful to maintain the exact same number of (hidden) Heading 1 and your special article list to avoid loss of sync. This second workaround is probably more reliable as it does not require direct formatting (and probably forbids direct formatting for safety).

Remark: your example shows an inline heading in the sub-articles. ~~This is not possible in Writer.~~ With present Writer, creating inline headings requires guru-level tricks with hidden traditional Heading n to structure the outline and cross-references to copy these at head of following paragraph as not hidden field.

Finally, you can layout your document as shown in your images but this requires a lot of effort, assuming you master all Writer subtleties. But, in the end, it is only a workaround for presently missing features.