Unable to apply Spacing to Table Cells

[linkcheck]

We have a recurring document format in Libre Writer comprising a table with three columns and a lot of rows. The right-hand column contains text in each cell. This format has been used extensively over several years and several versions of linux and Libre.

The usual (eventual) format is for the right column to be Single Spaced with 0.2cm gaps Above and Below each paragraph. Since most cells only contain a single paragraph that means a 0.2cm gap between the text and the upper/lower cell borders.

This should be automatically set up by the initial format of the Libre document but sometimes it has to be manually forced at the end of the writing session. This is done by…

1. Select Table or Select Column of several rows of text.

2. Select Paragraph and set Above and Below to 0.2cm and Line Spacing to Single. Press OK.

Experience indicates that this should change ALL text in the selection to be Single Spaced with 0.2cm gaps above and below each paragraph. This works in previous instances of Libre Writer on various linux OS. It currently works on Debian Buster and Manjaro. It does not work on Debian Bullseye; instead it affects at most a single cell, as far as I can tell, the first one highlighted.

On returning to Paragraph the setup has reverted to (eg) Above/Below of 0.0cm and 1.15 Line Spacing or, if the column is still highlighted, empty vaues (as expected when the cell contents vary in format).

Highlighting a single cell and running the Paragraph setup works on that single cell and returning to Paragraph shows the correct values.

I have set up Default Style Text Body Marginalia to the required spacing and switched the Style to Text Body in the highlighted column or table. Again, this affects only a single cell (I have seen it affect two or three but not all).

I can see no real difference between working and non-working installations. I have removed Libre (and its config directory) from Bullseye and reinstalled but still not working as expected.

Editing a copy of the faulty file on Manjaro I could make the Spacing work and copying it back to Bullseye it continued to work for minor changes (spelling etc). We didn’t go beyond that.

This is obviously affecting productivity. It may well be that I have missed something vital, although on previous installations no action apart from the above was necessary.

[Hrbrgr]

…by the initial format of the Libre document…

Are you really using a document or document template?

over several years and several versions of linux and Libre.

And a lot could happen when you do.

• You use the wrong paragraph style
• It was directly formatted at some point
• You copy texts into the cells that have foreign formats, etc.

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Please upload your file here so that someone can examine it. Thanks.

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In which document format do you save?
And which LibreOffice version do you use?

[ajlittoz]

By chance, do you create your table with so-called “table styles”, i.e. not selecting None but some other format?

If so, be aware that such wrongly named “styles” are in fact a set of macros which are fired under various circumstances and reapply stubbornly their built-in formatting wiping out any formatting you may have applied.

The only way I know to get predictable table layout and formatting is to create them without the table styles and to use dedicated styles (mainly paragraph styles) on cell contents. The procedure you describe (selection of cells than changing attributes through buttons, shortcuts or menu items) is direct formatting and will always play tricks on your back.

[linkcheck]

Thanks for the response.

The document is sometimes a new one but in this case it was reusing an old document with most of the content stripped out. It was perviously used under Buster about a month ago.

The file is confidential, I’m afraid. We’ve just been preparing a “new” document from the same source as it, however.

In doing so, we found that we COULD get it right but not in the original sequence we applied.

Given a base document with some content, I set up Text Body Spacing without marking the columns first. I then marked the columns and selected Text Body. That worked!

The thing to remember now is to set up marginalia for every “template” document as we use it.

Thank you for your help - it really pushed me in the right direction.

[linkcheck]

@ajlittoz - thank you for your comments. I wasn’t, as it happens, using Table Styles but it’s something I will bear in mind.