Version 6.0.3.2 Writer documentation

[acre]

I recently downloaded the above version and every time I look for answers to my questions, the answers are WAY out of date. I can’t find even the most basic operations. Is there any documentation or help that actually works? It seems most of the “easy stuff” was available in menus, but those menu choices no longer exist.

There are several very basic setup operations I would like to do that I can do in Word but have not found out how to do in Writer. For example:

1. Change the units for the Before and After paragraph spacing from inches to pts.
2. Add the Before and After paragraph spacing to the toolbar.
3. Import my autocorrect entries from Word to Writer.
4. Import my custom dictionary from Word to Writer.
5. The default units for the page setup are in inches, but the margin units are in cm. This is a horrible inconsistency.

There are others. I’ll check the documentation you provided and post back with questions.

If LibreOffice wants a donation from me, they better provide totally up to date documentation. So far, I have found nothing.

[LibreTraining]

Have you reviewed the Writer Guide or just the integrated Help?
The latest guide, Writer 5.4, is here:

WG54-WriterGuideLO.pdf

What specific info are you looking for?

[dajare]

Please don’t post questions as answers. As for “I belong to over 15 forums. This is the only one with such an annoying feature.” – well, you’re new here, and such minimal tests are common until frequency establishes “trust” levels. Thanks for understanding.

[dajare]

Btw - the latest “stable version” is still v. 5.4.6, and the v. 5x documentation will for the vast majority of cases still be current for v. 6.0.

[LibreTraining]

I know what you mean - I hate this “forum” format.
I have been the main admin on a couple large forums, and a moderator in a few others.
This thing is frustrating to say the least.

1. Change your overall units in the Options (Alt+F12)
   Options > LibreOffice Writer > Settings > Measurement Units
   Note: your can change your rulers’ units by right-clicking on the ruler.
   You will also need to change the units in any templates you will use.
   The page styles will change units, but they will be odd numbers (i.e. margins=57pts).
   So be sure to go through all your styles.

2. Set the Before and After paragraph spacing in your styles (see Writer Guide).

3. Import AutoCorrect entries - no way that I am aware of.
   Don’t be silly, that would make moving to LibreOffice easier.
   Can’t have that.

4. Custom Dictionary - again no way to import that I know of.
   Again, that would make it too easy.
   There are ways to manually edit the user custom dictionary.
   That may make sense if you have a fairly large list.
   For example see: How to build and edit LibreOffice dictionaries
   I think there is also some info in the LibreOffice developer’s area.

5. Default units for margins, etc. being a mixed bag - yeah.
   Most of the default templates make no sense whatsoever.
   Go through - Options settings, templates, styles, rulers.
   Took me awhile to finally get everything converted to picas/points.

You will also find some useful info in the Getting Started Guide.
There is stuff in there which is not in the Writer Guide.

[dajare]

@LibreTraining - The thing is, this is not a forum – it’s a Q&A site, and the two kinds of site have very different approaches. This model is the one used in the StackOverflow/StackExchange network. If you’re unfamiliar with it, their sites have a lot of valuable material on the rationale behind the sites’ workings. Hope this helps.

[LibreTraining]

I am quite familiar with the StackExchange network of sites.
They have the same deficiencies.
Supporting programmers is not the same as supporting non-technical end-users.
Instead of constantly chastising users for not posting properly in this disorganized convoluted mess, how about giving them an organized format they are familiar with?

I would be happy to set-up a real forum for the project.
Give me access to forum.libreoffice.org and a database and I will set it up.

[PaulaO]

As for 4 - Simply copy/paste your custom dictionaries into the Wordbook>en-US folder. I had a problem moving mine over and figured it out. Here’s what I did.

Cannot add custom dictionary [solved]

I’m having problems with the dictionaries. I even uninstalled and reinstalled the program from a new download (but I did notice it maintained my preferences). I am a writer and I use a custom dictionary for each series or book. At first, I just dropped in the Wordbook folder from OO. They were visible in the Tools>Options>Writing Aids. And words that were special to that document and that dictionary were not marked. But then I saw there was no “add to dictionary” option when I right clicked. And…

[dajare]

A convenient source for LibreOffice documentation is the Publications LibO Wiki page.

It lists, by application and version, all the docs available. It is well maintained, so you can expect to find docs for newer versions there once it is available. At the time of posting this message, the highest version available is 5.4 for Writer (the current “stable” release series), although it is lower than that for some of the other apps.