want to crowd lines of text together, less than the font height

English
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#1

Trying to recreate in Writer a corporate logo in which the initials are very large and all caps, and the name is spelled out in very small letters close underneath the initials. The problem is, the name should be positioned where the descenders of the initials would be, if there were any. Of course there are no descenders, because the initials are all caps. Is there a way to force LibreOffice Writer to position the name text against the bottoms of the caps, rather than the bottoms of the descenders?

Far as I can tell, LibreOffice does not allow the setting of line or paragraph spacing to a negative value, nor a table row height to less than the font height.

Not so easy to change fonts either. Otherwise, maybe I could find a font that uses small caps for lower case letters, and so has no descenders. Gentium Book Basic is, if not the exact font used for the initials, very close. Using a size of 40 for the initials, and 6 for the name.

Another problem is that a graphic logo is positioned to the immediate right of the initials, and actually, a little into the space reserved for the first character of the initials.

And finally, the letters of the name have wider than usual spacing between them.

Don’t want to turn the whole thing into a Draw document.

#2

You can do it with Text Boxes, but Draw is by far a better option.

#3

My proposal is not about using Draw for the whole form, it is not the right tool for the task. Build the logo and only the logo with Draw.

A form is a different document category than ordinary “discourse” document. A form is page-based (as opposed to flow-based) and items must be precisely positioned relative to the page. This is a case where you use graphic objects (among which text boxes and “controls” like drop-down menus, buttons, entry fields, …).

Writer form designer is quite handy.

A word of caveat: don’t mix ordinary text (paragraphs) and graphic objects in the same area of the page (or try to avoid the situation as much as possible) or else you may stumble on conflicts between text and objects if you don’t master the subtleties of anchor and wrap modes.

#4

Open the PDF with Draw, and take the logo from there. Using Text Boxes is a possibility, but not a good one.

#5

The document in question is an insurance claim form, with all kinds of fields to be filled in. The only graphics are the company logo. That’s not enough graphics to justify dumping Writer and switching to Draw. As is far too common, the company provided a PDF which does not have fillable forms. It’s a huge pain and a lot of up front work to have to recreate the form from scratch, but if we fill it out often enough, it’s worth doing.

I’d really rather they provided us with the original Word document they used to create the PDF, but companies often refuse, perhaps out of silly fears that their intellectual property will be violated. Mind, they don’t outright refuse, it’s more like they really don’t understand what you’re talking about (or they’re playing stupid), and will offer the PDF again and again as if that satisfies the request for the original document.

#6

Okay, for the curious and helpful (thank you!), here are my efforts so far. Haven’t tried to make it into a form yet.

And, the PDF of the original is here: http://ibhhrmatters.net/protected/mental_health/EAP_claim_form.pdf

I was wondering if it is possible to “protect” or “lock” text, to make it harder to inadvertently alter. But I suppose figuring out how to turn the document into a form is the way to go.

#7

Yes, form includes fixed text protection.

#8

Writer is not the tool for such a job in general. In particular cases (specific geometry), it could do it. Provide an “anonymous” picture or screenshot of what you want (no need to tell the world the name of the company) for deeper analysis.

Draw can be used to create the logo. You have there maximum flexibility for positioning your shaped (be they character glyphs or geometric figures). Once it is done, you group the components together so that the logo ends up as a single object.

This single object can be copied and pasted into a Writer document. The anchor may be As character if you want the logo inline with other text within the same paragraph or To paragraph for various powerful positioning and effects.

To show the community your question has been answered, click the ✓ next to the correct answer, and “upvote” by clicking on the ^ arrow of any helpful answers. These are the mechanisms for communicating the quality of the Q&A on this site. Thanks!

In case you need clarification, edit your question (not an answer which is reserved for solutions) or comment the relevant answer.

#9

I’m not shy about telling names of those who don’t employ me!

If you really want to know, the specific form I recreated from scratch is here: http://ibhhrmatters.net/protected/mental_health/EAP_claim_form.pdf

#10

As suggested by LennyG, I used Text Boxes. It worked. Thanks!

But it would be nice to have more flexibility, and allow negative paragraph spacing. Why are Text Boxes not as good as Draw? Another way was, of course to just do the logo, text and all, as a raster image, and place that in the document.

#11

This is not a solution to the problem and, on this site, it belongs in a comment. Use you more link (only you can see it) to repost as a comment.

I’ll add a comment under the question so that it is not lost.

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