Why are tables always formatted with Liberation Sans font when created

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#1

I grateful for the swift responses and I understand everything written; however the behaviour I am seeing is as written in my heading. Things were more stable before I updated to 6.4 (from 6.0 I think).

I use a MacBook Air, recently updated to the latest Operating System (10.15 - Catalina). On a Mac the settings you mention are in Preferences rather than Tools -> Options. I attach the relevant info and I can assure you that neither Default Text not Table Contents Styles use the Liberation Sans font. Yet this is what I get.

Worse: almost any formatting in a table changes when I press tab into a new row. Heading rows change etc.

One thing I wonder is whether I need to tweak Java. I don’t currently ask LibreOffice to run anything. My understanding is that the Mac setup requires JDK not JRE but I also recall a few years ago some confusion around these settings.

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#2

AFAIK, there is no Java concern here.

When you are creating the tables, do you select Styles None or do you leave the preset Default Style?

In my understanding of the “new” table style feature, this is not a real style like a paragraph style but rather a template which is instantiated through a set of macros (hence, maybe the caveat about JDK/JRE); these macros may choose to tweak the cell attributes. What happens if you select None “style”?

In my Linux version, The Table Contents style is unaltered after table insertion and the font face and size remain what they are in Table Contents.

#3

Interesting. If I select none, then the correct Table Contents Style is loaded, and styles don’t change when I tab into a new row. This is good. However None means None; so no borders (despite this being set in the Table Preferences). All in all, it appears to be a bit of an inconsistent and illogical mess.

In the past I’ve just tended to insert a new table with out selecting any style. Subsequent changes to Table properties have - to my recollection - stuck through the creation of new rows and columns etc. The current set up is frustrating beyond belief. And I can’t see why things should have changed for the worse.

#4

As I said, this new “table style” stuff is badly implemented. Is is wrongly described as a “style” but it is dynamically generated with hidden macros. You can easily imagine I dislike it because nothing is really under user control.

I always create my tables with style None and then adjust table properties to fit my needs. Of course, I’d prefer a real traditional style so that one click would format everything. Unfortunately this is not possible (yet?).

The macros probably practice the dreaded direct formatting but unlike true direct formatting, you can’t remove it with Ctrl+M!

#5

Hello

most probably because your setting in Tools -> Options -> LibreOffice Writer -> Basic Fonts (Western) -> Font: Default is set to Liberation Sans

Background: Tables are created using paragraph style Table Contents, which inherits settings from Default Style. If you manually changed that paragraph style in your own template, then it will use the font defined therein.

Hope that helps.

If the answer helped to solve your problem, please click the check mark (:heavy_check_mark:) next to the answer.

#6

To both of you, I am grateful for your swift responses. I understand everything you say; however this is not the behaviour I am seeing. Things were more stable before I updated to 6.4 (from 6.0 I think).

I use a MacBook Air, recently updated to the latest Operating System (10.15 - Catalina). On a Mac the settings you mention are in Preferences rather than Tools -> Options. I attach the relevant info and I can assure you that neither Default Text not Table Contents Styles use the Liberation Sans font. Yet this is what I get.

Worse: almost any formatting in a table changes when I press tab into a new row. Heading rows change etc.

One thing I wonder is whether I need to tweak Java. I don’t currently ask LibreOffice to run anything. My understanding is that the Mac setup requires JDK not JRE but I also recall a few years ago some confusion around these settings.

I have pasted some of the above info back into my question.

#7

Just tested with my macOS Catalina, installed latest 6.4.3.2 LibreOffice release (downloaded packages from libreoffice.download.org) and reset my LibreOffice user profile to factory settings: This exactly works as described in my answer. Hence you must have either

  • a special package (from where?)
  • a customized template
  • a corrupt LibreOffice user profile

From my pov there are 2 choices now:

  1. Upload an empty Writer file containing an empty table for investigation –or–
  2. Reset your user profile

PS: My Catalina has no font Cambria by default, which supports my assumption that you have some customized default template.

#8

Tables are not formatted with Liberation Sans when created.

Instead, Writer styles paragraphs in the cells with Table Contents. If you display the styles in the side pane in Hierarchical order, you’ll see it is a direct descendant fo Default Style.

Right click on Table Contents and go to the Organizer tab. You’ll see that apart from excluding the paragraph from line counting, it is exactly the same as Default Style (+).

Therefore, to change default cell appearance, you have two options:

  • either have the table different from the rest of the document

    in this case, customise Table Contents paragraph style

  • either change your whole document:

    • for a global persistent customisation, Tools>Options, LibreOffice Writer>Basic Fonts (Western) and change Default

    • for a change only in the current document, modify Default Style, Font tab

Note: you can always revert to the default inheritance with a press on Standard button in some tab; this reverts only the parameters/attributes shown in the tab.

(+) If it shows something else, it means you already changed Table Contents. Apply the Standard button at least in the Font tab to revert to built-in configuration.

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I realise that @anon73440385 already provided the same information in a more concise form.

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