Why is center tab in header/footer is off-center?

In LO Writer, headers and footers are automatically populated with left, center, and right tab stops.

I have a header with text or fields that go in each of those three positions.

When I enter the fields and text, left and right material is placed correctly (flush-left and flush-right), but the text that should be centered in the header is, in fact, off-center.

The page under the header includes two columns, and the total width of the two columns plus gutter is 6.75 inches, so the center tab should be at 3.375 inches, centered over the middle of the gutter.

Actually, however, the center tab is at 3.46 inches.

Curiously, the right tab is beyond the right margin, at 6.93 inches. (The right margin is at 6.75".) The flush-right text is in the correct position, apparently constrained by the right margin.

The page style is mirrored, and I think this may be part of the problem. Maybe the

Is this a bug? Or is there an (unobvious to me) fix. I can manually change the tabs so that the center tab stop is in the right place, but this is tedious, and it seems to me that it should not be necessary.

I have searched the LibreOffice documentation and sundry online resources (including this one); this issue may be addressed, but I have not found any reference to it. I am using LibreOffice Writer, version 4.2.6.2 (US English) on Window 7 Professional, SP1.

Thank you for any help.

Could you possibly post a screen shot?

  • Click in the header.
  • Choose menu Format - Paragraph… - Tabs tab, select the first position (3.46 "), press Delete.
  • Add a new Position value of 3.375 ", check Centered and press New.

Also can correct the other value from 6.93 " to 6.75 ".

This “error” occurred because the left and right margins were changed after the header was turned on.

So next time: first change the margins, and only then turn on the header.

LibreOffice 6.3.6.2 (x86); OS: Windows 6.1