LO 7.6.5.2 Linux.
In >paragraph>paragraph>borders I set box to thin. Looks ok in LO but when I export to pdf and print only the top and bottom lines show. I have tried increasing column width, making the lines heavier and reducing the padding to zero.
I’m sure there is some simple error I am making but don’t know what it is !
Verb Irr+cond.odt (80.9 KB)
The PDF exporter is right. It only displays what you requested.
The main issue is your overuse, abuse of direct formatting. Your document is highly structured. You’d benefit from following a strict semantic styling method.
The problem is you created a conflict between the usable space in your table cells and forcing manually paragraph indents. You end up with wider paragraphs than can fit in the cells and paragraph contents is clipped to the usable area.
Things are even made worse by the fact that initially your document was created under M$ Word (which may explain the importance of direct formatting) and many Word idiosyncrasies are still present (notably that strange clipping which can’t happen in any correctly designed Writer document).
My best advice is to suggest to restart from scratch, pasting your present contents as Unformatted Text in a blank document and to style this very rigorously.
You have no reason to create one table per page. Writer tables can span several pages and column headings are automatically repeated at top of every page.
Recommended reading: Writer Guide, notably the chapters about styles.
Thank you for this very comprehensive analysis. Yes my document has seen many formatting changes, and I have adopted a “suck-it-and-see” approach, which no doubt contributed to my overuse of formatting. Styles are a bit of a mystery to me, so I haven’t used them much.
As for Word, I has never had Word on this computer. However my first version of the document I saved in Word format (and TNR typeface), in order that colleagues could read and edit the document, because as you say opening an .odt document in Word often leads to formatting problems.
I took your advice regarding pasting text. It worked OK, but also worked OK with formatted text so I guess not all the formatting pasted across.
I will work my way through the Writer Guide and hopefully that will lead to a less haphazard approach!
Thanks for your help.
Behind the scene, this also imports the Word “fossils” still present in your formatting and you’re back with your problem (sooner or later).
Styles are the distinctive features of Writer. They require a switch of mind to grasp the considerable power they bring to you. Consider styles as being a “semantic markup” of your text. You describe to Writer the significance of segments (heading, bulk discourse, comment, note, …, important words, foreign language, irony, personal evaluation, understatement, …). You then configure the styles to make visible the various nuances in significance. For instance, headings are made bold, bigger size with more space around; important words are italicised; comments are indented with a border; …
The most important thing is to separate contents from look. Styles make the link between both domains (contents and look).