Writer won't line up bottom line with images of different immutable heights

English
#18

I’ve created a new odt file with the header where I’m having trouble.

I’m able to add a header, a table 1x3 and text.

However images are tricky.
Just copying and pasting brought up a strange LibreOffice Writer prompt: Insert Section → Insert → strange box from left to right appears and no image (not important at this stage, but ignore the empty box which won’t delete or undo?).
So I dragged and dropped images into the main page which worked.
Cutting the page’s images and pasting into the header begins al sorts of alignment issues, so I’ll leave the attachment here for some sage advice.
testdoc.odt (34.6 KB)

#19

Right click the “strange box”, select Edit Section and untick Protect, OK (or click Remove button to delete it). Click inside the section and press Alt+Enter to add a paragraph before the section if desired. Add images as described below.

The simplest way to line up images along their bottom edge is to draw a horizontal line (hold down Shift to constrain to 45 degree increments) that extends beyond the margins to make it easy to delete. As you drag images the bottom of the image will tend to snap to the line, it is quite a gentle snap so a little care is needed. Delete the line after the images are aligned. If the rest of the documents wants to jump in between then right click the image and select Wrap > None

It might be best to insert a margin-to-margin frame, sized high enough to easily include the highest image. Draw the line and then drag the images into the frame, aligned along the line. Make sure the anchor is to the character (paragraph mark) inside the frame. When all the images are aligned inside the frame, the line can be deleted. The frame can then be dragged anywhere in the document by selecting the frame (will show 8 square handles) and dragging it.

Tables can be used to hold the frames but they are not so mobile and it can be a bit tricky

Below is a sample with the images in a section, in a paragraph, in a table and in a frame.
testdoc130068EA.odt (52.9 KB)

Note that image position is defined by the top left corner so different height images would need a little maths to define position by coordinates

#20

I don’t trust drag’n’drop because you never know for sure where the anchor will end up (present cursor position? but dragging moves it). My preferred procedure is to copy the image, click wher I want the anchor to be and paste.

In your case, your images are not in the header and they are all anchored to the same location. To make things worse you applied direct formatting (moving them with the mouse or setting coordinated explicitly). When I paste them into the table cell, they become offset to the right (because the anchor in the middle and right cells is not at left margin).

Additionally, Allow overlap is ticked. I don’t know why developers changed the default setting from unticked to ticked in some past release, but IMHO this is a very bad choice because it disables automatic conflict resolution (which is a must when you play with frame styles).

This is the first problem. The second problem is related to image/frame insertion in tables.

Frames interact with text only through their wrap property. They have a weak interaction between themselves through the Allow overlap setting (only when unticked). And they have absolutely no interaction with table cell, notably their size. This means the table cell will not grow to “contain” the image.

Fix for table

Since a table is problematic, the idea is to avoid tables. This is easy. Built-in Header paragraph style has tab stops located at centre and right position of the page. Centre location is centred and right one is right-aligned. Consequently you just enter standard paragraphs (styled Header) with data for left cell, Tab, data for centre, Tab, data for right cell; line per line.

This takes care of your header text.

Fix for images

This one is trickier because I just discovered a bug in image handling when they are in the header: even with wrap off, header is not extended to hold the images. It looks like wrap property is ignored.

= EDIT =
I file a bug report about this. It is at tdf#170038
= END OF EDIT =

So, we must turn images into characters to handle them like text and apply the same trick as above.

The images are then anchored As character. But a new difficulty arises. The frame will not “autosize” because an image is not text (only text interacts with Autosize, this is a limitation of Writer) and, on the contrary, the image will be scaled to frame size. Consequently, frame size must be forced.

The “simplest” way is to create frame styles derived from built-in Formula which has the correct anchor. I created Thumbnail_25mm and Thumbnail_275x328 because your images have only 2 sizes. Look at style configuration for details.

Your images are pasted in a new Header line and the ad-hoc frame style is immediately applied. I also inserted a space between adjacent images to separate them.

Afterthought

Since I worked around the header bug/table limitation by managing your images in a “standard” paragraph, I thought that you could keep the table in the header if so desired. I added a second page (with a different page style to be able to have a different header) and I rebuilt a table there. This table is direct formattd in a quick’n’dirty way; it’s only a proof of concept.


Here is the revised sample: testdoc-ajl.odt (59.1 KB)

#21

Here’s a quick and raw new LibreOffice Writer document with the 6 redacted images dragged and dropped in.
I tried copying and pasting the redacted images into the documents, however the 2 strange line spaces above are what resulted, with some Insert Section prompt appearing, which I have no idea about?

I will continue to work on this attached document, however more enlightened LibreOffice Writer users might suggest a correct or optimised path to reach the goal of bottom row aligned, with text above images 3-6.
1.1 MiB file attached as link, as webage won’t attach with error larger than 4 MB

#22

A good methodological approach is to “prepare” your images outside Writer in a dedicated image processing program like GIMP. There, you crop, scale, rotate your images and adjust pixel density (dpi: 300 dpi is largely sufficient) so that they are ready-to-use. Writer provides only basic image features and it is really much better to have it do nothing on images. Also, this contributes to drastically reduce the global size of the document.

I assume that all the images are shown in a single line.

Then, the simplest and most reliable layout is to anchor them As character.

For ease of procedure (since it is repetitive), I modified built-in frame style Formula (because it anchors As character), but you can use any style of your own:

  • Type tab: Size set to 2 cm×2 cm (to provide a sensible default), Position Vertical Bottom of Character
    The latter will align all images on a bottom line.
  • Wrap tab: Spacing 0.2 cm on all four sides (to separate slightly the images), Options, Allow overlap unticked (otherwise they are all stacked over)

Formula style is applied to all your images. They are all resizes 2×2 cm. Consequently, I right-clicked for Properties and made variations in Crop tab to have various sizes. This is direct formatting and is bad. So, adjust the sizes before inserting the images in Writer. Then you can just click Original Size to autosize the frame.

I experience the same error as you: document size 1.1 MB but site complains about excess of 4 MB. I’ll file a bug. Contact me through private mail to give a valid @ddress so that I can send you my sample. Alternatively, reduce your images to 300 dpi and final dimensions, then reattach the sample document.

Nota: your document exhibits 3 sections (which contents you removed). If there is no real reason for sections, i.e. a count of columns different from what is configured in the page style), don’t use them. They create their assortment of problems (probably not visible in a short CV).

EDIT:
I used your “last” sample (header, 1×3 table, images in cells).

As explained above, I tweaked Formula frame style and applied it on your images. Considering the variable amount in each cell, it is impossible to align in a simple way yout images.

Consequently, I added a new row for them and transferred the images into the second row. They are now correctly aligned. Only the size needs to be tuned (right-click on image and Properties). For that, first press Original Size in Type tab. Then go to Crop tab and change Scale (I reapplied your original ratios).

This is direct formatting and is generally a bad idea which prevents you from centrally tuning your layout by playing only with styles (effect is immediate on all occurrences). The whole header is direct formatted. Avoid this for the same reason.

Curriculum_vitae_name_tbl_ajl.odt (1.1 MB)

1 Like
#23

As per screenshot in earlier forum post, images need to be lined up along bottom line, in the header.

Preparing images outside of a document isn’t intuitive.
Gimp is great, however I will need dimensions of the final document to space 6 images.
I will also need awkward dimensions of where the top text will fit.
Table of 1x3 is needed as middle cell needs larger and centered text and right cell needs smaller and right aligned text.
I do have consistent and set image width sizes to fit the document, however height of image 1 is different to images 2-6.
I’ll set the images in Gimp and retry a drag and drop.

As mentioned, the weird lines at the top of the odt file with blurred images, are remnants of image copy/paste attempts. No content has been removed from the file with the blurred images, I simply cancelled the Insert Section prompt.
The new file will have no copy/paste images, just drag and drop from Gimp.

LO writer forum thread sort confusing, can't find most recent reply?
#24

Version with

  1. header

  2. 6 images dragged and dropped into header.
    Curriculum_vitae_name_202512191547.odt (1.1 MB)

#25

Version with

  1. header

  2. 1x3 table

  3. cell 2 text and cell 3 text. (how to center cells and text? I’m used to GIMP or Inkscape functions like distribution of multiple objects or easy GUI drag and drop software)
    Curriculum_vitae_name_202512291610.pdf (15.3 KB)

#26

Version with

  1. header

  2. 1x3 table

  3. cell 2 text, cell 3 text

  4. dragged and dropped images into cell 1 (2 images), cell 2 (2 images) and cell 3 (2 images).
    Curriculum_vitae_name_202512191614.odt (1.1 MB)

#27

Version with

  1. header

  2. 1x3 table

  3. cell 2 text, cell 3 text

  4. dragged and dropped images into cell 1 (2 images), cell 2 (2 images) and cell 3 (2 images)

  5. selected each image, keyboard arrows to align images along base line as best as possible. (how to align on base line of header? I’m used to software where I tap Shift+arrows or some other funky function)
    Curriculum_vitae_name_202512191619.odt (1.1 MB)

#28

Version with

  1. header

  2. 1x3 table

  3. cell 2 text and cell 3 text. (how to center cells and text? I’m used to GIMP or Inkscape functions like distribution of multiple objects or easy GUI drag and drop software)

  4. centered 3 columns and reduced cell 3’s text to 9 pt.
    Curriculum_vitae_name_202512191715.odt (10.6 KB)

#29

Version with

  1. header
  2. 1x3 table
  3. cell 2 text, cell 3 text
  4. entered a new line below cell 3’s email line
  5. dragged and dropped images into cell 1 (2 images), cell 2 (2 images) and cell 3 (2 images)
  6. selected each image, keyboard arrows to align images along base line as best as possible. (how to align on base line of header? I’m used to software where I tap Shift+arrows or some other funky function)
    Curriculum_vitae_name_202512191725.odt (1.1 MB)
#30

Do you mean both horizontally and vertically? Horizontal alignment is a property of paragraph. Vertical alignment is a property of table (see Text Flow tab).

1 Like
#31

CV_2025121191725.odt ??? Have you looked at my updated answer, below “EDIT”?

1 Like
#32

Thx, I centered the header table cells via: Tap table for cursor activation → tap Table tab → mouse over Select → tap Table → tap Table tab → mouse over Size → tap Distribute Columns Evenly

#33

I just viewed Curriculum_vitae_name_tbl_ajl.odt and understand your solution with header table’s new row 2, for aligning the 6 images on the bottom line.

However, cell 3 email address has a blank line under it which I can’t remove, so I’ll just create a new document, as this was simply an Enter that created the line space below the email address…curious that this Enter line cannot be reversed.

Image 1 needs to be aligned on the bottom and top lines, to adhere to PARC principles (Proximity, Alignment, Repetition and Contrast), which will add symmetric balance to the header.
Image 1 will not breach row 2’s top line, so this is my next challenge.
I’m assuming I can tighten up row 2’s space above images 2-6.

#34

Version with

  1. header

  2. 2x3 table

  3. cell 2 text, cell 3 text

  4. dragged and dropped images into cell a,2 (2 images), cell b,2 (2 images) and cell c,2 (2 images)

  5. selected each image, keyboard arrows to align images along base line as best as possible. (how to align on base line of header table row 2, they images auto align to top of header table row 2?

Next step, working on Image 1, image properties for sizes and something about aligning to row 2 bottom.
Curriculum_vitae_name_202512191754.odt (1.1 MB)

#35

Your approach is faulty for 2 reasons.

First, frames (images) interact only with text, not with tables. If you don’t anchor As character, you’ll never be able to “jail” images inside the table unless you twist horribly the latter. And this will be done with direct formatting both on frames and tables. This creates a deadly nightmarish situation.

Second, there is a bug in LO Writer: even when frame are tagged Keep inside text boundaries, a header never increases to image size. Therefore, images will bleed into main text area. Again, you’ll be compelled to use direct format to attempt to fix the issue.

IMHO, the correct way to handle the situation is to turn your images into “text” (with anchor As character) so that they are handled by ordinary text management.

That said, I don’t understand what you want to do with your first image:

Image 1 needs to be aligned on the bottom and top lines, to adhere to PARC principles (Proximity, Alignment, Repetition and Consistency)

Should I read: “all images are bottom-aligned: image 1, taller, is allowed to bleed into row 1”?
If so, just merge left cells in rows 1 and 2, like this:
Curriculum_vitae_name_tbl_ajl.odt (1.1 MB)

1 Like
#36

Ok, so all images are now Anchored As Character.
Images 2-6 have widths of 2.5 cm.
I moved images with the cursor, Enter and Space bar.
Image 1 needs to be on the bottom left of cell A,2 and top left of A,1.
Curriculum_vitae_name_202512191845.odt (1.1 MB)

Ok, working on merges now.

#37

So this has Images As Characters and cells A,1 and A,2 merged.
Images 1 and 2 won’t align on the bottom line.

I thought I could merge the 2nd row and then distribute the 6 images horizontally, however this can be managed with the spacebar. More challenging seems to be managing images 1 and 2 vertically.
Curriculum_vitae_name_202512291859.odt (1.1 MB)

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