Chapter 4 Formatting Text

Writer Guide 7.2

Chapter 4

Formatting Text

listed below. You may distribute it and/or modify it under the terms of either the GNU General

Public License (https://www.gnu.org/licenses/gpl.html), version 3 or later, or the Creative

Commons Attribution License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), version 4.0 or later.

All trademarks within this guide belong to their legitimate owners.

Contributors

To this edition

Jean Hollis Weber Kees Kriek

To previous editions

Jean Hollis Weber Kees Kriek Gillian Polack

Bruce Byfield Hazel Russman John M. Długosz

Ron Faile Jr. Shravani Bellapukonda John A. Smith

Feedback

Please direct any comments or suggestions about this document to the Documentation Team’s

mailing list: [email protected]

Note

Everything you send to a mailing list, including your email address and any other

personal information that is written in the message, is publicly archived and cannot

be deleted.

Publication date and software version

Published August 2021. Based on LibreOffice 7.2 Community.

Other versions of LibreOffice may differ in appearance and functionality.

Using LibreOffice on macOS

Some keystrokes and menu items are different on macOS from those used in Windows and

Linux. The table below gives some common substitutions for the instructions in this document.

For a detailed list, see the application Help.

Windows or Linux macOS equivalent Effect

Tools > Options

menu selection

LibreOffice > Preferences Access setup options

Right-click Control+click or right-click

depending on computer setup

Open a context menu

Ctrl (Control) ⌘ (Command) Used with other keys

F11 ⌘+T Open the Styles deck in the

Sidebar

Documentation for LibreOffice is available at https://documentation.libreoffice.org/en/

Contents
Copyright............................................................................................................................2
Contributors.............................................................................................................................. 2
Feedback.................................................................................................................................. 2
Publication date and software version.......................................................................................2
Using LibreOffice on macOS.....................................................................................................2
Introduction........................................................................................................................4
Formatting: direct (manual) or styles.........................................................................................4
Using styles is recommended...................................................................................................4
Removing manual formatting....................................................................................................4
Formatting paragraphs using styles...............................................................................5
Formatting paragraphs directly.......................................................................................5
Formatting toolbar.....................................................................................................................5
Sidebar Properties deck............................................................................................................5
Alignment options..................................................................................................................... 6
Line and paragraph spacing......................................................................................................7
Paragraph indentation...............................................................................................................9
Paragraph background color.....................................................................................................9
Settings on the Paragraph dialog............................................................................................10
Borders............................................................................................................................... 10
Drop caps........................................................................................................................... 11
Area.................................................................................................................................... 11
Transparency......................................................................................................................11
Text Flow............................................................................................................................ 11
Outline & List...................................................................................................................... 12
Setting tab stops and indents..................................................................................................12
Changing the default tab stop interval.....................................................................................13
Changing measurement units for tab stops and rulers............................................................13
Formatting characters using styles..............................................................................14
Formatting characters directly.......................................................................................14
Font name, size, and effects...................................................................................................14
Settings on the Character dialog.............................................................................................16
Font and Font Effects.........................................................................................................16
Position.............................................................................................................................. 17
Hyperlink............................................................................................................................ 18
Highlighting........................................................................................................................ 18
Borders............................................................................................................................... 19
Formatting lists using styles..........................................................................................19
Formatting lists directly..................................................................................................19
Using the Bullets and Numbering toolbar................................................................................20
Using the Bullets and Numbering palettes on the Sidebar......................................................20
Using the Bullets and Numbering dialog.................................................................................21
Autoformatting.................................................................................................................22
Chapter 4 Formatting Text | 3

Introduction

This chapter covers the basics of formatting text in Writer, the word-processing component of

LibreOffice:

• Formatting paragraphs and characters

• Using autoformatting

• Creating bulleted, numbered, and outline lists

It assumes that you are familiar with the text techniques described in Chapter 2, Working with

Text: Basics and Chapter 3, Working with Text: Advanced.

We recommend that you also follow the suggestions in Chapter 20, Customizing Writer, about

displaying formatting aids, such as end-of-paragraph marks, and selecting other setup options.

Page formatting is covered in Chapters 5 and 6.

Formatting: direct (manual) or styles

There are two basic ways to format text:

Direct (or Manual) formatting

Applies formatting directly to specific paragraphs, characters, pages, frames, lists, or

tables. For example, you can select a word, then click on a button on the Formatting

toolbar to format the text as bold or italics.

Styles

Bundles formatting options under one name. For example, a paragraph style defines

numerous settings for options such as font type and size, whether paragraphs should be

indented, the space between lines, how paragraphs should be aligned on the page, and

many others.

Using styles is recommended

Writer is a style-based program. Because styles apply whole groups of formats at the same time,

they enable you to easily format a document consistently and to change the formatting of an

entire document with minimal effort. Therefore, the use of paragraph and character styles is

highly recommended.

In addition, styles are used by LibreOffice for many processes, even if you are not aware of them.

For example, Writer relies on heading styles (or other styles you specify) when it compiles a table

of contents.

For information on styles and how to use them, see Chapters 8 and 9 in this book.

Applying styles is quick and easy using the Styles deck of the Sidebar.

Caution

Manual formatting (also called direct formatting) overrides styles, and you cannot get

rid of the manual formatting by applying a style to it.

Removing manual formatting

To remove manual formatting, select the text and choose Format > Clear Direct Formatting on

the Menu bar, or right-click and choose Clear Direct Formatting on the context menu, or click

the Clear Direct Formatting icon on the Formatting toolbar, or press Ctrl+M on the keyboard.

4 | Chapter 4 Formatting Text

Formatting paragraphs using styles

Styles can be applied to paragraphs in several ways; see Chapter 8, Introduction to Styles:

• Set Paragraph Style drop-down list at the left end of the Formatting toolbar and the

Formatting (Styles) toolbar

• Set Paragraph Style drop-down list at the top of the Properties deck of the Sidebar

• Paragraph tab of the Styles deck on the Sidebar

• Styles menu on the Menu Bar (limited to common styles)

• Keyboard shortcuts Ctrl+1 to Ctrl+5 (paragraph styles Heading 1 to Heading 5)

• Formatting (Styles) toolbar using View > Toolbars > Formatting (Styles); see Figure 1.

Figure 1: Formatting (Styles) toolbar

Formatting paragraphs directly

You can apply many formats to paragraphs using the icons on the Formatting toolbar and on the

Paragraph panel of the Sidebar’s Properties deck (View > Sidebar) or commands on the Format

menu on the Menu bar. Other formatting options are provided in the Paragraph dialog (page 10).

Formatting toolbar

On the Formatting toolbar, the icons and formats include:

• Set Paragraph Style (drop-down list)

• Align Left, Align Center, Align Right, Justified

• Align Top, Center Vertically, Align Bottom

• Toggle Bulleted List (with a palette of bullet types)

• Toggle Numbered List (with a palette of numbering types)

• Set Outline List Style (with a palette of outline types)

• Set Line Spacing (choose from 1, 1.15, 1.5, 2, or custom spacing)

• Increase Paragraph Spacing, Decrease Paragraph Spacing

• Increase Indent, Decrease Indent, Hanging Indent

• Paragraph (to open the Paragraph dialog)

• Set Line Spacing

Not all toolbar icons are visible in a standard installation, but you can customize the toolbar to

include those you use regularly; see Chapter 1, Introducing Writer.

Sidebar Properties deck

The Sidebar Properties deck (Figure 2) includes panels for applying styles, manually formatting

characters, and manually formatting paragraphs. click the expansion symbol (+ or triangle) to

open the panels if necessary.

Style panel

Includes the Set Paragraph Style drop-down list and icons for Clone Formatting, Update

Selected Style, and New Style from Selection. These tools are described in Chapter 8,

Introduction to Styles.

Formatting paragraphs directly | 5

Character panel

See Figure 16 on page 15 and the description starting on page 14.

Paragraph panel

Contains most of the formatting controls, including several that are not found on the

Formatting toolbar. Clicking the down-arrow by a button opens the control for further

choices, such as fixed line spacing or color palette.

Each panel’s title bar has a More Options button on the right, which opens the relevant dialog

(Paragraph Style, Character, or Paragraph) containing additional settings. Changing the values of

any of these settings affects only the paragraph where the cursor is located, or several

paragraphs if more than one are selected. If you wish to change the values for many paragraphs

of that type, you should use a paragraph style.

1 Align Left 8 Increase Spacing 15 Indent From Left

2 Align Center 9 Decrease Spacing 16 Indent From Right

3 Align Right 10 Increase Indent 17 Indent First Line

4 Align Justified 11 Decrease Indent 18 Line Spacing

5 Bullets 12 Hanging Indent

More Options – opens

relevant dialog6 Numbering 13 Above Paragraph Spacing

7 Background Color 14 Below Paragraph Spacing

Figure 2: Style and Paragraph panels of the Properties deck in the Sidebar

Alignment options

You can use the buttons labelled 1–4 in Figure 2 to choose the alignment of a paragraph: Left,

Right, Centered, or Justified. Figure 3 shows examples of the alignment options applied to text.

Left aligned text.

Center aligned text.

Right aligned text.

Justified text inserts spacing between words to force the text to reach

from margin to margin, if the text is longer than a single line.

Figure 3: Text alignment options

6 | Chapter 4 Formatting Text

When using justified text, the last line is by default aligned to the left. However, you can also align

the last line to the center of the paragraph area or justify it so that spaces are increased between

the words in order to fill the whole line. If you select the Expand single word option, then

whenever the last line of a justified paragraph consists of a single word, this word is stretched by

inserting spaces between characters so that it occupies the full length of the line.

Figure 4 shows an example of the effect obtained when choosing each of these options for a

typical text font. In most cases, leave the setting on the default (left-aligned); but for some

dramatic purposes (such as a very large font on a poster), you might prefer one of the other

choices.

Three options are available for the alignment of the last line of a justified paragraph.

This is an example of a left-aligned last line.

Three options are available for the alignment of the last line of a justified paragraph.

This is an example of a centered last line.

Three options are available for the alignment of the last line of a justified paragraph.

This is an example of a justified last line.

When the last line of a justified paragraph contains a single word, you can stretch the

word to fill the entire line. This is an example with the Expand single word option

s e l e c t e d .

Figure 4: Examples of choices for the last line of a justified paragraph

These options are controlled in the Alignment tab of the Paragraph dialog (Figure 5), reached by

choosing Format > Paragraph on the Menu bar, or by right-clicking in the paragraph and

selecting Paragraph in the context menu, or by clicking the More Options button on the

Paragraph panel in the Properties deck of the Sidebar.

Figure 5: Options for the last line of a justified paragraph

Line and paragraph spacing

Line spacing (button 18, Figure 2) refers to the distance from one baseline (the imaginary line at

the bottom of a letter like “n” or “m”) to the next baseline. It is determined by the size of the font,

as illustrated in Figure 6.

Formatting paragraphs directly | 7

The Line Spacing submenu is shown in Figure 7. Here you can choose among standard

spacings or define a custom value: Proportional (for example, 110%), At least (the amount

specified in the Value box), Leading, or Fixed. To see the differences between these choices, do

a few sample paragraphs and change the selections.

Figure 6: Line spacing is the distance between two baselines

Note

All options except Fixed or At Least use the font’s default. These two options allow

you to set your own spacing, which is especially useful at small font sizes to increase

readability.

Figure 7: Line spacing submenu

8 | Chapter 4 Formatting Text

Paragraph spacing refers to the vertical spacing between one paragraph and the paragraphs

above and below it. As shown in Figure 2, the current values are shown in the Above Paragraph

Spacing box (13) and the Below Paragraph Spacing box (14). You can change either or both of

these settings independently.

Tip

Paragraph spacing is often used in computer documentation, such as this book.

Paragraph indentation (see next topic) is more commonly used in other documents.

For good design, use paragraph spacing or paragraph indentation, never both.

Paragraph indentation

You can use the buttons labelled 10, 11, and 12 in Figure 2 to increase the amount of space to

leave between the left and right page margins and the paragraph.

The distances are determined by settings 15 (Before Text Indent; that is, from the left margin), 16

(After Text Indent; that is, from the right margin), and 17 (First Line Indent, which indents the first

line from the left margin, or from the specified indentation from the margin).

Button 12, Switch to Hanging Indent, leaves the first line at the left margin (or the specified

indentation from the margin) and indents all the other lines of the paragraph by the amount

specified by button 17 or in the Paragraph dialog.

This paragraph is an example of a paragraph with a first line indent. It is typical of

paragraphs in books.

This paragraph is an example of a paragraph with a hanging indent. It is often used

for numbered paragraphs or those with an icon or other image on the left.

Note

In right-to-left languages, the behavior of the Before Text and After Text indents is the

opposite: “before” is on the right margin; “after” is on the left margin.

Paragraph background color

Click the button labelled 7 in Figure 2 to open a palette from which you can choose a color for the

background of the paragraph. From this palette (Figure 8), you can also click Custom Color to

open the Pick a Color dialog, where you can define new colors to be added to the palette.

Note

If the paragraph has been indented from the right or left margin, the background

color is not applied to the area of the indent. To extend the color to the margin, use a

frame, table, or other method; see Chapter 6, Formatting Pages: Advanced.

Formatting paragraphs directly | 9

Figure 8: Selecting a background color for a paragraph

Settings on the Paragraph dialog

The paragraph dialog includes several more tabs: Tabs (covered in “Setting tab stops and

indents” on page 12), Borders, Drop Caps, Area (more choices than just color), Transparency,

Text Flow, and Outline & Numbering. For more information, see Chapter 8, Introduction to Styles,

and Chapter 9, Working with Styles.

Borders

Borders are useful for setting a paragraph off from the surrounding text, to include digressions

from the main topic. For example, the Tips, Notes, and Cautions in this book use a border below

the text.

Figure 9: Options for paragraph borders

10 | Chapter 4 Formatting Text

You can add borders to any combination of top, bottom, and sides of paragraphs. You can

choose the style (solid, dotted, dashed, doubled), width, and color of the lines; these choices

apply to all borders on a paragraph. The spacing from each line to the paragraph’s contents can

be set individually for the top, bottom, left, and right.

On the Borders tab of the Paragraph dialog (Figure 9), you can also choose to apply a shadow to

a paragraph; “distance” refers to the width of the shadow.

Select the Merge with next paragraph option to suppress top or bottom lines when the indent,

border, and shadow styles of the next paragraph are the same as the current paragraph.

Drop caps

Drop capitals are enlarged letters that mark the start of a new chapter or section. To improve

consistency, they are best set up in a paragraph style that you apply to the relevant paragraphs.

See Chapter 9, Working with Styles, for details.

Area

Area (also called “fill” and “background” in some parts of LibreOffice) includes five types of fill

(background): color, gradient, bitmap, pattern, and hatching. Select a fill type to display the

choices available for that type. These choices are covered in more detail in Chapter 5,

Formatting Pages: Basics. You can also create your own fills.

Figure 10: Types of fill for paragraph backgrounds

Transparency

Transparency affects the paragraph’s background. It is useful for creating watermarks and

making colors or images more pale (for more contrast with the text). The available choices are

shown in Chapter 5, Formatting Pages: Basics, and are covered in detail in the Draw Guide.

Text Flow

The Text Flow tab (Figure 11) has several sections. Hyphenation is covered in Chapter 2,

Working with Text: Basics, and breaks are covered in Chapter 5, Formatting Pages: Basics.

Figure 11: Options for text flow: hyphenation, breaks, and keeping text together

Formatting paragraphs directly | 11

In the Options section, you can specify how paragraphs are treated at the bottom of a page. Do

not split paragraph and Keep with next paragraph should be self-explanatory. The other options

allow you to avoid a single line at the bottom of a page (called an orphan) or a single line at the

top of a page (a widow).

Outline & List

The Outline & List tab on the Paragraph dialog provides options for choosing the outline level of

the paragraph and its list style (if any). If the paragraph is part of a numbered list, you can specify

that list numbering restarts at the paragraph, and what number to restart with.

This tab does not cover the same functions as the Chapter Numbering dialog (Tools > Chapter

Numbering), but the Outline level selected here is related to the outline defined there. See

Chapter 8, Introduction to Styles, and Chapter 9, Working with Styles, for a discussion of these

features. Line numbering is discussed in Chapter 3, Working with Text: Advanced.

Figure 12: Selecting outline level, paragraph numbering, and line numbering

Setting tab stops and indents

The horizontal ruler shows the tab stops. Any tab stops that you have defined will overwrite the

default tab stops. Tab settings affect indentation of full paragraphs (using the Increase Indent

and Decrease Indent buttons on the Formatting toolbar or the Paragraph panel of the Properties

deck in the Sidebar) as well as indentation of parts of a paragraph (by pressing the Tab key on

the keyboard).

Tip

Many indents, for example at the beginning of a paragraph, can be set in the

paragraph style, so you don’t need to use the Tab key to activate them.

Using the default tab spacing can cause formatting problems if you share documents with other

people. If you use the default tab spacing and then send the document to someone else who has

chosen a different default tab spacing, tabbed material will change to use the other person’s

settings. Instead of using the defaults, define your own tab settings, as described in this section.

To define indents and tab settings for one or more selected paragraphs, right-click a paragraph

and choose Paragraph to open the Paragraph dialog; then select either the Tabs tab (Figure 13)

or the Indents & Spacing tab of the dialog. Alternatively, you can double-click the horizontal ruler

to open the Indents & Spacing tab of the Paragraph dialog. A better strategy is to define tabs for

the paragraph style. Refer to Chapters 8 and 9 for more about paragraph styles.

12 | Chapter 4 Formatting Text

Figure 13: Specifying tab stops and fill characters

Tip

Using tabs to space out material on a page is not recommended. Depending on what

you are trying to accomplish, a table or frame is usually a better choice.

Changing the default tab stop interval

Caution

Any changes to the default tab setting will affect the existing default tab stops in any

document you open afterward, as well as tab stops you insert after making the

change.

To set the measurement unit and the spacing of default tab stop intervals, go to Tools > Options

> LibreOffice Writer > General.

Figure 14: Selecting a default tab stop interval

Changing measurement units for tab stops and rulers

You can also set or change the measurement unit for rulers in the current document by right-

clicking on the ruler to open a list of units, as shown in Figure 15 for the horizontal ruler. Click one

of them to change the ruler to that unit. The selected setting applies only to that ruler.

Figure 15: Changing the measurement unit for a ruler

Formatting paragraphs directly | 13

Formatting characters using styles

To apply a character style, highlight the characters or words and apply the selected character

style from any of the following:

• Character Styles tab of the Styles deck on the Sidebar

• Styles menu on the Menu bar (limited)

• Right-click context menu (limited)

• Formatting (Styles) toolbar (Figure 1)

For more about character styles, refer to Chapter 8, Introduction to Styles, and Chapter 9,

Working with Styles.

Formatting characters directly

You can apply many formats to characters using the buttons on the Formatting toolbar and by

using the Characters panel of the Properties deck of the Sidebar. Not all toolbar buttons are

visible in a standard installation, but you can customize the toolbar to include those you use

regularly; see Chapter 1, Introducing Writer. These formats include:

• Font Name, Font Size

• Bold, Italic, Underline, Double Underline, Overline, Strikethrough, Outline

• Superscript, Subscript

• Uppercase, Lowercase

• Increase Font Size, Decrease Font Size

• Font Color (with a palette of colors)

• Background Color (with a palette of colors)

• Highlighting (with a palette of colors)

To change the characteristics of an entire paragraph (for example the font name, size, or color),

and for many other purposes, it is highly recommended that you use styles rather than manually

formatting characters. For information on styles and how to use them, see Chapters 8 and 9.

Applying styles is quick and easy using the Styles deck of the Sidebar.

Figure 16 shows the Character panel in the Properties deck of the Sidebar. Clicking the down-

arrow next to a button opens the control for further choices, such as font color or character

spacing. The appearance of the buttons may vary with your operating system and the selection

of icon size and style in Tools > Options > LibreOffice > View.

Click the More Options button (15) to open the Character dialog, which includes more choices

than are available through the Formatting toolbar or the Sidebar.

Note

Just as direct paragraph formatting overrides the current paragraph style, applying

direct character formatting to characters overrides the current character style

formatting.

Font name, size, and effects

To change the font name and size used for selected characters, you can use the drop-down

menus on the Formatting toolbar, the Character panel in the Sidebar, or the Character dialog.

Similarly, you can apply bold, italics, underline, strikethrough, or shadow effects to selected

characters on the Formatting toolbar, the Character panel in the Sidebar, or the Character dialog.

14 | Chapter 4 Formatting Text

The Underline effect has a drop-down menu of line types (Figure 17). The Formatting toolbar

includes other effects that are not in the Sidebar: overline and double underline; these buttons

may not be visible in a default installation.

To choose the color of the font or its highlighting, open the appropriate color palette (10 or 11;

similar to the one shown in Figure 8). The highlighting selection over-rides any background color

that has been applied to the paragraph.

To increase or decrease the font size of selected characters, you can click the relevant buttons

on the Formatting toolbar or the Character panel in the Sidebar; however, you have no control

over the amount of the increase or decrease, which is usually 2 points. For finer control, use the

Font Size drop-down list instead.

1 Font Name 6 Strikethrough 11 Highlight Color

2 Font Size 7 Toggle Shadow 12 Clear Direct Formatting

3 Bold 8 Increase Font Size 13 Set Character Spacing

4 Italic 9 Decrease Font Size 14 Superscript

5 Underline 10 Font Color 15 Subscript

16 More Options – opens Character dialog

Figure 16: Character panel in the Properties deck of the Sidebar

Figure 17: Selecting the line

style for the Underline effect

Formatting characters directly | 15

To change characters into subscripts or superscripts (using the default values for size and

position), select them and click the relevant buttons on the Formatting toolbar or the Character

panel in the Sidebar. For more control, use the Character dialog.

To quickly change the spacing between characters, select them and choose from the

Character Spacing drop-down menu in the Sidebar (Figure 18).

Figure 18: Changing character spacing

Settings on the Character dialog

The Character dialog has six tabs, described in this section. Most of these tabs are the same as

the tabs on the Character Style dialog (see Chapter 9, Working with Styles).

Font and Font Effects

On the Font tab (Figure 19), you can specify the font’s family, style (choices vary with the font,

but typically include regular, bold, and italic), and size; and the language for the paragraph, if it

differs from the language for the document. The box at the bottom shows a preview of the

selections.

Figure 19: Font tab of the Character dialog

16 | Chapter 4 Formatting Text

On the Font Effects tab (Figure 20), you can choose the color of the font and a range of effects,

many of which are not suitable for formal documents. Figures 21 and 22 show the choices in

some of the drop-down lists.

Figure 20: Font Effects tab of the Character dialog

Figure 21: Choices for Case effect

Figure 22:Choices for strikethrough and relief

Position

The Position tab (Figure 23) collects the options that affect the position of text on the page. This

tab is divided into three sections: Position, Rotation/Scaling, and Spacing.

The Position section controls the appearance of superscripts and subscripts.

The Rotation/Scaling section controls the rotation of the characters. The Scale width box controls

the percentage of the font width by which to compress or stretch the rotated text.

The Spacing section controls the spacing between individual characters. The Pair Kerning option

(selected by default) automatically adjusts the character spacing for specific letter combinations.

Kerning is only available for certain font types and, for printed documents, works only if your

printer supports it.

Formatting characters directly | 17

Figure 23: Position tab of the Character dialog

Hyperlink

The Hyperlink tab of the Character dialog is an alternative to using the Hyperlink dialog (Insert >

Hyperlink). It includes fewer choices and is specifically for text (not button) links. Hyperlinks can

be to other parts of the same document, to other documents, or to web pages.

Figure 24: Hyperlink tab of the Character dialog

When LibreOffice recognizes a string of characters that may be a URL (internet address), it

replaces the characters with a hyperlink and formats the hyperlink as specified in the Internet

Link character style. On this dialog you can choose a different character style (if the style has

been defined previously) or replace the URL with other text. To turn off this feature, choose Tools

> AutoCorrect > AutoCorrect Options, go to the Options tab and deselect URL Recognition.

For more about creating and editing hyperlinks, see the Help system or Chapter 12 in the Getting

Started Guide.

Highlighting

The Highlighting tab controls the background color for selected characters. It is similar to the

Highlighting drop-down palette.

18 | Chapter 4 Formatting Text

Borders

The Borders tab is the same as the Borders tab on the Paragraph dialog; see page 10.

Formatting lists using styles

Whenever possible, use paragraph styles for creating unordered (bulleted) and ordered

(numbered) lists. Writer comes with two sets of paragraph styles for this purpose. However, these

styles do not include options for settings such as the type of bullet or position of numbers. Those

settings come from list styles, which are intended to be attached to paragraph styles. It is

recommended to use them together in these ways:

• Use paragraph styles List 1, List 2, List 3, and so on for creating unordered lists. These

styles use Bullet list styles.

• Use paragraph styles Numbering 1, Numbering 2, Numbering 3, etc, for creating ordered

lists. These styles use the list styles called Numbering 1, Numbering 2, etc.

With paragraph styles, you can easily create nested lists, in which list items have sub-items

under them, as in an outline. This requires specifying the settings for the additional levels. Once

you have set up nested lists, you can readily change the hierarchy of an item. To demote an item

one level, position the cursor at the beginning of the line (after the bullet or number) and press

the Tab key. To promote an item one level, press Shift+Tab.

For more about creating lists using styles, see Chapters 8 (Introduction to Styles), 9 (Working

with Styles) and 12 (Lists: Tips and Tricks).

Formatting lists directly

You can directly format numbered or bulleted lists in several ways:

• Use the Bullets and Numbering toolbar (Figure 25).

• Use the Toggle Unordered List and Toggle Ordered List buttons on the Formatting

toolbar, the Formatting (Styles) toolbar, or the Paragraph panel of the Properties deck of

the Sidebar (Figure 26).

• Use the Bullets and Numbering dialog (Figures 27 and 28).

To produce a simple numbered or bulleted list, select the paragraphs in the list and then click the

appropriate icon on the Paragraph panel on the toolbar.

Tip

It is a matter of personal preference whether you type your information first, then

apply numbering/bullets or apply these as you type.

Note

Bullets and numbering applied in these ways cannot be removed with Format >

Clear Direct Formatting on the Menu bar, or with the Clear Direct Formatting icon

on the Formatting toolbar, or with Clear Direct Formatting in the context menu, or

by using Ctrl+M. Rather, they are turned off or removed from selected text by toggling

the relevant buttons on the Formatting toolbar, or on the Sidebar Properties deck.

Formatting lists directly | 19

Using the Bullets and Numbering toolbar

You can create a nested list (where one or more list items has a sub-list under it, as in an outline)

by using the buttons on the Bullets and Numbering toolbar (Figure 25). You can move items up or

down the list, create subpoints, change the style of bullets, add paragraphs without numbers or

bullets (for list items that include more than one paragraph), and access the Bullets and

Numbering dialog, which contains more detailed controls.

Use View > Toolbars > Bullets and Numbering to display the toolbar.

1 Demote One Level 5 Move Down 9 Insert Unnumbered Entry

Promote One Level 6 Move Up 10 Restart Numbering

3 Demote One Level with

Subpoints

7 Move Down with Subpoints 11

Open the Bullets and

Numbering dialog

4 Promote One Level with

Subpoints

8 Move Up with Subpoints

Figure 25: Bullets and Numbering toolbar

Tip

You can use keyboard shortcuts to move paragraphs up or down the outline levels.

Place the cursor at the beginning of the numbered paragraph and press:

Tab = Down a level

Shift+Tab = Up a level

To insert a tab stop at the beginning of a numbered paragraph (that is, after the

number but before the text), press Ctrl+Tab.

If you create a nested list using the buttons on the Bullets and Numbering toolbar, all the levels of

the list (up to 10) initially apply the same numbering (or bullet) format. If you want to use a

combination of numbering formats and bullets when creating nested lists, you can use these

ways:

• Click in each list item and then select one of the choices in the drop-down palettes under

the Toggle Unordered List and Toggle Ordered List buttons on the Formatting toolbar or

the Properties deck of the Sidebar, as described in “Using the Bullets and Numbering

palettes on the Sidebar” below.

• Use the Bullets and Numbering dialog, as described in “Using the Bullets and Numbering

dialog” on page 21.

However, a much better strategy is to define and apply a list style, as discussed in Chapter 12,

Lists: Tips and Tricks.

Using the Bullets and Numbering palettes on the Sidebar

The Bullets and Numbering palettes on the Paragraph panel on the Properties deck of the

Sidebar can be used to create nested lists and access the Bullets and Numbering dialog. The

Sidebar does not include tools for promoting and demoting items in the list, as found on the

Bullets and Numbering toolbar.

20 | Chapter 4 Formatting Text

Figure 26: Bullets and Numbering choices on the Properties deck of the Sidebar

Using the Bullets and Numbering dialog

The Bullets and Numbering dialog has six tabs. Four tabs provide pre-defined symbols and

sequences to choose from: Unordered, Ordered, Outline (choose from eight standard outline

sequences), and Image (choose a bullet image). Two tabs provide detailed options for defining

your own lists: Position (Figure 27) and Customize (Figure 28). These are the same as the tabs

provided for list styles, discussed in Chapter 12, Lists: Tips and Tricks.

Figure 27: Position tab of the Bullets and Numbering dialog

Formatting lists directly | 21

Figure 28: Customize tab of the Bullets and Numbering dialog

Autoformatting

You can set Writer to automatically format parts of a document according to the choices made on

the Options and Localized Options tabs of the AutoCorrect dialog (Tools > AutoCorrect >

AutoCorrect Options). The Help describes each of these choices and how to activate the

autoformats.

Tip

If you notice unexpected formatting changes occurring in your document, this is a

good place to look for the cause.

To automatically format the file according to the options you have set, choose Tools >

AutoCorrect and select or deselect the items on the submenu.

While Typing

Automatically formats the document while you type.

Apply

Automatically formats the document.

Apply and Edit Changes

Automatically formats the file and then opens a dialog where you can accept or reject the

changes.

AutoCorrect Options

Opens the AutoCorrect dialog (Figures 29 and 30), where you can choose the

autoformatting you want.

The Localized Options tab (Figure 29) controls the formatting of quotation marks and

apostrophes (which look like a closing single quote). Most fonts include curly quotation marks

(also known as “smart quotes”), but for some purposes (such as marking minutes and seconds of

latitude and longitude) you may wish to format them as straight quotes.

Straight quotes Smart quotes

' ' " " ‘ ’ “ ”

22 | Chapter 4 Formatting Text

Tip

Most people keep the AutoCorrect setting for smart quotes and use the Special

Characters dialog to insert straight quotes when needed. See Chapter 2, Working

with Text: Basics.

Figure 29: Autoformatting quotation marks

Figure 30: Autoformatting choices on the Options tab

Autoformatting | 23