[Solved] Selecting objects in the sample attached

[suseuser04]

Hello OOo users:

Here I attach a sample odp file with one slide.
A would like to change the color of the "-" objects from white to black, however I can't select the items.
If I click any of the "-" nothing happens.
I can select them by pressing <tab> key but I can't edit them.
Could someone help me with this, please?
Thanks,
suseuser04

sample.odp

sample slide with objects to modify

(11.49 KiB) Downloaded 408 times

[acknak]

Ack! That's a bit of a mess.

Here's one way to do it:
1) Open the file
2) Edit > Select All
3) Format > Group > Ungroup
4) Format > Character > Font Effects > Font color: Black; OK

You will lose the grouping of the objects--I don't know if that's important, but it's the only easy way I can see to make the change, other than editing the XML.

[suseuser04]

Thanks!

That is exactly what I wanted to do.
I don't care if they grouped or not.
I still can't understand why I can't select the objects by clicking on them.

Thanks again,
suseuser04

[acknak]

I see three problems. One is that the dashes (some of them) are each grouped with a rectangle shape that is completely invisible (no outline, no area fill). So a simple Select All, Format > Character > Font Effects > Font color: Black will change the simple shapes, but not the grouped dashes. It seems the operation does not go into the groups, so the text in them is not changed.

Second, it seems that the size of the shapes that have the dash text labels, relative to the spacing of the objects, prevents selecting them by clicking on the dash. If you select any of the dashes using a rubber band selection (drag out a rectangle big enough to surround an object), and move it away from the others, then you can click on the dash to edit it. That doesn't work when the dashes are all close together.

Finally, OOo is often unable to select an object by clicking when the object has no visible attributes (no fill, no outline). Sometimes you can do it; most of the time you can't. In these cases, you have to use a rubber band selection which can be extremely difficult when you have no idea where the actual boundaries of the object are. In your sample, the actual shapes are much larger than the dash text label.

Here's a way to make it easier to see what's happening: Select All, Shift-click on the green ellipse to de-select it. This leaves only the dash-labeled shapes selected. Format > Area > Area > Fill: Color, Black, Transparency > Transparency: 80%, OK. Now you can see the extent of each dash-labeled shape, and you can select them by clicking on the area.

Another approach for creating this kind of figure is to use a single "Fontwork" object for the dashes. In this case, the dashes are just a single text string wrapped around an (invisible) ellipse.

This can make it a lot easier to manage the dashes (same color, font, size, spacing, etc.), although you have to make a short detour to activate the fontwork dialog.

[suseuser04]

Thanks for the nice explanation.
I haven't created the object myself but got from a power point presentation (by opening ppt with OOo impress). Maybe it explains the mess.
I will try the example you gave later.
Thanks,
suseuser04