[Solved] Alignment pin for selected text no longer an option

[grandkodiak]

Hello, I use Writer on a daily basis and most of it is copy and pasting paragraphs or lines from other open office files into a template letter.

After the last update we did to 4.1.2 (I'm not an admin so have no control of when update downloads are implemented), the slider for horizontal placement of text has become finicky of when it allows you to do it, along with other options like font and size.

How do I set it to ALWAYS be on so I can adjust whatever I want in the document like it was before?

For example some of the font sizes will be different, and I'll always want them to be bold and size 9 and then have that whole area aligned. I'll highlight the area of text I want to bulk change, but now those options for font type, size etc. disappear as unselectable. Sometimes if I select a few lines less the options come back to change, but there seems to be no rhym or reason as to what causes it to flag as no longer editable all at the same time.

I have on document for example that we pull from all the time, its all the same font, all the same size, its all bold, but its set spaced 5 dots (1 inch off left margin), and when its pasted into the template letter, it needs to be 3.5 dots off margin. If I hit select all, the font and size options arent changeable, and the arrow for alignment disappears.

[acknak]

Greetings and welcome to the community forum!

It sounds like maybe the text you've selected contains regions with different settings for those properties. When the selection contains only one value for a property, that value will be reflected in the control for that property. If there is more than one value in the selected text, Writer simply disables the control or doesn't show it at all.

The simplest workaround for this is to change the setting to some consistent value, for example, even if the font side doesn't appear in the toolbar, you can enter a value there and all the text will change to that value.

For properties like the indent, where the control isn't available, you may have to use Format > Paragraph (or Format > Character) and change the setting there.

Edit: PS:

The best approach, if you need consistent formatting with the least grief, is to use styles instead of direct formatting.

[grandkodiak]

Selecting all, then going to format - paragraph - changing indent to .36" (3.5 dots) aligned the master page to where it needs to be. When I do my next import on a template I'll cross my fingers and hope it carries over. Thank you!

[Bill]

When I do my next import on a template I'll cross my fingers and hope it carries over.

Hope won't do it. You have to actually change the template.