Center Spacing issue

[statekyle]

Hello everyone, I've been using Open Office for work for a few years now. My recent project requires me to center space a particular line of text, which I have specified in a new paragraph. I've done this a few times in other writing projects with no issue, but now, when I center this specific line, it centers most of the content on my page. I've highlighted and centered with no change. I've selected the line itself with no change. I've tried creating new lines to rewrite and center, but no change. This is very aggravating. I'm not sure what has changed or what I need to do. Any help would be appreciated. Thanks.

[Bill]

Right-click the paragraph and select Edit Paragraph Style. On the Paragraph Style dialog, uncheck "AutoUpdate".

[statekyle]

I just did that and it was unchecked. I checked it with no change. I then unchecked it again with no change

[Bill]

That was the most obvious guess. Please upload a sample file so we can see how you have formatted the document.

[statekyle]

I think part of my issue is that Open Office thinks I'm using the bullet system, but I'm not. It changes all my formatting if I hit enter, so I'm having to hit Shift Enter to start a new line. I'm not sure how to get it to stop doing that, either. I added a number at the beginning of one line and it thinks hitting enter should continue the sequence. It might be lumping these issues together. If I can solve the one I may end up solving the centering issue, too.

[statekyle]

Ok I solved the bullet system issue in Autocorrect options. That still didn't solve the centering issue. sigh...

[robleyd]

From the offline Help - F1:

Creating Numbered or Bulleted Lists as You Type
OpenOffice can automatically apply numbering or bullets as you type.
To Enable Automatic Numbering and Bulleting
1. Choose Tools - AutoCorrect Options, click the Options tab, and then select Apply Numbering - Symbol.
2. Choose Format - AutoCorrect, and ensure that While Typing is selected.
The automatic numbering option is only applied to paragraphs that are formatted with the "Default", "Text body", or "Text body indent" paragraph style.

To Create a Numbered or Bulleted List While You Type
1. Type 1., i., or I. to start a numbered list. Type * or - to start a bulleted list. You can also type a right parenthesis ')' after the number instead of a full stop, for example, 1) or i).
2. Enter a space, type your text, and then press Enter. The new paragraph automatically receives the next number or bullet.
3. Press Enter again to finish the list.

So you can turn off automatic bullet list or numbered lists; and as mentioned above if you want them on you can finish the list by pressing Enter twice.

Which brings us to the use of Shift+Enter to create a new line. Doing this does NOT create a new paragraph; hence any changes you make will apply to the whole paragraph which contains the line break(s) you have entered. If you toggle View | Non-printing Characters you will be able to see the paragraph markers which look like ¶ and line breaks ↵