OpenOffice does not keep my paragraph settings

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nick91
Posts: 2
Joined: Mon Mar 05, 2018 8:08 pm

OpenOffice does not keep my paragraph settings

Post by nick91 »

The first problem was that I did not want the useless extra blank line that Open Office leaves every time I hit enter. After I found the paragraph settings for that and reduced the space to zero I quickly found out that it uses that setting only for the line I was at when I made the setting. That means that I have to set the line spacing to zero every time I want to hit enter. The program is practically unusable like this. Does anyone have a solution?
OpenOffice 4.1.3 on Windows 7
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RoryOF
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Joined: Sat Jan 31, 2009 9:30 pm
Location: Ireland

Re: Open office does not keep my paragraph settings

Post by RoryOF »

The /Format /Paragraph and /Format /character settings modify only the current paragraph or the currently selected text. You need to modify the main style definitions by /Format /Styles and Formatting.

It may be useful for you to refer to some detailed manual, such as
Writer for students (several languages)
Apache OpenOffice 4.1.15 on Xubuntu 22.04.4 LTS
nick91
Posts: 2
Joined: Mon Mar 05, 2018 8:08 pm

Re: Open office does not keep my paragraph settings

Post by nick91 »

Thank you for the suggestion, but to be more specific, it does not even modify the current paragraph, it only modifies the single, specific line I have the cursor on at the time. The extra line problem is only thing that bothers me and actually need to fix.
OpenOffice 4.1.3 on Windows 7
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RoryOF
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Joined: Sat Jan 31, 2009 9:30 pm
Location: Ireland

Re: Open office does not keep my paragraph settings

Post by RoryOF »

It sounds as if every time you come to the end of a line you press Enter. You do not need to do this in a Word processor - it will wrap the lines automatically. Press Enter only at the end of a paragraph.

If you turn on /View /Non printing characters, you will get a display that shows what is happening. If at each line end you have a backwards P symbol (recte: a Pilcrow) you have defined each line to be a paragraph as OpenOffice understands it . This display is turned off by the same command that turned it on.

If you have applied styling from /Format /paragraph, then that is called direct formatting and overrides the defined style. Select your text (Ctrl A) press Ctrl M to remove all direct formatting; the text will then revert to the defined paragraph style, where, using /Format /Styles and Formatting, you have removed the intrusive line space. However, do this on a copy document until you know what is happening.

Do read the document to which I pointed you..
Apache OpenOffice 4.1.15 on Xubuntu 22.04.4 LTS
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