Format Paintbrush

[ronanski]

Hi even though similar topics have been posted I couldn't find an answer to my problem, if it has already been answered sorry and please redirect me there. So I was using the format brush fine the other day, but today it only seems to change wether it is bold/italic etc. It wont change the font or the font size. Am i doing something wrong?

[Zizi64]

Am i doing something wrong?

Yes.
Use (create, modify and apply) the Styles instead of copying the manual (direct) formatting properties.

[Bill]

Please upload a sample document and tell how to use the Format Paintbrush to duplicate the problem in that document.

[John_Ha]

1. Place cursor in the text where you want to copy the format (or in a highlighted area)
2. Click brush
3. Paint over the text you want formatted.

All formatting is copied.

If that does not work strange problems are sometimes fixed by resetting the profile - see Resetting the user profile.

As a new poster you will find much useful information in the Writer FAQ, the Writer Tutorials, the up to date AOO Writer for Students and the Writer User Guide. May I suggest you bookmark the pages.

Press F1 to access the Help screen and search for your problem

The chapter headings in the manual are:

1 - Introducing Writer
2 - Setting up Writer
3 - Working with Text
4 - Formatting Pages
5 - Printing, Exporting, Faxing and E-Mailing
6 - Introduction to Styles
7 - Working with Styles
8 - Working with Graphics
9 - Working with Tables
10 - Working with Templates
11 - Using Mail Merge
12 - Tables of Contents, Indexes and Bibliographies
13 - Working with Master Documents
14 - Working with Fields
15 - Using Forms in Writer
16 - Customizing Writer – Keyboard shortcuts.

When a pop-up window opens, click the Help button for extensive help on that function - it is often more comprehensive than the manual.

Showing that a problem has been solved helps others searching so, if your problem is now solved, please view your first post in this thread and click the Edit button (top right in the post) and add [Solved] in front of the subject.

[ronanski]

John_ha that is what i did and it still doesn't work. As for the help options iv already exhausted them and cannot find an answer

[John_Ha]

What happened when you reset the profile?

[ronanski]

I didnt do that bit as i cant seem to see open office in the application support folder

[MrProgrammer]

Hi, and welcome to the forum.

I didnt do that bit as i cant seem to see open office in the application support folder

[Tutorial] Mac FAQ Q02/A02

Please upload a sample document and tell how to use the Format Paintbrush to duplicate the problem in that document.

If the profile reset does not solve your problem, no one can help until you attach a document demonstrating the situation (remove confidential information then use Post Reply, not Quick Reply, and don't attach a picture instead of the document itself). You must also explain:
• what steps you are performing with Format Paintbrush,
• what you observe happening, and
• what you expect to happen.

If this solved your problem please go to your first post use the Edit button and add [Solved] to the start of the title. You can select the green checkmark icon at the same time.

[ronanski]

This tells me the same path to go into library - application support and then open office, but like i said i cant see an open office in that folder?

[John_Ha]

Either read the tutorial I posted or see Q02 in Tutorial: Mac FAQ

[keme]

This tells me the same path to go into library - application support and then open office, but like i said i cant see an open office in that folder?

You must use exactly the same text as stated in that help page, including the leading tilde. Did you do that?

[ronanski]

Iv looked at all the help pages/tutorials that have been posted. i can find library but not within my user. And within library, application support there is no open office

[ronanski]

Right I tried it on the guest user to see if it would make a difference anyway and it worked the first few times (updating the font type, font size, wether it was bold or underlined etc) but then by about the 10th attempt it suddenly stopped working again and wouldn't do anything no matter how many times I tried it.

[Bill]

...within library, application support there is no open office

The user profile files are hidden on Windows and Linux. Are they hidden on Mac (I'm not a Mac user)?

[ronanski]

found it! (i had to hold down the option key) but before i go deleting the user folder, what will that do? im abit worried about messing stuff up completely. And it suggested trying out on the guest user profile to see if it would work first anyway, and like i said it did to start with but then still stopped working anyway, so surely deleting the user profile wont do anything?

[RoryOF]

Don't Delete the user folder. Simple rename it - user.old is a good choice. OpenOffice will make a new, default user folder on next startup. You can revert to the old User folder if necessary.

[ronanski]

right iv done that, now what seems to be happening is it is updating the font size for the whole paragraph, wether it is bold/underline etc for the specific word and not updating the font type at all

[John_Ha]

Download test.odt.

1. Click inside a word on the top line
2. Click the format brush
3. Paint across the equivalent word in the second line to apply the format to the whole word.

What happens?

[ronanski]

so that worked with everything on the word i chose (font, size, colour and italicised) but it also changed the font of the rest of the paragraph, but not the colour, size or italics. And once again after a few times it suddenly stops doing anything again. Seems very inconsistent.

[ronanski]

And now its started doing stuff again but this time it first changed everything except the font, and then a second time it changed the size but not the font or the colour or wether it was bold/italics etc...

[John_Ha]

Actually, I never tested my file because I had earlier done a simple test which worked OK and "it always works for me".

Using AOO 4.1.7 I placed my cursor between the " h " and " e " of the second "the", or I highlighted the entire word; clicked the brush and applied the format to the same "the" below. The format was applied correctly ... but the line of text changed from Courier New to Times New Roman 12pt (TNR 12pt is my default text).

It works a little better, but not properly as expected and completely inconsistently, for subsequent applications. If the text to be changed is coloured it retains its original colour. In one case the format was not applied. I cannot apply 12pt TNR to anything.

Resetting the profile did not fix it.

So, I can confirm there is a problem with AOO 4.1.7and it looks like a bug. I think it is a regression introduced at 4.1.7.

LO works as expected.

As an aside you will have seen how quickly it gets diagnosed when a file is given together with instructions to replicate the problem.

Note also that the format paintbrush is considerably more complex that I initially thought. This is from Help.

[ronanski]

so i'm not doing anything wrong? i'm guessing it'll be a while before that gets fixed? I'll just have to manually edit each time I need to change it. Could you clarify for me though, specifically which and all attributes that are classified as 'paragraph formatting' and likewise for 'character formatting' thanks.

[RoryOF]

I never use the paintbrush; if I need local formatting, I use a Character Style.

[Bill]

Could you clarify for me though, specifically which and all attributes that are classified as 'paragraph formatting' and likewise for 'character formatting' thanks.

You can make your own lists. Click anywhere in a paragraph and select Format > Paragraph to open the Paragraph dialog which contains the 'paragraph formatting' attributes. For the 'character formatting' attributes, select a character, then select Format > Character to open the Character dialog.

[ronanski]

Thanks