Apache OpenOffice Community Forum

I am running OO 4.1.14, and I am having a problem with bullets in Impress. I have found on this forum a number of answers to my problem, but none of the (old) solutions works for me. I have a slide where I am at the second level bullet. The next line I enter is at the second-level bullet. I want this line to be at a first-level bullet. How do I get this to occur? Has OO changed that much in the newer versions that the older solutions I have seen on this forum no longer work? Thanks.

Please upload an ODF type sample file here.
Please link those "old solutions" here.

...And try the LibreOffice.

Hi,
for getting a higher level you can us the TAB key, for a lower level use the shortcut SHIFT+TAB.

Attached you find a sample file (AOO 4.1.14) with part of an in-built template...
. .
You may change the level with paragraph properties or format bar as well. See screenshot:
.

I have attached two screen captures. The "pre2" is before I wanted to change the new empty bullet to the previous indentation level. The "post2" image is after I entered Shift-Tab. You can see that that combination of keystrokes did NOT move to the previous indentation level. It indented to the next level. The pre1 and post1 images contained the full OO window, and their size was too large to attach. In response to the first responder - I have seen older suggestions on this forum to use Shift-Tab, and obviously that does not work for me.

Something strange just happened during my testing. I tried again, and I had to get back to the "pre" state. I got "Naturalization Papers" tab without a level-2 tab. I went to create a second-level tab, and I did. But the indentation character was NOT a bullet, it was a hyphen "-". When I then used Shift-Tab on that hyphen line, the line was properly moved to the left and became a bullet, as I intended.

I have had problems in the past where my second-level indent was changed from a "-" to a bullet, or vice-versa. I have no idea why this is happening. I am not re-invoking the bullet menu. I really do not care if the secondary indentation is a bullet or a hyphen; I just want to be consistent within my Impress document. Why did the indent character mysteriously change from a bullet to a hyphen?

@bsfinkel
Thank you for your reply. The only problem I can see is that the text box is too broad. So help is not possible. What you can do is to use an upload service (or cloud) and then share the link of your file(s). Search on the internet with terms like uploader free and you'll get bunches of services...
Cheers

I do not understand your reply. Why would the size of the text box affect the actions of bullets? Note that the size of the window for each slide is what OO Impress presents me; I have NOT changed the size.

Zizi64 wrote: ↑Sun Aug 13, 2023 7:32 am Please upload an ODF type sample file here.

erbsenzahl wrote: ↑Mon Aug 14, 2023 9:08 am So help is not possible. What you can do is to use an upload service (or cloud) and then share the link of your file(s). Search on the internet with terms like uploader free and you'll get bunches of services...

@Zizi64 immediately had the best tip: Upload a sample file.

Here is a test file. I have taken the one slide from my presentation and made some copies. In the second slide there is a line "- next". When I try to use Shift-tab to move it back to indent level 1, I get the line indented to level 3 with ">>". Note that the original level 2 indent had a bullet character, as seen at the top. But for some unknown reason, the indent character changed to "-". I did NOT re-access the bullet menu.

Here is how I untangled the second slide in your sample file.
1. Access the Styles & Formatting dialog either in the Sidebar (5th icon down among the icons on the right edge of the Sidebar) or through the menu Format -> Styles & Formatting.
2. Pick the right hand icon from the two icons near the top left. This brings up the Presentation Styles.
3. Right click on the style Outline 1, select Modify, and go to the Customize tab.
4. Set the Numbering list to Bullet. Confirm that the Relative Size value is set to 100%
5. Click on the button with three dots next to Character. Confirm the font is set to Segoe UI and the character listed at the bottom right is U+25CF. Click OK
6. Right click on the style Outline 2, choose Modify and go to the Customize tab.
7. Repeat steps 4 and 5, except set the relative size to something smaller if you want smaller bullets for this level. You will find that the character set for this style is the dash with code U+2013. You will need to scroll down to U+25CF and choose that. Click OK
8. Select all of the text in the box on slide 2 and then choose the menu Format -> Default Formatting.

Both Outline levels 1 and 2 now have bullets. The spacing between the bullet and text on level 1 is too close, in my opinion. If you want to change that, select the menu View -> Master -> Slide Master. Right click on the top level bulleted text and select Numbering/Bullets. On the Positioning tab, set Width Of Numbering to something like 0.45". Click OK and then click Close Master View on the small floating Master View dialog

OT
@FJCC
Excellent instruction!

Thanks for the info. I followed the instructions. In my test file, I created a duplicate slide"Sam Torchinsky Data" and I played with that file. I put the cursor at "Children" and pressed "tab". I got a third-level indent, as expected. I pressed shift-tab and I got a second-level bullet, but at a different indent. Another shift-tab did not move the tab to level 1; it moved to level 3 with a ">>" instead of a bullet.

I you want someone to diagnose the problem with your file, please upload it.

Here is my current test file.

I see the behavior you describe on the third slide. I can correct it by selecting all of the text and selecting the menu Format -> Default Formatting. It seems some manual formatting has been applied to that slide and it confuses the outline hierarchy.
I also see on the second slide that the Shift + Tab and Tab keys do not work to promote/demote items. Using the icons on the formatting tool bar or using the key combinations Alt + Shift + Left Arrow or Alt + Shift + Right Arrow do work. I have no idea how that can happen or how to fix it.

bsfinkel wrote: ↑Sun Aug 13, 2023 7:01 am I have a slide where I am at the second level bullet. The next line I enter is at the second-level bullet. I want this line to be at a first-level bullet. How do I get this to occur?

With your attachment I find that the Promote and Demote buttons on the Text Formatting toolbar are easy to use. If you don't have that enabled use View → Toolbars → Text Formatting.
Impress Guide Chapter 3: Creating bulleted and numbered lists

If this solved your problem please go to your first post use the Edit ☐ button and add [Solved] to the start of the Subject field. Select the green checkmark icon at the same time.

I am getting back to this problem. I did View --> Toolbars --> Text Formatting, and it added some icons to the toolbar. But I do not see any that help in my case. What am I missing? In the testbullets1.odp file (attached), I took slide 7 and modified it.
1) Put the cursor on "Wife Judes" and hit"tab" to get a new third-level bullet. OK
2) shift-tab produces a bullet that is indented farther than the second-level bullet in the line above. Now a 2.5-level bullet.
3) Another shift-tab should give me a first-level bullet. But it gives me a third-level bullet with a ">>", not a bullet character.

This was my initial complaint - using bullets I can get a new second-level bullet, but I have problems getting a bullet at the previous indent level. Shift-tab does not always have the desired effect.

I went to slide 7 of your file, highlighted all of the text in the box (from "1913 Ship" through "Goldstein Marriage") and selected the menu item Format -> Default Formatting. The attached file has the result of that. What would you like to change in the appearance or behavior of slide 7?

The problem is not in the general appearance of a slide. When I create a new slide or modify an existing slide, I sometimes need to change the indent level. If I have four bullets, level 1, 1, 1, and 2, and then I want a fifth bullet back at level 1, the bullet I create is at level 2 (because the current level is 2). When I use shift-tab to convert that bullet back to level 1, most of the time I do not get a new level-1 bullet. THAT IS MY PROBLEM.

I have fixed the behavior on a few of your slides by applying default formatting. How are you making these new slides that do not have the default formatting? Are you using Insert -> Duplicate Slide? If you are using Insert -> Slide, are you manually adjusting the formatting or are you adjusting the outline level only by using the tab key or the icons on the toolbar. If I only use the tab key on a new slide, the outline levels behave.

What I want is a format where, when I create a new slide or a duplicate slide, I can get the bullets to behave as they should. I am not sure what I have to do to my test file to achieve this. I expect <tab> to indent the bullet to the next level and use the "bullet character" that I have selected. I also expect the <shift-tab> key combination to move the current bullet to the previous level, at the same spacing as before. This is not happening with my test file. A <shift-tab> combination should NOT get me to a further indent level (with a new "bullet" character") when I wanted the indent level to decrease. No matter what I have set as a default bullet template, <shift-tab> should NOT increase the indent level.

I understand what you are seeing. What I don't understand is how your formatting got into the state it is in. If you look at the Presentation style (see the first two numbered items in my first post above) that is active, you will see that the Tab and Shift + Tab keys are doing what they should. If I open your most recent document and place the cursor on slide 7 at the beginning of the line "Wife Edith (deceased)", I see that the Presentation style is Outline 2. Pressing Shift + Tab moves the text to the right and changes the bullet to >>. The Presentation style goes to Outline 1, as expected. If I then select the menu item Format -> Default Formatting, the text moves to the left edge of the text area and it has a round bullet larger than that of the other Outline 1 items on that slide. Using Tab and Shift + Tab after that changes the text position and the bullets in a typical way. Those results tell me that manual formatting has been applied to the line in the original document and is inhibiting the smooth application of the different styles. My suggestion is that you set everything to have default formatting and modify the Presentation styles to your liking. Then the Tab and Shift + Tab keys will give you the results you expect. OpenOffice is designed to be controlled through the use of styles.

I have some questions.
1) I was under the impression that the <shift tab> key combination would change the current line to a lesser indent level. I take a line at level 2; when I use that key combination, I get a bullet at level 3, One of my initial complaints was that I could not find a key combination to change a level 2 indent back to a level 1 indent. What is the correct key combination to accomplish this? If the combination is <shift tab>, then what I see in OpenOffice is clearly a bug.

2) I have an existing .odp file (from which I excerpted my test files). I have round bullets at levels 1 and 2; I believe that I have no level 3 in any slide. If I use Format-->Styles and formatting and make a change, will that change only the current slide or all the slides? If only the current slide, then what can I do to ensure that all of the slides have the same formatting? I have had cases where a bullet-level is a round dot, but then in a subsequent slide it turns into a hyphen.

I have found OpenOffice to be "variable" in bullets, and I want to know what I need to do to make OO less "variable".

1) You are being misled by what you see in the document. The function of the Tab key in bulleted text is to change the Presentation style from Outline N to Outline N+1. Similarly, Shift + Tab changes Outline N to Outline N-1. Usually, Outline styles with a higher number are indented more than those with lower numbers, but you can implement any indentation. Somehow, in the lines I was testing, you have gotten the Outline 1 style to have more indentation than Outline 2. After using Shift + Tab the text looks like Outline 3, because it is to the right of Outline 2, but the Styles & Formatting window confirms that it is Outline 1. Shift + Tab did its job. I'm not familiar enough with Impress to know all the ways you might change the indentation. Since the problem is fixed by applying the Default Formatting, that is, removing manual formatting, I conclude that it has something to do with manual formatting.

2) Editing the style using the Styles & Formatting window will affect all the text that uses that style in the document if the style has not been overridden with manual formatting. That is why I suggest that you set all of the text to have Default Formatting and the edit the styles.

I still do not understand. I took mys testbullets1.odp file and went to slide 7. I looked at Styles, and I took a screenshot Then I put the cursor before "Connecticut" and took a screenshot. That line is indent level 2. Then I entered <shift tab>, and the indent level increased, with the ">>" bullet character. I took the "post" screenshot. According to the "Styles" screenshot, the ">>" is at indent level 5. What is the "Styles" window telling me?

Here is what I see. I go to slide 7, place the cursor before Connecticut, and press Shift + Tab. The text moves rightward and has >> as a bullet. In the upper right of the picture, you can see the Styles & Formatting pane of the sidebar and the style is Outline 1. If I then select Format -> Default Formatting, the text moves to the left margin and has a round bullet. As shown in the first image of your last post, that is the default formatting of Outline 1.

I am assuming that my formatting is corrupted throughout the file. How do I go back to "default formatting" on each slide? Do I select all of the text in each slide and then Format --> Default Formatting? Thanks.

bsfinkel wrote: ↑Sun Sep 24, 2023 5:19 pm Do I select all of the text in each slide and then Format --> Default Formatting?

Yes. You can the adjust the styles to achieve the formatting you want.

I went to the first slide in my real presentation; it has two bullets. I highlighted the text and did Default Formatting. Both bullets disappeared. I am confused. What do I have to do before I do Default Formatting to set up the bullets the way I want it? Maybe I am missing something, but this all seems not to be intuitive. Maybe I need a pointer to a help web page that discusses bullets. Thanks.

After applying the Default Formatting, you should apply the Outline 1 style. That should have a bullet. If you don't like how the style looks, right click on Outline 1 in the Styles & Formatting window and select Modify. Using the two tabs labeled Bullets and Customize, you can adjust the appearance.

bsfinkel wrote: ↑Tue Sep 26, 2023 9:02 pm Maybe I need a pointer to a help web page that discusses bullets.

I provided that a month ago; see below. I am done contributing to this topic. Bye.

MrProgrammer wrote: ↑Wed Aug 23, 2023 5:27 pm With your attachment I find that the Promote and Demote buttons on the Text Formatting toolbar are easy to use. If you don't have that enabled use View → Toolbars → Text Formatting.
Impress Guide Chapter 3: Creating bulleted and numbered lists

If this solved your problem please go to your first post use the Edit ☐ button and add [Solved] to the start of the Subject field. Select the green checkmark icon at the same time.