[Solved] Apply paragraph styles with font search

[BasePlayer]

Hi everyone.

I have to put my hand up right away and admit to being a messy writer, so I don't use paragraph styles from the word go, and I know I should. Problem is (I'm only human) things start of as drafts, and then develop, and then get to the stage where you say, okay, this needs to be cleaned up.

What I'm working on has some paragraphs in TimesNewRoman, and some in Bookman Old Style. This might be because I have been importing sections that were written on a different device. I thought all I had to do was to identify the Style Name which had Bookman as the font, and then change the font in that style to Times. That's when I discovered that both paragraphs have the style name "Predeterminado" - which I think is "Default" (I'm working with a Spanish language version of Writer.)

It doesn't help that both fonts appear the same on screen.

So then I thought I could do a global search for characters in Bookman font, and manually change each the font in each paragraph where this occurs, only to discover that Bookman is not one of the font options in the attributes of text to search on.

I've been criticised on this forum before for not having done my homework, and I found this excellent tutorial.
https://openoffice-uni.org/openoffice-uni-en.pdf
Trouble is, it includes an exercise text file, and my computer won't let me download it. (I get: Unconfirmed 746182.crdownload)

Is there something simple I'm missing?

I'm attaching the two paragraphs in question.

Thanks,

K

[JeJe]

You can use the search replace dialog. It doesn't matter that Bookman Old Style isn't in the list of fonts - you can type it in yourself and search for it anyway.

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[JeJe]

PS the Bookman Old Style is direct formatting applied to the text of the whole paragraph. The paragraph font is default style/Times New Roman, but the direct formatting of Bookman Old Style overrides it.

[MrProgrammer]

Problem is (I'm only human) things start of as drafts, and then develop, and then get to the stage where you say, okay, this needs to be cleaned up.

Eventually you may learn that in the long run it takes less time to use styles right away, creating them as you need them. Cleanup of documents with a lot of direct formatting is often very difficult. In fact, I have seen many topics where the advice is to just clear all direct formatting and start afresh. Perhaps that is the case here too.

Trouble is, it includes an exercise text file, and my computer won't let me download it.

Downloading is something you do with your web browser. The method varies depending on which web browser you use. I can download the exercise text file with Safari:
• I open openoffice­-uni.org        Be sure to include the hyphen
• I right-click TXT and select Download linked file
This saves to my Downloads folder. If you use a different web browser your procedure may be different. Perhaps your anti-virus software is responsible for the trouble you're having.

202508221758.gif (34.37 KiB) Viewed 1165 times

If you can't get your web browser to do the download from openoffice­-uni.org, I've attached the download from my computer.

prax-en.txt

(81.88 KiB) Downloaded 15 times

What I'm working on has some paragraphs in TimesNewRoman, and some in Bookman Old Style. … It doesn't help that both fonts appear the same on screen. … Bookman is not one of the font options in the attributes of text to search on.

If Bookman Old Style isn't shown in the dialog, this suggests that this font isn't installed on your computer. It is impossible for OpenOffice to display text in a font which isn't installed. Instead it substitutes a different font which is installed. I don't know how OpenOffice chooses the replacement font. It it chooses Times New Roman, of course all the font appears to be the same.

If you really want to display Bookman Old Style you will have to install it. That is an operating system task. Use a web search to find a source for the font. Consult the documentation for your operating system to find the procedures for installing fonts. After you install the font, close and re-open OpenOffice so it can find the font.

Then I thought I could do a global search for characters in Bookman font, and manually change each the font in each paragraph where this occurs.

If you mean changing the font using Format → Character, no!! Stop using damned direct formatting. First create a style which uses the font you want. Use Edit → Find & Replace to ask the dialog to search for the text with the Bookman Old Style font. Use the Find All button to select that text. Then open Format → Styles and Formatting and double-click your style to apply it to everything that Find All has highlighted.. This replaces Bookman Old Style with the font from the style.

[BasePlayer]

Many thanks, guys and especially for sending me download. I mean to go through that carefully, because I don't find the use of styles at all intuitive.

[robleyd]

You might find useful some of the documentation for styles.

Introduction to Styles
Working with Styles

[BasePlayer]

This is very helpful. Thank you so much.