[Solved] Single Border Around Multiple Paragraphs

[kenmorgan]

I have a bulleted list and several unbulleted lines under each bulleted line. There is an "Enter" or "Return" after each line. I want to put a single border around the entire list. When I go to Format -> Paragraph -> Borders, it puts a separate border around each individual line. Is there a way of doing what I want?

Thanks.

[foamerace]

Put your list into a 1x1 table

[kenmorgan]

How simple! I stand sufficiently embarrassed.

Thanks.

[acknak]

The paragraph borders should also work, just make sure the "merge with next paragraph" option is ON (checked).

[kenmorgan]

I tried that; it did not work. Each bulleted line received a its own border (box), and each set of lines following a bulleted line received a separate box.

I'm wondering: could there be a difference between OpenOffice and LibreOffice on this issue? I'm also embarrassed to say that I now have LibreOffice on my system, though not really by choice. I use Fedora Linux, and all of a sudden I discovered a new update of Fedora had LO instead of OO. But I couldn't see any difference, so I came to this forum because I've been coming to this forum for years!

[acknak]

There could be a difference with LibO, but if it is, then it sounds like a problem with LibO. The paragraph borders have worked this way in OOo for a long time.

I think most Linux distros are going to go with LibO; if that's what your distro supplies, that's what I recommend using. We try to support all flavors of OOo here.

It would help resolve the different behavior if you can take a minute and attach a small sample document that shows the problem. You can use the "Upload Attachment" link (below the message entry area after you click "POST REPLY"). For tips on posting large or confidential documents, see: [Forum] How to attach a document here

[kenmorgan]

Thanks, Acknak. I'd like to pursue this issue also. I've attached an odt file containing the text I wanted to enclose in a border. Hope the upload works. There's nothing personal or private in it. It's part of a book I'm working on.

[RoryOF]

Using OOo 3.3 on Ubuntu 11.04, I selected the text and tried /Table /Insert. This put the text into multiple cells. I then selected the entire table by click on top left corner and chose /Table /Merge Cells and everything went into one large cell and I adjusted the borders from the floating Table toolbar.

Paragraph borders didn't work, as acknak had earlier suggested it might. Each line was bordered and the borders were indented. Merge with next paragraph grouped some of the lines together, but not all.

[Bill]

The paragraph borders don't work because the directly applied indents are different for the bulleted and non-bulleted paragraphs even though they have the same paragraph style. If the direct formatting is removed and the correct indents are set in the paragraph style, the paragraph borders will work.

[acknak]

Ahh, good catch, Bill. I forgot that the paragraphs have to have the same shape in order for the borders to merge.

[kenmorgan]

I didn't find Bill's note quite accurate. First, my original text that I uploaded does not have "the same paragraph style" throughout. If you highlight the whole block and look at Format -> Paragraph -> Indents and Spacing, the "indent" section has three blanks precisely because there are multiple paragraph styles set. Second, I assume by "direct formating" Bill meant the tabs I used. So I removed them and did everything with Format -> Paragraph -> Indents and Spacing to create the indents I needed for the lines between the bullted lines, as Bill suggested. That of course still results in multiple borders because again there are multiple paragraph styles set. The only way I found to get a single border around the whole block was to have the same indent and spacing specificaions for the whole block. But that destroys the spacing I needed.

Therefore, the conclusion seems to be that the only way to do what I want is the 1x1 table.

[Bill]

I used a different method for setting the spacing. I deleted those empty paragraphs at the top and bottom, set the border in the paragraph style used for the remaining paragraphs, then set the top and bottom border spacing in the paragraph style.

[acknak]

The problem is that your paragraphs have different indents.

Put the cursor in the first pp and watch the left indent markers on the ruler change as you move the cursor through your paragraphs. Borders are drawn at the paragraph margins, so paragraphs with different margins can't combine borders. It seems maybe this could be handled better, but there it is.

If you:
1) Put the cursor at the far left of the first (bulleted) paragraph and press Shift+tab (to remove the list indent)
2) Repeat #1 for the second bulleted paragraph
3) Select all eight paragraphs
4) Apply the box border
You get what you want.

It might be possible to do this with your example, but I don't see any straightforward way to get the formatting you want and keep the left margins the same throughout. In this particular case, using the table is far simpler.

Edit: PS:

I mean formatting without resorting to manually breaking and aligning the items with extra spaces and so forth.

[Bill]

I didn't find Bill's note quite accurate. First, my original text that I uploaded does not have "the same paragraph style" throughout. If you highlight the whole block and look at Format -> Paragraph -> Indents and Spacing, the "indent" section has three blanks precisely because there are multiple paragraph styles set.

The boxes under Indent are blank, not because there are multiple paragraph styles, but because the settings that go in those boxes are not the same in all selected paragraphs. Highlight all of the paragraphs that don't have bullets and check Format > Paragraph > Indents and Spacing. The boxes aren't blank even though there are 4 different paragraph styles. The boxes aren't blank because the indent settings are the same in all selected paragraphs.

Second, I assume by "direct formating" Bill meant the tabs I used.

Tabs aren't direct formatting. Direct formatting is a setting that overrides a setting specified in a style. Tabs just move text, they don't override a setting in a style.

So I removed them and did everything with Format -> Paragraph -> Indents and Spacing...

That is direct formatting. Changing the Indents and Spacing with Format > Paragraph > Indents and Spacing overrides the Indents and Spacing setting in the paragraph style.

... to create the indents I needed for the lines between the bullted lines, as Bill suggested. That of course still results in multiple borders because again there are multiple paragraph styles set.

Multiple paragraph styles don't result in multiple borders unless the indents are different in the paragraphs.

The only way I found to get a single border around the whole block was to have the same indent and spacing specificaions for the whole block. But that destroys the spacing I needed.

Different spacing doesn't result in multiple borders. Only different indent settings result in multiple borders.

Therefore, the conclusion seems to be that the only way to do what I want is the 1x1 table.

Here's another example using direct formatting to fix the indents and add the border. No paragraphs were removed, no spacing was changed, no paragraph styles were changed.

[BobRodes]

It might be worth mentioning that I first tried to "manually" put a border around multiple paragraphs, by putting a border on the top and two sides of the first one, the bottom and two sides of the last one, and the just the two sides in the middle paragraphs. (I assumed that putting a border around all four sides for each paragraph would put horizontal lines between each paragraph, which I didn't want.) This works fine, until you add spacing between the paragraphs at which point little gaps sometimes appear in the border. I found this post when trying to fix those gaps, not understanding what "merge with next paragraph" meant. Of course, the right way to do this is to put a border around all four sides for each paragraph, and make sure that "merge with next paragraph" is checked, as the other posts have mentioned.

[John_Ha]

My workaround for this is "Don't use automatic bullets - insert them manually instead".

Instead, go Insert > Special character ..., and find the large (or small) bullets and place them as characters, using tabs and spaces to get the layout you want. The Paragraph border now goes round the lines with the bullets as well.

A second trick is to place the automatic bulleted list, or anything else causing the break in the border, inside a borderless Frame (Insert > Frame ...) as the Paragraph border goes round the text and the frame, irrespective of the frame's contents. The Frame "insulates" its contents from the page on which it sits.

Borderless frame containing a bulleted list, with the Paragraph border set to red

[suzanwebb]

I have a work-around for placing a border around multiple paragraphs in Word.

First, if you have used a bulleted or numbered list or any other kind of indentation, you will need to decrease the indent to line up on the outside left margin of the page.
Otherwise, your border line will not be continuous.
Then proceed as follows:
If you are using a title, select the title text only.
Go to borders, and apply Top Border.
If you have no title text, select the entire first paragraph only, and apply Top Border.
Now select all of the text below the title text, or first paragraph that you want included in your bordered box, and apply Right and Left Borders.
Finally, select the entire last sentence only, and apply the Bottom Border.
Voila! You now have a border around multiple paragraphs.

[bishop12]

1. Highlight multiple paragraphs or bulleted lists.
2. Insert / Text Box