Writer Guide 7.5

Chapter 4,
Formatting Text

CopyrightThis document is Copyright © 2023 by the LibreOffice Documentation Team. Contributors arelisted below. You may distribute it and/or modify it under the terms of either the GNU General
Public License (https://www.gnu.org/licenses/gpl.html), version 3 or later, or the Creative
Commons Attribution License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), version 4.0 or later.
All trademarks within this guide belong to their legitimate owners.

Contributors
To this edition
Jean Hollis Weber

Kees Kriek

To previous editions
Jean Hollis Weber
Bruce Byfield
Ron Faile Jr.

Kees Kriek
Hazel Russman
Shravani Bellapukonda

Gillian Polack
John M. Długosz
John A. Smith

Feedback
Please direct any comments or suggestions about this document to the Documentation Team’s
forum at https://community.documentfoundation.org/c/documentation/loguides/ (registration isrequired) or send an email to: loguides@community.documentfoundation.org. Emails sent to theforum are moderated.

Note
Everything you post to a forum, including your email address and any other personal
information that is written in the message, is publicly archived and cannot be deleted.

Publication date and software version
Published February 2023. Based on LibreOffice 7.5.

Using LibreOffice on macOS
Some keystrokes and menu items are different on macOS from those used in Windows andLinux. The table below gives some common substitutions for the instructions in this document.
For a detailed list, see the application Help.
Windows or LinuxmacOS equivalent

EffectTools > Options
menu selection

LibreOffice > Preferences

Access setup options

Right-click

Control+click or right-click
depending on computer setup

Open a context menu

Ctrl (Control)⌘ (Command)

Used with other keys

Alt

⌥ (Option) or Alt, depending on
keyboard

Used with other keys

F11

⌘+T

Open Styles deck in Sidebar

Documentation for LibreOffice is available at https://documentation.libreoffice.org/en/Contents
Copyright..........................................................................................................................2
Contributors................................................................................................................................2
Feedback....................................................................................................................................2
Publication date and software version........................................................................................2
Using LibreOffice on macOS......................................................................................................2

Introduction......................................................................................................................4
Formatting: direct (manual) or styles..........................................................................................4
Using styles is recommended.....................................................................................................4
Removing manual formatting......................................................................................................4

Formatting paragraphs using styles..............................................................................5
Formatting paragraphs directly......................................................................................5
Formatting toolbar.......................................................................................................................5
Sidebar Properties deck..............................................................................................................5
Alignment options.......................................................................................................................6
Line and paragraph spacing.......................................................................................................7
Paragraph indentation.................................................................................................................9Paragraph background color.......................................................................................................9
Settings on the Paragraph dialog..............................................................................................10
Borders.................................................................................................................................10
Drop caps.............................................................................................................................11
Area......................................................................................................................................11
Transparency........................................................................................................................11
Text Flow..............................................................................................................................11
Outline & List........................................................................................................................12
Setting tab stops and indents....................................................................................................13
Changing the default tab stop interval......................................................................................13
Changing measurement units for tab stops and rulers.............................................................14

Formatting characters using styles.............................................................................14
Formatting characters directly.....................................................................................14
Font name, size, and effects.....................................................................................................15
Settings on the Character dialog...............................................................................................16
Font and Font Effects...........................................................................................................17
Position................................................................................................................................18
Hyperlink..............................................................................................................................18
Highlighting..........................................................................................................................19
Borders.................................................................................................................................19

Formatting lists using styles........................................................................................19
Formatting lists directly................................................................................................ 20
Using the Bullets and Numbering toolbar.................................................................................20
Using the Bullets and Numbering palettes on the Sidebar.......................................................21
Using the Bullets and Numbering dialog...................................................................................21

Autoformatting............................................................................................................... 22

Chapter 4, Formatting Text | 3

Introduction
This chapter covers the basics of formatting text in Writer, the word-processing component ofLibreOffice:•Formatting paragraphs and characters•

Using autoformatting•

Creating unordered, ordered, and outline lists

It assumes that you are familiar with the text techniques described in Chapter 2, Working with
Text: Basics and Chapter 3, Working with Text: Advanced.
We recommend that you also follow the suggestions in Chapter 20, Customizing Writer, about
displaying formatting aids, such as end-of-paragraph marks, and selecting other setup options.
Page formatting is covered in Chapters 5 and 6.

Formatting: direct (manual) or styles
There are two basic ways to format text:
Direct (or Manual) formatting
Applies formatting directly to specific paragraphs, characters, pages, frames, lists, ortables. For example, you can select a word, then click on a button on the Formatting
toolbar to format the text as bold or italics.
StylesBundles formatting options under one name. For example, a paragraph style defines
numerous settings for options such as font type and size, whether paragraphs should beindented, the space between lines, how paragraphs should be aligned on the page, andmany others.

Using styles is recommended
Writer is a style-based program. Because styles apply whole groups of formats at the same time,they enable you to easily format a document consistently and to change the formatting of an
entire document with minimal effort. Therefore, the use of paragraph and character styles ishighly recommended.
In addition, styles are used by LibreOffice for many processes, even if you are not aware of them.
For example, Writer relies on heading styles (or other styles you specify) when it compiles a tableof contents.
For information on styles and how to use them, see Chapters 8 and 9 in this book.
Applying styles is quick and easy using the Styles deck of the Sidebar.

Removing manual formatting
Note
Manual formatting overrides styles, and you cannot get rid of the manual formatting
by applying a style to it.
To remove manual formatting, select the text and choose Format > Clear Direct Formatting on
the Menu bar, or right-click and choose Clear Direct Formatting on the context menu, or click
the Clear Direct Formatting icon on the Formatting toolbar, or press Ctrl+M on the keyboard.

4 | Chapter 4, Formatting Text

Formatting paragraphs using styles
Styles can be applied to paragraphs in several ways; see Chapter 8, Introduction to Styles:•

Set Paragraph Style drop-down list at the left end of the Formatting toolbar and theFormatting (Styles) toolbar•

Set Paragraph Style drop-down list at the top of the Properties deck of the Sidebar•

Paragraph Styles tab of the Styles deck on the Sidebar•

Styles menu on the Menu Bar (limited to common styles)•

Keyboard shortcuts Ctrl+1 to Ctrl+5 (paragraph styles Heading 1 to Heading 5)•

Formatting (Styles) toolbar using View > Toolbars > Formatting (Styles); see Figure 1.

Figure 1: Formatting (Styles) toolbar

Formatting paragraphs directly
You can apply many formats to paragraphs using the icons on the Formatting toolbar and on the
Paragraph panel of the Sidebar’s Properties deck (View > Sidebar) or commands on the Format
menu on the Menu bar. Other formatting options are provided in the Paragraph dialog (page 10).

Formatting toolbar
On the Formatting toolbar, the icons and formats include:•

Set Paragraph Style (drop-down list)•

Align Left, Align Center, Align Right, Justified•

Align Top, Center Vertically, Align Bottom•

Toggle Unordered List (with a palette of bullet types)•

Toggle Ordered List (with a palette of numbering types)•

Select Outline Format (with a palette of outline types)•

Increase Paragraph Spacing, Decrease Paragraph Spacing•

Increase Indent, Decrease Indent, Hanging Indent•

Paragraph (to open the Paragraph dialog)•

Set Line Spacing (choose from 1, 1.15, 1.5, 2, or custom spacing)

Not all toolbar icons are visible in a standard installation, but you can customize the toolbar toinclude those you use regularly; see Chapter 1, Introducing Writer.

Sidebar Properties deck
The Sidebar Properties deck (Figure 2) includes panels for applying styles, manually formatting
characters, and manually formatting paragraphs. click the expansion symbol (+ or triangle) toopen the panels if necessary.
Style panel
Includes the Set Paragraph Style drop-down list and icons for Clone Formatting, Update
Selected Style, and New Style from Selection. These tools are described in Chapter 8,Introduction to Styles.

Formatting paragraphs directly | 5

Character panel
See Figure 16 on page 15 and the description starting on page 14.
Paragraph panel
Contains most of the formatting controls, including several that are not found on theFormatting toolbar. Clicking the down-arrow by a button opens the control for further
choices, such as fixed line spacing or color palette.
Each panel’s title bar has a More Options icon on the right, which opens the relevant dialog(Paragraph Style, Character, or Paragraph) containing additional settings. Changing the values ofany of these settings affects only the paragraph where the cursor is located, or several
paragraphs if more than one are selected. If you wish to change the values for many paragraphsof that type, you should use a paragraph style.

1
2
3
4
5
6
7

Align Left
Align Center
Align Right
JustifiedToggle Unordered List
Toggle Ordered List
No List

8
9
10
11
12
13
14

Background Color
Increase Paragraph Spacing
Decrease Paragraph Spacing
Increase Indent
Decrease Indent
Hanging Indent
Above Paragraph Spacing

15
16
17
18
19
20

Below Paragraph Spacing
Before Text Indent
After Text IndentFirst Line Indent
Set Line Spacing
More Options – opens
relevant dialog

Figure 2: Paragraph panel of the Properties deck in the Sidebar

Alignment options
You can use the icons labelled 1–4 in Figure 2 to choose the alignment of a paragraph: Left,
Right, Centered, or Justified. Figure 3 shows examples of the alignment options applied to text.

Figure 3: Text alignment options

6 | Chapter 4, Formatting Text

When using justified text, the last line is by default aligned to the left. However, you can also alignthe last line to the center of the paragraph area or justify it so that spaces are increased between
the words in order to fill the whole line. If you select the Expand single word option, thenwhenever the last line of a justified paragraph consists of a single word, this word is stretched byinserting spaces between characters so that it occupies the full length of the line.
Figure 4 shows an example of the effect obtained when choosing each of these options for atypical text font. In most cases, leave the setting on the default (left-aligned); but for somedramatic purposes (such as a very large font on a poster), you might prefer one of the otherchoices.

Figure 4: Examples of choices for the last line of a justified paragraph
These options are controlled in the Alignment tab of the Paragraph dialog (Figure 5), reached bychoosing Format > Paragraph on the Menu bar, or by right-clicking in the paragraph andselecting Paragraph in the context menu, or by clicking the More Options button on the
Paragraph panel in the Properties deck of the Sidebar.

Figure 5: Options for the last line of a justified paragraphLine and paragraph spacing
Set Line spacing (icon 19, Figure 2) refers to the distance from one baseline (the imaginary line
at the bottom of a letter like “n” or “m”) to the next baseline. It is determined by the size of the
font, as illustrated in Figure 6.

Formatting paragraphs directly | 7

The Line Spacing submenu is shown in Figure 7. Here you can choose among standard
spacings or define a custom value: Proportional (for example, 110%), At least (the amountspecified in the Value box), Leading, or Fixed. To see the differences between these choices, doa few sample paragraphs and change the selections.

Figure 6: Line spacing is the distance between two baselines

Note
All options except Fixed or At Least use the font’s default. These two options allow
you to set your own spacing, which is especially useful at small font sizes to increase
readability.

Figure 7: Line spacing submenu

8 | Chapter 4, Formatting Text

Paragraph spacing refers to the vertical spacing between one paragraph and the paragraphs
above and below it. As shown in Figure 2, the current values are shown in the Above ParagraphSpacing box (14) and the Below Paragraph Spacing box (15). You can change either or both ofthese settings independently.

Tip
Paragraph spacing is often used in computer documentation, such as this book.
Paragraph indentation (see next topic) is more commonly used in other documents.
For good design, use paragraph spacing or paragraph indentation, never both.

Paragraph indentation
You can use the icons labelled 11, 12, and 32 in Figure 2 to increase the amount of space toleave between the left and right page margins and the paragraph.
The distances are determined by settings 16 (Before Text Indent; that is, from the left margin), 17(After Text Indent; that is, from the right margin), and 18 (First Line Indent, which indents the firstline from the left margin, or from the specified indentation from the margin).
Button 13, Hanging Indent, leaves the first line at the left margin (or the specified indentation fromthe margin) and indents all the other lines of the paragraph by the amount specified by button 18
or in the Paragraph dialog.

Note
In right-to-left languages, the behavior of the Before Text and After Text indents is the
opposite: “before” is on the right margin; “after” is on the left margin.

Paragraph background color
Click the button labeled 8 in Figure 2 to open a palette from which you can choose a color for the
background of the paragraph. In this palette (Figure 8), you can also click Custom Color to open
the Pick a Color dialog, where you can define new colors to be added to the palette.

Note
If the paragraph has been indented from the right or left margin, the backgroundcolor is not applied to the area of the indent. To extend the color to the margin, use aframe, table, or other method; see Chapter 6, Formatting Pages: Advanced.

Formatting paragraphs directly | 9

Figure 8: Selecting a background color for a paragraphSettings on the Paragraph dialog
The paragraph dialog includes several more tabs: Tabs (covered in “Setting tab stops andindents” on page 13), Borders, Drop Caps, Area (more choices than just color), Transparency,
Text Flow, and Outline & List. For more information, see Chapter 8, Introduction to Styles, andChapter 9, Working with Styles.

Borders
Borders are useful for setting a paragraph off from the surrounding text, to include digressions
from the main topic. For example, the Tips, Notes, and Cautions in this book use a border below
the text.

Figure 9: Options for paragraph borders

10 | Chapter 4, Formatting Text

You can add borders to any combination of top, bottom, and sides of paragraphs. You canchoose the style (solid, dotted, dashed, doubled), width, and color of the lines; these choices
apply to all borders on a paragraph. The spacing from each line to the paragraph’s contents canbe set individually for the top, bottom, left, and right.
On the Borders tab of the Paragraph dialog (Figure 9), you can also choose to apply a shadow toa paragraph; “distance” refers to the width of the shadow.
Select the Merge with next paragraph option to suppress top or bottom lines when the indent,
border, and shadow styles of the next paragraph are the same as the current paragraph.

Drop caps
Drop capitals are enlarged letters that mark the start of a new chapter or section. To improveconsistency, they are best set up in a paragraph style that you apply to the relevant paragraphs.
See Chapter 9, Working with Styles, for details.

Area
Area (also called “fill” and “background” in some parts of LibreOffice) includes five types of fill(background): color, gradient, image, pattern, and hatching. Select a fill type to display the
choices available for that type. These choices are covered in more detail in Chapter 5,
Formatting Pages: Basics. You can also create your own fills.

Figure 10: Types of fill for paragraph backgrounds

Transparency
Transparency affects the paragraph’s background. It is useful for creating watermarks andmaking colors or images more pale (for more contrast with the text). The available choices areshown in Chapter 5, Formatting Pages: Basics, and are covered in detail in the Draw Guide.

Text Flow
The Text Flow tab (Figure 11) has several sections. Hyphenation is covered in Chapter 2,
Working with Text: Basics, and breaks are covered in Chapter 5, Formatting Pages: Basics.
In the Options section, you can specify how paragraphs are treated at the bottom of a page. Do
not split paragraph and Keep with next paragraph should be self-explanatory. The other options
allow you to avoid a single line at the bottom of a page (called an orphan) or a single line at the
top of a page (a widow).

Formatting paragraphs directly | 11

Figure 11: Options for text flow: hyphenation, breaks, and keeping text together

Outline & List
The Outline & List tab in the Paragraph dialog provides options for choosing the outline level ofthe paragraph and its list style (if any). If the paragraph is part of an ordered list, you can specify
that list numbering restarts at the paragraph, and what number to restart with.
This tab does not cover the same functions as the Chapter Numbering dialog (Tools > Chapter
Numbering), but the Outline level selected here is related to the outline defined there. See
Chapter 8, Introduction to Styles, and Chapter 9, Working with Styles, for a discussion of thesefeatures. Line numbering is discussed in Chapter 3, Working with Text: Advanced.

Figure 12: Selecting outline level, paragraph numbering, and line numbering

12 | Chapter 4, Formatting Text

Setting tab stops and indents
The horizontal ruler shows the tab stops. Any tab stops that you have defined will overwrite thedefault tab stops. Tab settings affect indentation of full paragraphs (using the Increase Indentand Decrease Indent icons on the Formatting toolbar or the Paragraph panel of the Properties
deck in the Sidebar) as well as indentation of parts of a paragraph (by pressing the Tab key on
the keyboard).

Tip
Many indents, for example at the beginning of a paragraph, can be set in theparagraph style, so you don’t need to use the Tab key to activate them.
Using the default tab spacing can cause formatting problems if you share documents with otherpeople. If you use the default tab spacing and then send the document to someone else who haschosen a different default tab spacing, tabbed material will change to use the other person’s
settings. Instead of using the defaults, define your own tab settings, as described in this section.
To define indents and tab settings for one or more selected paragraphs, right-click a paragraphand choose Paragraph to open the Paragraph dialog; then select either the Tabs tab (Figure 13)
or the Indents & Spacing tab of the dialog. Alternatively, you can double-click the horizontal ruler
to open the Indents & Spacing tab of the Paragraph dialog. A better strategy is to define tabs forthe paragraph style. Refer to Chapters 8 and 9 for more about paragraph styles.

Figure 13: Specifying tab stops and fill characters

Tip
Using tabs to space out material on a page is not recommended. Depending on what
you are trying to accomplish, a table or frame is usually a better choice.

Changing the default tab stop interval
CautionAny changes to the default tab setting will affect the existing default tab stops in any
document you open afterward, as well as tab stops you insert after making thechange.
To set the measurement unit and the spacing of default tab stop intervals, go to Tools > Options> LibreOffice Writer > General.

Formatting paragraphs directly | 13

Figure 14: Selecting a default tab stop interval

Changing measurement units for tab stops and rulers
You can also set or change the measurement unit for rulers in the current document by rightclicking on the ruler to open a list of units, as shown in Figure 15 for the horizontal ruler. Click oneof them to change the ruler to that unit. The selected setting applies only to that ruler.

Figure 15: Changing the measurement unit for a ruler

Formatting characters using styles
To apply a character style, highlight the characters or words and apply the selected characterstyle from any of the following:•

Character Styles tab of the Styles deck on the Sidebar•

Styles menu on the Menu bar (limited)•

Right-click context menu (limited)•

Formatting (Styles) toolbar (Figure 1)

For more about character styles, refer to Chapter 8, Introduction to Styles, and Chapter 9,
Working with Styles.

Formatting characters directly
You can apply many formats to characters using the icons on the Formatting toolbar and by using
the Characters panel of the Properties deck of the Sidebar. Not all toolbar icons are visible in astandard installation, but you can customize the toolbar to include those you use regularly; see
Chapter 1, Introducing Writer. These formats include:•

Font Name, Font Size•

Bold, Italic, Underline, Double Underline, Overline, Strikethrough, Outline•

Superscript, Subscript•

Uppercase, Lowercase•

Increase Font Size, Decrease Font Size•

Font Color (with a palette of colors)•

Background Color (with a palette of colors)•

Character Highlighting Color (with a palette of colors)

14 | Chapter 4, Formatting Text

To change the characteristics of an entire paragraph (for example the font name, size, or color),and for many other purposes, it is highly recommended that you use styles rather than manuallyformatting characters. For information on styles and how to use them, see Chapters 8 and 9.
Applying styles is quick and easy using the Styles deck of the Sidebar.
Figure 16 shows the Character panel in the Properties deck of the Sidebar. Clicking the downarrow next to a button opens the control for further choices, such as font color or character
spacing. The appearance of the icons may vary with your operating system and the selection of
icon size and style in Tools > Options > LibreOffice > View.
Click the More Options button (16) to open the Character dialog, which includes more choices
than are available through the Formatting toolbar or the Sidebar.

Note
Just as direct paragraph formatting overrides the current paragraph style, applying
direct character formatting to characters overrides the current character styleformatting.

Font name, size, and effects
To change the font name and size used for selected characters, you can use the drop-downmenus on the Formatting toolbar, the Character panel in the Sidebar, or the Character dialog.
Similarly, you can apply bold, italics, underline, strikethrough, or shadow effects to selectedcharacters on the Formatting toolbar, the Character panel in the Sidebar, or the Character dialog.
The Underline effect has a drop-down menu of line types (Figure 17).
The Formatting toolbar includes other effects that are not in the Sidebar: overline and double
underline; these icons may not be visible in a default installation.
To choose the color of the font or its highlighting, open the appropriate color palette (10 or 11;
similar to the one shown in Figure 8). The highlighting selection over-rides any background colorthat has been applied to the paragraph.

1
2
3
4
5

Font Name
Font Size
Bold
ItalicUnderline

6
7
8
9
10

StrikethroughToggle Shadow
Increase Font Size
Decrease Font Size
Font Color

11 Highlight Color
12 Clear Direct Formatting
13 Set Character Spacing
14 Superscript
15 Subscript
16 More Options – opens Character dialog
Figure 16: Character panel in the Properties deck of the Sidebar

Formatting characters directly | 15

Figure 17: Selecting the line
style for the Underline effectTo increase or decrease the font size of selected characters, you can click the relevant icons on
the Formatting toolbar or the Character panel on the Sidebar; however, you have no control over
the amount of the increase or decrease, which is usually 2 points. For finer control, use the Font
Size drop-down list instead.
To change characters into subscripts or superscripts (using the default values for size andposition), select them and click the relevant icons on the Formatting toolbar or the Character
panel in the Sidebar. For more control, use the Character dialog.
To quickly change the spacing between characters, select them and choose from theCharacter Spacing drop-down menu in the Sidebar (Figure 18).

Figure 18: Changing character spacing

Settings on the Character dialog
The Character dialog has six tabs, described in this section. Most of these tabs are the same as
the tabs on the Character Style dialog (see Chapter 9, Working with Styles).

16 | Chapter 4, Formatting Text

Figure 19: Font tab of the Character dialog

Font and Font Effects
On the Font tab (Figure 19), you can specify the font’s family, style (choices vary with the font,
but typically include regular, bold, and italic), and size; and the language for the paragraph, if it
differs from the language for the document. The box at the bottom shows a preview of theselections.
On the Font Effects tab (Figure 20), you can choose the color of the font and a range of effects,
many of which are not suitable for formal documents. Figures 21 and 22 show the choices insome of the drop-down lists.

Figure 20: Font Effects tab of the Character dialog

Formatting characters directly | 17

Figure 21: Choices for Case effectFigure 22: Choices for strikethrough and relief

Position
The Position tab (Figure 23) collects the options that affect the position of text on the page. Thistab is divided into three sections: Position, Rotation/Scaling, and Spacing.
The Position section controls the appearance of superscripts and subscripts.
The Rotation/Scaling section controls the rotation of the characters. The Scale width box controls
the percentage of the font width by which to compress or stretch the rotated text.
The Spacing section controls the spacing between individual characters. The Pair Kerning option(selected by default) automatically adjusts the character spacing for specific letter combinations.
Pair Kerning is only available for certain font types and, for printed documents, works only if yourprinter supports it.

Figure 23: Position tab of the Character dialog

Hyperlink
The Hyperlink tab of the Character dialog is an alternative to using the Hyperlink dialog (Insert >Hyperlink). It includes fewer choices and is specifically for text (not button) links. Hyperlinks canbe to other parts of the same document, to other documents, or to web pages.

18 | Chapter 4, Formatting Text

Figure 24: Hyperlink tab of the Character dialog
When LibreOffice recognizes a string of characters that may be a URL (internet address), it
replaces the characters with a hyperlink and formats the hyperlink as specified in the Internet
Link character style. On this dialog you can choose a different character style (if the style has
been defined previously) or replace the URL with other text. To turn off this feature, choose Tools> AutoCorrect > AutoCorrect Options, go to the Options tab and deselect URL Recognition.
For more about creating and editing hyperlinks, see the Help system or the Getting Started
Guide.

Highlighting
The Highlighting tab controls the background color for selected characters. It is similar to theHighlighting drop-down palette.

Borders
The Borders tab is the same as the Borders tab on the Paragraph dialog; see page 10.

Formatting lists using styles
Whenever possible, use paragraph styles for creating unordered (bulleted) and ordered(numbered) lists. Writer comes with two sets of paragraph styles for this purpose. However, thesestyles do not include options for settings such as the type of bullet or position of numbers. Thosesettings come from list styles, which are intended to be attached to paragraph styles. It is
recommended to use them together in these ways:•

Use paragraph styles List 1, List 2, List 3, and so on for creating unordered lists. Thesestyles use Bullet list styles.

•

Use paragraph styles Numbering 1, Numbering 2, Numbering 3, etc, for creating orderedlists. These styles use the list styles called Numbering 1, Numbering 2, etc.

With paragraph styles, you can easily create nested lists, in which list items have sub-items
under them, as in an outline. This requires specifying the settings for the additional levels. Onceyou have set up nested lists, you can readily change the hierarchy of an item. To demote an item
one level, position the cursor at the beginning of the line (after the bullet or number) and press
the Tab key. To promote an item one level, press Shift+Tab.
For more about creating lists using styles, see Chapters 8 (Introduction to Styles), 9 (Working
with Styles) and 12 (Lists).

Formatting lists using styles | 19

Formatting lists directly
You can directly format ordered or unordered lists in several ways:•

Use the Bullets and Numbering toolbar (Figure 25).

•

Use the Toggle Unordered List and Toggle Ordered List icons on the Formatting
toolbar, the Formatting (Styles) toolbar, or the Paragraph panel of the Properties deck of
the Sidebar (Figure 2).

•

Use the Bullets and Numbering dialog (Figures 27 and 28).

To produce a simple ordered or unordered list, select the paragraphs in the list and then click theappropriate icon on the Paragraph panel on the toolbar.

Tip
It is a matter of personal preference whether you type your information first, thenapply numbering/bullets or apply these as you type.

Note
Bullets and numbering applied in these ways cannot be removed with Format >Clear Direct Formatting on the Menu bar, or with the Clear Direct Formatting iconon the Formatting toolbar, or with Clear Direct Formatting in the context menu, orby using Ctrl+M. Rather, they are turned off or removed from selected text by toggling
the relevant icons on the Formatting toolbar or on the Sidebar Properties deck.

Using the Bullets and Numbering toolbar
You can create a nested list (where one or more list items has a sub-list under it, as in an outline)
by using the icons on the Bullets and Numbering toolbar (Figure 25). You can move items up or
down the list, create subpoints, change the style of bullets, add paragraphs without numbers orbullets (for list items that include more than one paragraph), and access the Bullets andNumbering dialog, which contains more detailed controls.
Use View > Toolbars > Bullets and Numbering to display the toolbar.

1 Demote One Level
2 Promote One Level
3 Demote One Level with
Subpoints
4 Promote One Level with
Subpoints

56
7
8Move Item Down
Move Item Up
Move Item Down with
Subpoints
Move Item Up with
Subpoints

9 Insert Unnumbered Entry
10 Toggle Restart Numbering
11 Add to List
12 Bullets and Numbering(opens the dialog)

Figure 25: Bullets and Numbering toolbar

Tip
You can use keyboard shortcuts to move paragraphs up or down the outline levels.
Place the cursor at the beginning of the numbered paragraph and press:
Tab: Down a level or Shift+Tab: Up a level

20 | Chapter 4, Formatting Text

Tip
To insert a tab stop at the beginning of a numbered paragraph (that is, after thenumber but before the text), press Ctrl+Tab.
If you create a nested list using the icons on the Bullets and Numbering toolbar, all the levels of
the list (up to 10) initially apply the same numbering (or bullet) format. To use a combination of
numbering formats and bullets when creating nested lists, you can:•Click in each list item and then select one of the choices in the drop-down palettes under
the Toggle Unordered List and Toggle Ordered List icons on the Formatting toolbar or theProperties deck of the Sidebar.

•

Use the Bullets and Numbering dialog.

A much better strategy is to define and apply a list style, as discussed in Chapter 12, Lists.

Using the Bullets and Numbering palettes on the Sidebar
On the Paragraph panel on the Properties deck of the Sidebar, click the arrow next to the Toggle
Unordered List control to open a palette of bullet styles or click the arrow next to the Toggle
Ordered List control to open a palette of numbering styles.
The selections on these palettes (Figure 26) can be used to create nested lists and access the
Bullets and Numbering dialog. The Sidebar does not include tools for promoting and demoting
items in the list, as found on the Bullets and Numbering toolbar.

Figure 26: Bullets and Numbering choices on the Properties deck of the Sidebar

Using the Bullets and Numbering dialog
The Bullets and Numbering dialog has six tabs. Four tabs provide pre-defined symbols andsequences to choose from: Unordered, Ordered, Outline (choose from eight standard outline
sequences), and Image (choose a bullet image). Two tabs provide detailed options for defining
your own lists: Position (Figure 27) and Customize (Figure 28). These are the same as the tabs
provided for list styles, discussed in Chapter 12, Lists.

Formatting lists directly | 21

Figure 27: Position tab of the Bullets and Numbering dialog

Figure 28: Customize tab of the Bullets and Numbering dialog

Autoformatting
You can set Writer to automatically format parts of a document according to the choices made on
the Options and Localized Options tabs of the AutoCorrect dialog (Tools > AutoCorrect >AutoCorrect Options). The Help describes each of these choices and how to activate theautoformats.

22 | Chapter 4, Formatting Text

Tip
If you notice unexpected formatting changes occurring in your document, this is agood place to look for the cause.
To automatically format the file according to the options you have set, choose Tools >AutoCorrect and select or deselect the items on the submenu.
While Typing
Automatically formats the document while you type.
Apply
Automatically formats the document.
Apply and Edit Changes
Automatically formats the file and then opens a dialog where you can accept or reject thechanges.
AutoCorrect Options
Opens the AutoCorrect dialog (Figures 29 and 30), where you can choose theautoformatting you want.
The Localized Options tab (Figure 29) controls the formatting of quotation marks andapostrophes (which look like a closing single quote). Most fonts include curly quotation marks(also known as “smart quotes”), but for some purposes (such as marking minutes and seconds oflatitude and longitude) you may wish to format them as straight quotes.
Straight quotes

Smart quotes

'' ""

‘’ “”

Figure 29: Autoformatting quotation marks

Autoformatting | 23

Tip
Most people keep the AutoCorrect setting for smart quotes and use the Special
Characters dialog to insert straight quotes when needed. See Chapter 2, Working
with Text: Basics.

Figure 30: Autoformatting choices on the Options tab

24 | Chapter 4, Formatting Text