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NeoOffice :: View topic - NeoOffice writer and indentation
NeoOffice writer and indentation
 
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pieggi
Sentinel


Joined: Nov 21, 2005
Posts: 24

PostPosted: Mon Mar 30, 2009 2:59 am    Post subject: NeoOffice writer and indentation

Hello,
I sometimes need to use the indented paragraphs, like shown in the figure.
I do it by hand moving the triangles across the ruler, but I'd like to have the capability to set it from a GUI window, so that I can be more accurate with the measurements and have a better document layout. I can't find any option on the paragraph or page settings. Is there such option?

Thank you

edit:
to further clarify the words and composition of the attached picture: on the first line of each paragraph, between the text of the left and the text on the right there is a tab. No tabs on following paragraph lines.
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yoxi
Cipher


Joined: Sep 07, 2004
Posts: 1799
Location: Dawlish, Devon

PostPosted: Mon Mar 30, 2009 3:30 am    Post subject:

I see what you mean, it's like a scriptwriter format. I don't think there's a direct way to do this with paragraph/indent formatting in Writer, though other may know better.

My workaround in NeoOffice would be to use a 2-column table and make the borders invisible - that would give you a lot of control over column width, spacing etc.

I miss that fornatting functionality that WordPerfect had back in the day, a column-type that did exactly what you're after.

- padmavyuha
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pieggi
Sentinel


Joined: Nov 21, 2005
Posts: 24

PostPosted: Mon Mar 30, 2009 5:35 am    Post subject:

thank you yoxi.
I ruled out tables because they're hard to manage, too much overhead (cell spacing, layout, etcetera).
I got used to do it with word, where the indent can be set from paragraph properties window) and the management document is way easier (IMHO).

Hope somebody will annoounce that there is such capability Wink
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pluby
The Architect
The Architect


Joined: Jun 16, 2003
Posts: 11949

PostPosted: Mon Mar 30, 2009 7:27 am    Post subject:

I believe you can set the exact positions of tabs by putting highlighting all of text that you want to have the same tab settings and then selecting the Format :: Paragraph menu. In the dialog that appears, click on the Tabs tab to display the panel for editing tabs directly.

Does the Tabs panel provide what you are looking for?

Patrick
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yoxi
Cipher


Joined: Sep 07, 2004
Posts: 1799
Location: Dawlish, Devon

PostPosted: Mon Mar 30, 2009 8:42 am    Post subject:

Okay, played around with this a bit, here's the solution - let's assume that you want a 2cm tab/indent:

• set a tab stop at 2.00cm
• go to the Format::Paragraph dialogue
• on its Indents & Spacing tab, set Before Text to 2.00cm & First Line to -2.00cm
• type your text, putting a tab after the initial word/phrase
• in each paragraph, all lines after the first one will be indented by 2cm, matching the tab stop in the 1st line.

You can play around with what spacing you want after the initial word/phrase - just make sure all 3 values are the same (keeping First Line negative, of course Smile)

If you've already entered your text, select all (cmd-A) before setting the tab stop and the other values, then they'll apply to everything already on the page.

- padmavyuha (pleased with myself for figuring this out - it's something I can use too Smile)
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yoxi
Cipher


Joined: Sep 07, 2004
Posts: 1799
Location: Dawlish, Devon

PostPosted: Mon Mar 30, 2009 8:49 am    Post subject:

Oh, and if for some reason you want to add a line break within a text block that will still follow the indentation of the lines above it, use shift-Return.

I guess you could set the above paragraph formatting (including the tab stop) as a Paragraph Style, and then have it easily to hand whenever you want it, once you get it fine-tuned. I added a below-paragraph spacing in my version, here's the result:

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sardisson
Town Crier
Town Crier


Joined: Feb 01, 2004
Posts: 4588

PostPosted: Mon Mar 30, 2009 9:02 am    Post subject:

Something to add to the wiki?

Smokey

_________________
"[...] whether the duck drinks hot chocolate or coffee is irrelevant." -- ovvldc and sardisson in the NeoWiki
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Jim
Councilperson


Joined: Jun 21, 2003
Posts: 173
Location: Selmer, Tennessee

PostPosted: Mon Mar 30, 2009 11:41 am    Post subject:

There's no need for the shift-return if you set a "Following Paragraph" style to be indented 2 cm without first line indent. Doing that allows better control of spacing between paragraphs. Set the first style as, e.g., "Prompt" with a following style of "Prompt following."

This is also useful for transcripts, as well as for reports with many subsections.

_________________
Jim Plante
MacOS X 10.6.34, MacBook 2GHz C2Duo, 2gb, Neo 3.1.1 p 1
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yoxi
Cipher


Joined: Sep 07, 2004
Posts: 1799
Location: Dawlish, Devon

PostPosted: Mon Mar 30, 2009 12:51 pm    Post subject:

Good point - I just find it quicker to hit shift-return twice Smile but you're right, styles are good for control.
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pieggi
Sentinel


Joined: Nov 21, 2005
Posts: 24

PostPosted: Mon Mar 30, 2009 2:54 pm    Post subject:

Thank you for the solution.
I looked at the paragraph settings now (with the document as in the attached file of first post) and it shows the same settings as yoxi image. [my image indentation] It's at 2.04 cm though, that's why I wanted to have better accuracy. [edited]

The point is that I use it for the references/bibliography section, or other situations where this layout is desirable, but I don't generally use it in the entire document.

I agree that a wiki entry is desirable.

Thank you all

edit: I forgot to mention the shift+enter trick: I wasn't aware of that key combination and it's very nice! The only downside is that it justifies the entire line, and if there are few words it may have an undesirable effect (I generally use tabs+spaces to force the new word in a new line).
But it's definitely a great and useful thing to know.
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pieggi
Sentinel


Joined: Nov 21, 2005
Posts: 24

PostPosted: Mon Mar 30, 2009 3:21 pm    Post subject:

pluby wrote:
I believe you can set the exact positions of tabs by putting highlighting all of text that you want to have the same tab settings and then selecting the Format :: Paragraph menu. In the dialog that appears, click on the Tabs tab to display the panel for editing tabs directly.

Does the Tabs panel provide what you are looking for?

Patrick


That's a feature I never completely understood - where can I read more about the tabs functionality? (e.g, the differences between left and right)

Thank you
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yoxi
Cipher


Joined: Sep 07, 2004
Posts: 1799
Location: Dawlish, Devon

PostPosted: Mon Mar 30, 2009 3:21 pm    Post subject:

I see what you mean about shift-return linebreaks and fully justified text (I almost never use full justification, so I hadn't seen it do that).
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yoxi
Cipher


Joined: Sep 07, 2004
Posts: 1799
Location: Dawlish, Devon

PostPosted: Mon Mar 30, 2009 3:33 pm    Post subject:

pieggi wrote:
where can I read more about the tabs functionality? (e.g, the differences between left and right)


Look under Tab stops in Help (or your equivalent if you're using a different language package).

What aligns with a tab stop?
Left Tab - leftmost character of rest of line (until next tab stop)
Right Tab - rightmost character of rest of line (until next tab stop)
Centre/Center Tab - centre of rest of line (until next tab stop)
Decimal Tab - decimal point in rest of line (until next tab stop)

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