Line spacing on Writer

users
#1

I’m using LibreOffice Writer to write a novel and the line-spacing is all
messed up. Single, 1.5, double-spacing all on the same page.

I’ve tried Format-spacing, Windows-paragraph and everything else -- but
nothing works.

Can you please help me?

Thank you

#2

I'm using LibreOffice Writer to write a novel and the line-spacing is all messed up. Single, 1.5, double-spacing all on the same page.

There is nothing intrinsically wrong with that, of course: in another circumstance, you might well want such variation - even on a single page.

I've tried Format-spacing, Windows-paragraph and everything else -- but nothing works.

I don't recognise "Format-spacing" or "Windows-paragraph", but no matter.

What looks like double spacing may actually be single-line paragraphs interspersed with empty paragraphs. You can see if this is the case by modifying the text: does it flow naturally from line to line? In addition, go to View | Non-printing Characters (or the Non-printing Characters button in the Formatting toolbar, or press Ctrl+F10). This will show the paragraph and line breaks, if any.

Line spacing within a paragraph is a paragraph property as well as a paragraph style property, and what you see may be the result of either. Right-click in the paragraph and go to Paragraph... | Indents & Spacing | Line spacing. Is the rogue spacing set there? Now instead right-click in the paragraph and go to Edit Paragraph Style... | Indents & Spacing | Line spacing. Is the rogue spacing set there? Select your choice from the options in the drop-down menus.

The best way to control such properties is by using paragraph styles, but note that local paragraph formatting will override this. You may want to select all your material and use Format | Default Formatting to clear local formatting before applying styles or seeing their effect.

Different situations may apply to different parts of your page, of course. If you have inherited any of this material from elsewhere or have pasted it in yourself, there are other possibilities - but if you are writing a novel I very much hope that this is not the case!

Incidentally, don't worry unduly about formatting if you are currently *writing* your novel. Surely you will want to edit the text as you review your work, so you will want the formatting to be appropriate for your own on-screen reading? You can apply appropriate formatting later, when you are close to completing your work and contemplating printing it.

I trust this helps.

Brian Barker

#3

Go to "View > Non-Printer Characters". This will show the paragraph
breaks, etc.
Position the cursor within a paragraph or select (highlight) desired
paragraphs.
Open "Format > Paragraph" and go to the "Indents & Spacing Tab".
You can view and change spacing setting here.

#4

Bruce Hohl schreef op 06-08-16 om 20:39:

Go to "View > Non-Printer Characters". This will show the paragraph
breaks, etc.
Position the cursor within a paragraph or select (highlight) desired
paragraphs.
Open "Format > Paragraph" and go to the "Indents & Spacing Tab".
You can view and change spacing setting here.

I’m using LibreOffice Writer to write a novel and the line-spacing is all
messed up. Single, 1.5, double-spacing all on the same page.

I’ve tried Format-spacing, Windows-paragraph and everything else -- but
nothing works.

Can you please help me?

Thank you

What I do, is the following:

When I have imported a file from MSOffice and get problems like you are describing, I copy (Ctrl-C) the problematic paragraph, delete the problematic paragraph, make a new one with the desired paragraph style en paste the text with Ctrl-Shif-Alt-V. This way of pasting deletes all formatting from the text and accepts the style of the chosen paragraph. Later I delete al superfluous Windows styles that encumber the document.

I hope this helps; good luck.

Erik

#5

Bruce Hohl schreef op 06-08-16 om 20:39:

Go to "View > Non-Printer Characters". This will show the paragraph
breaks, etc.
Position the cursor within a paragraph or select (highlight) desired
paragraphs.
Open "Format > Paragraph" and go to the "Indents & Spacing Tab".
You can view and change spacing setting here.

I’m using LibreOffice Writer to write a novel and the line-spacing is all
messed up. Single, 1.5, double-spacing all on the same page.

I’ve tried Format-spacing, Windows-paragraph and everything else -- but
nothing works.

Can you please help me?

Thank you

What I do, is the following:

When I have imported a file from MSOffice and get problems like you are describing, I copy (Ctrl-C) the problematic paragraph, delete the problematic paragraph, make a new one with the desired paragraph style en paste the text with Ctrl-Shif-Alt-V. This way of pasting deletes all formatting from the text and accepts the style of the chosen paragraph. Later I delete al superfluous Windows styles that encumber the document.

I hope this helps; good luck.

Erik

#6

Bruce Hohl schreef op 06-08-16 om 20:39:

Go to "View > Non-Printer Characters". This will show the paragraph
breaks, etc.
Position the cursor within a paragraph or select (highlight) desired
paragraphs.
Open "Format > Paragraph" and go to the "Indents & Spacing Tab".
You can view and change spacing setting here.

I’m using LibreOffice Writer to write a novel and the line-spacing is all
messed up. Single, 1.5, double-spacing all on the same page.

I’ve tried Format-spacing, Windows-paragraph and everything else -- but
nothing works.

Can you please help me?

Thank you

What I do, is the following:

When I have imported a file from MSOffice and get problems like you are describing, I copy (Ctrl-C) the problematic paragraph, delete the problematic paragraph, make a new one with the desired paragraph style en paste the text with Ctrl-Shif-Alt-V. This way of pasting deletes all formatting from the text and accepts the style of the chosen paragraph. Later I delete al superfluous Windows styles that encumber the document.

I hope this helps; good luck.

Erik

#7

​​
Thank you Brian, Bruce and Erik for your excellent advice on how to fix
line spacing, and I don't know how in a billion kazillion years that I
could ever possibly thank you!

         So this horse walks into a bar and the bartender says -- "Hey,
          why the long face?"

#8

I found my documents (LO) accumulated a pile of rubbish, styles, etc. from documents I import from. Copy/pasting from word docs copies the styles into the LO doc.
When I merge content from multiple documents (.doc, .docx, .odt, PDFs) into my documents I use an intermediary document to cleanse the copy/pasted content and apply the styles I want before copy/pasting again into my final document and this way my final document only has the look and styles I want.
steve

#9

Ctr-Shift-Alt-V (yes, a four key "shortcut") do the same than Paste special → Without formatting so it gives you a "clean" text :wink:

Regards,
Ricardo

#10

​​
Thank you Brian, Bruce and Erik for your excellent advice on how to fix
line spacing, and I don't know how in a billion kazillion years that I
could ever possibly thank you!

          So this horse walks into a bar and the bartender says -- "Hey,
           why the long face?"

Bruce Hohl schreef op 06-08-16 om 20:39:

Go to "View > Non-Printer Characters". This will show the paragraph
breaks, etc.
Position the cursor within a paragraph or select (highlight) desired
paragraphs.
Open "Format > Paragraph" and go to the "Indents & Spacing Tab".
You can view and change spacing setting here.

I’m using LibreOffice Writer to write a novel and the line-spacing is all

messed up. Single, 1.5, double-spacing all on the same page.

I’ve tried Format-spacing, Windows-paragraph and everything else -- but
nothing works.

Can you please help me?

  Thank you

What I do, is the following:

When I have imported a file from MSOffice and get problems like you are
describing, I copy (Ctrl-C) the problematic paragraph, delete the
problematic paragraph, make a new one with the desired paragraph style en
paste the text with Ctrl-Shif-Alt-V. This way of pasting deletes all
formatting from the text and accepts the style of the chosen paragraph.
Later I delete al superfluous Windows styles that encumber the document.

I hope this helps; good luck.

Erik

I found my documents (LO) accumulated a pile of rubbish, styles, etc.
from documents I import from. Copy/pasting from word docs copies the
styles into the LO doc.
When I merge content from multiple documents (.doc, .docx, .odt, PDFs)
into my documents I use an intermediary document to cleanse the
copy/pasted content and apply the styles I want before copy/pasting
again into my final document and this way my final document only has
the look and styles I want.
steve

Ctr-Shift-Alt-V (yes, a four key "shortcut") do the same than Paste special → Without formatting so it gives you a "clean" text :wink:

Regards,
Ricardo

I found this created problems for me, ok with straight text. I often copy whole chapters with diagrams, tables, images and various text. Pasting without formatting took me longer to fix up than using an intermediate document to clean styles up before pasting into my final document.
Regards, steve

#11

Greetings,

This post gave me an idea to look at the find command (Edit > Find and Replace... or Ctrl-F) dialog to see if it would search for a particular style. I discovered that it does, under More Options! I ran some tests and it does highlight the text with the selected style. This could be a way to find and change those pesky imported styles. When all are changed to the wanted style, then one could delete the now unused style. I discovered long ago that LO will not delete a style which is in use (duh). Finding all of them had been my problem until now. Possibly selecting a new style and "Replace All" may solve your problem, or at least make it less labor-intensive.

HTH.

Girvin Herr

#12

Yes indeed. I have often used this method on paragraph styles and it
works well.

If I have been using text from different sources, it is not uncommon to
find strange unwanted fonts in an exported pdf file (from LO Writer).
After wasting lots of time trying to locate these in Writer, I
discovered that you can also use 'find and replace' for fonts.

Philip