Question about fonts and forms in Writer

users
#1

Hi! I'm converting a Word document into a form that will eventually be
a PDF form that can be filled in using Adobe Reader. I'm doing this in
LibreOffice Writer 4.2.3.3 on Ubuntu Linux 14.04.

My first pass worked splendidly well and everything worked fine except
for two issues:

1. I can't seem to control the font used in the form controls, namely
    the text boxes
2. I can't get the text boxes to align text at the top (despite my
    setting the form control to align text at the top)

Does anyone reading this list have much experience with creating forms
in Writer? With regard to issue #2, when I enter text into a text box,
it's vertically centered vs being aligned along the top of the text
box. This is when I view the generated PDF file in Ubuntu's PDF
document viewer, the text I typed wasn't aligned at the top of the text
box. I'm not sure if this is an Ubuntu document view issue or an issue
with the generated PDF file. I'll test in Adobe Reader later.

With regard to issue #1, is there any way to control the font used for
the text boxes in a form?

Thanks in advance for your time and assistance!

Peace...

Tom

#2

Hi :slight_smile:
Can you right-click on the boxes or select them all and set their
properties?

Err, when you say converting a Word document into a form - for most things
it is often better to start off with a fresh document in ODF format when
you find yourself struggling with odd weirdnesses. Documents that were
previously in some other format, particularly MS formats (especially the
various versions of DocX or Rtf), often have tons of hidden coding stuffing
things up. A fresh start often helps. ODF is the better format for
stability between different versions of software.

How about Chapter 15 in this guide?
https://wiki.documentfoundation.org/Documentation/Publications#LibreOffice_Writer_Guide
I haven't read it so i don't know if it covers setting properties for the
boxes

Regards from
Tom :slight_smile:

#3

Hi :slight_smile:
Can you right-click on the boxes or select them all and set their
properties?

Yes, I can and that's how I set two of the text boxes to align the
entered text at the top, instead of the middle. I'll try my PDF form in
Adobe Reader now and will see how it behaves.

Err, when you say converting a Word document into a form - for most
things it is often better to start off with a fresh document in ODF
format when you find yourself struggling with odd weirdnesses.
Documents that were previously in some other format, particularly MS
formats (especially the various versions of DocX or Rtf), often have
tons of hidden coding stuffing things up. A fresh start often helps.
ODF is the better format for stability between different versions of
software.

Thanks for mentioning this. I'll keep this in mind. :slight_smile:

How about Chapter 15 in this guide?
https://wiki.documentfoundation.org/Documentation/Publications#LibreOffice_Writer_Guide
I haven't read it so i don't know if it covers setting properties for
the boxes

Great! Thanks! I'll check it out!

Peace...

"The other" Tom :slight_smile:

#4

Hi :slight_smile:
Has this issue been solved? Sorry i didn't know enough to help with this!
Was the documentation useful?
Regards from
Tom :slight_smile:

#5

Sorry for this absolutely and completely off-topic response, but as I was
reading through this thread, I found myself remembering most of the words to
the song snippet you quote at the bottom of your signature, but I can't for
the life of me remember what the song is.

I seem to remember that it might be one of Bobby Rydell's from the late 50s,
but before I go nuts thinking I'm senile (I just posted how I couldn't
figure out how to delete a table in Impress, so I'm worried), could you
please identify the song?

Thanks.

#6

Hi :slight_smile:
Isn't this a good one to ask Spotify? I dunno if simply trying to sing it
badly into a mic would be good enough but they seem to like challenges like
this.
Regards from
Tom :slight_smile:

#7

Hello Tom,

Isn't this a good one to ask Spotify? I dunno if simply trying to sing
it

Or simply cut/paste it into a search engine. First and, to my mind,
most likely match is "Dean Martin - Sway With Me".

#8

Yep, it's from "Sway". :slight_smile: I tend to listen to Michael Buble's
version. I also attended a live performance of "Sway" by the Montclair
Women's Big Band, many moon ago. :slight_smile:

Peace...

Tom

#9

Hi :slight_smile:
Has this issue been solved? Sorry i didn't know enough to help with this!
Was the documentation useful?
Regards from
Tom :slight_smile:

I haven't had time to work on the form any, lately. When I do, I'll be
sure to let you know how things go. :slight_smile:

Peace...

Tom

#10

Hello Tom,

Yep, it's from "Sway". :slight_smile: I tend to listen to Michael Buble's

His name also came up in the search I performed. I was going to hedge
my bets, but though "Naah, don't be a woose".

I should've hedged. :slight_smile:

#11

Hi :slight_smile:
Can you right-click on the boxes or select them all and set their
properties?

Err, when you say converting a Word document into a form - for most
things it is often better to start off with a fresh document in ODF
format when you find yourself struggling with odd weirdnesses.
Documents that were previously in some other format, particularly MS
formats (especially the various versions of DocX or Rtf), often have
tons of hidden coding stuffing things up. A fresh start often helps.
ODF is the better format for stability between different versions of
software.

Ok, I FINALLY had some time to look into this. I created a form from
scratch and it behaved much better than the Word document I converted
into a form. I'm not sure why, since the Word document didn't have any
form fields so the form fields I added were in LibreOffice Writer but
starting with a fresh document resulted in a much better behaving PDF
form. :slight_smile:

Thanks again!

Peace...

"The other" Tom :slight_smile: