Tabs in selection of text

users
#1

I have a number of "paragraphs" of text (job listing section of a resume) for which I'd like to add tab stops.  I select the lines and click the tab stop I want, then click in the ruler, but nothing happens.  I see no menu item to format tabs, though I did stumble into one dialog box with Tabs that required manual setting and it was unclear just where those tabs would be applied.  In any case, I can't find that any more.

In the help document (https://help.libreoffice.org/Common/Inserting_and_Editing_Tab_Stops) it says for changing one or more paragraphs: "Select the paragraphs, then click inside the ruler."  That is most definitely not working.  Finally, if I clear all formatting, I get the default tab stops and could re-format the entire section that way.  But that's a bit of work given all the formatting I'd lose.

What do I do to quickly and simply edit tab stops, and why is it so difficult in LO?

FYI I find the Styles aspect of LibreOffice to be entirely unintuitive and I've never been able to work with them.  I realize that should be a goal but it's not possible in my current timeline.

Thank you!

#2

Hi Carl.
I usually select the paragraph, then click in the ruler on one of the
tabs (upsidedown T) and slide it where I want it.
I do that for as many tabs as I need. I right click on these tabs to
change the type to centre or right aligned as I need.
I then type tabs with the tab key into my text before the required stop
to tab it out to the positions I defined.
It might not be every ones solution, but it works for me.

Steve

#3

I have a number of "paragraphs" of text (job listing section of a resume) for which I'd like to add tab stops.

Are these true paragraphs? I'm not sure why you have given the word scare quotes. If they are not true paragraphs, what you with tab stops may not behave as you expect.

I select the lines and click the tab stop I want, then click in the ruler, but nothing happens.

"Lines" are not really a word processing concept, as text reflows automatically as you edit it. Tab stops are applied to paragraphs. Are you clicking in the *horizontal* ruler, above the text window? Incidentally, are you simply missing how tab stops work? They do nothing by themselves: you need also to insert tab *characters* (or other formatting) into your text to control how the tab stops take effect.

I see no menu item to format tabs, though I did stumble into one dialog box with Tabs that required manual setting and it was unclear just where those tabs would be applied.

Tabs are a paragraph property as well as a paragraph style property:
o For paragraph formatting, go to Format | Paragraph... | Tabs (or right-click | Paragraph... | Tabs).
o For paragraph style formatting, go to Format | Styles and Formatting... | right-click style | Modify... | Tabs (or right-click

Edit Paragraph Style... | Tabs).

Paragraph tabs are set in the paragraph currently containing the insertion point or in all selected paragraphs, whichever is the case. Paragraph style tabs are set in all paragraphs with that style.

In the help document (https://help.libreoffice.org/Common/Inserting_and_Editing_Tab_Stops) it says for changing one or more paragraphs: "Select the paragraphs, then click inside the ruler."

It's not necessary to select a single paragraph, in fact, but just to position the insertion point there. But there is no way to put the insertion point into multiple paragraphs, so selecting them is the only way to apply similar tab stops to them (unless you set them in a paragraph style, which is the better way to go).

That is most definitely not working.

So what exactly happens when you try? Do you not see a tab stop in the ruler?

Finally, if I clear all formatting, I get the default tab stops and could re-format the entire section that way.

Using default tab stops is a recipe for a word processor document failing to appear as you see it when it is opened on a remote system - definitely not what you want to happen to a CV!

I find the Styles aspect of LibreOffice to be entirely unintuitive and I've never been able to work with them. I realize that should be a goal but it's not possible in my current timeline.

It never is, of course. But you should find time in future to understand how they work and save you time.

I trust this helps.

Brian Barker

#4

I have a number of "paragraphs" of text (job listing section of a resume) for which I'd like to add tab stops.

Are these true paragraphs? I'm not sure why you have given the word scare quotes. If they are not true paragraphs, what you with tab stops may not behave as you expect.

Ummmm.  What's the definition of a true paragraph, in particular as distinct from, say, a line in a bulleted list, and why does that matter?  I simply want to take lines of text and apply some tab stops to it (the full set of text prior to the next carriage return, whether a paragraph or lines of bulleted text or whatever).  These will be left justified tab stops.  Simple enough I thought.

I select the lines and click the tab stop I want, then click in the ruler, but nothing happens.

"Lines" are not really a word processing concept, as text reflows automatically as you edit it. Tab stops are applied to paragraphs. Are you clicking in the *horizontal* ruler, above the text window? Incidentally, are you simply missing how tab stops work? They do nothing by themselves: you need also to insert tab *characters* (or other formatting) into your text to control how the tab stops take effect.

I select the lines of text to which I want to apply the tab stops.  I click on the tab stop box in the upper left of the document to select which type of tab I want, then click in the horizontal ruler where I want that tab to go.  Nothing happens. No tab stop.  I most definitely MUST be missing how tab stops work, hence why I posted.  But in every other program I've used it works similarly to how I describe.

I see no menu item to format tabs, though I did stumble into one dialog box with Tabs that required manual setting and it was unclear just where those tabs would be applied.

Tabs are a paragraph property as well as a paragraph style property:
o For paragraph formatting, go to Format | Paragraph... | Tabs (or right-click | Paragraph... | Tabs).
o For paragraph style formatting, go to Format | Styles and Formatting... | right-click style | Modify... | Tabs (or right-click | Edit Paragraph Style... | Tabs).

That's what's odd.  In the lines of text I want to apply the tabs, there is no Tab option in Format | Paragraph.  Again, hence my question.  I do wish I could just set tabs in the ruler as at times I want to apply the tabs, look at the  result, and make adjustments.  Requiring manual tab setting makes that process much more cumbersome.

In the help document (https://help.libreoffice.org/Common/Inserting_and_Editing_Tab_Stops)  it says for changing one or more paragraphs: "Select the paragraphs, then click inside the ruler."
That is most definitely not working.

So what exactly happens when you try? Do you not see a tab stop in the ruler?

Exactly.

Carl

#5

Hi.
What version of LO do you have.
Just as a test, can you click into just 1 line and then add a tab stop
to the ruler.
Steve

#6

Also what OS?

In addition, can you post an example of the text/document that you
cannot format tabs for somewhere? Perhaps it is a data-dependent
problem, since tab stops work as you expect for other people including
me.

#7

LO 6.0.5.2 on Mac Sierra (10.12.6)

In some cases I can click into a line and set tabs normally.  In the document where I had the problem I believe it was a bulleted list or indented text (hanging indent I think) where I was having the problem.  I opened the document today and quickly tried it again and can't find the section I was having problems in.  But I'm pretty sure I removed all formatting and started over in that section, at which point it worked.  Wish I could reproduce it, as it was quite frustrating.  My guess is it was something to do with whatever formatting was applied in that section.  I don't yet use Styles so any formatting would have been set manually, and that would have been minimal.

If I encounter it again I'll be sure to post again, and try to post a sample document.

#8

Hi.
I am on 6.07 but your issue is dredging up some memories where I think I
noticed the same situation.
With a paragraph as a block of text terminating in a line break (rather
than the older paragraph in a book interpretation), I think I noticed
that when I selected multiple paragraphs with different tab settings
that I couldn't edit tab settings in the ruler and there was no TAB tab
in the paragraph format dialogue.
This was before 6.07 which is not showing the issue, may have been 6.05
or 5 series.
In some cases I set the tabs one paragraph at a time, in others I  just
set the default style for the block of text and then re-formatted
characteristics, including tabs.

If there are a lot of paragraphs to format the same way, I would suggest
creating a style and then you can easily apply the same formatting
repeatedly.
Steve

#9

I missed this when this thread was started. Your 'FYI' statement is probably the real reason for all of your problems. LibreOffice is designed to use styles for text creation and/or editing. Manual formatting can create so many more problems than using styles. Besides they are harder to solve. The 'Getting Started Guide' has at least one chapter on styles as does the 'Writer Guide'. When I first began working on the documentation for OpenOffice.org (early 2000's) and later LibreOffice, I used this chapters to learn how to use styles. I have never regretted. I would like to know what is 'unintuitive' with styles. I am thinking it might be that you think in terms of lines of type verses groups of paragraphs.

You also may have some problems with the concept of nesting. Each paragraph has specific set of characteristics that applies to every character of the paragraph; it ends with a paragraph break. Character styles are used to give specific characteristics to a continuous set of characters within the paragraph.

Perhaps it might be unintuitive for you to think that each member of a list can also be a separate paragraph. Yet this might be the best way to give you document the formatting you want it to have.

Dan

#10

Thanks Dan,

I guess what is unintuitive is the CSS-like approach to Styles. I find CSS to be very difficult when, as you say, you have a complex page and need to nest various styles and keep track of hierarchies.  When using LO for text docs, I'm simply wanting to produce a text document with other elements scattered around.  I want a simple interface that gives me decent control over presentation but doesn't require in-depth studying to learn how to use it.  I want to format a document or section, then occasionally apply a set of tabs (or other formats) within a subset that applies only to that section.

And I'd rather not have to build a style just for tabs to a bulleted list when I may only use that specific style once ever. I do a lot of document specific formatting and I don't want a massive list of styles to wade through every time I want tabs at specific locations.  What would be even worse would be to have to repeat all the other styles components for that section in my new tabs style.  (Sounds like that may not be necessary if that's what you mean by nesting.)

I will eventually learn about Styles and no-doubt start using them for big-picture formatting.  For often-repeated styling I can see the value of Styles.  But I don't see using them for every one-off stylistic change I make in a document, and if that means I have to remove styles for a sub-section in order to add or change something for just that section, I suspect I'll end up highly frustrated with LO.

I get that I may be an unusual case and no one develops for that oddball.  But I can't believe I'm alone.  Back in the early 2000s I'd hoped OO (and now it's offspring) would be a viable alternative to the big bully in the room, but for a number of reasons (not just Styles) I just don't see that happening.  And at least in my circles, it's use has dropped off significantly.

Carl

#11

Steve, I think you may have hit the nail on the head.  I'll look into upgrading and see if that changes anything.  I think the issue may well have been that I was selecting "paragraphs" with different formatting (my quotes aren't to draw attention but rather to indicate I don't mean only book-like paragraphs) and trying to apply tabs to those.  If I repeatedly use a specific format, I'd definitely consider Styles.  But there seem to be a lot of complicated considerations for using Styles (the nesting/heirarchy topics I mentioned in my other reply).

Anyway, thank you.

Carl

#12

Hi.
If you are copying and pasting the text into your document, then "paste
without formatting" will paste the text in and adopt the
style/formatting at the cursor. I have assigned ctl-k on my machines to
paste unformatted. I can quickly ctl-ins , ctl-k to copy-paste 1 handed
and not muck up my formatting. You may not have realised that normal
copy-paste adds the style of the copied text into your document, and
with a lot of copy-paste actions you can end up with a plethora of
unwanted styles throughout your document.
steve