4

I am trying to have the chapter title (outline) level 1 numbers as initials in LibreOffice Writer.

I have set up a character style which gives me the big title numbers, but they are all from the base line upwards (most of the numbers are over the letters in the title line).

I do not need a drop cap (text flowing under the number), the number can be all to the left of the title.

I am looking for a solution in LibreOffice, but any word processor working with ODTs would be OK. In last case, MS Word or anything producing DOCs.

Leandro
  • 182
  • 13
  • I think it would be helpful if you added a picture of exactly what you are trying to accomplish. – Rik Oct 15 '13 at 11:37
  • ![This is the first page of such a document](http://dutra.fastmail.fm/termo_refer%C3%AAncia_completo_v3_p1.pdf). It currently consists of two columns, the first being very narrow and containing only the numbers. Editing it becomes very cumbersome. What I aim for is making these numbers into automatic numeration, ideally. – Leandro Oct 16 '13 at 23:13

1 Answers1

4

I think it will be very difficult (seeing your example) to work with the normal "Automatic numbering". It can be done with some effort but there are serious drawbacks. You can't use the space below the first line of text because your number is big. You can only put a frame there. Also with every enter you do, there is a new number created.

Your best bet would be to use linked-frames with numbers.

Set a comfortable margin for your document (enough for the numbers). Set your cursor on the first line and choose Insert, Frame and set the properties:

Frame properties

Also set the borderlines/Linestyle to None. After that set a big number 1 in the frame and drag the frame left of the margin (before the paragraph). Make sure the anchor stays on the first letter of your line. In the properties of the frame the Horizontal by will be negative.

Anchor

Selecting the frame you can press Ctrl+C and going to the next line and pressing Ctrl+V to copy a frame there. Change the numbers accordingly.

Now these frames (which are left of the margin) are linked to the first character of your chosen lines and they will flow with it.

Instead of setting a big number in the frame you could set Numbering On and adding a space. When copying the frames the frame will number automatically. But you need to see if this is convenient. Adding a number between two others will result in the numbers not being sequential. I think numbering manually is easiest in this situation.

Result

Edit: I found another method of autonumbering:

You can use this with the linked frames but you can also make a table without borders e.g. 6x2, whichever you find easier, for example below i used a table. A table might be handier when inserting a new section.

Instead of typing the 1, 2 etc you choose Insert, Fields, Other (or use Ctrl+F2), Choose Variables and Number Range and in Name type Nr1 and a value of 1 and press Insert.

Number range

Now close the dialog and goto the second row. Open the dialog again (Ctrl+F2) choose Nr1 from Selections and press Insert. (The Value is empty in this dialog but because it's a number range it will automatically take last value +1.

Now you can copy the numbers from row 2 to the other rows or use Ctrl+F2 and choose Nr1 again. (Don't copy it from row 1 because that has value 1 set, and not +1)

The result should be like this: (You can switch between numbers and hidden variable with Ctrl+F9 and whenever you insert a row you can use Ctrl+F2 to insert the number, it will keep the numbers sequential, also when inserting a row.) Of course you can make the numbers bigger.

Result

And after Ctrl+F9 and making the numbers bigger:

Result

Community
  • 1
Rik
  • 13,159
  • 1
  • 34
  • 41
  • Thank you very much, I did not knew about this frame function. Given I would loose the automatic numbering, I guess I will try to see if I can change the layout of the document, even if it means to have either the item number in the same size of the paragraph or having it extend upwards. Or, given in this particular case the model is more or less fixed, and quite fixed when it comes to numbering, I could just number manually and use initials. – Leandro Oct 17 '13 at 12:32
  • 1
    Pfew... (that's a lot of images :) I added another method where you **can** use autonumbering. It may be easier to use tables (without borders) instead of linked frames (table-rows are easier to insert between existing rows). But you can use this method of autonumbering with both a table and the linked frame method. – Rik Oct 17 '13 at 13:50
  • I am truly impressed. – Leandro Oct 17 '13 at 17:29
  • I edited my edit slightly. It seems you can do this with one variable (and don't need the `Nr1_next`) When `Nr1` is a `number range` it will automatically increase by one every time it's used (just don't **copy** it from the first row/cell because that has `1` set instead of `+1`, you can see this if you double click on it). I'm learning a lot about LibreOffice too :) – Rik Oct 18 '13 at 07:40
  • You are sure a fast learner! – Leandro Oct 18 '13 at 12:02