Session 1: Introduction to Styles in

LibreOffice Writer
INTRODUCTION
There are two ways of creating an attractive digital document in Writer:
1. Manual formatting a document :
In manual formatting we select a part of a document, such as page,
paragraph or words and then applied formatting effects using the
formatting toolbar. Manual formatting is popular, as it is easy to use
and requires less knowledge.
2. Formatting by applying styles:
To avoid inconsistency in formatting and reduce time and effort in
formatting a document, we use Styles in Writer.
Introduction to Styles
A style is a collection of all formatting information, which you want to
save and then apply on the document.
For example, following details of “Font” can be stored as a style with
the name ‘Heading style’
Size – 12
Name – Bookman Old Style
Weight –Bold
Alignment – Left
Now we can apply Heading style to all headings of the document
NOTE: Style allows us to shift our focus from appearance of the
document to the content of document
Styles Categories
LibreOffice Writer provides six Style categories, which are as follows:
1. Page Style:
It includes basic page layout like page size, its margin, placement of
header and footer, footnote, borders and background.
2. Paragraph Style:
Paragraph formatting includes tab stops, text alignment, line spacing
and borders.
3. Character Style:
This style is used to work on block of letters, i.e. word(s) in the
paragraph. Character styles allow changing the text colour, text size,
highlighting text and emphasising it.
4. Frame Style:
Frames are like containers, which can hold text, graphics and lists.
Therefore, applying Frame Styles allows to format a frame by specifying
its size, position, border and how the text is placed around the picture.
5. List Style:
Session 1: Introduction to Styles in
LibreOffice Writer
It can be used to style lists by putting numbering or bullets of a
different kind or specify numeric format.
6. Table Style:
Table Style category allows to format a table by adding borders, using
different text or border colour(s), aligning text inside the table, having
different patterns or text colour.
Styles in LibreOffice Writer

Styles & Formatting

Writer provides many options and tools to style or format a
document. Styles in Writer, can be accessed by using any of the
following methods:
1. Click Style option from Menu Bar and click Manage Style.
2. Using Style Drop Down list box, from the Toolbar. If the Toolbar is not
visible then, click on View>Toolbars, and enable
Formatting/“Formatting (Styles)”.
3. Using Sidebar Menu. On the Sidebar, clicking on Styles icon, displays
the Style sub-menu.
4. Using keyboard shortcut — F11 function key
Style Window
This window can be opened by using any of the methods given above.

1. First six icons allow to select the category of style, such as Paragraph
style, Character style, Frame style, Page style, List style and Table style
to work on.
2. From the bottom of the window selecting Show Preview option
displays its style along with the name in the list.
3. At the bottom of Style window, there is a Drop-Down list, to select
the filter for the style list to be displayed above. By default, this filter is
set to Hierarchical.
Session 1: Introduction to Styles in
LibreOffice Writer
Steps to apply Style in a document
1. Select the text to be formatted.
2. Choose appropriate style by clicking the button from the top of the
Styles bar.
3. A list of styles for that category appears. Double click on the desired
style to apply to the selected text.
Apply Style using Fill Format mode
To apply a style on words, present at different locations in the
document, we can use Fill Format mode It is the second icon from right
on the Style menu. Steps to apply style using Fill Format option is given
below:
1. Open the document to be styled.
2. Open the Styles window and select the desired style category
and then desired style.
3. Select Fill Format button.
4. To apply the selected style, take the mouse pointer to desired
location and click.
NOTE: To quit Fill Format option, click the Fill Format button again or
press the Esc key.
Creating a New(Custom) Style
There are two ways to create a custom style
A. From Selection: Steps are given below
1. Select the portion of document, such as page, paragraph,
character, to change its appearance.
2. Choose the category (paragraph, character, page, etc.) from
Style menu for which a new style is to be created.
3. Select Style action button and then click on New Style from
Selection.
4. In Create Style dialog window, type the name of new style,
say, ‘MyStyle’.
5. Click OK to save the name of new style.
B. Using Drag and Drop: Steps to create a new Style using Drag and
Drop method are given below.
1. Select the text from the document and change its formatting
as desired.
2. Choose the desired style from Style Window under which, new
style is to be created.
3. Now drag the selected portion of text to the Style Menu.
4. Create Style dialog window appears.
5. Type name of new style and press OK button to save.
Session 1: Introduction to Styles in
LibreOffice Writer

NOTE:
1. Drag and Drop method cannot be used to create a Page Style.
2. While dragging the text cursor shape changes.

Updating(Modifying) a New(Custom) or
Pre-defined Styles
Instead of creating a new style for a small change in predefined style,
an existing Style can be modified. Follow the steps given below to
modify an existing user defined style of page, frame or paragraph style.
1. Select the page/paragraph to be modified.
2. Format the selected portion as per the requirement.
3. Go to Style menu, and click on the button to update.
4. Using Style Action button, click on Updated Selected Style.
NOTE – Ensure that the aspect modified remains same throughout the
selection. For example, in paragraph, if you are changing font face or
size then, throughout the paragraph it should remain same.
Load Styles from a template or document
It is used to copy styles from an existing template or document. Once
copied, in the list of styles, you can create a new document having same
appearance as old one with no extra efforts. steps to copy style from
template or document are:
1. Click on the Load Styles from the Style menu.
2. Load Styles dialog box open and choose the category of your
document.
3. Find and select the desired template to copy styles from.
4. Also select the options for the types of styles to be copied,
such as Paragraph and Character styles, Frame, Page or List.
5. Click OK button
NOTE:
1. If you want to copy the style from file then instead of
Template option, click on the From File button. A File Selection
dialog box is displayed and select the desired document.
2. By selecting Overwrite option from the load style dialog box,
the styles being copied will replace any existing styles with
the same name.

SUMMARY
Session 1: Introduction to Styles in
LibreOffice Writer
A Style is collection of all formatting information, which you want to save and
then apply on the document.

Writer provides six Style categories – Page,

Paragraph, Character, Frame, List and Table.

Predefined Heading style(s) act as bookmarks in a document. These

bookmarks allow faster browsing in a document.

These Style(s) tools can be accessed from Menu bar, Drop Down List and Side
bar.

Fill Format is used to style scattered – Pages, Frames, Tables, Lists,

Paragraphs or Characters in a document

Writer allows creating custom style and saving them for future use.

These new styles can be created using Selection method or Drag and Drop
method.

Drag and Drop method cannot be used to create a Page style.

A user defined style once created, can be updated at any point of time. Steps
used for updating a
style are same as creation of style.

A document can be styled using another document or a template.