[libreoffice-users] Re: Customizing Number Format of each level in "Writer->Tools->Outline Numbering"

On 07/26/2013 04:29 PM, Regina Henschel wrote:
> Hi Sina,
>
> Sina Momken schrieb:
> > On 07/25/2013 04:29 PM, Regina Henschel wrote:
> > > Hi Sina
> [..]
> > > You do the outline numbering with Chapter, Heading 1 , ... with normal
> > > outline numbering. You need to define a paragraph style "Chapter" and
> > > alter the assignment between paragraph style and level in the outline
> > > numbering dialog.
> > >
> > > LibreOffice uses the field "Number range" for numbering in captions.
> > > Therefore these are not at all in the outline numbering. But when you
> > > insert a caption to a table or figure, you will see a Options-buttons.
> > > There you can tell LibreOffice to count newly for each chapter.
> > >
> > > The "caption" item in the context menu is only a shortened way to set a
> > > caption. You can also write your own caption inserting the field "Number
> > > range" manually. That will be the right way for numbering formulas.
> > >
> > > The Autotext FN puts the formula and the formula-numbering in a table. I
> > > would not use it, because it is not easily possible to move paragraphs,
> > > when the movement crosses a table. I would position the formula number
> > > using a tab. For display formulas in own paragraphs you can define a
> > > suitable paragraph style.
> > >
> > > The captions are normal paragraphs, so you can add the needed brackets
> > > manually as you need them.
> > >
> > > Each "Number range" will generate its own index later on.
> > >
> > > The numbers of the outline can be inserted using fields.
> > >
> > > Do not try to mimic the way things are done in Word, the concepts are
> > > different. But you can be sure, that you can write well formatted
> > > academic papers in LibreOffice.
> > >
> > > Kind regards
> > > Regina
> > Using LibreOffice internal captions or "Number range" has some problems
> > that MUST be solved to be used:
> >
> > 1. Cross-Reference in the text body: Assume you has inserted a new
> > "Number range" named "Fig" either using "Caption" or inserting manually.
> > Regardless of the need to manually correct brackets and the whole
> > format, when you want to insert the Fig number in your text using
> > Cross-reference, there is NO way to insert the whole Fig number while
> > preserving its format.  For example if you has entered the text "Fig
> > (2.1) something" under a picture, there is no way to automatically
> > insert "Fig (2.1)" in your text using Cross-reference.
> > When using Cross-reference, after selecting Fig as the type, you can
> > insert the whole paragraph (i.e. "Fig (2.1) something") by selecting
> > "Insert reference to = Reference" or you can even insert "Fig (2.1" by
> > selecting "Insert reference to = Category and Number" but you can never
> > insert the well-formatted text "Fig (2.1)".
> > The ability to cross-reference a caption is very very important, since I
> > can not insert Fig numbers manually because in that case I must update
> > all caption numbers in text whenever they've changed in the caption.
>
> That is correct. The number of the "Number range" is the delimiter.
> You can
> - write the text around the referenced number directly and only insert
> the number itself as reference
> - insert category and number from reference and add the closing bracket
> manually
> - mark the part of the caption, that you want to be shown in the
> reference, set is as bookmark, and then reference the bookmark.
>
> In German the first option is in many cases appropriate, because the
> category often has the wrong ending for the current grammatical context.
Yeah, I'll choose the first option too. It's more flexible for many
languages and is very similar to referring to a label in LaTeX. However
whenever I want to refer to a fig, I must manually type "Fig (" before
and ")" after the reference number; But this procedure can be automated
by defining a new Autotext. Thanks for introducing Autotexts to me.

> A different way is to use an autotext. I will describe it below.
>
> > 2. Insertion of a frame when Right-click->Caption: Using "caption" item
> > in context-menu is very easy, but unfortunately it places both the image
> > and it caption in a frame. Using frame can be good to maintain image and
> > its caption in a page, but I don't like it because unfortunately the
> > frame resizes the image! Actually some of the images I've inserted are
> > very big and I intentionally resized them to be wider than width of the
> > paragraph. Also having images wider than the paragraph maybe not
> > standard, but if I keep them smaller their details may become unreadable.
> > Is there any way to not insert a frame or not resize the image after
> > insertion of frame when we're using "context-menu->caption"?
>
> Right-click the picture (not the frame). Item 'Picture' > tab 'Type'. In
> the section 'Size' you will see, that the automatism has set the width
> to relative 100%. When you change this back to an absolute value, the
> picture size will be independent of the frame size.
Yeah it worked. However I had to deselect "Keep ratio" too.

> This automatically inserted frame has another disadvantage. It is not
> possible to set a footnote to the caption.
>
> Here a way to get a caption without using the wizard:
>
> When you insert the picture, it is anchored to an empty paragraph as
> default. Open the paragraph properties of this paragraph and enable
> option "Keep with next paragraph" in tab "Text flow". Then in the next
> paragraph enter your caption.
Honestly speaking I don't know what exactly the Anchor is. My images are
mostly "Image_Select->Context_Menu->Anchor->To_Character". And I don't
know how to select the paragraph a image is anchored to. But I know what
you mean by this technique. Using this technique the image and its
caption will always be with each other (and not seperated to 2 different
pages). My main question is whether there is a way to automate this
procedure too? Because setting these options whenever I want to insert a
caption is a hard and lengthy task. Isn't there a macro or something to
do this too?

> To enter the caption quickly, you can generate an autotext. You need to
> do this only once. Mark the whole paragraph of an proper styled caption
> and generate an autotext of type "New", not type "New (only text)". This
> autotext will include the paragraph style too. Open it for edit and
> delete the special picture title, but not the closing bracket and the
> space and save it.
> Now you can insert the caption by inserting an autotext. It will be the
> same as inserted by the caption wizard, but including the closing
> bracket and without generating a frame. Of cause you have to enter the
> current picture title after inserting the autotext.
>
> > There are also some LESS SEVERE problems in using "Number range" or
> > "caption":
> >
> > A. Insertion of a well-formatted caption: Unfortunately there is no
> > short and easy way to insert a well-formatted caption in Writer. Anytime
> > I insert a caption I have to manually correct the brackets and other
> > things I need. I wished there was a way to do so automatically.
>
> This is solved when using an autotext, see above.
>
> > B. Using "Number range" is not as easy as using a predefined Numbering:
> > When you use a predefined Numbering you don't need to worry about
> > numbering format and correct it anytime.
> > Plus you can associate that predefined numbering to a paragraph style
> > and whenever you use that style for your caption, the proper numbers and
> > their constant text will appear as a special kind of numbering without
> > the need to manually insert them.
> > Using a Numbering like those in "Outline Numberings" also gives the
> > option to precisely determine Position of each numbering which is more
> > accurate than manually placing a "Number range" before our caption text.
>
> Position of the caption should be the left edge of the picture. If you
> do not have an enclosing frame, you can align them by using a tab for
> both the picture and the caption or align both left and use the left
> indent of the paragraphs.
>
> > So do you think these problems or at least the first serious problems
> > can be solved when using "Number Ranage" or "caption"?
>
> I can only describe which features LibreOffice has. It is up to you to
> decide whether you will use LibreOffice or go with Word.
Thank yo very much for describing features of LibreOffice. It seems that
you're very professional in LO settings and your guides almost solved my
issues. I'll not go back to MS Word, because I work in Linux, I don't
want to use proprietary software and I've almost done most of my thesis
using LO Writer and shifting back to Word takes much more time and effort.

Fortunately the Word template was compatible enough with LO Writer and I
only have to change the Outline_Numbering and its associated styles. I
also have to manually replace numbering of all (figures, tables and
formulae) captions and references to them which may take some hours.

If you can introduce a way to automate the "Keep with next paragraph"
solution, all the problems will be solved.

Best,
Sina Momken
> Kind regards
> Regina



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