Re: [libreoffice-users] Better approach for formatting

At 11:41 09/08/2021 -0400, Michael Tiernan wrote:
> I have a request to create a table-like entry in Writer that would 
> look like this:
>
> Revision      Date      Author
>        Description
>
> so that if done, it would look sort of like this: (Newest on top).
>
> V1.4           21-July-80        Fred Farkle
>        Long verbose description of all the brilliant changes put back in..
> V1.3           20-Jul-80          Peter Pickle
>        Deleted long verbose descriptions put in by Fred "Purple 
> Prose" Farkle.
> V1.2           19-July-80        Fred Farkle
>        Added long verbose description of all the brilliant changes 
> put back in.
>        (Multiple lines of content here.)
>
> I did it and passed it back for the other person to go on with.

Good: so you've already achieved what you want!

> BUT, I started wondering if there's a "better" way to do such a thing.

That depends on what your "thing" is. Unfortunately, just giving a 
picture of what you want the document text to look like doesn't 
explain what you want the document to do. If all you need is that it 
should look right, you have already achieved this - however you did 
it. In your e-mail message you appear to have used multiple 
consecutive space characters to arrange positioning; it would be 
unwise to do this in a word processor document, but instead to use 
proper facilities. (I recognise that you may have done things 
properly in your text document but had to use spaces in the mail message.)

> I thought one method using paragraph styles to do the work but it 
> seems like the wrong tool for the job.

What was your "method using paragraph styles"? Every paragraph has a 
style, so you are always using paragraph styles. It cannot be the wrong tool.

> I considered a table but it doesn't seem to fit the task either.

Er, and why not? Tables are often the answer.

> ... I'm wondering how, without changing the required format, how 
> would you make such a thing in a Writer document?

o Create a table with three columns and sufficient rows. (Tables do 
not need to have visible borders.)
o Enter your three heading items in each odd row.
o Select all the cells of each even row and use Merge Cells to create 
a single cell on that row.
o Enter your long description in that single cell.

If, as it appears, you may want your long descriptions to be 
indented, then you would want to achieve this with a suitable 
paragraph style. The standard "Text body indent" may suffice.

Again, you haven't indicated what you might want to do with this 
document, so I'm having to guess that you may want to add entries at 
the top of the list. That would be easy:
o Put the cursor into the first row of the table.
o Insert two additional rows, using the Before option.
o Merge the cells of the new second row.

I trust this helps.

Brian Barker


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