#Openoffice lock column how to#

However, using a table to position pictures has the advantage that it keeps pictures where you place them, and most features that determine position can be edited with the precision instead of avoided altogether. So far, the greatest disadvantage I have discovered is that if you resize the picture within the table, adjust the table cells can be difficult. However, you can compensate for the text wrap by using a table with 2 columns and a single row, placing the caption to the left or right of the graphic, and manually select the caption if you need it. It has no text wrap, and, unlike with Auto Caption, captions are not listed as sources for cross-references automatically. Like using tables to layout HTML pages, this workaround is not elegant. In LibreOffice, they will still be visible on the page, even in Print Preview. Add the caption in the second row and format it.Ħ. Position it horizontally by adjusting its alignment or, if you want an indentation from the left, by subtracting space from the total width of the table.ĥ. Place the picture in the first row of the table. Turn off the settings to split across page or column, keep with next paragraph, and create heading row.Ĥ. Create a table with 1 column and 2 rows (1 rowithout a caption). Make sure that Auto-Captions are turned off for tables in the options for Writer.Ģ. The workaround has its own limitations, but so far they are fewer than any alternative I have encountered so far.ġ. Is there a way to keep pictures where you put them? Remembering problems I have had in the past with tab stops, I believe there is: by substituting tables for frames. These instructions are useful, but even Haugland claims only that that they make pictures 'reasonably manageable.'Clearly, graphics in OpenOffice and LibreOffice are a wicked problem - that is, one that has multiple causes, and can only be solved by workarounds and careful avoidance of settings that make what should be a simple act unacceptably complex.

#Openoffice lock column how to#

The instructions go on to explain how to align vertically, add a caption, and correct common problems. Place the cursor in the empty line next to the picture, and select the Alignment. If manipulating pictures is important to you, you should read Haugland's instructions in full. Her solution was seconded by Jean Hollis Weber, another early writer about the application and currently the documentation lead for LibreOffice and ODF Authors. However, for those with more demanding requirements, the best solution was posted by Solveig Haugland, one of the first writers about, in 2009. In fact, one use claims to have had no troubles in ten years.

If documents use few graphics, and formatting is kept simple, some users may have no trouble with pictures whatsoever. In both LibreOffice and OpenOffice, the handling of pictures seems to improve when the graphics cache is set to the maximum of 256 megabytes, the memory per object to 10 megabytes, and the number of objects to 40.

I also suspect - but have not yet confirmed - that the general memory options play a role. In a recent post to the Apache OpenOffice user's list, Regina Henschel also suggested that two pictures should not be attached to one paragraph, and that the Follow text flow option on a picture (or frame's) Type tab should not be unchecked (which it is in the latest LibreOffice version). At other times, paragraph settings interfere with the picture settings. Often, too, users are unaware that adding a caption throws a frame around a graphic, and choose one when they need to control the other. Power Users know that things are more likely to go wrong with the default anchor, To paragraph, and will replace it with As character instead.

Over the years, some palliatives have been discovered. Inserting graphics is no problem, but try to anchor, align, or indent, and the picture changes position, sometimes by a matter of centimeters, but just as often jumping to a different place entirely on the page, leaving users frustrated and uncertain about the solution. Positioning picture has been a problem ever since LibreOffice and OpenOffice were - and possibly before.