Autoformatting

Apache OpenOffice 4.1 Writer Guide

Chapter 3: Working with Text

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• Introduction
• Selecting Text
  • Selecting Items that are not Consecutive
  • Selecting a Vertical Block of Text
• Cutting, Copying, and Pasting Text
• Finding and Replacing Text
  • Find and Replace Specific Formatting
  • Find and Replace Paragraph Styles
  • Use Wildcards (regular expressions)
• Inserting Special Characters
  • Inserting Non-breaking Spaces and Hyphens
  • Inserting en and em Dashes
• Formatting Paragraphs
  • Setting Tab Stops and Indents
  • Changing the Default Tab Stop Interval
• Formatting Characters
• Autoformatting
• Creating Numbered or Bulleted Lists
  • Using the Bullets and Numbering toolbar
  • Example: Configuring a Nested List
• Using Footnotes and Endnotes
  • Inserting Footnotes/Endnotes
  • Defining the Format of Footnotes/Endnotes
• Checking Spelling and Grammar
• Using Built-in Language Tools
  • Using Paragraph and Character Styles
  • Using Tools > Language
  • Using language settings in Options
  • Using the Status Bar
• Using Synonyms and the Thesaurus
• Hyphenating Words
  • Automatic Hyphenation
  • Manual Hyphenation
• Using AutoCorrect
  • Using Word Completion
• Using AutoText
  • Creating AutoText
  • Inserting AutoText
  • Printing a List of AutoText Entries
• Line Numbering
• Tracking Changes to a Document
  • Preparing a Document for Review
  • Recording Changes
  • Accepting or Rejecting Changes
  • Merging Modified Documents
  • Comparing Documents
• Adding Other Comments
• Linking to Another Part of a Document
  • Using Cross-References
  • Using Bookmarks
  • Using Hyperlinks
  • Inserting Hyperlinks Using the Navigator
  • Inserting Hyperlinks Using a Dialog Box
  • Editing Hyperlinks
• Switching Between Insert and Overwrite Mode
• Counting the Words in a Selection
• Changing the Case of Selected Text

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Autoformatting

You can set Writer to automatically format parts of a document according to the choices made on the Options page of the AutoCorrect dialog box (Tools → AutoCorrect Options) shown in Figure 16.

Figure 16: Autoformat choices on the Options page of the AutoCorrect dialog box

The Help describes each of these choices and how to activate the autoformats. Some common unwanted or unexpected formatting changes include:

• Horizontal lines. If you type three or more hyphens (---), underscores (___) or equal signs (===) on a line and then press Enter the paragraph is replaced by a horizontal line as wide as the page. The line is actually the lower border of the preceding paragraph.
• Bulleted and numbered lists. A bulleted list is created when you type a hyphen (-), asterisk (*), or plus sign (+), followed by a space or tab at the beginning of a paragraph. A numbered list is created when you type a number followed by a period (.), followed by a space or tab at the beginning of a paragraph. Automatic numbering is only applied to paragraphs formatted with the Default, Text body or Text body indent paragraph styles.

If you notice unexpected formatting changes occurring in your document, this is the first place to look for the cause.

To automatically format the file according to the options you have set, choose Format → AutoCorrect and select or deselect the items on the submenu.

While Typing

Automatically formats the document while you type.

Apply

Automatically formats the document.

Apply and Edit Changes

Automatically formats the file and then opens a dialog box where you can accept or reject the changes.

AutoCorrect Options

Opens the AutoCorrect dialog (Figure 16).