Using Styles on Draw

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Introduction

Sometimes, it is necessary to be sure that a set of object all have the same set of properties, like same background, same line width/color, same font for the associated text, etcetera. This coherence in formatting object can be easily attained with the use of styles.

The tool to manage and apply styles is the Stylist, available either on the Sidebar or as standalone panel that opens with  F11  or Format → Styles and formatting. Both versions of the Stylist, the standalone panel and the corresponding deck on the sidebar, work the same way.

AOO-Draw-Stylist.png

The Stylist

On top of the Styles and Formatting deck/window, it is possible to find five buttons. The fist one is for graphic styles. The second one, "Presentation Styles" is greyed out because those styles can only be used on Impress: on Draw, there is only one kind of style. The last three buttons are:

  • Fill format mode: Selecting a style from the list and then this button, it is possible to apply the style to several objects without the need to select the style again each time.
  • New style from selection: applying manual formatting to an object and then clicking on that button, a new style will be created with the selected characteristics.
  • Update style: If you manually modify the properties of an object and then click that button, the style associated with that object will be updated with the changes.
Documentation caution.png By updating a style this way, the formatting of all object that use that style will be updated too.

The area below those buttons show a list of the available styles. With a right click it is possible to either edit an existing style or to create a new one.

Below the list of styles, a menu offers the possibility to "filter" the styles:

  • Hierarchical: As in Writer, styles can depend on others, sharing some characteristics. This filtering mode will show all the available styles evidencing which style depends on which one.
  • All Styles: will display all existing styles. This is the default view.
  • Applied Styles: display only the styles actually used on the document.
  • Custom Styles: display only those styles created by the user.

Applying Styles

Selecting an object and double clicking the style name on the stylist, the style will be applied to that object. It is also possible, as commented above, to select a style from the list, then click on the "Fill format mode" button and then clicking on the selected objects. To exit the fill mode, just press  ESC  or again the "Fill format mode" button.

Editing Styles

Either by editing an existing style or by creating a new one, a window with several tabs is presented.

AOO-Draw-DefineStyle.png

Organizer Tab

Here it is possible to give a name to the style and define to which style it is linked. The linking of styles is useful when it is needed to have several styles that share some options (for example, font used and its size for the associated text, line style and color) but not others (for example, background color). Selecting a "parent" style and only modifying those parameters that need to be different a high coherence can be attained. If afterwards we need to change some of those shared settings, we only need to edit the parent style and all the "child" styles will be updated automatically.

Line Tab

To define all properties of lines, either for line objects (Bézier curves, lines, etcetera) as well as boundary lines for two dimensional objects like squares, ellipses, etcetera. Here it is possible to set the line color, its transparency, its width or its style (continuous, dotted, etcetera).

For open lines it is possible to set arrowheads on their extremes or set if the line will end flat or round (under "Corner and cap styles" → "Cap style").

If a line show an angle, it is possible to decide if that angle will be rounded, mitered or bevelled (under "Corner and cap styles" → "Corner style").

Area Tab

For closed objects like squares, ellipses, closed polygons, etcetera, it is possible to define a background.

The menu "Fill" permits to select between several options

  • None: No background. The object will behave as "empty.
  • Color: A solid color as background. All colors defined on Apache OpenOffice are available to be selected.
  • Gradients: One of several predefined gradients.
  • Hatching: Select a pattern. It is possible to also set a background color to be combined with the pattern.
  • Bitmap: Set a picture as background.

Shadowing Tab

It is possible to set a "shadow" for Draw objects. This shadow is build as a copy of the original object with a different color and shifted in position. Here it is possible to set default shadows for objects using the style, select the color for the shadow, the displacement from the object, its transparency, etcetera.

Transparency

Transparency for all object using the style. The transparency can be set as an uniform value or as a gradient, with different values of transparency for different points of the object.

Font

This menu is identical to the corresponding menu for paragraph and character styles on Writer.

Font Effect

This menu is identical to the corresponding menu for paragraph and character styles on Writer.

Indents & Spacing

This menu is identical to the corresponding menu for paragraph and character styles on Writer, except for the "Register true" option that it is not present.

Text

TODO

Text Animation

TODO

Dimensioning

TODO

Connector

TODO

Alignment

TODO

Tabs

TODO

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