Applying list styles

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List styles define properties such as indentation, numbering style (for example, 1,2,3; a,b,c; or bullets), and punctuation after the number, but they do not by themselves define properties such as font, borders, text flow, and so on. The latter are properties of paragraph styles.

If you need your list to have specific paragraph-style properties, you should embed the list style into paragraph styles, as explained in Chapter 7. You can then create a numbered list by applying paragraph styles alone.

Each of the list styles predefined in Writer has four associated paragraph styles. For example, the Numbering 1 list style is associated with four paragraph styles:

  • Numbering 1
  • Numbering 1 Cont.
  • Numbering 1 End
  • Numbering 1 Start

Numbering 1 is a default paragraph style to which you can attach a list style. If you want to make exclusive use of paragraph styles and never use the Formatting toolbar when creating a numbered list, you could use the other three styles. All you need to do is to create a suitable list style and set up the Next Style property in the Organizer page of the Paragraph Style dialog box so that the Numbering 1 Start paragraph is followed by the Numbering 1 Cont. style, while the Numbering 1 End paragraph style is followed by a default style paragraph.

If you only want to apply a list style (that is, the numbering or bullet symbol and the indentation) then, when the cursor is on the paragraph to be numbered, double-click on the desired list style.

When creating a list style, you can define up to ten levels of depth for nested lists. Switch from one level to the other with either the Promote PromoteIcon.png or the Demote DemoteIcon.png buttons on the Bullets and Numbering toolbar or by pressing the Tab key (one level down) or Shift+Tab key combination (one level up) or by right clicking on the list element and select Up One Level or Down One Level from the pop up menu.

Restarting the numbering

When creating more than one numbered list of the same type, Writer applies progressive numbering to all the lists. Sometimes this is exactly what you want, while at other times you want to restart the numbering. To do so, either click on the Restart numbering icon RestartNumIcon.png on the Bullets and Numbering toolbar or right-click on the first element of the list and select Restart numbering.


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