Apache OpenOffice Community Forum

I am no computer wiz! My knowledge of “computerese” is extremely limited. So please speak plain old English that I my understand. Thank you!

I use OpenOffice.org version 3.3.0 as my word processor. I typed a row of asterisks to mark a spot and when I hit the enter bar to paragraph they became a solid line. This line appears several places inside my document. I have played with the controls and at one point lost my tool bar all together. I have made so many mistakes I now fear to toy with those buttons I do not understand. Can some one please tell me how to eliminate these black lines?

SOLVED ... But not by the method I would have thought.

You have added a border to the paragraph. You can remove this by placing your cursor at the end of the paragraph just before the black line, then right click and select Default Formatting.

The Autocorrect is by default set to turn three asterisks into a line. Remove as FJCC instructs.
The Help file tells us how to stop this

To Stop Drawing a Line When You Type Three Identical Characters
OpenOffice.org automatically draws a line when you type three of the following characters and press Enter: - _ = * ~ #
1. Choose Tools - AutoCorrect Options.
2. Click the Options tab.
3. Clear the "Apply border" check box.

If you want it to happen some times, but not other times, it happens when you press the Enter key after the three characters. Immediately type Ctrl Z or /Enter /Undo and your asterisks will be restored. It happens to me when I use three asterisks as section separator within a text chapter and I simply Ctrl Z.

Thank you. I tried as suggested. What happened is that all the formatting in the paragraph went away; spacing, italics -- but the Black Line remains!

It sounds like maybe you selected the paragraph text and then applied Format > Default?

Oddly enough, that's a subtly different operation than what was suggested. Just click in the paragraph somewhere, without selecting any text, then do Format > Default Formatting.

If you have text formatting in the paragraph that you don't want to lose, it gets a bit more complicated. You have to use Format > Paragraph > Borders and turn off the paragraph border. That will leave the other formatting intact.

Sadly my friend I have tried both operations you suggest without the loss of the accursed Black Line. As we speak I am preparing to sacrifice a goat.

Can you post a sample document? There is an Upload Attachment tab just below the box where you type in a response.

Thank you again. Here `ya go.

The first three paragraphs all have the bottom border turned on. Select the three paragraphs, then select Format > Paragaph, click the Borders tab and change the "Line Style" to "none". That should remove the borders.

The first attempt moved the line up one page (or perhaps two paragraphs). I tried again with no result. The depth of my sadness id yet unplumbed.

There is direct formatting applied all over the place! In OpenOffice, this should be anathema. The first para is Default para format, the subsequent paras are Text Body format. These have been modified (by direct formatting) to apply First line indent of 1.27 cm (probably 0.5 inches on your computer), Double line spacing, and, on the first three paras, bottom border of 2.5 mm. Whenever you apply Ctrl M, you remove not only the bottom border from that paragraph, but also all the other direct formatting applied to it.

If you want 1.27 cm paragraph indent (0.5 inch), and double line spacing, try this: Ctrl A to select all, then F11 for Styles and Formatting. Select leftmost icon in that window, Right click on Text Body and select Indents and Spacing tab. There enter First line indent of 1.27 cm (0.5 inches), and choose Double line Spacing. Go to Border tab and select no borders. Go to Alignment Tab and select Justified. Now press OK. Double click on the Text Body entry and all the selected text will have Text Body styles applied. If the first line remains in Default Style, position cursor in it and select Text Body from styles dropdown towards top left of screen. Now your formatting is achieved without any direct formatting!

Why is this a good thing? Suppose you want to change your text layout. You find, for example, that printing is going to cost so much per page. So you want to minimise page count. Do you have to pass through the book and reformat every line of every paragraph? No! You modify the mast Text Body paragrapgh, change First Line indent to 0, tick Automatic indent box under that, change line spacing to Single, and look what happens - your document has shrunk to about half the number of pages automagically!

Press F11, right click the selected paragraph style in the list, select New, select the Borders tab in the dialog box, turn all borders on (left box). Close, select the paragraphs giving trouble, apply the new style, then apply the original style, borders will be gone.

alphared6 wrote:The first attempt moved the line up one page (or perhaps two paragraphs). I tried again with no result. The depth of my sadness id yet unplumbed.

If the line moves up, that means that the border has not been turned off for all paragraphs. You have to turn off the border for EVERY paragraph that has the border turned on. If there are several consecutive paragraphs with the border turned on, the border will only be visible under the last paragraph with the border turned on.

I selected all then turned the borders off but still the damned line remains. What now?

You may need to get the styles under control. I just selected the sentences above the "line", dragged them over to the styles box and created new_style_1. Then I selected the lines below the "line", dragged them over to the styles box and created new_style_2. Then I right clicked on new_style_1, clicked modify, and removed the bottom border.

Yes, you have cured the problem at the expense of two extra Styles, but there was no diagnosis. The problem is caused by applying direct formatting, rather than by programming the styles involved. If one is going to use OpenOffice regularly it is advisable to master Styles.

alphared6 wrote:I selected all then turned the borders off but still the damned line remains. What now? :cry:

All I can suggest is that you upload another file which still shows the line after turning off the borders. I downloaded the original sample file, turned off the borders for the three paragraphs and the line disappeared.

For what it's worth, here's a recipe that should work no matter what.

1) Edit > Select All
2) Format > Paragraph > Borders
3) Click on the "All Four Borders" button in the left-side panel, then click OK

With all still selected, repeat the last two steps, except turn the borders off:
4) Format > Paragraph > Borders
5) Click on the "No Borders" button in the left-side panel, then click OK

If you try to directly turn the borders off, Writer may decide there's nothing to do and ignore the change in settings. Turning them on first ensures that turning them off will always work.

By changing only the borders, the other formatting--italics, etc.--will remain intact.

Even so, I have to agree with the others: for long documents that need to be consistent, styles are the way to go.

That worked, the black line is gone -- HOWEVER -- I now have a border around every page that I cannot make go away! The latter half of you idea did not work.

Ouch. Sorry, I expected those steps would be sure-fire. I'm stumped.

Oh no ...

I suggest you do it again, and do it right this time.

Addendum – using the suggestion to add the borders and then remove them did indeed eliminate the black line but I was left with the undesired border previously described.
Being unable to remove the border without seeing the return of the black line I restored the page borders and selected to color them white. Though they are still present I can't see them and that will suffice.

Thank all of you for your assistance here. I learned an awful lot.

Now … where do I go to learn about styles?

Try
http://wiki.services.openoffice.org/wik ... e_Chapters
Chapters 6 and 7 of the Writer Guide cover Styles, but for the sake of the few moments it will take I'd recommend downloading the entire book.

Also you could search the Internet for "OpenOffice" and "Jean Hollis Weber" or "Solveig Haugland"; anything written by either of these two contributors is clear, well thought out, and accurate (within the limits of OOo version changes).

Edit: In Tutorials:Writer on the Forum you will find floris v's List of Styles in Writer. Usually one does not need to generate a new style, one can modify one of these for one's own purposes. If one feels the urge to apply direct formatting, then it is time to use a Character Style instead.

Thank you. I have saved the PDF and will read the guide completely.

Most probably the Border you are experiencing on a Page is because you have mixed up the Border tab on /Format /Page and the Border tab on /Format /Paragraph. You should be able to select /Format /Page : Border tab, and choose "no borders" icon (leftmost small icon) or choose "no border" or "none" (first entry on border width dropdown). If you like to wear belt and braces, chosose both!

Just for purposes of understanding -- what I am attempting here is a manuscript format required by my publisher. If I understand you correctly there is a method by which I can preset OOo to produce this format every time I desire it. Correct?

One inch borders, double spacing, no additional space at the paragraph, 12 point Courier new, to name a few of the required parameters.