How To Correctly Format In Open Office ?

gargoyle67 · 10-04-2009, 01:30 PM

So I've been using open office for a while now to convert and take out boarders using a template I downloaded from this forum (which is great)
But I've been getting a lot of gaps in my books as pictured with some gray blocks when I paste them into open office.
So I guess there is an option to reformat the book and remove the gaps ?
Anybody point me in the right direction please

LDBoblo · 10-04-2009, 04:06 PM

Looks like they follow a fixed break/space patterning, so you can probably eliminate the vast majority simply with the replace command.

gargoyle67 · 10-04-2009, 04:37 PM

I've tried that, But how do I tell what to replace in the replace section as they are blank spaces ?

Patricia · 10-04-2009, 04:57 PM

Some look like paragraph markers; others look like tabs. In your position, I'd experiment and see which find+replace commands work best.

gargoyle67 · 10-04-2009, 05:11 PM

Again I cannot use auto corrects replace feature because I can't tell it what to replace, If I drag the mouse over the gray and use the copy option it just shows as blank space when pasting into the replace box

AlexBell · 10-05-2009, 03:37 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by gargoyle67

Again I cannot use auto corrects replace feature because I can't tell it what to replace, If I drag the mouse over the gray and use the copy option it just shows as blank space when pasting into the replace box

I think you'll find that if you open the document in Writer, then click on View, then on nonprinting characters (or just Ctrl+F10) you'll see the non printing characters and can select them.

Regards, Alex

gargoyle67 · 10-05-2009, 08:58 AM

Ok thanks for that Alex but I still get nothing when I paste into auto corrects
Replace box ?

Patricia · 10-05-2009, 09:17 AM

Go to Find+replace on the edit menu. Click on "more options." Then experiment a bit.
Try clicking on "format" and edit the indents and spacing. Or click on "attributes" and search for "indent" or "page style".

Jack Tingle · 10-05-2009, 09:17 AM

Ah, Open Office and the paragraph. OO has a quirk, inherited from UNIX. The newline character and the paragraph character are different. OO doesn't have a very flexible way of working with them in find and replace. MS Word is much better at this. I suggest trying something like doing a wild card find and replace on ^[space][space]$, where [space] is a spacebar character, with a blank line as the replacement. Then try Autocorrect or Autoformat again. YMMV.

Regards,
Jack Tingle

gargoyle67 · 10-05-2009, 04:46 PM

Thanks Patricia & Jack, Got something a lot better than I had
before

AlexBell · 10-06-2009, 02:08 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jack Tingle

Ah, Open Office and the paragraph. OO has a quirk, inherited from UNIX. The newline character and the paragraph character are different. OO doesn't have a very flexible way of working with them in find and replace. MS Word is much better at this. I suggest trying something like doing a wild card find and replace on ^[space][space]$, where [space] is a spacebar character, with a blank line as the replacement. Then try Autocorrect or Autoformat again. YMMV.

Regards,
Jack Tingle

Thanks, Jack, that's very useful. Can I ask if I may how you discovered ^[space][space]$ and if there is a list somewhere of similar expressions?

Regards, Alex

Jellby · 10-06-2009, 05:02 AM

May this page be useful?

Jack Tingle · 10-06-2009, 02:08 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by AlexBell

Thanks, Jack, that's very useful. Can I ask if I may how you discovered ^[space][space]$ and if there is a list somewhere of similar expressions?

It was never missing.

Having once learned various UNIX shells, scripts and regular expressions, they tend to stick with you. Sort of like mucus.

The reference in the above post is very good. Better than anything I have handy.

Regards,
Jack Tingle

gargoyle67 · 10-06-2009, 03:04 PM

Well I've done two ebooks fiddling with the ndents\spacing\format options but the last two I tired to do just won't play ball, Anyone want to explain how the "^[space][space]$" command is suppose to work as I can't seem to get it to do anything in OO using regular expressions, Is it suppose to remove spaces or something

gwynevans · 10-06-2009, 03:34 PM

^ is the start of line & $ is the end of line, so '^[sp][sp]$' is just looking for lines consisting of two spaces only.

10-04-2009, 01:30 PM	#1
gargoyle67 Groupie Posts: 178 Karma: 151909 Join Date: Mar 2009 Device: Kindle Paperwhite (JB)	How To Correctly Format In Open Office ? So I've been using open office for a while now to convert and take out boarders using a template I downloaded from this forum (which is great) But I've been getting a lot of gaps in my books as pictured with some gray blocks when I paste them into open office. So I guess there is an option to reformat the book and remove the gaps ? Anybody point me in the right direction please

10-04-2009, 04:57 PM	#4
Patricia Reader Posts: 11,527 Karma: 1239840 Join Date: May 2007 Location: South Wales, UK Device: Sony PRS-500, PRS-505, Asus EEEpc 4G	Some look like paragraph markers; others look like tabs. In your position, I'd experiment and see which find+replace commands work best. __________________ Of making many books there is no end [Ecclesiastes, 12.12]

10-05-2009, 09:17 AM	#8
Patricia Reader Posts: 11,527 Karma: 1239840 Join Date: May 2007 Location: South Wales, UK Device: Sony PRS-500, PRS-505, Asus EEEpc 4G	Go to Find+replace on the edit menu. Click on "more options." Then experiment a bit. Try clicking on "format" and edit the indents and spacing. Or click on "attributes" and search for "indent" or "page style". __________________ Of making many books there is no end [Ecclesiastes, 12.12]

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10-04-2009, 04:06 PM	#2
LDBoblo Wizard Posts: 1,386 Karma: 16054 Join Date: Jun 2009 Location: Asia Device: Kindle 3 WiFi, Sony PRS-505	Looks like they follow a fixed break/space patterning, so you can probably eliminate the vast majority simply with the replace command.

10-04-2009, 04:37 PM	#3
gargoyle67 Groupie Posts: 178 Karma: 151909 Join Date: Mar 2009 Device: Kindle Paperwhite (JB)	I've tried that, But how do I tell what to replace in the replace section as they are blank spaces ?

10-04-2009, 05:11 PM	#5
gargoyle67 Groupie Posts: 178 Karma: 151909 Join Date: Mar 2009 Device: Kindle Paperwhite (JB)	Again I cannot use auto corrects replace feature because I can't tell it what to replace, If I drag the mouse over the gray and use the copy option it just shows as blank space when pasting into the replace box

10-05-2009, 08:58 AM	#7
gargoyle67 Groupie Posts: 178 Karma: 151909 Join Date: Mar 2009 Device: Kindle Paperwhite (JB)	Ok thanks for that Alex but I still get nothing when I paste into auto corrects Replace box ?

10-05-2009, 09:17 AM	#9
Jack Tingle Punctuation Fetishist Posts: 531 Karma: 1030682 Join Date: Nov 2008 Location: The Bluest Commonwealth In East America Device: Kindle PW, Galaxy Player 5 (YP-G70C)	Ah, Open Office and the paragraph. OO has a quirk, inherited from UNIX. The newline character and the paragraph character are different. OO doesn't have a very flexible way of working with them in find and replace. MS Word is much better at this. I suggest trying something like doing a wild card find and replace on ^[space][space]$, where [space] is a spacebar character, with a blank line as the replacement. Then try Autocorrect or Autoformat again. YMMV. Regards, Jack Tingle

10-05-2009, 04:46 PM	#10
gargoyle67 Groupie Posts: 178 Karma: 151909 Join Date: Mar 2009 Device: Kindle Paperwhite (JB)	Thanks Patricia & Jack, Got something a lot better than I had before

10-06-2009, 05:02 AM	#12
Jellby frumious Bandersnatch Posts: 5,136 Karma: 2460081 Join Date: Jan 2008 Location: Spaniard in Sweden Device: Cybook Orizon	May this page be useful?

10-06-2009, 03:04 PM	#14
gargoyle67 Groupie Posts: 178 Karma: 151909 Join Date: Mar 2009 Device: Kindle Paperwhite (JB)	Well I've done two ebooks fiddling with the ndents\spacing\format options but the last two I tired to do just won't play ball, Anyone want to explain how the "^[space][space]$" command is suppose to work as I can't seem to get it to do anything in OO using regular expressions, Is it suppose to remove spaces or something

10-06-2009, 03:34 PM	#15
gwynevans Wizard Posts: 1,336 Karma: 1065246 Join Date: Nov 2007 Location: UK Device: Sony 505 (retired), iPad2, iPhone 3GS & Nexus 7 3G	^ is the start of line & $ is the end of line, so '^[sp][sp]$' is just looking for lines consisting of two spaces only.


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