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I teach and create my teaching plan in outline format. I basically hit the tab key and put a dash before a line of text. When I type a line and then hit enter, I lose my tab, and the line moves back to the far left. I noticed that if I use the indent button in Libreoffice and then hit enter, it does not move back to the far left. Is there any way to apply the indent button functionality to the tab key on my keyboard? Basically, I want to be able to use the tab key, hit enter after typing a line, and not lose my indentation. Thanks!

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  • I really do not know what to say here! I wish I could mark both answers as correct. Both answer my question thoroughly and clearly. I will actually be putting into practice the knowledge gained from both of these answers. Libreoffice Writer has some great depth to it. I deleted Windows 7 the other day and now it is on to migrating all of my docs to Libreoffice format. Thank you both for your help! These were very nice answers and much more than what I expected.
    – jbrock
    Apr 5, 2015 at 22:58

2 Answers 2

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Yes, there is a workaround for what you wish. At least of what I can see in the scenery you mention.

I provide you with a fast food recipe for this instance in the best wish for this to solve your issue. If this is not what you expect please don't hesitate to drop a comment and I am going to change/delete this answer based on the best for you.

The Ingredients:

  1. The latest LibreOffice version you can afford.
  2. Patience
  3. A drink and some donuts.

Preparation

First of all we should have in consideration that the proper key accelerators for bullets and numbers are Shift F12 and F12 respectively. So the first thing we should do in order to create a bullet list is to hit the Shift F12 in order to start a bullets list as shown in the next screenshot.

enter image description here

Please notice I haven't added any text yet. That's just because of I am going to perform certain other tasks previous to start typing my list, but you can -indeed- do it on an already made list. The process should result in the same.

Now, I am going to click the "Format" menu and choose the "Bullets and Numbering..." option.

enter image description here

Now, I am going to choose from the ready-made presets, or -as in your case- if I need a different kind of bulleting, I am going to hit the "Options" tab in the "Bullets and Numbering" window, in which I am going to define every options I wish for the main and subsequent bullet levels, see the screenshot.

enter image description here

Now, in the "Character style" dropdown I am going to choose "Source Text", after which I am going to hit the ... button in order to set the text that it's going to be used.

A window will be presented with the fonts and text elements that we can use for such purpose. In this example I am going to use the "Ubuntu Font" with the "General punctuation" Subset (Default) and by choosing the upper left's character I am going to instruct the "Bullets and Numbers" to use such element as shown in the next screenshot.

enter image description here

Now, let's hit Ok on the opened windows, after which the solid rounded bullet will transform in a kind of long dash, in which I can start writing the text. See the screenshot.

enter image description here

Now, in the next screenshot we see a bullet list with two levels using the same bullet.

enter image description here

Let's say I wish to use a plus sign + for the second level of the list. What I should do is exactly the same steps as for level 1, but this time let's choose "Level 2" and give it the + sign. After which I am going to right click the sub level item and chose the "Down one level" option in order to make it use the + sign.

enter image description here

But! The sub level should be nested inside the previous level, so let's hit the "Increase indent" button from the format bar in order to do so.

enter image description here

And we can go further with the same steps for any deepest levels you need to give certain format.

Serving

Oh! Yes, I hope you enjoyed your donuts and your favorite drink when reading this.

So, don't forget to serve an additional portion of donuts and hot drink for the conversation.

Good luck!

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    Very nice solution!
    – tohuwawohu
    Apr 2, 2015 at 19:26
  • Thank you very much @tohuwawohu, I didn't notice your answer and it looks great. I have learned something today. Thank you for that my friend! Apr 2, 2015 at 19:38
  • You're very welcome - it's great to have different approaches to solve the issue, and your solution makes perfect use of the full power of LO Writer's formating capabilities.
    – tohuwawohu
    Apr 2, 2015 at 19:41
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This isn't a bug, it's a feature :-) - but a nice one, you can disable it. It's among the AutoCorrect Options that are enabled by default in LO Writer.

To keep a tab at the very beginning of a line (disable AutoCorrect rule):

  1. Menu Tools -> AutoCorrect Options...
  2. Select Options tab;
  3. In the AutoCorrect Dialogue, disable the seventh option:

    enter image description here

You can also map the Increase Indent / Decrease Indent functions to shortcuts. To do so:

  1. Menu Tools -> Customize...
  2. Select Keyboard tab;
  3. In Functions -> Category, select Format;
  4. In Function -> Function, select Increase Indent;
  5. In Shortcut Keys, select your desired shortcut (e.g. CTRL+N for Increase iNdent and ALT+N for Decrease iNdent):

    enter image description here

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