Headings in LibreOffice Writer

Headings seem simple enough. Most people know what they are, and most word processors make it easy to apply them to text.

LibreOffice has several different heading styles. All of them can be accessed through the Styles and Formatting tab in the sidebar. It also provides ways to quickly apply Headings 1 through 5 to paragraphs of text.

The list of headings are not set in stone. They can be added to and modified through the sidebar tab.

Quick Access

There are several ways to apply a heading with two clicks or by pressing two keys on your keyboard. Headings 1 through 5 are accessed through drop-down menus and keystroke.

Keystrokes

Pressing Ctrl and numbers 1-5 (Mac users need to use Cmd, rather than Ctrl). This will apply the settings for the first five default headings.

  • Ctrl 1 – Heading 1
  • Ctrl 2 – Heading 2
  • Ctrl 3 – Heading 3
  • Ctrl 4 – Heading 4
  • Ctrl 5 – Heading 5
Styles menu

In version 6.0 and later of Writer, Headings 1 through 3 are listed in the first section of Styles menu. Title and Subtitles are also options in the same section. In earlier versions, Headings 1 through 4 are listed in the menu.

Drop-down menus

The Set Paragraph Style drop-down menu in the Formatting toolbar. In all versions, Headings 1 through 3 are listed. When another heading is applied is placed in the drop-down menu for that document

  • Pressing either Ctrl 1, Ctrl 2, or Ctrl 3. (Mac users need to use Cmd, rather than Ctrl
  • The Set Paragraph Style drop-down menu in the Formatting toolbar.
  • The Styles menu
  • Various experimental user interfaces
    • Contextual single
    • Tabbed in Home ribbon
    • Tabbed Compact in Home ribbon
    • Groupedbar Full
    • Groupedbar Compact
[metaslider id=”5151″] Styles and Formatting

This is the third tab from the top in the sidebar. It has six different categories to choose from:

  • Paragraph Styles
  • Character Styles
  • Frame Styles
  • Page Styles
  • List Styles
  • Table Styles

The Heading styles are under Paragraph Styles. The Heading drop-down menu in it contains all the heading settings.

  • Heading 1
  • Heading 2
  • Heading 3
  • Heading 4
  • Heading 5
  • Heading 6
  • Heading 7
  • Heading 8
  • Heading 9
  • Heading 10
  • Bibliography Heading
  • Contents Heading
  • Subtitle
  • Title

These default settings can be changed permanently. This is done by using the New Style from Selection. Clicking an item from the list will launch the associated dialog. Do the following to launch the desired dialog:

  1. Click the Styles and Formatting tab in the sidebar. This opens a list of different styles.
  2. Click the New Style from Selection item. This is a drop-down menu with three choices.
  3. Click one of these choices to launch the associated dialog. Each item in the below list is a link to a page about this item.
    • New Style
    • Update Style
    • Load Styles

This is a menu in the top, right of the tab window. It has three choices: