Transfer Styles in Writer

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Foreword

The video "Formatvorlagen übertragen in Writer - LibreOffice" shows how to transfer styles and links to this page here, which provides further information and details.

Link to the Video

Link to the Video (in German [DE]):

Formatvorlagen übertragen in Writer - LibreOffice

Transfer styles

The styles are best accessed via the sidebar, View ▸ Sidebar menu ( Ctrl + F5 ).

In the horizontal icons in the upper Sidebar the icon "Styles actions" is located on the right.

upper Sidebar

Click on the "Styles actions" icon or on the small black arrow next to it.

You now have the options:

New Style from Selection
Update Selected Style
Load Styles from Template

Text based on the Online-Help

New Style from selection

To create a new style from a manually formatted selection:

Select View ▸ Styles, ( F11 ) to open the Styles window in the sidebar.
At the top of the Styles window, click on the icon for the styles types (Paragraph, Character styles, etc.) of the new styles.
Click in the document from which you want to copy the style, e.g. in a paragraph to which you have applied manual formatting.
Click on the Styles actions icon at the top right of the Styles window and select New Style from Selection from the dropdown menu.
Enter a name for the new style in the "New Style from Selection" dialog.
Click on OK.

"New Style from Selection" dialog

This is how you create a new style by dragging and dropping:

Select the View ▸ Styles menu ( F11 ) to open the Styles window in the Sidebar.
Click on the icon at the top of the Styles window for the Style type of the new format.
For Paragraph, Character and List formats, select at least one character in the format you want to copy, drag the selection with the mouse to the Styles window and release. For Frame formats, select the Frame and hold down the mouse button until the mouse icon changes, then drag the Frame onto the Styles window and release.
Alternatively, you can drag&drop the selection onto the corresponding icon at the top of the Styles window. This way you do not have to open these Styles types beforehand.
Enter a name for the new style in the "New Style from Selection" dialog.

For Page and Table formats, you must use the "Styles actions" icon at the top right of the Styles window. The drag&drop method is not possible for these Styles.

Note:
Only the manually formatted text properties at the cursor position in the document are added to the style selected in the styles. Other properties used as part of the Styles are not added to the updated Style. For paragraph Styles, the manual format must be present in the whole paragraph.

Update Selected Style

Update styles from selection.

In the Menu select View ▸ Styles ( F11 ) to open the Styles window in the Sidebar.
Click on the icon of the Style types to be updated (Paragraph style, Character style, etc.).
Click in the document at the point from which you want to update the style. For example, click on a paragraph to which you have applied manual formatting and which you now want to copy into the paragraph style.
Click on the Style to be updated in the Styles.
Click on the arrow next to the "Styles actions" icon and select "Update Selected Style" from the drop-down list.

Note:
Only the manually formatted text properties at the cursor position in the document are added to the Style selected in the Styls. Other properties used as part of the Styles are not added to the updated Style. For Paragraph styles, the manual format must be present in the whole paragraph.

Load Styles from documents or document templates

You can transfer (import) styles from another document or a document template into the current document.

Open the "Load Styles from Template" dialog.

Select Styles ▸ Load Styless from Template from the menu.
Select View ▸ Styles, ( F11 ) from the menu to open the Styles window in the sidebar. Click the arrow next to the Styles actions icon and select Load Styless from Template from the drop-down list.

Use the checkboxes in the lower part of the dialog to select the Style types to be imported. To replace the Styles of the current document if Styles with the same name are intended for import, activate the checkbox Overwrite.

Do one of the following:

Select an item from the Categories list, then click the Style that contains the styles to be used in the Styless list, then click OK.

Click From File…, select the file containing the styles you want to use, then click Open.

"Load Styles from Template" dialog

Load a single Style from a document

You can transfer (import) a single style from another document to the current document.

Open both documents (the one you want to transfer to and the one you want to transfer from).

Select a character or word in the document that contains the style you want to transfer from and copy it.

Place the cursor in the document you want to transfer to and paste what you copied.

The pasted character or word will be displayed in the format from the original document.

The corresponding new Style is available in the Styles.

Note:
If you want to transfer a single style from a document template, open the document template.

Apply Styles in Fill Format Mode

You can quickly apply Styles (for example, Paragraph and Character styles) in your document by using the "Fill Format Mode".

In the Menu, choose View ▸ Styles ( F11 ) to open the Styles window in the Sidebar.
Place the cursor in the paragraph or word whose format you want to transfer.
Click on the icon of the Style types to be applied. The Style corresponding to the cursor position is highlighted.
Click the "Fill Format Mode" icon in the Styles window.
Move the mouse pointer to the place in the document where you want to apply the Style and click. To apply the Style to multiple elements, select the elements by dragging them, and then release the mouse button.
When you are finished, press Esc.