Heads up! Change in object anchoring for release 7.1

Hi Team

LibreOffice Writer 7.1 dropped the To Page anchoring option when inserting an object in the document. Existing To Page anchored objects are preserved but not an option anymore for new objects.

An interesting source for object anchoring and positioning by Mike Kaganski may be used in our guides on anchoring:

https://ask.libreoffice.org/en/question/199971/multiple-captioned-images/#post-id-199989

Regards

Hello Olivier

Thanks for that link and it was an interesting read.
Anchoring figures is important so that the text and image do not lose each other and As Character anchoring is the best one to use.

One thing that should be mentioned is image size.
Occasionally you have to resize an image so that it does not overwhelm the text on a page.
The best way to resize an image is to use the Image dialog and make sure the Keep Ration option is selected, That way you do not get distorted images.

Regards
Peter Schofield
Technical Writer, Document Foundation
psauthor@gmail.com

Hi Peter

Right. Good point on resizing.

Another issue we all face is when we want to update an image and it get distorted or badly resized inside the wrapping frame.

Solution is to uncheck the Auto-dimensioning in Frame Property - Type tab. That way the image and the frame are independent and can be adjusted individually.

Kind regards

Hi Olivier,

Thanks for the info.

Do we know what the logic and rational was for removing the "Anchor to
Page" option from the context menu, but keeping it in the "Properties"
dialog?

Regards
Dave

This is not entirely true. Gone are the context menu option and toolbar button option. Position and size dialog still allows you to set the anchoring To Page.

This was done in https://bugs.documentfoundation.org/show_bug.cgi?id=135836

Currently, some contributors and users are resisting this change and calling for a revert.

Ilmari

Hi Olivier,

Hi Team

LibreOffice Writer 7.1 dropped the To Page anchoring option when inserting an object in the document. Existing To Page anchored object > are preserved but not an option anymore for new objects.

That is not quite right. It has been not "dropped", but only hidden from "Anchor"-menu. You can still get the anchor type "To page" from the "Type" tab in the properties dialog (images and frames) or the "Position and Size" tab in the "Position and Size"-dialog (shapes).

And if you want to have it the same way in the context menu as in previous versions, you can customize the context menu. You need to make a submenu "Anchor" in e.g. the context menu of "Image", then select the new submenu in field "Target" and then add all the anchor types to it.

It was hidden, because you really need to know the impacts of "anchor to page", when you use it. But people try to use it to prevent images loosing position, but it is not designed for that purpose and the wrong anchor type for that.

An interesting source for object anchoring and positioning by Mike Kaganski may be used in our guides on anchoring:

https://ask.libreoffice.org/en/question/199971/multiple-captioned-images/#post-id-199989

And in this context, another important change: you can now specify as a default which anchor type is used when inserting an image. Tools > Options > Writer > Formatting Aids, section "Image".

Kind regards
Regina

I am another contributor/user calling for a revert. The logic and
reasoning for the bug being opened was irrational.

Dave

Hi,

Currently, some contributors and users are resisting this change and calling for a revert.

https://bugs.documentfoundation.org/show_bug.cgi?id=140702

Kind regards
Regina