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About AbiWord
About Open Source
Index
Contents
What's New
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Introduction
Installation
Getting Started
The Workspace
Entering Text
Formatting
Edit Commands
Paragraphs
Styles
Inserting Objects
Printing
Preferences
Shortcuts
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Paragraphs

Paragraphs can be formatted in the following manner:

Alignment

There are four types of alignment available inAbiWord.
  1. Left Alignment. This is the default alignment.
    To align a paragraph to the left, do one of the following:
    1. Go to the Format menu, click on Alignment and select "Left"
    2. Click on the left alignment icon on the Format BarParagraph Left Alignment Icon
    3. Simultaneously press the "Ctrl" and "L" keys.

  2. Center Alignment
    To center a paragraph, do one of the following:
    1. Go to the Format menu, click on Alignment and select "Center"
    2. Click on the center alignment icon on the Format BarParagraph Center Alignment Icon
    3. Simultaneously press the "Ctrl" and "E" keys

  3. Right alignment
    To align a paragraph to the right, do one of the following:
    1. Go to the Format menu, click on Alignment and select "Right"
    2. Click on the right alignment icon on the Format BarParagraph Right Alignment Icon
    3. Simultaneously press the "Ctrl" and "R" keys

  4. Justify
    A justified paragraph will be aligned to both the left and the right. To jusify a paragraph, do one of the following:
    1. Go to the Format menu, click on Alignment and select "Justify"
    2. Click on the justify alignment icon on the Format BarParagraph Justify Alignment Icon
    3. Simultaneously press the "Ctrl" and "J" keys

Margins

The arrows on the ruler are compared to the margins of right-hand side and left of the document. They can be positive or negative according to how you wish to use tabs and indents. You can move the tabs by moving the little "arrows" on the ruler left or right.

The ruler

In order to indent the text, you should move the top arrow along to where you wish the first line of a paragraph to start. This can be seen below. The rest of the text for the paragraph will appear where the bottom arrow is. To move this, simply drag it left or right.

Example of paragraphs

Changing the margins in AbiWord

You can change the horizontal margins in Abiword. To do so , click on the square button on the ruler, as shown below, and move it left or right.

Example of changing the horizontal margin.

Spacing

Spacing makes it possible to define spacing between the various paragraphs. By default, there is no spacing. The simplest way to define spacing is to click on the " 12 Pt Spacing  " icon Espacement avant: 12 pt on the formatting toolbar. To return to no spacing, click on the " No Spacing" icon   Spacing on the same toolbar.

Line Spacing

Line spacing makes it possible to define spacing between lines in the same paragraph.There are three different types of line spacing apart form personalised one (which we will see later) 
  1. Simple Line Spacing: The default option. Click on "Simple lines" Interligne simple to use
  2. 1.5 Line Spacing. Click on "1.5 lines" Interligne: 1.5 lignesicon to use.
  3. Double Line Spacing. Click "Double lines" Interligne double  to use.

Working with paragraphs (alignment, margins, line spacing)

* You can also work with paragraphs through the paragraphs dialog.
* Here you can specify alignment, indentation, line spacing and other paragraph features.

To use the paragraph formatting tools, use only need to place the cursor in the paragraph, you do not have to select it.

This dialog can be found under the format menu. You can see this dialog below. In it, you can do all of the functions mentioned above.

Indent and spacing
* Alignment allows you to specify what kind of alignment the paragraph has.
* Indentation allows you to adjust the level of indentation
* Spacing can very the amount fo space between paragraphs and lines.
* The preview function allows you to see the effect fo the changes
  1. The second page of the format menu can be seen below, and has the following features:
Line and Page Breaks;

Page break options

  1. Widow/Orphan control
  2. Keep lines together
  3. Keep with next
  4. Page break before
  5. Supress line numbers
  6. Don't hyphenate - if this is checked, then words are not automatically cut in a paragraph
* The preview function allows you to see the effect fo the changes