Aligning objects

[Jossi]

You say in your reply "All of them (auto shapes and text boxes) have their own inner text which won't go lost." are you saying that the text and autoshapes will remain together? because I can see that that is not always the case.. I think this may be a bug which needs reporting:

see attached file page 2

Yes, that's what I wanted to say. In your sample document, in the lower half of page 2 there are two separate objects (auto shapes with inner text, one with a shadow and one without). As they are two, they may be moved independently. In the attached document, I have pulled them apart a bit to show this; then I've put a duplicate of the first object on page 3 and copied the text of the second into it. The result is a single object which cannot be divided.

in the attachment you've shared back, the object frames/text frames all seem to have a blank line at the bottom of them (ie the spacing at the bottom is disproportionate to the one at the top), is there a way to decrease that lower space to make it the same as the top one? (I'm always trying to budget space to make docs have less pages when printed)

This was already the case in your first sample document. The reason lies in the paragraph formatting of the text in the boxes: When you place the cursor in a box and invoke Format > Paragraph..., you will see that the paragraph format has an additional 8 pt spacing after the paragraph. This is responsible for the wider margin at the bottom.

and, when I cut a frame, and paste it elsewhere in the document it is no longer aligned to the right margin.. as I'm often moving text boxes around by cutting and pasting them is there a way to keep that alignment when doing so?

If in Object properties the horizontal position is set to Right/Relative to page margins/offset 0 cm, this should not happen. I tested it with the document "lorem text objects named and rearranged.tmdx" and could not reproduce this issue.

[mangodurian]

Hmm.. in the document "lorem test objects named and rearranged.tmdx" ..
If I select for example "This is Frame 20" on page 5.. so I get the 8 little blue dots in the corners and sides of the frame..
then I "ctrl-c" it..
then I paste it elsewhere.. I don't see that this keeps the alignment at all.. It gets positioned to the left with no text wrapping..
when selected it no longer has 8 of the blue dots, but 4.. one in each corner..
when I look at the properties of it, it says it is a "text field" and no longer shows "object properties" as the original frame 20..
there is no longer a possibility to set the horizontal position to the Right/Relative to page margins/offset 0 cm..

I am sorry to be so slow here, but clearly there's something that I'm not getting as I think you're saying that copying an object like frame 20 and pasting it elsewhere should keep the objects properties?

[mangodurian]

i'm getting confused with the docs we've been looking at... i just want to simplify this as much as possible to get my head straight on things..

so i'm enclosing another file.. it has one text box i created using object>new text frame ..
then i right aligned that object to the margin with offset zero as instructed..

now if i select it, and copy it and paste it it is no longer a text frame..

i just figured out that if i am in object mode.. it pastes as a a text frame and keeps its properties..
but i still can't see how, when in object mode, i can pinpoint where i want the copied object to be pasted..?

surely it would be much more intuitive for us users if an object when selected would paste as an object, even if not in object mode..

this really all seem unnecessarily complicated to me.. i still don't know how i will eventually go about moving let us say 10 pages of text and objects to a different position in the document, when 10 pages may have 20 text frames on them and text and frames have to be moved separately.. i can see that being a headache.. especially as i am often moving things around within my documents..

[Jossi]

Hmm.. in the document "lorem test objects named and rearranged.tmdx" ..
If I select for example "This is Frame 20" on page 5.. so I get the 8 little blue dots in the corners and sides of the frame..
then I "ctrl-c" it..
then I paste it elsewhere.. I don't see that this keeps the alignment at all.. It gets positioned to the left with no text wrapping..
when selected it no longer has 8 of the blue dots, but 4.. one in each corner..
when I look at the properties of it, it says it is a "text field" and no longer shows "object properties" as the original frame 20..
there is no longer a possibility to set the horizontal position to the Right/Relative to page margins/offset 0 cm..

I am sorry to be so slow here, but clearly there's something that I'm not getting as I think you're saying that copying an object like frame 20 and pasting it elsewhere should keep the objects properties?

Please make sure to paste the frame in Object mode. If you paste it while in Edit mode, it is converted to an embedded object. The fact that the pasted object has only four dots instead of eight indicates this.

[mangodurian]

Please make sure to paste the frame in Object mode. If you paste it while in Edit mode, it is converted to an embedded object. The fact that the pasted object has only four dots instead of eight indicates this.

yes, I figured that much out.. but i still can't see how, when in object mode, i can pinpoint where i want the copied object to be pasted..?

And I don't understand why, when an object is selected and copied, it does not paste as an object, even if not in object mode..

and i still don't know how i will eventually go about moving let us say 10 pages of text and objects to a different position in the document, when 10 pages may have 20 or more text frames on them and text and objects must be moved separately.. i can see that being a headache.. especially as i am often moving things around within my documents..

and i do much appreciate you taking time out to explain all this to my slow mind.

[Jossi]

yes, I figured that much out.. but i still can't see how, when in object mode, i can pinpoint where i want the copied object to be pasted..?

When you copy an Object and paste it to a different page (in Object mode), it gets the same position on the page as in the original page. Then you can change the position.

And I don't understand why, when an object is selected and copied, it does not paste as an object, even if not in object mode..

This was a design decision of the developers - possibly because they supposed that objects would be handled usually in object mode.

and i still don't know how i will eventually go about moving let us say 10 pages of text and objects to a different position in the document, when 10 pages may have 20 or more text frames on them and text and objects must be moved separately.. i can see that being a headache.. especially as i am often moving things around within my documents..

It is true that TextMaker doesn't offer a comfortable way to copy or move bigger portions of text including object frames. If this is a feature you will need often, it may be a deal breaker for using TextMaker at all. I'm sorry, but these are limitations we can't get around at present.

[mangodurian]

A thousand thanks Jossi..

Sorry I never responded sooner. I took time out to really see how it works for me, and have to report that the unique method of working with objects really is a deal breaker for me.

I tend to write chapters in random order, and then reposition them when I'm more certain of their order.. Trying to move 20 pages with embedded objects has proven far too time consuming and not worth the effort.

Until there is a way to copy entire pages with all content, and paste them elsewhere, I will be sticking with Libreoffice.
I wish for the developers to know that as a user, it makes no sense to me that a copied object should not remain a real object after being pasted, regardless of what "mode" I am in.

But I really appreciate your time in clarifying object usage to me..
regards,
Mango..

[SuperTech]

Thanks for your suggestion. I have forwarded this feature request to our development team.