change default first line indentation size

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franklekens
Posts: 84
Joined: Wed Nov 08, 2017 3:15 pm

change default first line indentation size

Post by franklekens »

This is probably a dumb question, but I just can't figure out how to do this.

With CTRL+SHIFT+M I can set the current (and every subsequent) paragraph to "first line indent". The default size for this indentation seems to be 1,27 cm. I would like to make this a little smaller, e.g. 0,75 cm. And make this the standard.

So I open Normal.rtf, the empty file template that contains the standard settings & styles.

But what do I do now? I can indent the first (empty) paragraph, change it's indentation to 0,75 cm. But that means that every new empty file I create starts with the first line indent style -- and that's not what I want. I only want to invoke it manually.

So how do I do that?
If I go to Format>Style>Normal and select the style "Normal", I can edit that. But again: that means that first line indentation becomes the default, which I do not want.

It must be something simple, what am I overlooking? How do I make it so that CTRL+SHIFT+M indents 0,75 and not 1,27?

And I mean without *addding* a separate style for First line indent and assigning CTRL+SHIFT+M to that style. Because that only seems to me to complicate things, and besides: right now CTRL+SHIFT+M is a toggle, which I like very much; if indent first line were a separate style, it wouldn't be a toggle.

I hope I make myself clear, I myself quickly get lost when talking about styles. (Which is why I try to do as little as possible with them.)

MTIA.
Robert
Posts: 1890
Joined: Fri Aug 15, 2003 8:27 pm

Post by Robert »

If CTRL+SHIFT+M is reassigned to a specific style with 0.75 first line indent in Normal.rtf, CTRL+SHIFT+M becomes a toggle for that new style, hence for that specific indent value. It does not matter if the indent is applied through direct formatting or through a dedicated style.
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admin
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Post by admin »

Ctrl+Shift+M is not a toggle. What's more, it does not change the "first line indent". It decreases the "left indent" of the entire paragraph. By default, Shift+Alt+M is a toggle for the "first line indent". The default first line indent is 0.5" indeed. It is a hard-coded value. Maybe one day it will be customizable in Atlantis.
franklekens
Posts: 84
Joined: Wed Nov 08, 2017 3:15 pm

Post by franklekens »

Okay, thanks. Yes, I made mistake with the shortcut, of course it's ALT+SHIFT, not CTRL.

That's cleared up, at least now I know I'm not overlooking anything. It's no big deal; I wouldn't be against customization, that's always nice; but it's fairly easy to change that indentation via the control board as well,
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