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# Changing Page Orientation

All page properties for Writer text documents, like for example the page orientation, are defined by page styles. By default, a new text document uses the “Default” page style for all pages. If you open an existing text document, different page styles may have been applied to the different pages.

It is important to know that changes that you apply to a page property will only affect the pages that use the current page style. The current page style is listed in the Status Bar at the lower window border.

## To Change the Page Orientation for All Pages

If your text document consists only of pages with the same page style, you can change the page properties directly:

1. Choose Format - Page Style.

2. Click the Page tab.

3. Under Paper format, select “Portrait” or “Landscape”.

4. Click OK.

## To Change the Page Orientation Only for Some Pages

LibreOffice uses page styles to specify the orientation of the pages in a document. Page styles define more page properties, as for example header and footer or page margins. You can either change the “Default” page style for the current document, or you can define own page styles and apply those page styles to any parts of your text.

At the end of this help page, we'll discuss the scope of page styles in detail. If you are unsure about the page style concept, please read the section at the end of this page.

Unlike character styles or paragraph styles, the page styles don't know a hierarchy. You can create a new page style based on the properties of an existing page style, but when you later change the source style, the new page style does not automatically inherit the changes.

To change the page orientation for all pages that share the same page style, you first need a page style, then apply that style:

1. Choose View - Styles.

2. Click the Page Styles icon.

3. Right-click a page style and choose New. The new page style initially gets all properties of the selected page style.

4. On the General tab page, type a name for the page style in the Name box, for example "My Landscape".

5. In the Next Style box, select the page style that you want to apply to the next page that follows a page with the new style. See the section about the scope of page styles at the end of this help page.

6. Click the Page tab.

7. Under Paper format, select “Portrait” or “Landscape”.

8. Click OK.

Now you have defined a proper page style with the name "My Landscape". To apply the new style, double-click the "My Landscape" page style in the Styles window. All pages in the current scope of page styles will be changed. If you defined the "next style" to be a different style, only the first page of the current scope of page styles will be changed.

## To Quickly Switch Between Portrait and Landscape Page Layout

The default template provided by LibreOffice Writer offers several page layout styles, among which the Default Page Style has Portrait orientation and the Landscape style has landscape orientation.

These styles can be used to quickly switch between portrait and landscape orientation by inserting manual breaks and choosing the appropriate page styles as described below:

1. Place the cursor where the page break is to be inserted.

2. Go to Insert - More Breaks - Manual Break. The Insert Break dialog will open.

3. Choose the option Page break and in the Page Style drop-down list choose the page style to be applied to the page after the break (Default Page Style, Landscape, etc).

4. If the applied has to be changed again at a certain point in the document (for instance, to switch back from landscape to portrait orientation), place the cursor at this point and repeat the steps previously described.

## The Scope of Page Styles

You should be aware of the scope of page styles in LibreOffice. Which pages of your text document get affected by editing a page style?

### One Page Long Styles

A page style can be defined to span one page only. The “First Page” style is an example. You set this property by defining another page style to be the "next style", on the Format - Page Style - General tab page.

A one page long style starts from the lower border of the current page style range up to the next page break. The next page break appears automatically when the text flows to the next page, which is sometimes called a "soft page break". Alternatively, you can insert a manual page break.

To insert a manual page break at the cursor position, press Command Ctrl+Enter or choose Insert - Manual Break and just click OK.

### Manually Defined Range of a Page style

The “Default” page style does not set a different "next style" on the Format - Page Style - General tab page. Instead, the "next style" is set also to be “Default”. All page styles that are followed by the same page style can span multiple pages. The lower and upper borders of the page style range are defined by "page breaks with style". All the pages between any two "page breaks with style" use the same page style.

You can insert a "page break with style" directly at the cursor position. Alternatively, you can apply the "page break with style" property to a paragraph or to a paragraph style.

Perform any one of the following commands:

- To insert a "page break with style" at the cursor position, choose Insert - Manual Break, select a Style name from the listbox, and click OK.

- To apply the “page break with style” property to the current paragraph, choose Format - Paragraph - Text Flow. In the Breaks area, activate Insert and With Page Style. Select a page style name from the listbox.

- To apply the “page break with style” property to the current paragraph style, right-click the current paragraph. Choose Edit Paragraph Style from the context menu. Click the Text Flow tab. In the Breaks area, activate Insert and With Page Style. Select a page style name from the listbox.

- To apply the “page break with style” property to an arbitrary paragraph style, choose View - Styles. Click the Paragraph Styles icon. Right-click the name of the paragraph style you want to modify and choose Edit Style. Click the Text Flow tab. In the Breaks area, activate Insert and With Page Style. Select a page style name from the listbox.

Related Topics

About Headers and Footers

Creating a Page Style Based on the Current Page

Inserting a Chapter Name and Number in a Header or a Footer

Formatting Headers or Footers