Styles > Paragraph styles > "Based on" paragraph styles

When you create a new paragraph style, as described at the beginning of this section, it is usually based on the "Normal" paragraph style. This means that the new paragraph style is based on the formatting of the "Normal" style. Changes to the formatting of the "Normal" style thus affect all other styles.

If you have already created your own paragraph styles and used them in the text, the following occurs when you choose the command Paragraph style: In the list on the left side of the dialog box, the style of the currently selected paragraph is preselected – this may be the "Normal" paragraph style or your own one – and is thus also preset as the basis for a new style. In the list, change the style that you want to use as the basis for a new paragraph style, if necessary, before clicking the New button.

Please note: Subsequent changes to the formatting of the style basis will also change all styles based on it. Only the formatting that you have already customized there will remain unchanged.

If, for example, you select a new line spacing for the "Normal" style, it will also change in all paragraph styles (except for those styles where you have explicitly specified a different line spacing).

Reassigning the style basis

In addition, you can reassign the style basis to a paragraph style at any time with the option Based on.

To have a paragraph style based on a style other than the one you previously selected, proceed as follows:

1.	Right-click in the text to open the context menu and select the command Paragraph style.

2.	In the list on the left side of the dialog box, select the paragraph style whose basis you want to change.

Tip: If you click on the expand button >> on the bottom right, the description shows the style on which the selected paragraph style is currently based. Furthermore, you will find information here as to the formatting attributes of the paragraph style that have been modified differently from the style basis.

3.	Click on the Edit button.

4.	In the following dialog box, switch to the Style tab.

5.	Important: In the dropdown list Based on, select the style basis to which the selected paragraph style is to be linked. In addition to the the "Normal" style, you will also find some predefined styles and the styles you created yourself.

6.	You can now also change the desired formatting of the paragraph style, etc.

An application example:

The print version of this manual illustrates the use of linked paragraph styles. Here, the paragraph styles for all heading levels are based on a single paragraph style that specifies, among other things, an increased spacing from the previous paragraph.

When we subsequently decided that the spacing we had chosen was too small, we only had to increase it in the single underlying style, and the spacing of all headings was increased. If we had based the styles on "Normal", we would have had to change each of these heading styles separately.