How to Change the Default Font in LibreOffice Writer

All the applications of LibreOffice Suite, such as Writer, Calc, Draw, and Impress, all use Liberation Sans as the default font. Don’t get me wrong though, this font looks great on paper when printed and is generally a good choice. However, many users, including me just don’t like to use the same default font style again and again when working on new documents.

If you regularly use a custom font, it could quickly become a hassle to have to change the default formatting style with a different font every single time. Another annoying thing about LibreOffice is that there’s no straightforward settings to permanently change the default font for all new documents.

This is because, LibreOffice handles the default formatting for each its applications slightly different compared to the infamous Microsoft Office. So, in this tutorial, I will show you how to change the default font in LibreOffice Writer and make the change persist for new documents as well.

Changing The Default Font In LibreOffice Writer

In order to change the default font in LibreOffice Writer, create a new text document, or open an existing one. This is necessary because only then will LibreOffice display the Writer specific options.

Changing The Default Font From The Options Dialog

Once the text document is open, go to Tools > Options from the top menu bar (or, you can access the options dialog by pressing Alt + F12 on the keyboard.)

Tips: If you have changed the default user interface to Tabbed or something else, you may not see the top menu bar. In that case, look for the Menu button at the top-right corner, then click the Menu button > Options

In the Option dialog, navigate to LibreOffice Writer > Basic Fonts (Western), and change the default fonts to your preferred ones from the given drop-down options. You can also set the font size if you want to.

Once done, click Apply > OK

After making the changes, new text documents will use your defined font as the default. If you ever need to revert back to the default, go to the same settings and click on Default.

Editing The Default Template Document

Another popular way to change the default font in LibreOffice writer is to modify the style used the default template document. This way, not only you can change the default font but other formatting styling as well.

Heads up: This approach may be a little advanced for new users, and you could easily mess the default templates up with unwanted changes. Proceed with caution if you choose to follow this method.

To begin, open a new black text document by going to File > New > Text Document (or, press Ctrl + N on the keyboard for the shortcut)

Once the new text document opens, change the default styling. Go to Styles > Manage Styles (or, just press F11 on the keyboard to open it. Optionally, you can find the style option in the right sidebar of the document.)

Once you see the styling options on the right side of the screen (see the image below for reference.) right-click on a style and select Modify.

For example, the most common used styles in any documents are the titles, text body, headlines, quotations etc. So right-click on each of the styles that you want to modify.

After you click the Modify option, a new dialog window named Paragraph Style: <name of the style> will open. Here, you can change the font, its size and more. Once you’re satisfied with the change, click Apply > OK.

Making The Empty Document As Default Template

Remember that you are working on a blank document, meaning you have been modifying the styling properties without actually writing anything. This is what we want.

Now, go to File > Templates > Save as Template. This will bring up a popup window asking for a name of the new template. Give it a name, select a category (I prefer My Templates), check the Set as default template box and then click Save.

Done, you’ve now successfully made a custom template with your own styling. From now on, when you create a new text document, LibreOffice Writer will use this as its default template.

Restoring The Default Templates

If you ever want to revert back to the original templates, just follow these quick steps:

When the Templates dialog window opens, right-click on your custom made template and select Delete. Then, right-click the Default named template and click Set as Default.

Warning: Never, ever edit or delete the original default template. If you’re a new user and don’t know the complexity of the template management inside LibreOffice, never touch the original templates.

Wrapping Up

In this tutorial, we learned how to change the default font in LibreOffice Writer using the settings menu and creating a custom template. We also learned how to revert back to the default if needed. If you have any questions or are unsure about the steps, please leave a comment below.