How to Insert Dashed or Dotted Lines in LibreOffice Writer

In my previous tutorials, I showed you how to add horizontal or vertical lines in LibreOffice Writer. In this tutorial, we’ll continue the series by showing you how to add a dotted or dashed line in your document. Basically, there are several methods to add a dotted or dashed line, such as using the keyboard shortcut, the shape tool, or the border property.

Add a Dotted Line Using the Border Property

One of the easiest ways to add a dotted line under a paragraph is by adding a dotted border to that specific paragraph style. To do this, first select a portion of the paragraph, then right-click and go to Paragraph > Paragraph

You can find the same option by navigating to Format > Paragraph from the top menu bar. Both the options will open the same style property dialog for the individual paragraph that you have selected.

Tips: If you want to apply the dotted border to all paragraphs with the same style in the document, right-click on the selection and choose Edit Style

Once the dialog window opens, go to the Border tab and select the bottom border in the Line arrangement section. Then, in the Style section, choose the dotted style from the list. You can further customize the lines width, color, or shadow if desired. After making your changes, click OK.

Borders are a common style property for most elements in a document, including page borders, column borders, section borders, headings, and regular paragraphs. To add a dotted line border to any of these elements, simply customize their border property in the same way shown in above steps.

How to Add a Dotted Line Using the Shape Tool

The Shape tool in LibreOffice Writer allows for a lot of customization options for dotted lines compared to plain line borders in your document. You can choose from different types of lines, such as simple lines, dotted lines, or dashed lines.

The inserted line then can be moved and placed anywhere in the document. To use the Shape tool to draw a dotted line, go to Insert > Shape > Line from the top menu-bar, or, if you have the Tabbed UI enabled, go to the Insert tab and select the line icon.

Then, place the cursor where you want the line to start and drag to where you want it to end. If you want a straight line, hold down the Shift key while drawing the line. To remove the line, simply click on it and press the Delete key on your keyboard.

Change the Line Style to Dotted or Dashed

After adding a line to your document using the Shape tool, you can change its style to anything from dotted to dashed. Simply click on the line and press Ctrl + F5 to open the property sidebar.

If the property tab of the sidebar does not open automatically, click on it to open it. You can then experiment with the available customization options, such as adjusting the line weight, angle, color, and style.

Wrapping Up

This is how you can add a dotted line in your document in LibreOffice Writer. I hope this tutorial helps you, if you still have issues understanding, please leave a comment below.