Row Padding (Standard vs. Pro)
 

Like others, I'm trying to figure out whether to upgrade to the Standard or the Pro version (a Family Pack in this case). I looked at the comparisons, and decided that I didn't feel I needed the Pro version; downloaded OO4 and started to play with it. Some changes of course, but nicely more modern-looking.

Then I started opening some documents from OO3 and it looks like by default the space between rows is much larger. I don't recall changing this in OO3, but in OO4 (Pro) I need to change the 'row padding' value to 0 or 1 to get my documents to look the same now (could I have changed a default somehow?).

Maybe for text, the new default is better, but for lists and short-form rows, it adds a lot of space.

For example, from OO3 a piece of a shopping list:
[IMG]http://lnq2.us/f4rx6AC9[/IMG]

vs. the same in OO4:
[IMG]http://lnq2.us/4TZ2W7CV[/IMG]

Perhaps this is just an edge case, but depending on one's use of OO, it's a bit jarring. Was this intended?

(I should point out that the primary reason that I used the Pro version formerly is because of the AppleScripts that supported the functionality that is now OmniFocus - and I do understand these decisions are always difficult.)

Thanks for listening.

This was indeed intentional. The default value was changed between 3 and 4 for design reasons. While manually setting this value is a pro-only feature, we could provide a template with minimal padding that you could use and apply through theming to documents. Would that be sufficient for your needs in this case? Thanks!

I absolutely agree. I need 0 padding for my work to look as I want it. In Pro I don't see a way in preferences to accomplish this. Do I have to go and change each template separately? Thanks

[QUOTE=fwolfe;129056]I absolutely agree. I need 0 padding for my work to look as I want it. In Pro I don't see a way in preferences to accomplish this. Do I have to go and change each template separately? Thanks[/QUOTE]


I have files where it is not just notes that are not indented but one level indents backwards compared the the level above it

e.g.

[QUOTE=fwolfe;129056]I absolutely agree. I need 0 padding for my work to look as I want it. In Pro I don't see a way in preferences to accomplish this. Do I have to go and change each template separately? Thanks[/QUOTE]

It is not a preference, you would need to edit the templates.

With respect to providing a template with minimal padding, minimal padding is very important. I have oo4 pro, but my wife has oo3 standard. I was going to suggest to her upgrading to 004. But if she did so her professional work outlines would become useless (ugly, not shareable, space consuming). So I suggested she stay with oo3. I think people at OO need to recognize and address this problem. She would not have purchased oo3 if she was stuck with padding is is now the case in oo4 standard.

I like minimal padding to, so I simply created a template that I use for all new outlines that sets padding to 1 instead of 4.

One more aside ... I accidentally created a new outline with padding set to 4, and quite liked it (despite my previous bias for 1).

I printed out PDFs of this outline with padding set to 4 and to 1, and compared them, and much to my surprise, really liked 4 - it was 4 easier to read. It is longer, but not by enough to make a difference to me.

Whatever your preference, however, it's very easy to change back ... open the sidebar, select Whole Document under "Styles" ... then open the inspector and change Row Padding.

Theme with 0 padding
 

Derek,

Thanks for your reply. I think a template might work well, though I'm not certain (I haven't really gotten to experiment with using themes as yet). However, I think that while I'm in trial mode and can switch back between Pro and Standard, I may be able to try this myself, at least taking my old templates and converting them, if the setting will "stick".

I really appreciate your help and the other responses in this forum. I had a feeling that maybe I was the only one who had this problem. Glad to know it affected others as well.

I'll try to work through this and post any findings that might shed some light to this.

_KMP

Rest assured, the settings will stick.

So if padding is the only change you want to make to the default template, open the default template ... select Whole Document in the sidebar ... open the Inspector ... change the padding setting ... then Save As Template ... give it a name ... and then choose that template whenever you start a new document. The padding you want will be there.