LibreOffice Writer Table AutoFormat Presets

LibreOffice Writer includes a built-in feature called AutoFormat Styles that allows you to instantly change the appearance of tables using pre-designed templates. This article covers the available Table AutoFormat presets, what each design looks like, how to apply them to your documents, and how to customize or save your own table styles for future use.

What Is Table AutoFormat in LibreOffice Writer?

Table AutoFormat is a tool that applies complete formatting sets—including fonts, borders, background colors, text alignment, and number formatting—to an existing table in a single click. Instead of manually configuring borders and shading for every cell, you can select from standardized presets designed for readability and professional presentation.

Built-In Table AutoFormat Presets

LibreOffice Writer comes bundled with several ready-to-use table designs tailored to different document types:

• Default Style: A clean, standard layout featuring basic borders and default system fonts, ideal for general notes and simple data organization.
• Academic: A formal, black-and-white layout utilizing distinct top, header, and bottom rules without heavy backgrounds, suitable for research papers, theses, and scholarly publications.
• Box List (Blue, Green, Red, Yellow): Modern, color-accented templates featuring colored header rows, subtle borders, and shaded alternating rows to improve data scanning in reports and presentations.
• Elegant: A sophisticated layout with minimal horizontal lines, balanced padding, and subdued typography, designed for executive summaries, proposals, and portfolios.
• Financial: A layout modeled after traditional accounting ledgers, featuring standard numeric alignments, top borders for totals, and characteristic double-underlines for summary rows.
• Simple Grid / List: Lightweight styles with subtle borders or zebra-striping (alternating row colors) that make dense datasets easy to read without visual clutter.

How to Apply an AutoFormat Preset

To apply any preset style to a table in LibreOffice Writer:

1. Click anywhere inside the table you want to style.
2. Open the top menu and select Table > AutoFormat Styles… (or click the AutoFormat Styles icon on the Table toolbar).
3. In the dialog box that appears, browse the list of formats on the left side to preview them.
4. Under the Formatting section, check or uncheck specific attributes you want the preset to control:
   • Number format: Applies standard currency, date, or decimal rules.
   • Font: Changes the typeface, size, and weight.
   • Alignment: Sets horizontal and vertical text alignment.
   • Border: Applies defined border styles, widths, and colors.
   • Pattern: Applies background colors and alternating row shading.
5. Click OK to apply the selected preset to your table.

Creating and Saving Custom Table Presets

If none of the default presets match your organization’s branding, you can create and store custom AutoFormat styles:

1. Format a table manually with your desired fonts, borders, alignments, and background fills.
2. Select the entire table.
3. Go to Table > AutoFormat Styles….
4. Click the Add button.
5. Enter a name for your custom preset in the dialog box and click OK.

Your custom style will now appear alongside the default presets and can be applied instantly to any table in future documents.