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Izzy
Asked: 2012-08-14 12:03:42 +0800 CST

How to link inserted images by default in LibreOffice writer?

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I often have to deal with documents using multiple images -- as e.g. Howtos, short documentations, or even books with many examples. Always when I start a new document with LibreOffice Writer and insert the first pictures, they are embedded by default. I need them to be linked by default -- but could not find a suitable setting. Can anybody tell me where that's hidden? I know it was possible with StarOffice 8, which I used before upgrading to Ubuntu 12.04.

In other words (to be clear from the beginning): How do I tell LibreOffice to always default to link inserted images instead of embedding them?

libreoffice

2 Answers

  1. @manj_k over at AskLibreOffice was kind enough to let me repost his answer here:

    Current state

    As of this point there is no way of telling LO to link inserted images by default. But this enhancement has been requested, triaged and given a high priority on LO's bugtracker, so it's on its way:

    Bug 61358 - UI: Remember state of option "Insert image from file -> Linked"

    If you are interested in this feature and would like to follow its development I would advise you to subscribe to the bug report. Feel free to contribute and comment if you have any ideas on how you would like to see this option implemented.

    Workaround

    The Insert from File dialog isn't the only way to link a picture in a document. You can do so as well by dragging and dropping the image in question while holding down CTRL + SHIFT. Personally, I prefer this workflow as it's faster than the Insert dialog. Note: This only appears to be working with LO writer.

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  2. A bit strange, LibreOffice Writer Help said Link is default option:

    Inserting Bitmaps 

     1. Choose Insert - Picture - From File.

 2. Select the file. In the File type box you can restrict
    the selection to certain file types.  

 3. Click the Link box if you want a link to the original file.  
    If the Link box is marked, whenever the document is updated  
    and loaded the bitmap image is reloaded.

    The editing steps that you have carried out in the local copy of the image in the document are re-applied and the image is displayed.

    If the Link box is not marked, you are always working with the copy created when the graphic was first inserted.

    To embed graphics that were first inserted as links, go to Edit - Links and click the Break Link button. 

     4. Click Open to insert the image.

    The way around this workflow also related to using Gallery (just a bit faster way):

    1. Open Gallery pane.
    2. Create new "custom" theme.
    3. Add any pictures to newly created theme.
    4. Use Right Click on picture in Gallery to use menu Insert > Link.
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