Consider the following scenario: * create two paragraphs of text with visually different styles e.g. a heading followed by default * set non-zero first line indent for the second paragraph (format-paragraph-indents&spacing) * position cursor at the beginning of the second paragraph * press backspace The result is that the first line indent is removed. Now repeat, but instead of 'first line' indent apply 'before text' indent. The result is wildly different - the second paragraph is appended to the first assuming its style. I find this behaviour inconsistent, both 'first line' and 'before text' indents should be treated the same way. I prefer the first line approach - if all indents are sequentially removed, but the main point is consistency. This is especially confusing for one-line paragraphs when you just can't tell without a ruler what kind of indent it is and don't know how it will react to backspace.
I confirm it with Version: 24.8.0.0.alpha0+ (X86_64) / LibreOffice Community Build ID: ab95ed2c4b1eddc2188bd455653a77140aa3816c CPU threads: 4; OS: Windows 10.0 Build 19045; UI render: Skia/Raster; VCL: win Locale: de-DE (de_DE); UI: en-GB Calc: CL threaded But I think, that also the "Before Text" behaviour makes sense. So let's ask design-team for decision about expected result. Pressing backspace is a direct formatting of paragraph. That is something I wouldn't expect.
Admittedly inconsistent but likely a convenience feature coming from the list behavior. If you want to remove the list numbering you just need to press backspace at the paragraph start. Second backspace removes the previous paragraph break. OTOH I see no good reason to do so for ordinary paragraphs and could imagine this to be an unwanted fallout from the list handling. What do you think, Mike?
Created attachment 193028 [details] Example
(In reply to Heiko Tietze from comment #2) I suppose it is not a fallout from list behavior, but rather a separate "convenience feature" to please Word users. I would be glad to drop it, but anticipate a pushback...
Actually in Word's numbered list backspace promotes the numbering and when no more numbering is left starts removing indents; paragraph break is removed only when nothing more is left to remove. Personally I think the Word way is more efficient as it lets one remove outdent without diving deep into formatting dialogues. Essentially it treats indents as tab characters.
(In reply to lvm from comment #5) > Essentially treat (any) indent as tab characters +1 from my side It means the indentation before text is zeroed on backspace similar to the first line indent. Any objection?
(In reply to Heiko Tietze from comment #6) > Any objection? OK for me.