To set the default anchoring for all images in LibreOffice Writer to “As Character” you need to use a version of LibreOffice 7.1 or later.
Navigate to Tools > Options > LibreOffice Writer > Formatting Aids, and under the “Image” section, select “As Character” from the Anchor dropdown menu.
This setting will apply to all new images inserted into documents, ensuring they are anchored as characters by default, which places them inline with the text and moves with it as you edit.
For existing documents, in order to set the anchor type to “As Character” for all existing images, you need to install PicTool extension
- Download the PicTool extension from the official LibreOffice Extension Center at https://extensions.libreoffice.org/en/extensions/show/change-multiple-images-in-writer-pictool.
- Open LibreOffice (any module like Writer, Calc, or Impress) and go to Tools > Extension Manager.
- In the Extension Manager window, click the “Add” button.
- Browse to the location where you saved the downloaded .oxt file, select it, and click “Open“.
- The extension will now appear in the list of installed extensions.
- You may be prompted to accept the license agreement; click “Accept” to proceed.
- Close LibreOffice completely, including the quickstarter if it’s running.
- Restart LibreOffice. The PicTool extension should now be available for use.
- To set the anchor type to “As Character” for all existing images in a LibreOffice Writer document, you can use the PicTool extension, which allows mass updating of image properties. Open the document and select all images (CTRL+A).
- After installing the extension, a new button appears on the toolbar. Click this button, select “As Character” for the anchor type, and then click “Apply” to update all images in the document.
- This method is the most user-friendly alternative for changing the anchoring of multiple images at once, as it does not require modifying the default behavior but instead enables bulk changes after the fact.