Is it possible to create a multi-line equation in Document or Presentation with alignment at the equals sign?

[agaudin]

I am a science and mathematics teacher moving to Linux and open source software and I am trying to figure out if I can use OnlyOffice to produce notes and presentations for my lessons. I regularly (multiple times per worksheet/set of notes/presentation) need to include multi-line equations that show students the process of solving or substituting values into formulas or equations. See below for example.

I cannot seem to figure out how to easily align each of the lines at the equal sign (or other relational operator, such as <). I have managed to do this by inserting a separate equation for each line and then adding spaces before and after, manually adjust the alignment separately for each line. I have also tried adding a 3 column table and spending a fair amount of time adjusting cell alignments, widths, etc. Both are far from quick and not great options if you are adding these regularly.

Is there an easy way to do this I am missing?

Example From Other Software:

Below is taken from MS Word / Copilot 365:

A. A new line/equation is added with “shift + enter” which brings up the box to type in the new line
B. Highlighting and right clicking provides multiple options, including the “Align at = .” You can also align at a give character, such as < or > (a important generalisation.)
C. Shows the resulting correctly aligned multi-line equation. (If B. is done part way through entering all the lines, subsequently added lines automatically are aligned at the = sign.)

[Marix]

Hi @agaudin !
Thanks for the detailed description.​

At the moment, ONLYOFFICE doesn’t have the exact same one-click feature as MS Word (“Align at =” / align at a chosen character). We’ve registered this as a feature request on our side, and we’ll let you know once there are any updates.

As a temporary workaround, you can achieve similar formatting using Insert manual break inside an equation (not as fast as in Word, but it works). The result is shown in the attached screenshot.
Steps:

• Insert an equation and type your first line.​

• Right-click the operator where you want to start a new line (e.g., “=”) and choose Insert manual break — that operator will begin the next line.​

• After the break is added, press Tab to align the new line to any math operator on the previous line (so you can line up all “=” signs).​

• To remove it, right-click the operator that starts a new line and select Delete manual break.