Openoffice writer for linux. (I am using ubuntu 7.10 and KDE)  :-)                                            Back to Main Page

This is a very short version, and if you want to know more, go to the Internet etc.

This howto is without any guarantee, and you may use it on your own responsibility only.

There may be errors, but I do not want to use too much time to  write this minihowto.

To check specific words or items you may try to Search in:  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Main_Page/    or    http://www.google.com/




Index        

To set the page size

To insert a page number

To make a page setup to be default

To open a new text document

To view the number of letters etc

To set up your printer

If you make a mistake

To insert the date

To insert special charachters

To insert a picture

To change font and size

To align text

To set up openoffice writer

To make openoffice start quickly

To save the text document

To get help, press the "F1" button


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Openoffice is a very comprehensive office suite, and I will here explain the openoffice writer component, which is a text editor   To get a quick overview

I will only show examples of what I find important, when using openoffice writer:

Below is shown an open text document, with the parts I use most marked with a black color



The uppermost toolbar has the main menu items (File, Edit, View, Insert, Format, Table, Tools, Window and Help) of which I have marked the items I find the most

important with black colored ellipsis (see above).                                                                                                                                                            Back to Index
The next toolbar is called "Standard Toolbar", and you can add items to this, by  clicking on the black downpointing triangle icon and choose "Visible

Buttons", and then you can select any items you want with the left mouse cursor, to make it show up on the toolbar (all items can also be selected from the main

menu toolbar) - see below



You can do the same procedure with the "Formatting Toolbar" (see above) - but I prefer to only have the most important items on the toolbars, to keep a clearer

overview.

A lot of what I explain here can be done in other ways too.

A snapshot of how my "View -and Toolbars" are set up in my openoffice writer are shown see below:                                                                    Back to Index



To set the page size to be used as default in the future, choose "Format - Page - A4" (A4 is the page format I use here in Sweden - you may choose another

format) - see below                                                                                                                                                                                                        Back to Index



You can do other setups as well by choosing any og the other tabs (Organizer, Page, Background, Header, footer, Borders, columns and footnote) - see above

Now we will insert a page number on each page in the lower right corner:                                                                                                        Back to Index

First choose "openoffice writer - Insert - Footer - Default" - which brings you down onto the "Footer area" of the page (a special area at bottom of each page) - see

below



Then choose "openoffice writer - Insert - Fields - Page Number" - which inserts the page number field at the position of the cursor (see below)



Then choose "openoffice writer - Format - Alignment - Right" and the "Page Number" is placed in the footer area to the right (see below) - you can note from the

position of the grey vertical slider, that the page number automatically is placed in the footer area (see below)                                                Back to Index



We will now make this page setup to be default, so each time you in the future start openoffice writer it will open an empty document with this setup.

Choose "Files - Templates - Save" and give the template a name "template_a4" - and press the "OK" button (see below)                                Back to Index



Then to make this template the default for future use choose "File - Templates - Organize - Set as default template - Close" (see below)

                                                                            Back to Index

To open a new oo writer text document choose: "File - New - Text Document" - and a new empty text document is opened for you to insert text into.

To view the number of letters, words, pages etc choose: "File - Properties - Statistics" - here you can also get other information about your document.

To set up your printer, choose: "File - Printer Settings - Properties" - best to be done each time before printing a new document.

If you make a mistake, "Edit - Undo" - can be done several times, but should be done immediately (to redo "Edit - Redo").

To insert the date choose "Insert - Fields - Date".

To insert special charachters (which are not on the keyboard) choose "Insert - Special Character".

To insert a picture choose "Insert - Picture - From File".

To change font and size, choose "Format - Character" - a good font to use for text reading is "Times New Roman" size 12, and a good font for headings are

"Arial" -  do not mix too many different fonts.

To align text choose "Format - Alignment - left | centered | right".

To set openoffice writer up choose "Tools - Options".

Tip: To make openoffice start quickly choose: "Tools - Options - OpenOffice.org - Memory - Enable Systray Quickstarter", and a small icon  will be placed on the

KDE panel bar - just left  click on the icon with the mouse cursor and choose "Text Document".

To save the text document choose: "File - Save As", and the file can be saved in various "file type" formats (odt, doc, txt, rtf, pdf, html etc).

OpenOffice writer is similar to the MS Word program, and is very impressive with features.                                                                            Back to Index

To get help, press the "F1" button.


12/2007