Getting Started

with
OpenOffice.org

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Copyright
This document is Copyright © 2005–2010 by its contributors as listed
in the section titled Authors. You may distribute it and/or modify it
under the terms of either the GNU General Public License, version 3 or
later, or the Creative Commons Attribution License, version 3.0 or
later. All trademarks within this guide belong to their legitimate
owners.

Authors
Magnus Adielsson Thomas Astleitner
Richard Barnes Agnes Belzunce
Chris Bonde Daniel Carrera
JiHui Choi Richard Detwiler
Laurent Duperval Spencer E. Harpe
Regina Henschel Peter Hillier-Brook
John Kane Stefan A. Keel
Michael Kotsarinis Peter Kupfer
Ian Laurenson Dan Lewis
Alan Madden Michel Pinquier
Andrew Pitonyak Carol Roberts
Iain Roberts Gary Schnabl
Robert Scott Janet Swisher
Jim Taylor Alex Thurgood
Barbara M. Tobias Jean Hollis Weber
Linda Worthington Michele Zarri

Feedback
Please direct any comments or suggestions about this document to:
[email protected]

Publication date and software version

Published 2 February 2010. Based on OpenOffice.org 3.2.

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You can download
an editable version of this document from
http://oooauthors.org/english/userguide3/published/
Contents
Chapter 1
Introducing OpenOffice.org.....................................................10
What is OpenOffice.org?...................................................................11
The advantages of OpenOffice.org....................................................13
Minimum requirements....................................................................14
How to get the software.................................................................... 14
How to install the software...............................................................15
Extensions and add-ons....................................................................15
How to get help................................................................................. 15
Starting OpenOffice.org....................................................................17
Parts of the main window.................................................................. 21
What are all these things called?......................................................26
Starting a new document..................................................................27
Opening an existing document..........................................................28
Saving documents............................................................................. 28
Renaming and deleting files..............................................................30
Using the Open and Save As dialogs.................................................30
Using the Navigator.......................................................................... 31
Undoing and redoing changes..........................................................33
Closing a document..........................................................................34
Closing OpenOffice.org.....................................................................34
Chapter 2
Setting up OpenOffice.org........................................................35
Choosing options for all of OOo........................................................36
Choosing options for loading and saving documents........................52
Choosing language settings..............................................................57
Choosing Internet options.................................................................60
Controlling OOo’s AutoCorrect functions.........................................61
Chapter 3
Using Styles and Templates......................................................62
What is a template?..........................................................................63

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 What are styles?................................................................................ 63
Applying styles.................................................................................. 65
Modifying styles................................................................................ 67
Creating new (custom) styles............................................................69
Copying and moving styles...............................................................70
Deleting styles..................................................................................73
Using a template to create a document............................................73
Creating a template..........................................................................74
Editing a template............................................................................. 77
Adding templates using the Extension Manager...............................78
Setting a default template................................................................79
Associating a document with a different template............................80
Organizing templates........................................................................ 82
Examples of style use........................................................................ 84
Chapter 4
Getting Started with Writer......................................................87
What is Writer?................................................................................. 88
The Writer interface.......................................................................... 88
Changing document views................................................................91
Moving quickly through a document.................................................92
Working with documents..................................................................93
Working with text.............................................................................. 94
Formatting text...............................................................................104
Formatting pages............................................................................ 109
Adding comments to a document....................................................114
Creating a table of contents............................................................115
Creating indexes and bibliographies...............................................116
Working with graphics....................................................................116
Printing from Writer.......................................................................117
Sending a fax using Writer..............................................................125
Tracking changes to a document....................................................126
Using fields..................................................................................... 127

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 Linking to another part of a document...........................................127
Using mail merge............................................................................ 130
Using master documents................................................................130
Creating fill-in forms....................................................................... 131
Chapter 5
Getting Started with Calc.......................................................132
What is Calc?..................................................................................133
Spreadsheets, sheets and cells.......................................................133
Parts of the main Calc window........................................................134
Starting new spreadsheets.............................................................137
Opening existing spreadsheets.......................................................138
Opening CSV files...........................................................................138
Saving spreadsheets.......................................................................139
Navigating within spreadsheets......................................................141
Selecting items in a sheet or spreadsheet......................................145
Working with columns and rows.....................................................148
Working with sheets........................................................................ 149
Viewing Calc................................................................................... 151
Entering data using the keyboard...................................................155
Speeding up data entry...................................................................156
Sharing content between sheets.....................................................160
Validating cell contents...................................................................160
Editing data....................................................................................160
Formatting data..............................................................................162
Autoformatting cells and sheets......................................................166
Formatting spreadsheets using themes..........................................168
Using conditional formatting..........................................................168
Hiding and showing data................................................................169
Sorting records............................................................................... 171
Printing........................................................................................... 172

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Chapter 6
Getting Started with Impress.................................................182
What is Impress?............................................................................. 183
Parts of the main Impress window..................................................183
Working with views.........................................................................188
Creating a new presentation...........................................................193
Formatting a presentation..............................................................197
Slide masters and styles.................................................................201
Working with slide masters.............................................................202
Adding and formatting text.............................................................206
Creating tables...............................................................................211
Adding graphics, spreadsheets, charts, and other objects..............212
Adding comments to a presentation...............................................213
Setting up the slide show................................................................214
Running the slide show...................................................................215
Chapter 7
Getting Started with Draw......................................................216
What is Draw?................................................................................. 217
The Draw workspace......................................................................217
Positioning objects with snap functions..........................................224
Positioning objects with helper lines...............................................226
The basic drawing shapes...............................................................227
Drawing geometric shapes.............................................................233
Selection modes.............................................................................. 235
Selecting objects............................................................................. 236
Moving and dynamically adjusting an object’s size.........................237
Editing objects................................................................................240
Using styles..................................................................................... 242
Special effects................................................................................. 243
Combining multiple objects............................................................245
Aids for positioning objects.............................................................247
Inserting and editing pictures.........................................................247

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 Working with 3D objects.................................................................247
Exporting graphics.......................................................................... 248
Adding comments to a drawing......................................................248
Chapter 8
Getting Started with Base.......................................................250
Introduction....................................................................................251
Planning a database........................................................................252
Creating a new database................................................................253
Creating database tables................................................................255
Defining relationships.....................................................................264
Creating a database form...............................................................267
Accessing other data sources..........................................................284
Using data sources in OpenOffice.org............................................285
Entering data in a form...................................................................290
Creating queries.............................................................................293
Creating reports.............................................................................. 302
Chapter 9
Getting Started with Math.....................................................312
What is Math?................................................................................. 313
Entering a formula..........................................................................314
Customizations................................................................................ 319
Formula layout................................................................................ 321
Numbering equations.....................................................................325
Chapter 10
Printing, Exporting, and E-mailing........................................327
Introduction....................................................................................328
Quick printing................................................................................. 328
Controlling printing........................................................................328
Exporting to PDF............................................................................329
Exporting to other formats.............................................................336
E-mailing documents......................................................................336
Digital signing of documents..........................................................339

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Chapter 11
Graphics, the Gallery, and Fontwork......................................341
Introduction....................................................................................342
Adding images to a document.........................................................342
Modifying and positioning graphics................................................346
Using the OpenOffice.org Gallery...................................................346
Managing the Gallery.....................................................................348
Creating an image map...................................................................351
Using OOo’s drawing tools..............................................................352
Using Fontwork............................................................................... 355
Chapter 12
Creating Web Pages................................................................363
Introduction....................................................................................364
Inserting hyperlinks........................................................................364
Editing hyperlinks...........................................................................367
Saving Writer documents as web pages..........................................368
Saving Calc spreadsheets as web pages.........................................373
Saving Impress presentations as web pages...................................373
Saving Draw documents as web pages...........................................377
Chapter 13
Getting Started with Macros..................................................378
Your first macro..............................................................................379
Creating a macro............................................................................384
Sometimes the macro recorder fails...............................................388
Macro organization......................................................................... 390
How to run a macro........................................................................395
Extensions....................................................................................... 400
Writing macros without the recorder..............................................400
Finding more information...............................................................401
Chapter 14
Customizing OpenOffice.org..................................................403
Introduction....................................................................................404

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Customizing menu content.............................................................404

8 Getting Started with OpenOffice.org 3.x

 Customizing toolbars......................................................................408
Assigning shortcut keys..................................................................412
Assigning macros to events.............................................................415
Adding functionality with extensions..............................................415
Using extensions.............................................................................416
Appendix A
Keyboard Shortcuts................................................................419
Introduction....................................................................................420
Function key shortcuts.................................................................... 421
General shortcut keys for OpenOffice.org......................................422
Appendix B
Background Information.......................................................424
Introduction....................................................................................425
A short history of OpenOffice.org...................................................425
The OpenOffice.org community......................................................425
How is OpenOffice.org licensed?....................................................426
What is “open source”?...................................................................426
What is OpenDocument?.................................................................427
File formats OOo can open.............................................................427
File formats OOo can save to..........................................................429
Exporting to other formats.............................................................432
Frequently asked questions............................................................432
Index.........................................................................................434

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 Chapter 1
Introducing
OpenOffice.org

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What is OpenOffice.org?
OpenOffice.org (OOo) is both a software product and a community of
volunteers who produce and support the software.

Because someone else owns the trademark OpenOffice, the

Note correct name for both the open-source project and its software is
OpenOffice.org.

The OpenOffice.org software is a freely available, full-featured office

productivity suite.
OOo 3.0 was a major upgrade of an already feature-rich office suite,
and later releases have added more features. If you have used previous
versions of OpenOffice.org, you might want to look over the new
features lists for OOo3.0, OOo3.1 and OOo3.2.
OOo’s native file format is OpenDocument, an open standard format
that is being adopted by governments worldwide as a required file
format for publishing and accepting documents. OOo can also open
and save documents in many other formats, including those used by
several versions of Microsoft Office.
OOo includes the following components.

Writer (word processor)

Writer is a feature-rich tool for creating letters, books, reports,
newsletters, brochures, and other documents. You can insert graphics
and objects from other components into Writer documents. Writer can
export files to HTML, XHTML, XML, Adobe’s Portable Document
Format (PDF), and several versions of Microsoft Word files. It also
connects to your email client.

Calc (spreadsheet)
Calc has all of the advanced analysis, charting, and decision-making
features expected from a high-end spreadsheet. It includes over 300
functions for financial, statistical, and mathematical operations, among
others. The Scenario Manager provides “what if” analyses. Calc
generates 2-D and 3-D charts, which can be integrated into other OOo
documents. You can also open and work with Microsoft Excel
workbooks and save them in Excel format. Calc can export
spreadsheets to Adobe’s PDF and to HTML.

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Chapter 1 Introducing OpenOffice.org 11
Impress (presentations)
Impress provides all the common multimedia presentation tools, such
as special effects, animation, and drawing tools. It is integrated with
the advanced graphics capabilities of OOo’s Draw and Math
components. Slideshows can be further enhanced with Fontwork’s
special effects text, as well as sound and video clips. Impress is
compatible with Microsoft’s PowerPoint file format and can also save
your work in numerous graphics formats, including Macromedia Flash
(SWF).

Draw (vector graphics)

Draw is a vector drawing tool that can produce everything from simple
diagrams or flowcharts to 3-D artwork. Its Smart Connectors feature
allows you to define your own connection points. You can use Draw to
create drawings for use in any of OOo’s other components, and you can
create your own clip art and add it to the Gallery. Draw can import
graphics from many common formats and save them in over 20
formats, including PNG, HTML, PDF, and Flash.

Base (database)
Base provides tools for day-to-day database work within a simple
interface. It can create and edit forms, reports, queries, tables, views,
and relations, so that managing a connected database is much the
same as in other popular database applications. Base provides many
new features, such as the ability to analyze and edit relationships from
a diagram view. Base incorporates HSQLDB as its default relational
database engine. It can also use dBASE, Microsoft Access, MySQL, or
Oracle, or any ODBC-compliant or JDBC-compliant database. Base also
provides support for a subset of ANSI-92 SQL.

Math (formula editor)

Math is OOo’s formula or equation editor. You can use it to create
complex equations that include symbols or characters not available in
standard font sets. While it is most commonly used to create formulas
in other documents, such as Writer and Impress files, Math can also
work as a standalone tool. You can save formulas in the standard
Mathematical Markup Language (MathML) format for inclusion in web
pages and other documents not created by OOo.

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The advantages of OpenOffice.org
Here are some of the advantages of OpenOffice.org over other office
suites:
• No licensing fees. OOo is free for anyone to use and distribute at
no cost. Many features that are available as extra cost add-ins in
other office suites (like PDF export) are free with OOo . There are
no hidden charges now or in the future.
• Open source. You can distribute, copy, and modify the software
as much as you wish, in accordance with either of OOo’s Open
Source licenses.
• Cross-platform. OOo3 runs on several hardware architectures
and under multiple operating systems, such as Microsoft
Windows, Mac OS X, Linux, and Solaris.
• Extensive language support. OOo’s user interface is available
in over 40 languages, and the OOo project provides spelling,
hyphenation, and thesaurus dictionaries in over 70 languages and
dialects. OOo also provides support for both Complex Text Layout
(CTL) and Right to Left (RTL) layout languages (such as Hindi,
Hebrew, and Arabic).
• Consistent user interface. All the components have a similar
“look and feel,” making them easy to use and master.
• Integration. The components of OpenOffice.org are well
integrated with one another.
– All the components share a common spelling checker and
other tools, which are used consistently across the suite. For
example, the drawing tools available in Writer are also found
in Calc, with similar but enhanced versions in Impress and
Draw.
– You do not need to know which application was used to create
a particular file. For example, you can open a Draw file from
Writer.
• Granularity. Usually, if you change an option, it affects all
components. However, OOo options can be set at a component
level or even document level.
• File compatibility. In addition to its native OpenDocument
formats, OOo includes PDF and Flash export capabilities, as well
as support for opening and saving files in many common formats
including Microsoft Office, HTML, XML, WordPerfect, and Lotus
1-2-3 formats. New in OOo3 (using an extension): the ability to

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import and edit some PDF files.

Chapter 1 Introducing OpenOffice.org 13

 • No vendor lock-in. OOo3 uses OpenDocument, an XML
(eXtensible Markup Language) file format developed as an
industry standard by OASIS (Organization for the Advancement of
Structured Information Standards). These files can easily be
unzipped and read by any text editor, and their framework is open
and published.
• You have a voice. Enhancements, software fixes, and release
dates are community-driven. You can join the community and
affect the course of the product you use.
You can read more about OpenOffice.org, its mission, history, licensing,
and other organizational information on the OpenOffice.org website.

Minimum requirements
OpenOffice.org 3 requires one of the following operating systems:
• Microsoft Windows 2000 (Service Pack 2 or higher), XP, or
newer
• GNU/Linux Kernel version 2.4 and glibc 2.3.2 or newer
• Mac OS X 10.4.x, X11 required; Mac OS X 10.5+ without X11
• Solaris 10 OS or higher
Some OpenOffice.org features (wizards and the HSQLDB database
engine) require that the Java Runtime Environment (JRE) be installed
on your computer. Although OOo will work without Java support, some
features will not be available. You can download OOo for some
operating systems with or without JRE included. If you have a slow
machine and do not often need the features requiring JRE, you can try
to disable it to speed up the loading of the program.
For a more detailed (and up-to-date) listing of requirements, see the
OpenOffice.org website.

How to get the software

Many new computers come with OpenOffice.org installed. In addition,
most Linux distributions, such as Ubuntu, include OpenOffice.org.
If you need to install it yourself, it’s very easy to do. You can download
the OpenOffice.org installation package from the project’s home page
or by using a Peer to Peer client such as BitTorrent. Instructions for
BitTorrent are here.
The installation package is approximately 150MB. People with slow

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Internet connections may prefer to purchase a copy on a CD or DVD

14 Getting Started with OpenOffice.org 3.x

from a third-party distributor. The project maintains a list of
distributors, but the distributors are not connected with, nor endorsed
by, OpenOffice.org.

How to install the software

Information on installing and setting up OpenOffice.org on the various
supported operating systems is given here.
You can also download the more detailed Installation Guide.

Extensions and add-ons

Extensions and add-ons to enhance OpenOffice.org are collected in the
official extensions repository at OOo. Most are free, but some are not.
See Chapter 14 (Customizing OpenOffice.org) for more information.

How to get help

This book, the other OOo user guides, the built-in Help system, and
user support systems assume that you are familiar with your computer
and basic functions such as starting a program, opening and saving
files.

Help system
OOo comes with an extensive Help system. This is your first line of
support for using OOo.
To display the full Help system, press F1 or select OpenOffice.org
Help from the Help menu. In addition, you can choose whether to
activate Tips, Extended tips, and the Help Agent (using Tools >
Options > OpenOffice.org > General).
If Tips are enabled, place the mouse pointer over any of the icons to
see a small box (“tooltip”) with a brief explanation of the icon’s
function. For a more detailed explanation, select Help > What's This?
and hold the pointer over the icon.

Free online support

The OpenOffice.org community not only develops software, but
provides free, volunteer-based support. Users of OOo can get

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comprehensive online support from community venues such as

Chapter 1 Introducing OpenOffice.org 15

newsgroups, forums, or mailing lists. There are also numerous
websites run by users that offer free tips and tutorials.

Free OpenOffice.org support

Free community support provided by a network of
hundreds of experienced users. You must be subscribed
to post messages. To subscribe, send a blank email to
Users Mailing [email protected]
List
List archives are here:
http://www.openoffice.org/servlets/ SummarizeList?
listName=users
Templates, user guides, how-tos, and other
Documentation documentation. http://documentation.openoffice.org/
Project See also the Documentation wiki,
http://wiki.services.openoffice.org/ wiki/Documentation
Native Language Information, resources, and mail lists in your language.
Project http://projects.openoffice.org/native-lang.html
Support for installing and using OOo on Mac OS X.
Mac Support
http://porting.openoffice.org/mac/index.html
OpenOffice.org Extensive discussion forum for OpenOffice.org issues
Community from setup to advanced programming features.
Forum http://user.services.openoffice.org/en/forum/
Andrew Pitonyak, the author of OpenOffice.org Macros
OpenOffice.org Explained, maintains this site, which provides extensive
Macro documentation on OOo’s macro capability. Many good
Information referral links are also provided:
http://www.pitonyak.org/oo.php

Read more about the support options for OOo at

http://support.openoffice.org/index.html

Paid support and training

Alternatively, you can pay for support services. Service contracts can
be purchased from a vendor or consulting firm specializing in
OpenOffice.org.
OOo is supported by Oracle under the Sun Software Support program,
which includes two levels of support that cover extended business
hours or around-the-clock service for mission-critical deployments.
A list of independent consultants and the services they offer, listed
alphabetically by region and then by country, is provided on the

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OpenOffice.org website.

16 Getting Started with OpenOffice.org 3.x

Starting OpenOffice.org
The most common way to launch any component of OOo is by using the
system menu, the standard menu from which most applications are
started. On Windows, it is called the Start menu. On GNOME, it is
called the Applications menu. On KDE it is identified by the KDE logo.
On Mac OS X, it is the Applications menu.
When OOo was installed on your computer, in most cases a menu entry
for each component was added to your system menu. (If you are using
a Mac, see note below.) The exact name and location of these menu
entries depend on the operating system and graphical user interface.

Note for Mac users

You should see the OpenOffice.org icon in the Applications folder.
When you double-click this icon, a text document opens in Writer. To
open the other components (Draw, Calc, Impress, Base), go to the File
menu of the Writer window and select the component you want.
OOo does not automatically put a shortcut icon on the desktop, but you
can add one if you wish. If you do not know how to add shortcut icons
for launching programs, please consult the help for your operating
system.

Starting from an existing document

You can start OOo by double-clicking the filename of an OOo document
in a file manager such as Windows Explorer. The appropriate
component of OOo will start and the document will be loaded.

Note for Windows users

If you have associated Microsoft Office file types with OOo, then when
you double-click on a *.doc (Word) file, it opens in Writer; *.xls
(Excel) files open in Calc, and *.ppt (PowerPoint) files open in
Impress.
If you did not associate the file types, then when you double-click on a
Microsoft Word document, it opens in Microsoft Word (if Word is
installed on your computer), Excel files open in Excel, and PowerPoint
files open in PowerPoint.
You can use another method to open Microsoft Office files in OOo and
save in those formats from OOo. See “Opening an existing document”
on page 28 for more information.

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Chapter 1 Introducing OpenOffice.org 17
Using the Quickstarter under Windows
The Quickstarter is an icon that is placed in the Windows system tray
during system startup. It indicates that OpenOffice.org has been
loaded and is ready to use. (The Quickstarter loads library *.DLL files
required by OOo, thus shortening the startup time for OOo components
by about half.) If the Quickstarter is disabled, see “Reactivating the
Quickstarter” if you want to enable it.

Using the Quickstarter icon

Right-click the Quickstarter icon in the system tray to open a pop-up
menu from which you can open a new document, open the Templates
and Documents dialog, or choose an existing document to open. You
can also double-click the Quickstarter icon to display the Templates
and Documents dialog.

Figure 1: Quickstarter pop-up menu

Disabling the Quickstarter

To close the Quickstarter, right-click on the icon in the system tray, and
then click Exit Quickstarter on the pop-up menu. The next time the
computer is restarted, the Quickstarter will be loaded again.
To prevent OpenOffice.org from loading during system startup,
deselect the Load OpenOffice.org during system start-up item on
the pop-up menu. You might want to do this if your computer has
insufficient memory, for example.

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Reactivating the Quickstarter
If the Quickstarter has been disabled, you can reactivate it by selecting
the Load OpenOffice.org during system start-up checkbox in Tools
> Options > OpenOffice.org > Memory.

Using the Quickstarter in Linux

Some installations of OpenOffice.org under Linux have a Quickstarter
that looks and acts like the one described above for Windows (the
checkbox on the Memory page is labeled Enable systray
quickstarter).

Preloading OOo under Linux/KDE

In Linux/KDE, you can use KDocker to have OOo loaded and ready for
use at startup. KDocker is not part of OOo; it is a generic “systray app
docker” that is helpful if you open OOo often.

Starting from the command line

You may want to start OOo from the command line (using the keyboard
instead of the mouse). By using the command line, you have more
control over what happens when OOo is started. For example, using
the command line, you can tell Writer to load a document and print it
immediately, or to start without showing the splash screen.

Note Most users will never need to do this.

There is more than one way to start OOo from the command line,
depending on whether you have installed a customized version or the
standard download from the OOo website.
If you installed using the download on the OOo website, you can start
Writer by typing at the command line:
soffice -writer
or
swriter
Writer will start and create a new document. Likewise, you can start
other OOo components from the command line:

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Chapter 1 Introducing OpenOffice.org 19
 Type of document Component Command-line option
Text Writer -writer
Spreadsheet Calc -calc
Drawing Draw -draw
Presentation Impress -impress
Formula Math -math
Database Base -base
Web page Writer -web

To see a list of options you can use when starting Writer at the
command line, type:
soffice -?
Below is a list of some of the more popular options.
Option Description
-help Get a complete list of options.
-nologo Do not show the startup screen.
-show <odp-file> Start presentation immediately.
-view <documents ...> Open documents in viewer (read-only) mode.
-minimized Start OOo minimized.
-norestore Suppress restart/restore after fatal errors.
-invisible No startup screen, no default document, and
no UI. This is useful for third-party
applications that use functionality provided
by OOo.

If you have a customized version of OOo (such as the one provided by

Linux Mandrake or Gentoo), you can start Writer by typing at the
command line: oowriter
Although the command syntax differs, the effect is identical: it starts
OOo with an empty Writer document.

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Parts of the main window
The main window is similar in each component of OOo, although some
details vary. See the chapters in this book about Writer, Calc, Draw,
and Impress for descriptions of those details.
Common features include the menu bar, the standard toolbar, and the
formatting toolbar at the top of the window and the status bar at the
bottom.

Menu bar
The Menu bar is located across the top of the OOo window, just below
the Title bar. When you choose one of the menus listed below, a
submenu drops down to show commands.
• File contains commands that apply to the entire document such
as Open, Save, and Export as PDF.
• Edit contains commands for editing the document such as Undo:
xxx (where xxx is the command to undo) and Find & Replace. It
also contains commands to cut, copy, and paste selected parts of
your document.
• View contains commands for controlling the display of the
document such as Zoom and Web Layout.
• Insert contains commands for inserting elements into your
document such as Header, Footer, and Picture.
• Format contains commands, such as Styles and Formatting and
AutoCorrect, for formatting the layout of your document.
• Table shows all commands to insert and edit a table in a text
document.
• Tools contains functions such as Spelling and Grammar,
Customize, and Options.
• Window contains commands for the display window.
• Help contains links to the OpenOffice.org Help file, What’s This?,
and information about the program. See “How to get help“ on
page 15.

Toolbars
OOo has several types of toolbars: docked, floating, and tear-off.
Docked toolbars can be moved to different locations or made to float,
and floating toolbars can be docked.

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Chapter 1 Introducing OpenOffice.org 21
The top docked toolbar (default position) is called the Standard
toolbar. The Standard toolbar is consistent across the OpenOffice.org
applications.
The second toolbar across the top (default location) is the Formatting
toolbar. It is a context-sensitive bar that shows the relevant tools in
response to the cursor’s current position or selection. For example,
when the cursor is on a graphic, the Formatting bar provides tools for
formatting graphics; when the cursor is in text, the tools are for
formatting text.

Displaying or hiding toolbars

To display or hide toolbars, choose View > Toolbars, then click on the
name of a toolbar in the list. An active toolbar shows a checkmark
beside its name. Tear-off toolbars are not listed in the View menu.

Submenus and tear-off toolbars

Toolbar icons with a small triangle to the right will display submenus,
tear-off toolbars, and other ways of selecting things, depending on the
icon.
Figure 2 shows a tear-off toolbar from the Drawing toolbar.
The tear-off toolbars can be floating or docked along an edge of the
screen or in one of the existing toolbar areas. To move a floating tear-
off toolbar, drag it by the title bar. See “Moving toolbars” below.
Click here and drag Toolbar tears off and
floats

Figure 2: Example of a tear-off toolbar

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Moving toolbars
To move a docked toolbar, place the mouse pointer over the toolbar
handle, hold down the left mouse button, drag the toolbar to the new
location, and then release the mouse button (Figure 3).
To move a floating toolbar, click on its title bar and drag it to a new
location (Figure 4).

Figure 3: Moving a docked toolbar

Figure 4: Moving a floating toolbar

Floating toolbars
OOo includes several additional context-sensitive toolbars, whose
defaults appear as floating toolbars in response to the cursor’s current
position or selection. For example, when the cursor is in a table, a
floating Table toolbar appears, and when the cursor is in a numbered
or bullet list, the Bullets and Numbering toolbar appears. You can dock
these toolbars to the top, bottom, or side of the window, if you wish
(see “Moving toolbars” above).

Docking/floating windows and toolbars

Toolbars and some windows, such as the Navigator and the Styles and
Formatting window, are dockable. You can move, resize, or dock them
to an edge.

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Chapter 1 Introducing OpenOffice.org 23
To dock a window or toolbar, do one
of the following:
• Click on the title bar of the
floating window and drag it to
the side until you see the
outline of a box appear in the
main window, then release the
window. This method depends
on your system’s window
manager settings, so it may not
work for you.
• Hold down the Control key and
double-click on the frame of the
floating window (or in a vacant
area near the icons at the top)
to dock it in its last position. If
that does not work, try double-
clicking without using the Figure 5: Docking a window
Control key.
To undock a window, hold down the Control key and double-click on
the frame (or a vacant area near the icons at the top) of the docked
window.

Customizing toolbars
You can customize toolbars in several ways, including choosing which
icons are visible and locking the position of a docked toolbar. You can
also add icons and create new toolbars, as described in Chapter 14.
To access a toolbar’s customization options, use the down-arrow at the
end of the toolbar or on its title bar (see Figure 6).

Figure 6: Customizing toolbars

To show or hide icons defined for the selected toolbar, choose Visible
Buttons from the drop-down menu. Visible icons have a checkmark
next to them. Click on icons to select or deselect them.

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Right-click (context) menus
You can quickly access many menu functions by right-clicking on a
paragraph, graphics, or other object. A context menu will pop up.
Often the context menu is the fastest and an easier way to reach a
function. If you are not sure where in the menus or toolbars a function
is located, you can often find it by right-clicking.

Status bar
The status bar is located at the bottom of the workspace. It provides
information about the document and convenient ways to quickly
change some features. It is similar in Writer, Calc, Impress, and Draw,
although each component includes some component-specific items.

Figure 7: Left end of status bar in Writer

Figure 8: Right end of status bar in Writer

Common status bar items are described below.

Page, sheet, or slide number

Shows the current page, sheet, or slide number and the total
number of pages, sheets, or slides in the document. Double-click on
this field to open the Navigator. Other uses of this field depend on
the component.
Page style or slide design
Shows the current page style or slide design. To edit the current
page style or slide design, double-click on this field.
Unsaved changes
An asterisk (*) appears here if changes to the document have not
been saved.

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Chapter 1 Introducing OpenOffice.org 25
Digital signature
If the document has been digitally signed, an icon shows here.
You can double-click the icon to view the certificate.
Object information
Displays information relevant to the cursor’s position or the selected
element of the document. Double-clicking in this area usually opens
a relevant dialog.
Zoom slider and percent
To change the view magnification, drag the Zoom slider, or click on
the + and – signs, or right-click on the zoom level percent to pop up
a list of magnification values from which to choose.
Double-clicking on the zoom level percent opens the Zoom & View
Layout dialog.

What are all these things called?

The terms used in OpenOffice.org for most parts of the user interface
(the parts of the program you see and use, in contrast to the behind-
the-scenes code that actually makes it work) are the same as for most
other programs.
A dialog is a special type of window. Its purpose is to inform you of
something, or request input from you, or both. It provides controls for
you to use to specify how to carry out an action. The technical names
for common controls are shown in Figure 9; not shown is the list box
(from which you select an item). In most cases we do not use the
technical terms in this book, but it is useful to know them because the
Help and other sources of information often use them.
In most cases, as long as the dialog is open, your work is limited to the
dialog. After you make changes, if any, close the dialog (usually,
clicking OK or another button saves your changes and closes the
dialog). Then you can again work with your document.
Some dialogs can be left open as you work, so you can switch back and
forth between the dialog and your document. An example of this type is
the Find & Replace dialog.

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 Figure 9: Dialog showing common controls:
1=Tabbed page (not strictly speaking a control)
2=Radio buttons (only one can be selected at a time)
3=Checkbox (more than one can be selected at a time)
4=Spin box (click the up and down arrows to change the
number shown in the text box next to it, or type in the text box)
5=Thumbnail or preview
6=Drop-down list from which to select an item
7=Push buttons

Starting a new document

You can create a new, blank document in OOo in several ways.
When OOo is open but no document is open (for example if you close
all the open documents but leave the program running), a Welcome
screen is shown. Click one of the icons to open a new document of that
type, or click the Templates icon to start a new document using a
template.
You can also start a new document in one of the following ways. If a
document is already open in OOo, the new document opens in a new
window.
• Use File > New and choose the type of document.
• Use the arrow next to the New button on the main toolbar. From

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Chapter 1 Introducing OpenOffice.org 27

 • Press Control+N on the keyboard.
• Use File > Wizards for some special types of documents.

Opening an existing document

When no document is open, the Welcome screen provides an icon for
opening an existing document.
You can also open an existing document in one of the following ways.
• Click File > Open
• Click the Open button on the main toolbar.
• Press Control+O on the keyboard.
In each case, the Open dialog appears. Select the file you want, and
then click Open. If a document is already open in OOo, the second
document opens in a new window.
In the Open dialog, you can reduce the list of files by selecting the type
of file you are looking for. For example, if you choose Text documents
as the file type, you will only see documents Writer can open (including
.odt, .doc, .txt); if you choose Spreadsheets, you will see .ods,
.xsl, and other files that Calc opens.
You can also open an existing document that is in an OpenDocument
format by double-clicking on the file’s icon on the desktop or in a file
manager such as Windows Explorer.
If you have associated Microsoft Office file formats with OOo, you can
also open these files by double-clicking on them.

Under Microsoft Windows you can use either the OOo Open and
Note Save As dialogs or the ones provided by Microsoft Windows.
See “Using the Open and Save As dialogs” on page 30.

Saving documents
To save a new document, do one of the following:
• Press Control+S.
• Choose File > Save from the menu bar.
• Click the Save button on the main toolbar.
When the Save As dialog appears, enter the file name, verify the file
type (if applicable), and click Save.

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To save an open document with the current file name, choose File >
Save. This will overwrite the last saved state of the file.

Password protection
To protect an entire document from being viewable without a
password, use the option on the Save As dialog to enter a password.
This option is only available for files saved in OpenDocument formats
or the older OpenOffice.org 1.x formats.
1) On the Save As dialog, select the Save with password option,
and then click Save. You will receive a prompt (Figure 10).
2) Type the same password in both fields, and then click OK. If the
passwords match, the document is saved password protected. If
the passwords do not match, you receive the prompt to enter the
password again.

Figure 10: Entering a password for a document

OOo uses a very strong encryption mechanism that makes it almost

impossible to recover the contents of a document in case you lose the
password.

Saving a document automatically

You can choose to have OpenOffice.org save files for you automatically.
Automatic saving, like manual saving, overwrites the last saved state of
the file. To set up automatic file saving:
1) Choose Tools > Options... > Load/Save > General.
2) Mark Save AutoRecovery information every, and set the time
interval.

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Chapter 1 Introducing OpenOffice.org 29
Renaming and deleting files
You can rename or delete files within the OOo dialogs, just as you can
in your usual file manager. However, you cannot copy or paste files
within the dialogs.

Using the Open and Save As dialogs

You can choose whether to use the OpenOffice.org Open and Save As
dialogs or the ones provided by your operating system.
To view or change which type of dialog OpenOffice.org uses:
1) Choose Tools > Options > OpenOffice.org > General.
2) Select the Use OpenOffice.org dialogs option.
This section discusses the OpenOffice.org Open and Save As dialogs.
Figure 11 shows the Save As dialog; the Open dialog is similar.

Figure 11: The OpenOffice.org Save As dialog

The three buttons in the top right of the OOo Open and Save As dialogs
are, from left to right:
• Go Up One Level in the folder (directory) hierarchy. Click and
hold this button for a second to drop down a list of higher level

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 folders; to go to one of the folders on the list, move the mouse
pointer over its name and release the mouse button.
• Create New Folder.
• Default Directory.
For OOo documents that have been saved with more than one version,
use the Version drop-down to select which version you wish to open in
read-only mode. For Microsoft Office documents, only the current
version can be opened.
Use the File type field to specify the type of file to be opened or the
format of the file to be saved.
The Read-only option on the Open dialog opens the file for reading
and printing only. Consequently, most of the toolbars disappear, and
most menu options are disabled. An Edit File button is displayed on
the Standard toolbar to open the file for editing.
You can open files from the Web by typing a URL in the File name
field on the Open dialog.

Using the Navigator

The Navigator lists objects
contained in a document, collected
into categories. For example, in
Writer it shows Headings, Tables,
Text frames, Comments, Graphics,
Bookmarks, and other items, as
shown in Figure 12. In Calc it
shows Sheets, Range Names,
Database Ranges, Graphics,
Drawing Objects, and other items.
In Impress and Draw it shows
Slides, Pictures, and other items.
To open the Navigator, click its icon

on the Standard toolbar, or

press F5, or choose View >
Navigator on the menu bar.
You can dock the Navigator to
either side of the main OOo window Figure 12: The Navigator
or leave it floating (see
“Docking/floating windows and toolbars“ on page 23).

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Chapter 1 Introducing OpenOffice.org 31
Click the marker (+ or arrow) by any of the categories to display the
list of objects in that category.
To hide the list of categories and show only the toolbars at the top,

click the List Box On/Off icon . Click this icon again to show the
list box.
The Navigator provides several convenient ways to move around a
document and find items in it:
• When a category is showing the list of objects in it, double-click
on an object to jump directly to that object’s location in the
document.
Objects are much easier to find if you have given them names
when creating them, instead of keeping OOo’s default graphics1,
graphics2, Table1, Table2, and so on—which may not correspond
to the position of the object in the document.
If you only want to see the content in a certain category, highlight
the category and click the Content View icon . Until you click
the icon again, only the objects of that category will be displayed.

• Click the Navigation icon (second icon from the left at the
top of the Navigator) to display the Navigation toolbar (Figure
13). Here you can pick one of the categories and use the
Previous and Next icons to move from one item to the next. This
is particularly helpful for finding items like bookmarks and
indexes, which can be difficult to see.
The names of the icons (shown in the tooltips) change to match
the selected category; for example, Next Graphic or Next
Bookmark.

Figure 13: Navigation toolbar

• To jump to a specific page in the document, type its page number
in the box at the top of the Navigator.
A bit of experimentation with the other icons will demonstrate their
functions. Some component-specific uses are described in the chapters
on Writer and the other components.

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Undoing and redoing changes
To undo the most recent change, press Control+Z, or click the Undo
icon on the Standard toolbar, or choose Edit > Undo from the
menu bar.
The Edit menu shows the latest change that can be undone (see Figure
14 for an example from Writer).

Figure 14: Edit > Undo last action

Click the small triangle to the right of the Undo icon to get a list of all
the changes that can be undone (Figure 15). You can select multiple
changes and undo them at the same time.

Figure 15: List of actions that can be undone

After changes have been undone, Redo becomes active. To redo a
change, select Edit > Redo, or press Control+Y or click on the Redo
icon . As with Undo, click on the triangle to the right of the arrow to
get a list of the changes that can be reapplied.
To modify the number of changes OpenOffice.org remembers, choose
Tools > Options > OpenOffice.org > Memory and in the Undo
section change Number of steps. Be aware that asking OOo to
remember more changes consumes more computer memory.

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Chapter 1 Introducing OpenOffice.org 33
Closing a document
To close a document, choose File > Close.
You can also close a document by clicking on the Close icon on the
document window. This button looks like the red X shown in Figure 16.

Figure 16. Close icons

If more than one OOo window is open, each window looks like the
sample shown on the left in Figure 16. Closing this window leaves the
other OOo windows open.
If only one OOo window is open, it looks like the sample shown on the
right in Figure 16. Notice the small black X below the large red X.
Clicking the small X closes the document but leaves OOo open.
Clicking the large red X closes OOo completely.
If the document has not been saved since the last change, a message
box is displayed. Choose whether to save or discard your changes.
• Save: The document is saved and then closed.
• Discard: The document is closed, and all modifications since the
last save are lost.
• Cancel: Nothing happens, and you return to the document.

Caution Not saving your document could result in the loss of recently
made changes, or worse still, your entire file.

Closing OpenOffice.org
To close OOo completely, choose File > Exit, or close the last open
document as described in “Closing a document” above.
If all the documents have been saved, OOo closes immediately. If any
documents have been modified but not saved, a warning message
appears. Follow the procedure in “Closing a document” to save or
discard your changes.

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 Chapter 2
Setting up OpenOffice.org
Choosing options to suit the way you work

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Choosing options for all of OOo
This section covers some of the settings that apply to all the
components of OpenOffice.org. For information on settings not
discussed here, see the online help.
Click Tools > Options. The list in the left-hand box of the Options –
OpenOffice.org dialog varies depending on which component of OOo is
open. The illustrations in this chapter show the list as it appears when
a Writer document is open.
Click the + sign by OpenOffice.org on the left-hand side. A list of pages
drops down. Selecting an item in the list causes the right-hand side of
the dialog to display the relevant page.

Figure 17: OpenOffice.org options

The Back button has the same effect on all pages of the
Note Options dialog. It resets the options to the values that were in
place when you opened OpenOffice.org.

User Data options

Because OOo uses the name or initials stored in the OpenOffice.org –
User Data page for several things, including document properties
(created by and last edited by information) and the name of the author
of notes and changes, you will want to ensure that the correct
information appears here.
Fill in the form (shown in Figure 19), or amend or delete any existing
incorrect information.

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 Figure 18: Filling in user data

General options
The options on the OpenOffice.org – General page are described below.

Figure 19: Setting general options for OpenOffice.org

Help - Tips
When Tips is active, one or two words will appear when you hold the
mouse pointer over an icon or field, without clicking.
Help - Extended tips
When Extended tips is active, a brief description of the function of a
particular icon or menu command or a field on a dialog appears
when you hold the mouse pointer over that item.

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Chapter 2 Setting up OpenOffice.org 37
Help Agent
To turn off the Help Agent (similar to Microsoft’s Office Assistant),
deselect this option. To restore the default behavior, click Reset
Help Agent.
Help formatting
High contrast is an operating system setting that changes the
system color scheme to improve readability. To display Help in high
contrast (if your computer’s operating system supports this), choose
one of the high-contrast style sheets from the pull-down list.

High-contrast style Visual effect

Default Black text on white background
High Contrast #1 Yellow text on black background
High Contrast #2 Green text on black background
High Contrast Black White text on black background
High Contrast White Black text on white background

Open/Save dialogs
To use the standard Open and Save dialogs for your operating
system, deselect the Use OpenOffice.org dialogs option. When
this option is selected, the Open and Save dialogs supplied with
OpenOffice.org will be used. See Chapter 1 (Introducing
OpenOffice.org) for more about the OOo Open and Save dialogs.
This book uses the OOo Open and Save dialogs in illustrations.
Document status
If this option is selected, then the next time you close the document
after printing, the print date is recorded in the document properties
as a change and you will be prompted to save the document again,
even if you did not make any other changes.
Year (two digits)
Specifies how two-digit years are interpreted. For example, if the
two-digit year is set to 1930, and you enter a date of 1/1/30 or later
into your document, the date is interpreted as 1/1/1930 or later. An
“earlier” date is interpreted as being in the following century; that
is, 1/1/20 is interpreted as 1/1/2020.

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Memory options
In the Options dialog, click OpenOffice.org > Memory. Some
considerations:
• More memory can make OpenOffice.org faster and more
convenient (for example, more undo steps require more memory);
but the trade-off is less memory available for other applications
and you could run out of memory altogether.
• If your documents contain a lot of objects such as images, or the
objects are large, OOo’s performance may improve if you increase
the memory for OOo or the memory per object. If you find that
objects seem to disappear from a document that contains a lot of
them, increase the number of objects in the cache. (The objects
are still in the file even if you cannot see them on screen.)
• To load the Quickstarter (an icon on the desktop or in the system
tray) when you start your computer, select the option near the
bottom of the dialog. This makes OpenOffice.org start faster; the
trade-off is OOo uses some memory even when not being used.
This option (sometimes called Enable systray quickstarter) is
not available on all operating systems.

Figure 20: Choosing Memory options for the OpenOffice.org

applications

View options
The options on the OpenOffice.org – View page affect the way the
document window looks and behaves. Some of these options are
described below. Set them to suit your personal preferences.

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User Interface – Scaling
If the text in the help files or on the menus of the OOo user interface
is too small or too large, you can change it by specifying a scaling
factor. Sometimes a change here can have unexpected results,
depending on the screen fonts available on your system. However, it
does not affect the actual font size of the text in your documents.

Figure 21: Choosing View options for OOo applications

User Interface – Icon size and style

The first box specifies the display size of toolbar icons (Automatic,
Small, or Large). The Automatic icon size option uses the setting for
your operating system. The second box specifies the icon style
(theme); here the Automatic option uses an icon set compatible with
your operating system and choice of desktop: for example, KDE or
Gnome on Linux.
User Interface – Use system font for user interface
If you prefer to use the system font (the default font for your
computer and operating system) instead of the font provided by OOo
for the user interface, select this option.
User interface – Screen font antialiasing
(Not available in Windows; not shown in Figure 21.) Select this
option to smooth the screen appearance of text. Enter the smallest
font size to apply antialiasing.
Menu – icons in menus
Causes icons as well as words to be visible in menus.

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Font Lists - Show preview of fonts
Causes the font list to look like Figure 22, Left, with the font names
shown as an example of the font; with the option deselected, the font
list shows only the font names, not their formatting (Figure 22,
Right). The fonts you will see listed are those that are installed on
your system.

Figure 22. Font list (Left) With preview; (Right) Without preview
Font Lists - Show font history
Causes the last five fonts you have assigned to the current document
are displayed at the top of the font list.
Graphics output – Use hardware acceleration
Directly accesses hardware features of the graphical display adapter
to improve the screen display. Not supported on all operating
systems and OOo distributions.
Graphics output – Use anti-aliasing
Enables and disables anti-aliasing, which makes the display of most
graphical objects look smoother and with fewer artifacts. Not
supported on all operating systems and OOo distributions.

Press Shift+Control+R to restore or refresh the view of the

Tip current document.

Mouse positioning
Specifies if and how the mouse pointer will be positioned in newly
opened dialogs.
Middle mouse button
Defines the function of the middle mouse button.
• Automatic scrolling – dragging while pressing the middle
mouse button shifts the view.
• Paste clipboard – pressing the middle mouse button inserts the
contents of the “Selection clipboard” at the cursor position.
The “Selection clipboard” is independent of the normal clipboard
that you use by Edit > Copy/Cut/Paste or their respective

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Chapter 2 Setting up OpenOffice.org 41
 keyboard shortcuts. Clipboard and “Selection clipboard” can contain
different contents at the same time.

Function Clipboard Selection clipboard

Copy content Edit > Copy Select text, table, or object.
Control+C
Paste content Edit > Paste Clicking the middle mouse
Control+V pastes at button pastes at the mouse
the cursor position. pointer position.
Pasting into No effect on the The last marked selection is
another clipboard contents. the content of the selection
document clipboard.

Print options
On the OpenOffice.org – Print page, set the print options to suit your
default printer and your most common printing method.
In the Printer warnings section near the bottom of the page (Figure
23), you can choose whether to be warned if the paper size or
orientation specified in your document does not match the paper size
or orientation available for your printer. Having these warnings turned
on can be quite helpful, particularly if you work with documents
produced by people in other countries where the standard paper size is
different from yours.

Figure 23: Choosing general printing options to apply

to all OOo components

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 If your printouts are incorrectly placed on the page or chopped
Tip off at the top, bottom, or sides, or the printer is refusing to
print, the most likely cause is page size incompatibility.

Path options
On the OpenOffice.org – Paths page, you can change the location of
files associated with, or used by, OpenOffice.org to suit your working
situation. In a Windows system, for example, you might want to store
documents by default somewhere other than My Documents.
To make changes, select an item in the list shown in Figure 24 and
click Edit. On the Select Paths dialog (not shown), add or delete
folders as required, and then click OK to return to the Options dialog.
Note that some items can have at least two paths listed: one to a
shared folder (which might be on a network) and one to a user-specific
folder (normally on the user’s personal computer).

You can use the entries in the OpenOffice.org – Paths dialog to

Tip compile a list of files, such as those containing AutoText, that
you need to back up or copy to another computer.

Figure 24: Viewing the paths of files used by OpenOffice.org

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Color options
On the OpenOffice.org – Colors page (Figure 25), you can specify
colors to use in OOo documents. You can select a color from a color
table, edit an existing color, and define new colors. These colors are
stored in your color palette and are then available in all components of
OOo.

Figure 25: Defining colors to use in color palettes in OOo

To modify a color:
1) Select the color to modify from the list or the color table.
2) Enter the new values that define the color. If necessary, change
the settings from RGB (Red, Green, Blue) to CMYK (Cyan,
Magenta, Yellow, Black) or vice versa. The changed color appears
in the lower of the two color preview boxes at the top.
3) Modify the Name as required.
4) Click the Modify button. The newly defined color is now listed in
the Color table.
Alternatively, click the Edit button to open the Color dialog, shown in
Figure 26. Here you can select a color from one of the color windows
in the upper area, or you can enter values in the lower area using your
choice of RGB, CMYK, or HSB (Hue, Saturation and Brightness) values.
The upper right color window is linked directly with the color input
fields in the lower area; as you choose a color in the upper window, the
numbers change accordingly. The two color fields at the lower right
show the value of the selected color on the left and the currently set
value from the color value fields on the right.

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Modify the color components as required and click OK to exit the
dialog. The newly defined color now appears in the lower of the color
preview boxes shown in Figure 17. Type a name for this color in the
Name box, then click the Add button. A small box showing the new
color is added to the Color table.

Figure 26: Editing colors

Another way to define or alter colors is through the Colors page of the
Area dialog, where you can also save and load palettes, a feature that
is not possible here. In Calc, draw a temporary draw object and use the
context menu of this object to open the Area dialog. If you load a
palette in one component of OOo, it is only active in that component;
the other components keep their own palettes.

Font options
You can define replacements for any fonts that might appear in your
documents. If you receive from someone else a document containing
fonts that you do not have on your system, OpenOffice.org will
substitute fonts for those it does not find. You might prefer to specify a
different font from the one the program chooses.
On the OpenOffice.org – Fonts page (Figure 27):
1) Select the Apply Replacement Table option.

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Chapter 2 Setting up OpenOffice.org 45
 2) Select or type the name of the font to be replaced in the Font box.
(If you do not have this font on your system, it will not appear in
the drop-down list in this box, so you need to type it in.)
3) In the Replace with box, select a suitable font from the drop-
down list of fonts installed on your computer.
4) The checkmark to the right of the Replace with box turns green.
Click on this checkmark. A row of information now appears in the
larger box below the input boxes. Select the options under
Always and Screen.
5) In the bottom section of the page, you can change the typeface
and size of the font used to display source code such as HTML
and Basic (in macros).

Figure 27: Defining a font to be substituted for another font

Security options
Use the OpenOffice.org – Security page (Figure 28) to choose security
options for saving documents and for opening documents that contain
macros.

Security options and warnings

If you record changes, save multiple versions, or include hidden
information or notes in your documents, and you do not want some
of the recipients to see that information, you can set warnings to
remind you to remove it, or you can have OOo remove some of it
automatically. Note that (unless removed) much of this information
is retained in a file whether the file is in OpenOffice.org’s default

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 OpenDocument format, or has been saved to other formats,
including PDF.
Click the Options button to open a separate dialog with specific
choices (Figure 29).

Figure 28: Choosing security options for opening and

saving documents

Macro security
Click the Macro Security button to open the Macro Security dialog
(not shown here), where you can adjust the security level for
executing macros and specify trusted sources.
File sharing options for this document
Select the Open this document in read-only mode option to
restrict this document to be opened in read-only mode only. This
option protects the document against accidental changes. It is still
possible to edit a copy of the document and save that copy with the
same name as the original.
Select the Record changes option to enable recording changes.
This is the same as Edit > Changes > Record. To allow other users
of this document to apply changes, but prevent them from disabling
change recording, click the Protect buton and enter a password.

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Chapter 2 Setting up OpenOffice.org 47
 Figure 29: Security options and warnings dialog

Remove personal information on saving

Select this option to always remove user data from the file
properties when saving the file. To manually remove personal
information from specific documents, deselect this option and then
use the Delete button under File > Properties > General.
Ctrl-click required to follow hyperlinks
In older versions of OOo, clicking on a hyperlink in a document
opened the linked document. Now you can choose whether to keep
this behavior (by unchecking this box). Many people find creation
and editing of documents easier when accidental clicks on links do
not activate the links.
The other options on this dialog should be self-explanatory.

Appearance options
Writing, editing, and (especially) page layout are often easier when you
can see the page margins (text boundaries), the boundaries of tables
and sections (in Writer documents), page breaks in Calc, grid lines in
Draw or Writer, and other features. In addition, you might prefer to use
colors that are different from OOo’s defaults for such items as note
indicators or field shadings.
On the OpenOffice.org – Appearance page (Figure 30), you can specify
which items are visible and the colors used to display various items.

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 Figure 30: Showing or hiding text, object, and table
boundaries
• To show or hide items such as text boundaries, select or deselect
the options next to the names of the items.
• To change the default colors for items, click the down-arrow in
the Color Setting column by the name of the item and select a
color from the pop-up box.
• To save your color changes as a color scheme, click Save, type a
name in the Scheme box; then click OK.

Accessibility options
Accessibility options include whether to allow animated graphics or
text, how long help tips remain showing, some options for high
contrast display, and a way to change the font for the user interface of
the OpenOffice.org program (see Figure 31).
Accessibility support relies on Sun Microsystems Java technology for
communications with assistive technology tools. See “Java options“
below. The Support assistive technology tools option is not shown on
all OOo installations. See Assistive Tools in OpenOffice.org in the Help
for other requirements and information.
Select or deselect the options as required.

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Chapter 2 Setting up OpenOffice.org 49
 Figure 31: Choosing accessibility options

Java options
If you install or update a Java Runtime Environment (JRE) after you
install OpenOffice.org, or if you have more than one JRE installed on
your computer, you can use the OpenOffice.org – Java options page
(Figure 32) to choose the JRE for OOo to use.

Figure 32: Choosing a Java runtime environment

If you are a system administrator, programmer, or other person who
customizes JRE installations, you can use the Parameters and Class
Path pages (reached from the Java page) to specify this information.
If you do not see anything listed in the middle of the page, wait a few
minutes while OOo searches for JREs on the hard disk.

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If OOo finds one or more JREs, it will display them there. You can then
select the Use a Java runtime environment option and (if necessary)
choose one of the JREs listed.

Online Update options

On the OpenOffice.org – Online Update page (Figure 18), you can
choose whether and how often to have OOo check the OOo website for
program updates. If the Check for updates automatically option is
selected, an icon appears at the right-hand end of the menu bar when
an update is available. Click this icon to open a dialog where you can
choose to download the update.

Figure 33: Configuring Online Update

If the Download updates automatically option is selected, the
download starts when you click the icon. To change the download
destination, click the Change button and select the required folder in
the file browser window.

Improvement program
On the OpenOffice.org – Improvement Program page, you can choose
whether or not to participate in the OpenOffice.org Improvement
Program, which collects anonymous statistics about how you use OOo.

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Chapter 2 Setting up OpenOffice.org 51
Choosing options for loading and saving
documents
You can set the Load/Save options to suit the way you work.
If the Options dialog is not already open, click Tools > Options. Click
the + sign to the left of Load/Save.

Figure 34: Load/Save options

General Load/Save options

Most of the choices on the Load/Save – General page (Figure 35) are
familiar to users of other office suites. Some items of interest are
described below.

Figure 35. Choosing Load and Save options

Load user-specific settings with the document

When you save a document, certain settings are saved with it. Some
settings (printer name, data source linked to the document) are
always loaded with a document, whether or not this option is
selected. If you select this option, these document settings are

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 overruled by the user-specific settings of the person who opens it. If
you deselect this option, the user’s personal settings do not overrule
the settings in the document. For example, your choice (in the
options for OOo Writer) of how to update links is affected by the
Load user-specific settings option.
Load printer settings with the document
If this option is not selected, the printer settings that are stored
with the document are ignored when you print it using the Print
File Directly icon. The default printer in your system will be used
instead.
Edit document properties before saving
If you select this option, the Document Properties dialog pops up to
prompt you to enter relevant information the first time you save a
new document (or whenever you use Save As).
Save AutoRecovery information every
Choose whether to enable AutoRecovery and how often to save the
information used by the AutoRecovery process.
AutoRecovery in OpenOffice.org overwrites the original file. If you
also choose Always create backup copy, the original file then
overwrites the backup copy. If you have this set, recovering your
document after a system crash will be easier; but recovering an
earlier version of the document may be harder.
Save URLs relative to file system / internet
Relative addressing to a file system is only possible if the source
document and the referenced document are both on the same drive.
A relative address always starts from the directory in which the
current document is located. It is recommended to save relatively if
you want to create a directory structure on an Internet server.
Default file format and ODF settings
ODF format version. OpenOffice.org by default saves documents in
OpenDocument Format (ODF) version 1.2. While this allows for
improved functionality, there may be backwards compatibility issues.
When a file saved in ODF 1.2 is opened in an earlier version of
OpenOffice.org (using ODF 1.0/1.1), some of the advanced features
may be lost. Two notable examples are cross-references to headings
and the formatting of numbered lists. If you plan to share documents
with people who are still using older versions of OpenOffice.org,
save the document using ODF version 1.0/1.1.

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Chapter 2 Setting up OpenOffice.org 53
 Size optimization for ODF format. OpenOffice.org documents are
XML files. When you select this option, OOo writes the XML data
without indents and line breaks. If you want to be able to read the
XML files in a text editor in a structured form, deselect this option.
Document type. If you routinely share documents with users of
Microsoft Office, you might want to change the Always save as
attribute for documents to one of the Microsoft Office formats.

Although OOo can open files in the .docx, .xlsx, and .pptx
Note formats produced by Microsoft Office 2007, it cannot save in
those formats. This capability is planned for a future release.

VBA Properties Load/Save options

On the Load/Save – VBA Properties page (Figure 36), you can choose
whether to keep any macros in Microsoft Office documents that are
opened in OpenOffice.org.

Figure 36: Choosing

Load/Save VBA Properties
• If you choose Save original Basic code, the macros will not
work in OOo but are retained if you save the file into Microsoft
Office format.
• If you choose Load Basic code to edit, the changed code is
saved in an OOo document but is not retained if you save into a
Microsoft Office format.
• If you are importing a Microsoft Excel file containing VBA code,
you can select the option Executable code. Whereas normally
the code is preserved but rendered inactive (if you inspect it with
the StarBasic IDE you will notice that it is all commented), with
this option the code is ready to be executed.

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Microsoft Office Load/Save options
On the Load/Save – Microsoft Office page (Figure 37), you can choose
what to do when importing and exporting Microsoft Office OLE objects
(linked or embedded objects or documents such as spreadsheets or
equations).
Select the [L] options to convert Microsoft OLE objects into the
corresponding OpenOffice.org OLE objects when a Microsoft document
is loaded into OOo (mnemonic: “L” for “load”).
Select the [S] options to convert OpenOffice.org OLE objects into the
corresponding Microsoft OLE objects when a document is saved in a
Microsoft format (mnemonic: “S” for “save”).

Figure 37: Choosing Load/Save Microsoft Office options

HTML compatibility Load/Save options

Choices made on the Load/Save – HTML Compatibility page
(Figure 38) affect HTML pages imported into OpenOffice.org and those
exported from OOo. See HTML documents; importing/exporting in the
Help for more information.

Font sizes
Use these fields to define the respective font sizes for the HTML
<font size=1> to <font size=7> tags, if they are used in the HTML
pages. (Many pages no longer use these tags.)

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 Figure 38. Choosing HTML compatibility options

Import - Use 'English (USA)' locale for numbers

When importing numbers from an HTML page, the decimal and
thousands separator characters differ according to the locale of the
HTML page. The clipboard, however, contains no information about
the locale. If this option is not selected, numbers will be interpreted
according to the Language - Locale setting in Tools > Options >
Language Settings > Languages (see page 58). If this option is
selected, numbers will be interpreted as for the English (USA)
locale.
Import - Import unknown HTML tags as fields
Select this option if you want tags that are not recognized by OOo to
be imported as fields. For an opening tag, an HTML_ON field will be
created with the value of the tag name. For a closing tag, an
HTML_OFF will be created. These fields will be converted to tags in
the HTML export.
Import - Ignore font settings
Select this option to have OOo ignore all font settings when
importing. The fonts that were defined in the HTML Page Style will
be used.
Export
To optimize the HTML export, select a browser or HTML standard
from the Export box. If OpenOffice.org Writer is selected, specific
OpenOffice.org Writer instructions are exported.
Export - OpenOffice.org Basic
Select this option to include OOo Basic macros (scripts) when
exporting to HTML format. You must activate this option before you

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 create the OpenOffice.org Basic macro; otherwise the script will not
be inserted. OpenOffice.org Basic macros must be located in the
header of the HTML document. Once you have created the macro in
the OpenOffice.org Basic IDE, it appears in the source text of the
HTML document in the header.
If you want the macro to run automatically when the HTML
document is opened, choose Tools > Customize > Events. See
Chapter 13 (Getting Started with Macros) for more information.
Export - Display warning
When the OpenOffice.org Basic option (see above) is not selected,
the Display warning option becomes available. If the Display
warning option is selected, then when exporting to HTML a
warning is shown that OpenOffice.org Basic macros will be lost.
Export - Print layout
Select this option to export the print layout of the current document
as well. The HTML filter supports CSS2 (Cascading Style Sheets
Level 2) for printing documents. These capabilities are only effective
if print layout export is activated.
Export - Copy local graphics to Internet
Select this option to automatically upload the embedded pictures to
the Internet server when uploading using FTP.
Export - Character set
Select the appropriate character set for the export.

Choosing language settings

You may need to do several things to set the language settings to what
you want:
• Install the required dictionaries
• Change some locale and language settings
• Choose spelling options

Install the required dictionaries

OOo3 automatically installs several dictionaries with the program. To
add other dictionaries, be sure you are connected to the Internet, and
then use Tools > Language > More Dictionaries Online. OOo will
open your default web browser to a page containing links to additional
dictionaries that you can install. Follow the prompts to select and
install the ones you want.

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Change locale and language settings
You can change some details of the locale and language settings that
OOo uses for all documents, or for specific documents.
In the Options dialog, click Language Settings > Languages.

Figure 39: Language Setting Options

On the right-hand side of the Language Settings – Languages page

(Figure 40), change the User interface, Locale setting, Default
currency, and Default languages for documents as required. In the
example, English (UK) has been chosen for all the appropriate settings.
If you want the language (dictionary) setting to apply to the current
document only, instead of being the default for all new documents,
select the option labelled For the current document only.

Figure 40: Choosing language options

If necessary, select the options to enable support for Asian languages
(Chinese, Japanese, Korean) and support for CTL (complex text layout)
languages such as Hindi, Thai, Hebrew, and Arabic. If you choose
either of these options, the next time you open this dialog, you will see
some extra choices under Language Settings, as shown in Figure 41.
These choices (Searching in Japanese, Asian Layout, and Complex Text
Layout) are not discussed here.

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 Figure 41: Extra pages available when enhanced language
support options are selected

Choose spelling options

To choose the options for checking spelling, click Language Settings
> Writing Aids. In the Options section of the page (Figure 42), choose
the settings that are useful for you. Some considerations:
• If you do not want spelling checked while you type, deselect
Check spelling as you type and select Do not mark errors. (To
find the second item, scroll down in the Options list.)
• If you use a custom dictionary that includes words in all upper
case and words with numbers (for example, AS/400), select
Check uppercase words and Check words with numbers.
• Check special regions includes headers, footers, frames, and
tables when checking spelling.

Figure 42: Choosing languages, dictionaries, and options

for checking spelling

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Chapter 2 Setting up OpenOffice.org 59
Here you can also check which user-defined (custom) dictionaries are
active by default, and add or remove dictionaries, by clicking the New
or Delete buttons.

OpenOffice.org does not have a grammar checker, but you can

install a grammar checker extension such as Language Tool
Note and access that tool from Tools > Spelling and Grammar.
See Chapter 14 for more about installing extensions.

Choosing Internet options

Use the Internet Options pages to define search engines and save
proxy settings for use with OpenOffice.org.
If you are using a Netscape or Mozilla browser (such as Firefox), you
can enable the Mozilla Plug-in so you can open OOo files in your
browser, print them, save them, and work with them in other ways.
If you are using a Unix- or Linux-based operating system (including
Mac OS X), an additional page of E-mail options is available, where you
can specify the e-mail program to use when you send the current
document as e-mail (Figure 43). Under Windows the operating
system’s default e-mail program is always used.

Figure 43: Internet options, showing E-mail page available

to Linux users.

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Controlling OOo’s AutoCorrect functions
Some people find some or all of the items in OOo’s AutoCorrect
function annoying because they change what you type when you do not
want it changed. Many people find some of the AutoCorrect functions
quite helpful; if you do, then select the relevant options. But if you find
unexplained changes appearing in your document, this is a good place
to look to find the cause.
To open the AutoCorrect dialog, click Tools > AutoCorrect Options.
(You need to have a document open for this menu item to appear.)
In Writer, this dialog has five tabs, as shown in Figure 44. In other
components of OOo, the dialog has only four tabs.

Figure 44: The AutoCorrect dialog in Writer, showing the

five tabs and some of the choices

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 Chapter 3
Using Styles and
Templates

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What is a template?
A template is a model that you use to create other documents. For
example, you can create a template for business reports that has your
company’s logo on the first page. New documents created from this
template will all have your company’s logo on the first page.
Templates can contain anything that regular documents can contain,
such as text, graphics, a set of styles, and user-specific setup
information such as measurement units, language, the default printer,
and toolbar and menu customization.
All documents in OpenOffice.org (OOo) are based on templates. You
can create a specific template for any document type (text,
spreadsheet, drawing, presentation). If you do not specify a template
when you start a new document, then the document is based on the
default template for that type of document. If you have not specified a
default template, OOo uses the blank template for that type of
document that is installed with OOo. See “Setting a default template”
on page 79 for more information.

What are styles?

A style is a set of formats that you can apply to selected pages, text,
frames, and other elements in your document to quickly change their
appearance. When you apply a style, you apply a whole group of
formats at the same time.
Many people manually format paragraphs, words, tables, page layouts,
and other parts of their documents without paying any attention to
styles. They are used to writing documents according to physical
attributes. For example, you might specify the font family, font size,
and any formatting such as bold or italic.
Styles are logical attributes. Using styles means that you stop saying
“font size 14pt, Times New Roman, bold, centered”, and you start
saying “Title” because you have defined the “Title” style to have those
characteristics. In other words, styles means that you shift the
emphasis from what the text (or page, or other element) looks like, to
what the text is.
Styles help improve consistency in a document. They also make major
formatting changes easy. For example, you may decide to change the
indentation of all paragraphs, or change the font of all titles. For a long
document, this simple task can be prohibitive. Styles make the task

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easy.

Chapter 3 Using Styles and Templates 63

In addition, styles are used by OpenOffice.org for many processes,
even if you are not aware of them. For example, Writer relies on
heading styles (or other styles you specify) when it compiles a table of
contents. Some common examples of style use are given in “Examples
of style use” on page 84.
OpenOffice.org supports the following types of styles:
• Page styles include margins, headers and footers, borders and
backgrounds. In Calc, page styles also include the sequence for
printing sheets.
• Paragraph styles control all aspects of a paragraph’s appearance,
such as text alignment, tab stops, line spacing, and borders, and
can include character formatting.
• Character styles affect selected text within a paragraph, such as
the font and size of text, or bold and italic formats.
• Frame styles are used to format graphic and text frames,
including wrapping type, borders, backgrounds, and columns.
• Numbering styles apply similar alignment, numbering or bullet
characters, and fonts to numbered or bulleted lists.
• Cell styles include fonts, alignment, borders, background, number
formats (for example, currency, date, number), and cell
protection.
• Graphics styles in drawings and presentations include line, area,
shadowing, transparency, font, connectors, dimensioning, and
other attributes.
• Presentation styles include attributes for font, indents, spacing,
alignment, and tabs.
Different styles are available in the various components of OOo, as
listed in Table 1.
OpenOffice.org comes with many predefined styles. You can use the
styles as provided, modify them, or create new styles, as described in
this chapter.

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Table 1. Styles available in OOo components
Style Type Writer Calc Draw Impress
Page X X
Paragraph X
Character X
Frame X
Numbering X
Cell X
Presentation X X
Graphics (included in X X
Frame styles)

Applying styles
OpenOffice.org provides several ways for you to select styles to apply.

Using the Styles and Formatting window

1) Click the Styles and Formatting icon located at the left-hand
end of the object bar, or click Format > Styles and Formatting,
or press F11. The Styles and Formatting window shows the types
of styles available for the OOo component you are using. Figure
45 shows the window for Writer, with Page Styles visible.
You can move this window to a convenient position on the screen
or dock it to an edge (hold down the Ctrl key and drag it by the
title bar to where you want it docked).
2) Click on one of the icons at the top left of the Styles and
Formatting window to display a list of styles in a particular
category.
3) To apply an existing style (except for character styles), position
the insertion point in the paragraph, frame, or page, and then
double-click on the name of the style in one of these lists. To apply
a character style, select the characters first.

At the bottom of the Styles and Formatting window is a

dropdown list. In Figure 45 the window shows Automatic,
Tip meaning the list includes only styles applied automatically by
OOo. You can choose to show all styles or other groups of
styles, for example only custom styles.

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 Figure 45: The Styles and Formatting window for
Writer, showing paragraph styles.

Using Fill Format mode

Use Fill Format to apply a style to many different areas quickly without
having to go back to the Styles and Formatting window and double-
click every time. This method is quite useful when you need to format
many scattered paragraphs, cells, or other items with the same style.
1) Open the Styles and Formatting window and select the style you
want to apply.
2) Click the Fill Format mode icon .
3) To apply a paragraph, page, or frame style, hover the mouse over
the paragraph, page, or frame and click. To apply a character
style, hold down the mouse button while selecting the characters,
Clicking on a word applies the character style for that word.
Repeat step 3 until you made all the changes for that style.
4) To quit Fill Format mode, click the Fill Format mode icon again
or press the Esc key.

When this mode is active, a right-click anywhere in the

Caution document undoes the last Fill Format action. Be careful not to
accidentally right-click and thus undo actions you want to
keep.

Using the Apply Style list

After you have used a style at least once in a document, the style name
appears on the Apply Style list at the left-hand end of the Formatting
toolbar, next to the Styles and Formatting icon.

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You can open this list and click once on the style you want, or you can
use the up and down arrow keys to move through the list and then
press Enter to apply the highlighted style.

Select More... at the bottom of the list to open the Styles and
Tip Formatting window.

Figure 46: The Apply Style list

on the Formatting toolbar.

Using keyboard shortcuts

Some keyboard shortcuts for applying styles are predefined. For
example, in Writer Control+0 applies the Text body style, Control+1
applies the Heading 1 style, and Control+2 applies the Heading 2
style. You can modify these shortcuts and create your own; see Chapter
14 (Customizing OpenOffice.org) for instructions.

Modifying styles
OpenOffice.org provides several ways to modify styles (both the
predefined styles and custom styles that you create):
• Changing a style using the Style dialog
• Updating a style from a selection
• Use AutoUpdate (paragraph and frame styles only)
• Load or copy styles from another document or template

Any changes you make to a style are effective only in the

current document. To change styles in more than one document,
Tip you need to change the template or copy the styles into the
other documents as described on page 70.

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Changing a style using the Style dialog
To change an existing style using the Style dialog, right-click on the
required style in the Styles and Formatting window and select Modify
from the pop-up menu.
The Style dialog displayed depends on the type of style selected. Each
style dialog has several tabs. See the chapters on styles in the user
guides for details.

Updating a style from a selection

To update a style from a selection:
1) Open the Styles and Formatting window.
2) In the document, select an item that has the format you want to
adopt as a style.

Caution Make sure that there are unique properties in this paragraph.
For example, if there are two different font sizes or font styles,
that particular property will remain the same as before.

3) In the Styles and Formatting window, select the style you want to
update (single-click, not double-click), then long-click on the
arrow next to the New Style from Selection icon and click on
Update Style.

Figure 47: Updating a style from a selection.

Using AutoUpdate
AutoUpdate applies to paragraph and frame styles only. If the
AutoUpdate option is selected on the Organizer page of the Paragraph
Style or Frame Style dialog, applying direct formatting to a paragraph
or frame using this style in your document automatically updates the
style itself.

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 If you are in the habit of manually overriding styles in your
Tip document, be sure that AutoUpdate is not enabled.

Updating styles from a document or template

You can update styles by copying or loading them from a template or
another document. See “Copying and moving styles” on page 70.

Creating new (custom) styles

You may want to add some new styles. You can do this in two ways:
• Creating a new style using the Style dialog
• Creating a new style from a selection

Creating a new style using the Style dialog

To create a new style using the Style dialog, right-click in the Styles
and Formatting window and select New from the pop-up menu.
If you want your new style to be linked with an existing style, first
select that style and then right-click and select New.
If you link styles, then when you change the base style (for example, by
changing the font from Times to Helvetica), all the linked styles will
change as well. Sometimes this is exactly what you want; other times
you do not want the changes to apply to all the linked styles. It pays to
plan ahead.
The dialogs and choices are the same for defining new styles and for
modifying existing styles. See the chapters on styles in the user guides
for details.

Creating a new style from a selection

You can create a new style by copying an existing manual format. This
new style applies only to this document; it will not be saved in the
template.
1) Open the Styles and Formatting window and choose the type of
style you want to create.
2) In the document, select the item you want to save as a style.
3) In the Styles and Formatting window, click on the New Style
from Selection icon.

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Chapter 3 Using Styles and Templates 69
 4) In the Create Style dialog, type a name for the new style. The list
shows the names of existing custom styles of the selected type.
Click OK to save the new style.

Figure 48: Naming a new style created

from a selection.

Dragging and dropping to create a style

You can drag and drop a text selection into the Styles and Formatting
window to create a new style.

Writer
Select some text and drag it to the Styles and Formatting window. If
Paragraph Styles are active, the paragraph style will be added to the
list. If Character Styles are active, the character style will be added
to the list.
Calc
Drag a cell selection to the Styles and Formatting window to create
cell styles.
Draw/Impress
Select and drag drawing objects to the Styles and Formatting
window to create graphics styles.

Copying and moving styles

You can copy or move styles from one template or document into
another template or document, in two ways:
• Using the Template Management dialog
• Loading styles from a template or document

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Using the Template Management dialog
To copy or move styles using the Template Management dialog:
1) Click File > Templates > Organize.
2) In the Template Management dialog (Figure 49), set the lists at
the bottom to either Templates or Documents, as needed. The
default is Templates on the left and Documents on the right.

To copy styles from a file that is not open, click the File button.
Tip When you return to this dialog, both lists show the selected file
as well as all the currently open documents.

3) Open the folders and find the templates from and to which you
want to copy. Double-click on the name of the template or
document, and then double-click the Styles icon to show the list of
individual styles (Figure 50).
4) To copy a style, hold down the Ctrl key and drag the name of the
style from one list to the other.

Caution If you do not hold down the Control key when dragging, the
style will be moved from one list to the other. The style will
be deleted from the list you are dragging it from.

5) Repeat for each style you want to copy. If the receiving template
or document hasmany styles, you may not see any change unless
you scroll down in the list. When you are finished, click Close.

Figure 49: Choosing to copy styles from a document,

not a template.

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Chapter 3 Using Styles and Templates 71
 Figure 50: Copying a style from one document to another.

Loading styles from a template or document

You can copy styles by loading them from a template or another
document:
1) Open the document you want to copy styles into.
2) In the Styles and Formatting window, long-click on the arrow next
to the New Style from Selection icon, and then click on Load
Styles (see Figure 47).
3) On the Load Styles dialog (Figure 51), find and select the
template you want to copy styles from.

Figure 51. Copying styles from a template into the

open document
4) Select the categories of styles to be copied. Select Overwrite if
you want the styles being copied to replace any styles of the same
names in the document you’re copying them into.
5) Click OK to copy the styles. You will not see any change on
screen.

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 To copy the styles from another document, click the From
Note File button to open a window from which you can select the
required document.

If your document has a table of contents, and if you have used

custom styles for headings, the heading levels associated with
Caution outline levels (in Tools > Outline Numbering) will revert to
the defaults of Heading 1, Heading 2, and so on when you load
styles this . You will need to change these back to your custom
heading styles. This is a bug.

Deleting styles
You cannot remove (delete) any of OOo’s predefined styles from a
document or template, even if they are not in use.
You can remove any user-defined (custom) styles; but before you do,
you should make sure the styles are not in use. If an unwanted style is
in use, you will want to replace it with a substitute style.
To delete unwanted styles, right-click on them (one at a time) in the
Styles and Formatting window and click Delete on the pop-up menu.
If the style is in use, you receive a warning message.
Make sure the style is not in use before deletion. Otherwise,
Caution all objects with that style will return to the default style and
retain their formatting as manual formatting. This can be a
problem in a long document.

If the style is not in use, you receive a confirmation message; click Yes.

Using a template to create a document

To use a template to create a document:
1) From the main menu, choose File > New > Templates and
Documents. The Templates and Documents dialog opens. (See
Figure 52.)
2) In the box on the left, click the Templates icon if it is not already
selected. A list of template folders appears in the center box.
3) Double-click the folder that contains the template that you want
to use. A list of all the templates contained in that folder appears
in the center box.

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Chapter 3 Using Styles and Templates 73
 4) Select the template that you want to use. You can preview the
selected template or view the template’s properties:
• To preview the template, click the Preview icon. A preview of
the template appears in the box on the right.
• To view the template’s properties, click the Document
Properties icon. The template’s properties appear in the box
on the right.
5) Click Open. The Templates and Documents dialog closes and a
new document based on the selected template opens in OOo. You
can then edit and save the new document just as you would any
other document.

Figure 52: Templates and Documents window.

Creating a template
You can create your own templates in two ways: from a document, and
using a wizard.

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Creating a template from a document
To create a template from a document:
1) Open a new or existing document of the type you want to make
into a template (text document, spreadsheet, drawing,
presentation).
2) Add the content and styles that you want.
3) From the main menu, choose File > Templates > Save. The
Templates dialog opens (see Figure 53).
4) In the New template field, type a name for the new template.
5) In the Categories list, click the category to which you want to
assign the template. The category you choose has no effect on the
template itself; it is simply the folder in which you save the
template. Choosing an appropriate category makes it easier to
find the template when you want to use it. For example, you might
save Impress templates under the Presentations category.
To learn more about template folders, see “Organizing templates”
on page 82.
6) Click OK to save the new template.

Figure 53: Saving a new template.

Any settings that can be added to or modified in a document can be
saved in a template. For example, below are some of the settings
(although not a full list) that can be included in a Writer document and
then saved as a template for later use:
• Printer settings: which printer, single sided / double sided, and
paper size, and so on
• Styles to be used, including character, page, frame, numbering
and paragraph styles

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Chapter 3 Using Styles and Templates 75
 • Format and settings regarding indexes, tables, bibliographies,
table of contents
Templates can also contain predefined text, saving you from having to
type it every time you create a new document. For example, a letter
template may contain your name, address and salutation.
You can also save menu and toolbar customizations in templates; see
Chapter 14 (Customizing OpenOffice.org) for more information.

Creating a template using a wizard

You can use wizards to create templates for letters, faxes, agendas,
presentations, and Web pages.
For example, the Fax Wizard guides you through the following choices:
• Type of fax (business or personal)
• Document elements like the date, subject line (business fax),
salutation, and complementary close
• Options for sender and recipient information (business fax)
• Text to include in the footer (business fax)
To create a template using a wizard:
1) From the main menu, choose File > Wizards > [type of template
required].

Figure 54. Creating a template using a wizard

2) Follow the instructions on the pages of the wizard. This process is
slightly different for each type of template, but the format is very
similar.
3) In the last section of the wizard, you can specify the name and
location for saving the template. The default location is your user

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 templates directory, but you can choose a different location if you
prefer.
4) Finally, you have the option of creating a new document from your
template immediately, or manually changing the template. For
future documents, you can re-use the template created by the
wizard, just as you would use any other template.

Editing a template
You can edit a template’s styles and content, and then, if you wish, you
can reapply the template’s styles to documents that were created from
that template. (Note that you can only reapply styles. You cannot
reapply content.)
To edit a template:
1) From the main menu, choose File > Templates > Organize. The
Template Management dialog opens (see Figure 49).
2) In the box on the left, double-click the folder that contains the
template that you want to edit. A list of all the templates
contained in that folder appears underneath the folder name.
3) Select the template that you want to edit.
4) Click the Commands button and choose Edit from the drop-
down menu.
5) Edit the template just as you would any other document. To save
your changes, choose File > Save from the main menu.

Updating a document from a changed template

The next time you open a document that was created from the changed
template, the following message appears.

Figure 55. Update styles message

Click Yes to apply the template’s changed styles to the document. Click
No if you do not want to apply the template’s changed styles to the
document (but see Caution notice below).

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Chapter 3 Using Styles and Templates 77
 If you choose No in the message box shown in Figure 54, that
message will not appear again the next time you open the
document after changing the template it is based on. You will not
Caution get another chance to update the styles from the template,
although you can use the macro given in the Note below to re-
enable this feature.
If you are using Writer, you can also use the Template Changer
extension (see page 81) to reactivate the template.

Note To re-enable updating from a template:

1) Use Tools > Macros > Organize Macros >
OpenOffice.org Basic. Select the document from the list,
click the +, and select Standard. If Standard has a + beside
it, click that and select a module.
2) Name the macro. For example, you could call it
FixDocument. If the Edit button is active, click it. If the Edit
button is not active, click New, type a module name in the
pop-up dialog, and click OK.
3) In the Basic window, enter the following:
Sub FixDocV3
' set UpdateFromTemplate
oDocSettings = ThisComponent.createInstance( _
"com.sun.star.document.Settings" )
oDocSettings.UpdateFromTemplate = True
End Sub 'FixDocV3

4) Click the Run BASIC icon, then close the Basic window.
5) Save the document.
Next time when you open this document you will have the
update from template feature back.

Adding templates using the Extension

Manager
The Extension Manager provides an easy way to install collections of
templates, graphics, macros, or other add-ins that have been
“packaged” into files with a .OXT extension. See Chapter 14
(Customizing OpenOffice.org) for more about the Extension Manager.
This Web page lists many of the available extensions:
http://extensions.services.openoffice.org/.

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To install an extension, follow these steps:
1) Download an extension package and save it anywhere on your
computer.
2) In OOo, select Tools > Extension Manager from the menu bar.
In the Extension Manager dialog, click Add.
3) A file browser window opens. Find and select the package of
templates you want to install and click Open.The package begins
installing. You may be asked to accept a license agreement.
4) When the package installation is complete, the templates are
available for use through File > New > Templates and
Documents and the extension is listed in the Extension Manager.

Figure 56: Newly-added package of templates.

Setting a default template

If you create a document by choosing File > New > Text Document
(or Spreadsheet, Presentation, or Drawing) from the main menu,
OOo creates the document from the Default template for that type of
document. You can, however, set a custom template to be the default.
You can reset the default later if you choose.

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Chapter 3 Using Styles and Templates 79
Setting a custom template as the default
You can set any template to be the default, as long as it is in one of the
folders displayed in the Template Management dialog.
To set a custom template as the default:
1) From the main menu, choose File > Templates > Organize. The
Template Management dialog opens.
2) In the box on the left, select the folder containing the template
that you want to set as the default, then select the template.
3) Click the Commands button and choose Set As Default
Template from the drop-down menu.
The next time that you create a document by choosing File > New, the
document will be created from this template.
Although many important settings can be changed in the Options
dialog (see Chapter 2), for example default fonts and page size, more
advanced settings (such as page margins) can only be changed by
replacing the default template with a new one.

Resetting the default template

To re-enable OOo’s Default template for a document type as the
default:
1) In the Template Management dialog, click any folder in the box on
the left.
2) Click the Commands button and choose Reset Default
Template from the drop-down menu.
The next time that you create a document by choosing File > New, the
document will be created from OOo’s Default template for that
document type.

Associating a document with a different

template
At times you might want to associate a document with a different
template, or perhaps you’re working with a document that did not start
from a template.
One of the major advantages of using templates is the ease of updating
styles in more than one document, as described on page 77. If you
update styles by loading a new set of styles from a different template

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(as described on page 72), the document has no association with the

80 Getting Started with OpenOffice.org 3.x

template from which the styles were loaded—so you cannot use this
method. What you need to do is associate the document with the
different template.
You can do this in two ways. In both cases, for best results the names
of styles should be the same in the existing document and the new
template. If they are not, you will need to use Search and Replace to
replace old styles with new ones. See Chapter 4 (Getting Started with
Writer) for more about replacing styles using Search and Replace.

Method 1
This method includes any graphics and wording (such as legal notices)
that exists in the new template, as well as including styles. If you don’t
want this material, you need to delete it.
1) Use File > New > Templates and Documents. Choose the
template you want. If the template has unwanted text or graphics
in it, delete them.
2) Open the document you want to change. (It opens in a new
window.) Press Control+A to select everything in the document.
Paste into the blank document created in step 1.
3) Update the table of contents, if there is one. Save the file.

Method 2 (Writer only)

This method does not include any graphics or text from the new
template; it simply includes styles from the new template and
establishes an association between the template and the document.
1) Download the Template Changer extension from
http://extensions.services.openoffice.org/ and install it as
described on page 78.
2) Close and reopen OpenOffice.org. Now the File > Templates
menu has two new choices in Writer: Assign Template (current
document) and Assign Template (folder). In Calc, Impress, and
Draw, only the Assign Template (folder) choice is available.
3) Open the document whose template you want to change. Choose
File > Templates > Assign Template (current document).
4) In the Select Template window, find and select the required
template and click Open.
5) Save the document. If you now look in File > Properties, you will
see the new template listed at the bottom of the General page.

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Chapter 3 Using Styles and Templates 81
Organizing templates
OOo can only use templates that are in OOo template folders. You can
create new OOo template folders and use them to organize your
templates, and import templates into those folders. For example, you
might have one template folder for report templates and another for
letter templates. You can also export templates.
To begin, choose File > Templates > Organize from the main menu.
The Template Management dialog opens.

All the actions made by the Commands button in the Template

Note Management dialog can be made as well by right-clicking on
the templates or the folders.

Creating a template folder

To create a template folder:
1) In the Template Management dialog, click any folder.
2) Click the Commands button and choose New from the drop-
down menu. A new folder called Untitled appears.
3) Type a name for the new folder, and then press Enter. OOo saves
the folder with the name that you entered.

Deleting a template folder

You cannot delete template folders supplied with OOo or installed
using the Extension Manager; you can only delete template folders that
you have created.
To delete a template folder:
1) In the Template Management dialog, select the folder that you
want to delete.
2) Click the Commands button and choose Delete from the drop-
down menu. A message box appears and asks you to confirm the
deletion. Click Yes.

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Moving a template
To move a template from one template folder to another template
folder:
1) In the Template Management dialog, double-click the folder that
contains the template you want to move. A list of the templates
contained in that folder appears underneath the folder name.
2) Click the template that you want to move and drag it to the
desired folder. If you do not have the authority to delete templates
from the source folder, this action copies the template instead of
moving it.

Deleting a template
You cannot delete templates supplied with OOo or installed using the
Extension Manager; you can only delete templates that you have
created or imported.
To delete a template:
1) In the Template Management dialog, double-click the folder that
contains the template you want to delete. A list of the templates
contained in that folder appears underneath the folder name.
2) Click the template that you want to delete.
3) Click the Commands button and choose Delete from the drop-
down menu. A message box appears and asks you to confirm the
deletion. Click Yes.

Importing a template
If the template that you want to use is in a different location, you must
import it into an OOo template folder.
To import a template into a template folder:
1) In the Template Management dialog, select the folder into which
you want to import the template.
2) Click the Commands button and choose Import Template from
the drop-down menu. A standard file browser window opens.
3) Find and select the template that you want to import and click
Open. The file browser window closes and the template appears
in the selected folder.
4) If you want, type a new name for the template, and then press
Enter.

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Chapter 3 Using Styles and Templates 83
Exporting a template
To export a template from a template folder to another location:
1) In the Template Management dialog, double-click the folder that
contains the template you want to export. A list of the templates
contained in that folder appears underneath the folder name.
2) Click the template that you want to export.
3) Click the Commands button and choose Export Template from
the drop-down menu. The Save As window opens.
4) Find the folder into which you want to export the template and
click Save.

Examples of style use

The following examples of common use of page and paragraph styles
are taken from Writer. There are many other ways to use styles; see
the guides for the various components for details.

Defining a different first page for a document

Many documents, such as letters and reports, have a first page that is
different from the other pages in the document. For example, the first
page of a letterhead typically has a different header, or the first page
of a report might have no header or footer, while the other pages do.
With OOo, you can define the page style for the first page and specify
the style for the following pages to be applied automatically.
As an example, we can use the First Page and Default page styles that
come with OOo. Figure 57 shows what we want to happen: the first
page is to be followed by the default page, and all the following pages
are to be in the Default page style. Details are in Chapter 4
(Formatting Pages) in the Writer Guide.

Figure 57: Flow of page styles

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Dividing a document into chapters
In a similar way, you can divide a document into chapters. Each
chapter might start with the First Page style, with the following pages
using the Default page style, as above. At the end of the chapter, insert
a manual page break and specify the next page to have the First Page
style to start the next chapter, as shown below.

Figure 58: Dividing a document into chapters using page styles

Changing page orientation within a document

A Writer document can contain pages in more than one orientation. A
common scenario is to have a landscape page in the middle of a
document, whereas the other pages are in a portrait orientation. This
can also be done with page breaks and page styles.

Different headers on right and left pages

Page styles can be set up to have the facing left and right pages
mirrored or only right (first pages of chapters are often defined to be
right-page only) or only left. When you insert a header on a page style
set up for mirrored pages or right-and-left pages, you can have the
contents of the header be the same on all pages or be different on the
right and left pages. For example, you can put the page number on the
left-hand edge of the left pages and on the right-hand edge of the right
pages, put the document title on the right-hand page only, or make
other changes.

Controlling page breaks automatically

Writer automatically flows text from one page to the next. If you do not
like the default settings, you can change them. For example, you can
require a paragraph to start on a new page or column and specify the
style of the new page. A typical use is for chapter titles to always start
on a new right-hand (odd-numbered) page.

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Compiling an automatic table of contents
To compile an automatic table of contents, first apply styles to the
headings you want to appear in the contents list, then use Tools >
Outline Numbering to tell Writer which styles go with which level in
the table of contents. See Chapter 4 for more information.

Defining a sequence of styles

You can set up one paragraph style so that when you press Enter at the
end of that paragraph, the following paragraph automatically has the
style you wish applied to it. For example, you could define a Heading 1
paragraph to be followed by a Text Body paragraph. A more complex
example would be: Title followed by Author followed by Abstract
followed by Heading 1 followed by Text Body. By setting up these
sequences, you can avoid manually applying styles in most cases.

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 Chapter 4
Getting Started with
Writer
Word Processing with OpenOffice.org

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What is Writer?
Writer is the word processor component of OpenOffice.org (OOo). In
addition to the usual features of a word processor (spelling check,
thesaurus, hyphenation, autocorrect, find and replace, automatic
generation of tables of contents and indexes, mail merge and others),
Writer provides these important features:
• Templates and styles (see Chapter 3)
• Page layout methods, including frames, columns, and tables
• Embedding or linking of graphics, spreadsheets, and other
objects
• Built-in drawing tools
• Master documents—to group a collection of documents into a
single document
• Change tracking during revisions
• Database integration, including a bibliography database
• Export to PDF, including bookmarks (see Chapter 10)
• And many more
These features are covered in detail in the Writer Guide.

The Writer interface

The main Writer workspace is shown in Figure 59. The menus and
toolbars are described in Chapter 1 (Introducing OpenOffice.org).
Some other features of the Writer interface are covered in this chapter.

Figure 59: The main Writer workspace in Print Layout view

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Status bar
The Writer status bar provides information about the document and
convenient ways to quickly change some document features.

Figure 60: Left end of status bar

Page number
Shows the current page number, the sequence number of the
current page (if different), and the total number of pages in the
document. For example, if you restarted page numbering at 1 on the
third page, its page number is 1 and its sequence number is 3.
If any bookmarks have been defined in the document, a right-click
on this field pops up a list of bookmarks; click on the required one.
To jump to a specific page in the document, double-click on this
field. The Navigator opens. Click in the Page Number field and type
the sequence number of the required page. After a brief delay, the
display jumps to the selected page.
Page style
Shows the style of the current page. To change the page style, right-
click on this field. A list of page styles pops up; choose a different
style by clicking on it.
To edit the current page style, double-click on this field. The Page
Style dialog opens.
Language
Shows the language for the selected text.
Click to open a menu where you can choose another language for
the selected text or for the paragraph where the cursor is located.
You can also choose None (Do not check spelling) to exclude the
text from a spelling check or choose More... to open the Character
dialog.

Insert mode
Click to toggle between Insert and Overwrite modes when typing.
Selection mode
Click to toggle between STD (Standard), EXT (Extend), ADD (Add)

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and BLK (Block) selection. EXT is an alternative to Shift+click when

Chapter 4 Getting Started with Writer 89

 selecting text. See “Working with text” on page 94 for more
information about ADD and BLK.
Unsaved changes
An asterisk (*) appears here if changes to the document have not
been saved.

Figure 61: Right end of status bar

Digital signature
If the document has been digitally signed, an icon shows here.
You can double-click the icon to view the certificate.
Section or object information
When the cursor is on a section, heading, or list item, or when an
object (such as a picture or table) is selected, information about that
item appears in this field. Double-clicking in this area opens a
relevant dialog box. For details, consult the Help or the Writer Guide.
View layout
Click an icon to change between single page, side-by-side, and book
layout views (Figure 62). You can edit the document in any view.

Figure 62: View layouts: single, side-by-side, book.

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Zoom
To change the view magnification, drag the Zoom slider, or click on
the + and – signs, or right-click on the zoom level percent to pop up
a list of magnification values from which to choose. Zoom interacts
with the selected view layout to determine how many pages are
visible in the document window.

Changing document views

Writer has several ways to view a document: Print Layout, Web Layout,
and Full Screen. To access these and other choices, go to the View
menu and click on the required view. (When in Full Screen view, press
the Esc key to return to either Print or Web Layout view.)
When in Print Layout, you can use both the Zoom slider and the View
Layout icons on the Status bar. In Web Layout, you can use the Zoom
slider.
You can also choose View > Zoom from the menu bar to display the
Zoom & View Layout dialog (Figure 63), where you can set the same
options as on the Status bar. In Web Layout view, most of the choices
are not available.

Figure 63: Choosing Zoom and View Layout options.

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Chapter 4 Getting Started with Writer 91
Moving quickly through a document
In addition to the navigation features of the Status bar (described
above), you can use the main Navigator window and the Navigation
toolbar as described in Chapter 1 (Introducing OpenOffice.org).
In Writer, you can also display the Navigation toolbar by clicking on the
small Navigation icon near the lower right-hand corner of the window
below the vertical scroll bar, as shown in Figure 64.

Figure 64: Navigation icons.

The Navigation toolbar (Figure 65) shows icons for all the object types
shown in the Navigator, plus some extras (for example, the results of a
Find command).

Figure 65: Navigation toolbar

Click an icon to select that object type. Now all the Previous and Next
icons (in the Navigator itself, in the Navigation Toolbar, and on the
scroll bar) will jump to the next object of the selected type. This is
particularly helpful for finding items like index entries, which can be
difficult to see in the text. The names of the icons (shown in the
tooltips) change to match the selected category; for example, Next
Graphic, Next Bookmark, or Continue search forward.
For more uses of the Navigator in Writer, see the Writer Guide.

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Working with documents
Chapter 1 (Introducing OpenOffice.org) includes instructions on
starting new documents, opening existing documents, and saving
documents. Chapter 3 (Using Styles and Templates) covers how to
create a document from a template.

Saving as a Microsoft Word file

If you need to exchange files with users of Microsoft Word, they may
not know how to open and save .odt files. Microsoft Word 2007 with
Service Pack 2 (SP2) can do this. Users of Word 2007, 2003, XP, and
2000 can also download and install a free OpenDocument Format
(ODF) plugin from Sun Microsystems.
Some users of Microsoft Word may be unwilling or unable to receive
*.odt files. (Perhaps their employer won’t allow them to install the
plug-in.) In this case, you can save a document as a Microsoft Word
file.
1) Important—First save your document in the file format used by
OOo Writer (.odt). If you do not, any changes you made since the
last time you saved will appear only in the Microsoft Word version
of the document.
2) Then choose File > Save As.
3) On the Save As dialog (Figure 66), in the File type (or Save as
type) drop-down menu, select the type of Word format you need.
4) Choose Save.
From this point on, all changes you make to the document will occur
only in the Microsoft Word document. You have changed the name and
file type of your document. If you want to go back to working with
the .odt version of your document, you must open it again.

To have OOo save documents by default in the Microsoft Word

file format, go to Tools > Options > Load/Save. See
Tip “Choosing options for loading and saving documents” in
Chapter 2 (Setting up OpenOffice.org).

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Chapter 4 Getting Started with Writer 93
 Figure 66. Saving a file in Microsoft Word format

Working with text

Working with text (selecting, copying, pasting, moving) in Writer is
similar to working with text in any other program. OOo also has some
convenient ways to select items that are not next to each other, select a
vertical block of text, and paste unformatted text.

Selecting items that are not consecutive

To select nonconsecutive items (as shown in Figure 67) using the
mouse:
1) Select the first piece of text.
2) Hold down the Control key and use the mouse to select the next
piece of text.
3) Repeat as often as needed.
Now you can work with the selected text (copy it, delete it, change the
style, or whatever).

Macintosh users: substitute the Command key when

Note instructions in this chapter say to use the Control key.

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 Figure 67: Selecting items that are not next to each other
To select nonconsecutive items using the keyboard:
1) Select the first piece of text. (For more information about
keyboard selection of text, see the topic “Navigating and selecting
with the keyboard” in the Help.)
2) Press Shift+F8. This puts Writer in “Add” mode. The word ADD
appears on the status bar.
3) Use the arrow keys to move to the start of the next piece of text
to be selected. Hold down the Shift key and select the next piece
of text.
4) Repeat as often as needed.
Now you can work with the selected text.
Press Esc to exit from this mode.

Selecting a vertical block of text

You can select a vertical block or “column” of text that is separated by
spaces or tabs (as you might see in text pasted from e-mails, program
listings, or other sources), using OOo’s block selection mode. To
change to block selection mode, use Edit > Selection Mode > Block
Area, or click several times in the status bar on STD until it changes to
BLK.

Now highlight the selection, using mouse or keyboard, as shown in

Figure 68.

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Chapter 4 Getting Started with Writer 95
 Figure 68: Selecting a vertical block of text

Cutting, copying, and pasting text

Cutting and copying text in Writer is similar to cutting and copying text
in other applications. You can use the mouse or the keyboard for these
operations. You can copy or move text within a document, or between
documents, by dragging or by using menu selections, icons, or
keyboard shortcuts. You can also copy text from other sources such as
Web pages and paste it into a Writer document.
To move (cut and paste) selected text using the mouse, drag it to the
new location and release it. To copy selected text, hold down the
Control key while dragging. The text retains the formatting it had
before dragging.
When you paste text, the result depends on the source of the text and
how you paste it. If you click on the Paste icon, any formatting the text
has (such as bold or italics) is retained. Text pasted from Web sites and
other sources may also be placed into frames or tables. If you do not
like the results, click the Undo icon or press Control+Z.
To make the pasted text take on the formatting of the surrounding text
where it is being pasted,choose either:
• Edit > Paste Special, or
• Click the triangle to the right of the Paste icon, or
• Click the Paste icon without releasing the left mouse button.
Then select Unformatted text from the resulting menu.
The range of choices on the Paste Special menu varies depending on
the origin and formatting of the text (or other object) to be pasted. See
(Figure 69) for an example with text on the clipboard.

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Figure 69: Paste Special menu

96 Getting Started with OpenOffice.org 3.x

Finding and replacing text and formatting
Writer has a Find and Replace feature that automates the process of
searching for text inside a document. In addition to finding and
replacing words and phrases, you can:
• Use wildcards and regular expressions to fine-tune a search (see
the Help for details).
• Find and replace specific formatting (see the Writer Guide ).
• Find and replace paragraph styles (see the Writer Guide).
To display the Find & Replace dialog (Figure 70), use the keyboard
shortcut Control+F or choose Edit > Find & Replace from the menu
bar.
1) Type the text you want to find in the Search for box.
2) To replace the text with different text, type the new text in the
Replace with box.
3) You can select various options such as matching the case,
matching whole words only, or doing a search for similar words.
4) When you have set up your search, click Find. To replace text,
click Replace instead.

Figure 70: Expanded Find & Replace dialog

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Chapter 4 Getting Started with Writer 97
 If you click Find All, OOo selects all instances of the search
Tip text in the document. Similarly, if you click Replace All, OOo
will replace all matches.

Use Replace All with caution; otherwise, you may end up with
Caution some hilarious (and highly embarrassing) mistakes. A mistake
with Replace All might require a manual, word-by-word,
search to fix.

Inserting special characters

A special character is one not found on a standard English keyboard.
For example, © ¾ æ ç ñ ö ø ¢ are all special characters. To insert a
special character:
1) Place the cursor where you want the character to appear.
2) Choose Insert > Special Character to open the Special
Characters dialog (Figure 71).
3) Select the characters (from any font or mixture of fonts) you wish
to insert, in order, then click OK. The selected characters are
shown in the lower left of the dialog. As you select a character, it
is shown on the lower right, along with its numerical code.

Different fonts include different special characters. If you do

Note not find a particular special character, try changing the Font
selection.

Figure 71: The Special Characters window,

where you can insert special characters.

Notice that the characters selected appear in the bottom-left

Tip corner of the window.

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Inserting dashes and non-breaking spaces and
hyphens
To prevent two words from being separated at the end of a line, press
Control+spacebar after the first word to insert a non-breaking space.
In cases where you do not want the hyphen to appear at the end of a
line, for example in a number such as 123-4567, you can press
Shift+Control+minus sign to insert a non-breaking hyphen.
To enter en and em dashes, you can use the Replace dashes option
under Tools > AutoCorrect > Options (Figure 79). This option
replaces two hyphens, under certain conditions, with the
corresponding dash.
– is an en-dash; that is, a dash the width of the letter “n” in the font
you are using. Type at least one character, a space, one or two
hyphens, another space, and at least one more letter, then a
space. The one or two hyphens will be replaced by an en-dash.
— is an em-dash; that is, a dash the width of the letter “m” in the
font you are using. Type at least one character, two hyphens, and
at least one more character, then a space. The two hyphens will
be replaced by an em-dash.
See the Help for more details. For other methods of inserting dashes,
see the Writer Guide.

Setting tab stops and indents

The horizontal ruler shows both the default tab stops and any tab stops
that you have defined. Tab settings affect indentation of full
paragraphs (using the Increase Indent and Decrease Indent icons on
the Formatting toolbar) as well as indentation of parts of a paragraph
(by pressing the Tab key on the keyboard).
Using the default tab spacing can cause formatting problems if you
share documents with other people. If you use the default tab spacing
and then send the document to someone else who has chosen a
different default tab spacing, tabbed material will change to use the
other person’s settings. This may cause major formatting problems.
Instead of using the defaults, define your own tab settings, as
described in this section.
To define indents and tab settings for one or more selected
paragraphs, double-click on a part of the ruler that is not between the
left and right indent icons to open the Indents & Spacing page of the
Paragraph dialog. Double-click anywhere between the left and right

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Chapter 4 Getting Started with Writer 99
indent icons on the ruler to open the Tabs page of the Paragraph dialog
(Figure 75).
A better strategy is to define tabs for the paragraph style. See
Chapters 6 and 7 in the Writer Guide for more information.

Using tabs to space out material on a page is not recommended.

Tip Depending on what you are trying to accomplish, a table is
usually a better choice.

Changing the default tab stop interval

Any changes to the default tab setting will affect the existing
Note default tab stops in any document you open afterward, as well
as tab stops you insert after making the change.

To set the measurement unit and the spacing of default tab stop
intervals, go to Tools > Options > OpenOffice.org Writer >
General.

Figure 72: Selecting a default tab stop interval

You can also set or change the measurement unit for rulers in the
current document by right-clicking on the ruler to open a list of units,
as shown in Figure 77. Click on one of them to change the ruler to that
unit. The selected setting applies only to that ruler.

Figure 73: Ruler showing default tab stops

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Checking spelling and grammar
Writer provides a spelling checker, which can be used in two ways.
AutoSpellcheck checks each word as it is typed and displays a
wavy red line under any misspelled words. When the word is
corrected, the line disappears.
To perform a separate spelling check on the document (or a text
selection) click the Spelling and Grammar button. This checks
the document or selection and opens the Spelling and Grammar
dialog if any misspelled words are found.
Here are some more features of the spelling checker:
• You can right-click on a word with a wavy underline to open a
context menu. If you select from the suggested words on the
menu, the selection will replace the misspelled word in your text.
Other menu options are discussed below.
• You can change the dictionary language (for example, Spanish,
French or German) on the Spelling and Grammar dialog.
• You can add a word to the dictionary. Click Add in the Spelling
and Grammar dialog and pick the dictionary to add it to.
• Click the Options button on the Spelling and Grammar dialog to
open a dialog similar to the one in Tools > Options > Language
Settings > Writing Aids described in Chapter 2. There you can
choose whether to check uppercase words and words with
numbers, and you can manage custom dictionaries, that is, add or
delete dictionaries and add or delete words in a dictionary.
• On the Font tab of the Paragraph Styles dialog, you can set
paragraphs to be checked in a specific language (different from
the rest of the document). See Chapter 7 (Working with Styles) in
the Writer Guide for more information.
Writer does not include a grammar checker, but you can install an
extension such as Language Tool and access it from Tools > Spelling
and Grammar. (See Chapter 14 for more about installing extensions.)
Language Tool adds a new menu item and submenu to the Tools menu,
from which you can configure the tool and check or recheck the
document.

Using built-in language tools

Writer provides some tools that make your work easier if you mix
multiple languages within the same document or if you write

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Chapter 4 Getting Started with Writer 101

The main advantage of changing the language is that you can then use
the correct dictionaries to check spelling and apply the localized
versions of Autocorrect replacement tables, thesaurus, and
hyphenation rules.
You can also set the language for a paragraph or a group of characters
as None. This option is especially useful when you insert text such as
web addresses or programming language snippets that you do not
want to check for spelling.
Specifying the language in character and paragraph styles is the
preferred method, because styles allow a greater level of control and
make changing the language much faster. On the Font tab of the
Paragraph Styles dialog, you can specify that certain paragraphs be
checked in a language that is different from the language of the rest of
the document. See Chapter 7 (Working with Styles) for information on
how to manage the language settings of a style.
However, starting with OpenOffice.org 3.0, you can set the language
for the whole document, for individual paragraphs, or even for
individual words and characters, all from Tools > Language on the
menu bar.
Another way to change the language of a whole document is to use
Tools > Options > Language Settings > Languages. In the Default
languages for documents section of the Options dialog, you can choose
a different language for all the text.
The spelling checker works only for those languages in the list that
have the symbol next to them. If you do not see the symbol next to
your preferred language, you can install the additional dictionary using
Tools > Languages > More dictionaries online.
The language used for checking spelling is also shown in the status
bar, next to the page style in use.
You can also configure the language for a paragraph or a group of
characters as None. This option is particularly useful in the case
where you insert in the document text that you do not want to
spellcheck, such as web addresses or programming language snippets.

Using AutoCorrect
Writer’s AutoCorrect function has a long list of common misspellings
and typing errors, which it corrects automatically. For example, “hte”
will be changed to “the”.

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Choose Tools > AutoCorrect Options to open the AutoCorrect dialog.
There you can define which strings of text are corrected and how. In
most cases, the defaults are fine.
AutoCorrect is turned on when Writer is installed. To turn it off,
uncheck Format > AutoCorrect > While Typing.
To stop Writer replacing a specific spelling, go to the Replace tab,
highlight the word pair, and click Delete.
To add a new spelling to the list, type it into the Replace and With
boxes on the Replace tab, and click New.
See the different tabs of the dialog for the wide variety of other options
available to fine-tune AutoCorrect.

AutoCorrect can be used as a quick way to insert special

Tip characters. For example, (c) will be autocorrected to ©. You
can add your own special characters.

Using word completion

If Word Completion is enabled, Writer tries to guess which word you
are typing and offers to complete the word for you. To accept the
suggestion, press Enter. Otherwise continue typing.
To turn off Word Completion, select Tools > AutoCorrect Options >
Word Completion and deselect Enable word completion.
You can customize word completion from the Word Completion page
of the AutoCorrect dialog:
• Add (append) a space automatically after an accepted word.
• Show the suggested word as a tip (hovering over the word) rather
than completing the text as you type.
• Change the maximum number of words remembered for word
completion and the length of the smallest words to be
remembered.
• Delete specific entries from the word completion list.
• Change the key that accepts a suggested entry—the options are
Right arrow, End key, Return (Enter), and Space bar.

Automatic word completion only occurs after you type a word

Note for the second time in a document.

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Using AutoText
AutoText allows you to assign text, tables, graphics and other items to
a key combination. For example, rather than typing “Senior
Management” every time you use that phrase, you can type “sm” and
press F3. You can also save graphics or tables (such as a formatted Tip
like the one on this page) as AutoText.
To assign some text to an AutoText shortcut:
1) Type the text into your document.
2) Select the text so it is highlighted.
3) Choose Edit > AutoText (or press Control+F3).
4) Enter a name for your shortcut. Writer will suggest a one-letter
shortcut, which you can change.
5) Click the AutoText button on the right and select New (text
only) from the menu.
6) Click Close to return to your document.

If the only option under the AutoText button is Import, either

Tip you have not entered a name for your AutoText or there is no
text selected in the document.

AutoText is especially powerful when assigned to fields. See Chapter

14 (Working with Fields) in the Writer Guide for more information.

Formatting text

Using styles is recommended

Styles are central to using Writer. Styles enable you to easily format
your document consistently, and to change the format with minimal
effort. A style is a named set of formatting options. Writer defines
several types of styles, for different types of elements: characters,
paragraphs, pages, frames, and lists. See Chapter 3 (Using Styles and
Templates) in this book and Chapters 6 and 7 in the Writer Guide.

Formatting paragraphs
You can apply many formats to paragraphs using the buttons on the
Formatting toolbar. Figure 74 shows the Formatting toolbar as a
floating toolbar, customized to show only the buttons for paragraph
formatting. The appearance of the icons may vary with your operating

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system and the selection of icon size and style in Tools > Options >
OpenOffice.org > View.

1 Open Styles and 5 Align Right 10 Numbering On/Off

Formatting Window 6 Justified 11 Bullets On/Off
2 Apply Style 7 Line Spacing: 1 12 Decrease Indent
3 Align Left 8 Line Spacing: 1.5 13 Increase Indent
4 Centered 9 Line Spacing: 2 14 Paragraph format dialog
Figure 74: Formatting toolbar, showing icons for paragraph
formatting.

Formatting characters
You can apply many formats to characters using the buttons on the
Formatting toolbar. Figure 75 shows the Formatting toolbar as a
floating toolbar, customized to show only the buttons for character
formatting.
The appearance of the icons may vary with your operating system and
the selection of icon size and style in Tools > Options >
OpenOffice.org > View.

1 Open Styles and Formatting 6 Italic 12 Font Color

Window 7 Underline 13 Highlighting
2 Apply Style 8 Superscript 14 Background Color
3 Font Name 9 Subscript 15 Open Character Format
4 Font Size 10 Increase Font Dialog
5 Bold 11 Reduce Font
Figure 75: Formatting toolbar, showing icons for character formatting

To remove manual formatting, select the text and choose

Tip Format > Default Formatting, or right-click and choose
Default Formatting.

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Autoformatting
You can set Writer to automatically format parts of a document
according to the choices made on the Options page of the AutoCorrect
dialog (Tools > AutoCorrect Options).

If you notice unexpected formatting changes occurring in your

Tip document, this is the first place to look for the cause.

Some common unwanted or unexpected formatting changes include:

• Horizontal lines. If you type three or more hyphens (---),
underscores (___) or equal signs (===) on a line and then press
Enter, the paragraph is replaced by a horizontal line as wide as
the page. The line is actually the lower border of the preceding
paragraph.
• Bulleted and numbered lists. A bulleted list is created when you
type a hyphen (-), star (*), or plus sign (+), followed by a space or
tab at the beginning of a paragraph. A numbered list is created
when you type a number followed by a period (.), followed by a
space or tab at the beginning of a paragraph. Automatic
numbering is only applied to paragraphs formatted with the
Default, Text body or Text body indent paragraph styles.
To turn autoformatting on or off, choose Format > AutoFormat and
select or deselect the items on the list.

Creating numbered or bulleted lists

There are several ways to create numbered or bulleted lists:
• Use autoformatting, as described above.
• Use list (numbering) styles, as described in Chapters 6
(Introduction to Styles) and 7 (Working with Styles) in the Writer
Guide.
• Use the Numbering and Bullets icons on the paragraph
formatting toolbar (see Figure 74). This method is described here.
To produce a numbered or bulleted list, select the paragraphs in the
list, and then click the appropriate icon on the toolbar.

It is a matter of personal preference whether you type your

Note information first, then apply Numbering/Bullets, or apply them
as you type.

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Using the Bullets and Numbering toolbar
You can create nested lists (where one or more list items has a sublist
under it, as in an outline) by using the buttons on the Bullets and
Numbering toolbar (Figure 76). You can move items up or down the
list, or create subpoints, and even change the style of bullets. Use
View > Toolbars > Bullets and Numbering to see the toolbar.
The appearance of the icons may vary with your operating system and
the selection of icon size and style in Tools > Options >
OpenOffice.org > View.

1 Bullets On/Off 6 Move Up (One Level) with 10 Move Down

2 Numbering On/Off Sub-points 11 Move Up in Sub-points
3 Numbering Off 7 Move Down (One Level) with 12 Move Down in Sub-points
Sub-points
4 Up One Level 8 Insert Unnumbered Entry 13 Restart Numbering
5 Down One Level 9 Move Up 14 Bullets and Numbering
Figure 76: Bullets and Numbering toolbar

Hyphenating words
You have several choices regarding hyphenation: let Writer do it
automatically (using its hyphenation dictionaries), insert conditional
hyphens manually where necessary, or don’t hyphenate at all.

Automatic hyphenation
To turn automatic hyphenation of words on or off:
1) Press F11 to open the Styles and Formatting window (Figure 77).

Figure 77: Modifying a style

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Chapter 4 Getting Started with Writer 107
 2) On the Paragraph Styles page of the Styles and Formatting
window, right-click on Default in the list and select Modify.
3) On the Paragraph Style dialog, go to the Text Flow page (see
Figure 78).

Figure 78: Turning on automatic hyphenation

4) Under Hyphenation, select or deselect the Automatically option.
Click OK to save.

Turning on hyphenation for the Default paragraph style affects

all other paragraph styles that are based on Default. You can
individually change other styles so that hyphenation is not
Note active; for example, you might not want headings to be
hyphenated. Any styles that are not based on Default are not
affected.

You can also set hyphenation choices through Tools > Options >
Language Settings > Writing Aids. In Options, near the bottom of
the dialog, scroll down to the find the hyphenation settings (Figure 79).

Figure 79: Setting hyphenation options

To change the minimal number of characters for hyphenation, the
minimum number of characters before a line break, or the minimum
number of characters after a line break, select the item, and then click
the Edit button in the Options section.
Hyphenation options set on the Writing Aids dialog are effective only if
hyphenation is turned on through paragraph styles.

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Manual hyphenation
To manually hyphenate words, do not use a normal hyphen, which will
remain visible even if the word is no longer at the end of a line when
you add or delete text or change margins or font size. Instead, use a
conditional hyphen, which is visible only when required.
To insert a conditional hyphen inside a word, click where you want the
hyphen to appear and press Control+hyphen. The word will be
hyphenated at this position when it is at the end of the line, even if
automatic hyphenation for this paragraph is switched off.

Formatting pages
Writer provides several ways for you to control page layouts: page
styles, columns, frames, tables, and sections. For more information, see
Chapter 4 (Formatting Pages) in the Writer Guide.

Page layout is usually easier if you show text, object, table, and
section boundaries in Tools > Options > OpenOffice.org >
Tip Appearance, and paragraph ends, tabs, breaks, and other
items in Tools > Options > OpenOffice.org Writer >
Formatting Aids.

Which layout method to choose?

The best layout method varies depending on what the final document
should look like and what sort of information will be in the document.
Here are some examples.

For a book similar to this user guide,

with one column of text, some figures
without text beside them, and some
other figures with descriptive text, use
page styles for basic layout, and tables
to place figures beside descriptive text
when necessary.

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For an index or other document with
two columns of text, where the text
continues from the left-hand column to
the right-hand column and then to the
next page, all in sequence (also known
as “snaking columns” of text), use page
styles (with two columns). If the title of
the document (on the first page) is full-
page width, put it in a single-column
section.

For a newsletter with complex layout,

two or three columns on the page, and
some articles that continue from one
page to some place several pages later,
use page styles for basic layout. Place
articles in linked frames and anchor
graphics to fixed positions on the page
if necessary.

For a document with terms and

translations to appear side-by-side in
what appear to be columns, use a table
to keep items lined up, and so you can
type in both “columns”.

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Creating headers and footers
A header is an area that appears at the top of a page. A footer appears
at the bottom of the page. Information, such as page numbers inserted
into a header or footer, displays on every page of the document with
that page style.
To insert a header, choose Insert > Header > Default (or the page
style, if not Default).
Other information such as document titles and chapter titles is often
put into the header or footer. These items are best added as fields.
That way, if something changes, the headers and footers are updated
automatically. Here is one common example.
To insert the document title into the header:
1) Choose File > Properties > Description and type a title for
your document.
2) Add a header (Insert > Header > Default).
3) Place the cursor in the header part of the page.
4) Choose Insert > Fields > Title. The title should appear on a
gray background (which does not show when printed and can be
turned off).
5) To change the title for the whole document, go back to File >
Properties > Description.
Fields are covered in detail in Chapter 14 (Working with Fields) in the
Writer Guide.
For more about headers and footers, see Chapter 4 (Formatting Pages)
and Chapter 6 (Introduction to Styles) in the Writer Guide.

Numbering pages
To automatically number pages:
1) Insert a header or footer, as described in “Creating headers and
footers” on page 111.
2) Place the cursor in the header or footer where you want the page
number to appear and choose Insert > Fields > Page Number.

Including the total number of pages

To include the total number of pages (as in “page 1 of 12”):
1) Type the word “page” and a space, then insert the page number
as above.

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Chapter 4 Getting Started with Writer 111
 2) Press the spacebar once, type the word “of” and a space, then
choose Insert > Fields > Page Count.

The Page Count field inserts the total number of pages in the
document, as shown on the Statistics tab of the document’s
Properties window (File > Properties). If you restart page
Note numbering anywhere in the document, then the total page
count may not be what you want. See Chapter 4 (Formatting
Pages) in the Writer Guide for more information.

Restarting page numbering

Often you will want to restart the page numbering at 1, for example on
the page following a title page or a table of contents. In addition, many
documents have the “front matter” (such as the table of contents)
numbered with Roman numerals and the main body of the document
numbered in Arabic numerals, starting with 1.
You can restart page numbering in two ways.
Method 1:
1) Place the cursor in the first paragraph of the new page.
2) Choose Format > Paragraph.
3) On the Text Flow tab of the Paragraph dialog (Figure 78 on page
108), select Breaks.
4) Select Insert and then With Page Style and specify the page
style to use.
5) Specify the page number to start from, and then click OK.

Method 1 is also useful for numbering the first page of a

document with a page number greater than 1. For example,
Tip you may be writing a book, with each chapter in a separate
file. Chapter 1 may start with page 1, but Chapter 2 could
begin with page 25 and Chapter 3 with page 51.

Method 2:
1) Insert > Manual break.
2) By default, Page break is selected on the Insert Break dialog
(Figure 80).
3) Choose the required page Style.
4) Select Change page number.
5) Specify the page number to start from, and then click OK.

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 Figure 80: Restarting page numbering
after a manual page break

Changing page margins

You can change page margins in two ways:
• Using the page rulers—quick and easy, but does not have fine
control.
• Using the Page Style dialog—can specify margins to two decimal
places.

If you change the margins using the rulers, the new margins
affect the page style and will be shown in the Page Style dialog
Note the next time you open it.
Because the page style is affected, the changed margins apply
to all pages using that style.

To change margins using the rulers:

1) The gray sections of the rulers are the margins (see Figure 81).
Put the mouse cursor over the line between the gray and white
sections. The pointer turns into a double-headed arrow.
2) Hold down the left mouse button and drag the mouse to move the
margin.

Figure 81: Moving the margins

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Chapter 4 Getting Started with Writer 113
 The small arrows on the ruler are used for indenting
paragraphs. They are often in the same place as the page
margins, so you need to be careful to move the margin marker,
Tip not the arrows. Place the mouse pointer between the arrows
and, when the pointer turns into a double-headed arrow, you
can move the margin (the indent arrows will move with it).

To change margins using the Page Style dialog:

1) Right-click anywhere on the page and select Page from the pop-
up menu.
2) On the Page tab of the dialog, type the required distances in the
Margins boxes.

Adding comments to a document

Authors and reviewers often use comments (formerly called “notes”) to
exchange ideas, ask for suggestions, or mark items needing attention.
To insert a comment in the text, place the cursor in the place the
comment refers to and choose Insert > comment or press
Ctrl+Alt+N. The anchor point of the comment is connected by a dotted
line to a box on the right-hand side of the page where you can type the
text of the comment. Writer automatically adds at the bottom of the
comment the author’s name and a time stamp indicating when the
comment was created. Figure 82 shows an example of text with notes
from two different authors.

Figure 82: Notes in OOo3

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Choose Tools > Options > User Data to configure the name you want
to appear in the Author field of the note, or to change it.
If more than one person edits the document, each author is
automatically allocated a different background color.
Right-clicking on a comment pops up a menu where you can delete the
current comment, all the comments from the same author, or all the
comments in the document. From this menu, you can also apply some
basic formatting to the text of the comment. You can also change the
font type, size, and alignment from the main menu.
To navigate from one comment to another, open the Navigator (F5),
expand the Comments section, and click on the comment text to move
the cursor to the anchor point of the comment in the document. Right-
click on the comment to quickly edit or delete it.
You can also navigate the comments using the keyboard. Use
Ctrl+Alt+Page Down to move to the next comment and
Ctrl+Alt+Page Up to move to the previous comment.

Creating a table of contents

Writer’s table of contents feature lets you build an automated table of
contents from the headings in your document. Before you start, make
sure that the headings are styled consistently. For example, you can
use the Heading 1 style for chapter titles and the Heading 2 and
Heading 3 styles for chapter subheadings.
Although tables of contents can be customized extensively in Writer,
often the default settings are all you need. Creating a quick table of
contents is simple:
1) When you create your document, use the following paragraph
styles for different heading levels (such as chapter and section
headings): Heading 1, Heading 2, and Heading 3. These are what
will appear in your table of contents. You can use more levels of
headings, but the default setting is to use only the first three
levels in the table of contents.
2) Place the cursor where you want the table of contents to be
inserted.
3) Choose Insert > Indexes and Tables > Indexes and Tables.
4) Change nothing in the Insert Index/Table dialog. Click OK.
If you add or delete text (so that headings move to different pages) or
you add, delete, or change headings, you need to update the table of

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contents. To do this:

Chapter 4 Getting Started with Writer 115

 1) Place the cursor within the table of contents.
2) Right-click and choose Update Index/Table from the pop-up
menu.

If you cannot place your cursor in the table of contents, choose

Tools > Options > OpenOffice.org Writer > Formatting
Note Aids, and then select Enable in the Cursor in protected
areas section.

You can customize an existing table of contents at any time. Right-click

anywhere in it and choose Edit Index/Table from the pop-up menu.
Chapter 12 (Creating Tables of Contents, Indexes and Bibliographies)
of the Writer Guide describes in detail all the customizations you can
choose.

Creating indexes and bibliographies

Indexes and bibliographies work in a similar way to tables of contents.
Chapter 12 (Creating Tables of Contents, Indexes and Bibliographies)
in the Writer Guide describes the process in detail.
In addition to alphabetical indexes, other types of indexes supplied
with Writer include those for illustrations, tables, and objects, and you
can even create a user-defined index. For example, you might want an
index containing only the scientific names of species mentioned in the
text, and a separate index containing only the common names of
species. Before creating some types of indexes, you first need to create
index entries embedded in your Writer document.

Working with graphics

Graphics in Writer are of three basic types:
• Image files, including photos, drawings, scanned images, and
others
• Diagrams created using OOo’s drawing tools
• Charts created using OOo’s Chart facility.
See Chapter 11 (Graphics, the Gallery, and Fontwork) in this book and
Chapter 8 (Working with Graphics) in the Writer Guide.

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Printing from Writer
Writer provides a range of choices when printing.

Quick printing
Click the Print File Directly icon to send the entire document to
the default printer defined for your computer.

You can change the action of the Print File Directly icon to
send the document to the printer defined for the document
Note instead of the default printer for the computer. Go to Tools >
Options > Load/Save > General and select the Load
printer settings with the document option.

Controlling printing
For more control over printing, use File > Print to display the Print
dialog (Figure 83).

Figure 83. The Print dialog

On the Print dialog, you can choose:

• Which printer to use (if more than one are installed on your
system) and the properties of the printer—for example, orienta-
tion (portrait or landscape), which paper tray to use, and what
paper size to print on. The properties available depend on the
selected printer; consult the printer’s documentation for details.

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Chapter 4 Getting Started with Writer 117
 • What pages to print, how many copies to print, and in what order
to print them. Use dashes to specify page ranges and commas or
semicolons to separate ranges; for example: 1, 5, 11–14, 34–40.
Selection is the highlighted part of a page or pages.
• What items to print. Click the Options button to display the
Printer Options dialog (Figure 84).

Figure 84. Printer Options dialog for Writer

Selecting print options for a document

Selections on the Printer Options dialog apply to this printing of this
document only.
To specify default printing options, you need to use two pages in Tools
> Options > OpenOffice.org – Print and Tools > Options >
OpenOffice.org Writer – Print (which looks very similar to the
Printer Options dialog). (See Chapter 2.)
Some items of interest on the Printer Options dialog include:
• In the Contents section, you might choose not to print graphics or
page background in drafts, for example (to save toner or ink).
• In the Pages section, you can choose:
– Print only left (even-numbered) pages or only right (odd-
numbered) pages. These settings are useful when you want to
print on both sides of the page, but do not have a printer that
handles this automatically.
– Print in reversed page order.
– Brochure—the results of this selection are discussed in

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“Printing a brochure” on page 120.

118 Getting Started with OpenOffice.org 3.x

 • In the Comments section, you can choose whether to print any
comments that have been added to your document (using Insert
> Comment), and where to print the comments.

Printing in black and white on a color printer

You may wish to print documents in black and white on a color printer,
to save expensive color ink or toner. Common uses are for drafts or
documents to be photocopied in black and white. Several choices are
available.
To print the current document in black and white or grayscale:
1) Choose File > Print to open the Print dialog.
2) Click Properties to open the properties dialog for the printer.
The available choices vary from one printer to another, but you
should find an option for Color. See your printer’s help or user
manual for more information.
3) The choices for color may include black and white or grayscale.
Choose one of these. Grayscale is best if you have any graphics in
the document. Click OK to confirm your choice and return to the
Print dialog, then click OK again to print the document.
To set up OOo to print all color text and graphics as grayscale:
1) Choose Tools > Options > OpenOffice.org > Print.
2) Select the Convert colors to grayscale option. Click OK to save
the change.
To set up OOo Writer to print all color text as black, and all graphics as
grayscale:
1) Choose Tools > Options > OpenOffice.org Writer > Print.
2) Under Contents, select the Print black option. Click OK to save
the change.

Previewing pages before printing

The normal page view in Writer shows you what each page will look
like when printed, but it shows only one page at a time. If you are
designing a document to be printed double-sided, you may want to see
what facing pages look like. OOo provides two ways to do this:
• View Layout (editable view) —see “View layout” on page 90.
• Page Preview (read-only view) —from which you can print
multiple pages onto one sheet of paper.

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Chapter 4 Getting Started with Writer 119
To use Page Preview:
1) Choose File > Page Preview, or click the Page Preview button
.
The Writer window changes to display the current page and the
following page, and shows the Page Preview toolbar in place of
the Formatting toolbar.

Figure 85. Page Preview toolbar

2) Click the Book Preview icon to display left and right pages in
their correct orientation.
3) To print the document from this page view, click the Print page

view icon to open the Print dialog. Choose your options and
click OK to print as usual.
4) To choose margins and other options for the printout, click the

Print options page view icon to display the Print Options

dialog.

Figure 86. Print Options dialog

Printing a brochure
You can print a document with two pages on each side of a sheet of
paper, arranged so that when the printed pages are folded in half, the
pages are in the correct order to form a booklet or brochure.
To print a brochure on a single-sided printer:
1) Plan your document so it will look good when printed half size
(choose appropriate margins, font sizes, and so on). Choose File

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 > Print. In the Print dialog, click Properties and be sure the
printer is set to the same orientation (portrait or landscape) as
specified in the page setup for your document. (Usually the
orientation does not matter, but it does for brochures.)
2) Click Options. In the Pages section of the Printer Options dialog,
choose Brochure and Right pages. Click OK twice to print the
first side of each page.
3) Flip the pages and put them back into the printer, in the correct
orientation to print on the blank side. You may need to
experiment a bit to find out what the correct arrangement is for
your printer.
4) Choose File > Print and check Properties to make sure the
printer setup is still correct.
5) Click Options again. In the Pages section of the Printer Options
dialog, choose Brochure and Left page. Click OK twice to print
the second sides.
6) If your printer can do double-sided, then click on the options for
Left pages, Right pages, and Brochure, and it should not only
do those but collate too.

Printing envelopes
Printing envelopes involves two steps: setup and printing.
To set up an envelope to be printed by itself or with your document:
1) Choose Insert > Envelope from the menu bar.
2) In the Envelope dialog, start with the Envelope tab (Figure 85).
Verify, add, or edit the information in the Addressee and Sender
boxes (the “from” on the envelope).
You can type information directly into the Addressee and Sender
boxes, or use the right-hand drop-down lists to select the
database or table from which you can draw the envelope
information, if desired. See Chapter 11 (Using Mail Merge) in the
Writer Guide for details on how to print envelopes from a
database.
3) On the Format page (Figure 73), verify or edit the positioning of
the addressee and the sender information. The preview area on
the lower right shows the effect of your positioning choices.
To format the text of these blocks, click the Edit buttons to the
right. In the drop-down list you have two choices: Character and
Paragraph.

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Chapter 4 Getting Started with Writer 121
 • In Character, you can choose Fonts (Sizes...), Fonts Effects
(Underlining, Color...), Position (Rotating/scaling...),
Hyperlink, Background and more.
• In Paragraph, you can choose Indents & Spacing, Alignment,
Text Flow, Tabs, Drop Caps, Borders and Backgrounds.

Figure 87. Choosing addressee and sender information

Figure 88. Choosing positioning and size of elements

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122 Getting Started with OpenOffice.org 3.x
 4) In the lower left of this page, choose the envelope format from the
drop-down list. The width and height of the selected envelope
then show in the boxes below the selected format. If you chose a
pre-existing format, just verify these sizes. If you chose User
defined in the Format list, then you can edit the sizes.
5) After formatting, go to the Printer page (Figure 89) to choose
printer options such as envelope orientation and shifting. You may
need to experiment a bit to see what works best for your printer.
You can also choose a different printer or alter printer setup (for
example, specify the tray that holds envelopes) for this print job.

Figure 89. Choosing printer options for an envelope

6) When you have finished formatting and are ready to print, click
either the New Doc or Insert button to finish. New Doc makes
only an envelope or starts a new document with the envelope.
Insert inserts the envelope into an existing document as page 1.
To not proceed with this envelope, click Cancel or press the Esc
key. You can also click Reset to remove your changes and return
to the original settings when the dialog opened.
7) When the Envelope dialog closes, you are returned to your
document, which now has the envelope in the same file as the
document. Save this file before you do anything else.
To print the envelope:
1) Choose File > Print from the menu bar.
2) On the Print dialog, under Print range, choose Pages and type 1
in the box. Click OK to print.

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Chapter 4 Getting Started with Writer 123
Printing labels
Labels are commonly used for printing address lists (where each label
shows a different address), but they can also be used for making
multiple copies of one label only, for example return-address stickers.
To print labels:
1) Choose File > New > Labels on the menu bar. The Labels dialog
opens.
2) On the Labels page, fill in your own label text in the Inscription
box, or use the Database and Table drop-down lists to choose the
required information, as described in Chapter 11 (Using Mail
Merge) in the Writer Guide.

Figure 90. Labels dialog, Labels page

3) Select the label stock in the Brand drop-down list. The types for
that brand then appear in the Type drop-down list. Select the size
and type of labels required. You can also select User in the Type
drop-down list and then make specific selections on the Format
page.
4) On the Format page (Figure 91), choose the pitch, sizes, margins,
columns and rows for user-defined labels, or just verify with a
brand of label stock you have loaded into the printer.

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 Figure 91. Labels dialog, Format page
5) Click Save to save your new format.
6) When you have finished formatting, click New Document to
make your sheet of labels or click Cancel (or press the Esc key).
You can also click Reset to remove your changes and return to
the original settings when the dialog opened. On the Options
page, choose to print the entire page of labels or one single label,
then select which one by the column and row. You can also
change printer setup.
7) You can print right away using the Print File Directly icon on
the toolbar or by choosing File > Print from the menu bar, or you
can save the file to print later.

Figure 92. Labels dialog, Options page

Sending a fax using Writer

To send a fax directly from OpenOffice.org, you need a fax modem and
a fax driver that allows applications to communicate with the fax
modem.

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Chapter 4 Getting Started with Writer 125
Sending a fax through the Print dialog
1) Open the Print dialog by choosing File > Print and select the fax
driver in the Name list.
2) Click OK to open the dialog for your fax driver, where you can
select the fax recipient.

Adding a Fax icon to the toolbar

You can configure OpenOffice.org so that a single click on an icon
automatically sends the current document as a fax. See Chapter 14
(Customizing OpenOffice.org) for instructions.

Tracking changes to a document

You can use several methods to keep track of changes made to a
document.
1) Make your changes to a copy of the document (stored in a
different folder, or under a different name, or both), then use
Writer to combine the two files and show the differences. Choose
Edit > Compare Document. This technique is particularly
useful if you are the only person working on the document, as it
avoids the increase in file size and complexity caused by the other
methods.
2) Save versions that are stored as part of the original file. However,
this method can cause problems with documents of non-trivial
size or complexity, especially if you save a lot of versions. Avoid
this method if you can.
3) Use Writer’s change marks (often called “redlines” or “revision
marks”) to show where you have added or deleted material, or
changed formatting. Choose Edit > Changes > Record. Later,
you or another person can review and accept or reject each
change. Right-click on an individual change and choose Accept
Change or Reject Change from the pop-up menu, or choose
Edit > Changes > Accept or Reject to view the list of changes
and accept or reject them. Details are in the Writer Guide.

Not all changes are recorded. For example, changing a tab

Tip stop from align left to align right, and changes in formulas
(equations) or linked graphics are not recorded.

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Using fields
Fields are extremely useful features of Writer. They are used for data
that changes in a document (such as the current date or the total
number of pages) and for inserting document properties such as name,
author, and date of last update. Fields are the basis of cross-
referencing (see below); automatic numbering of figures, tables,
headings, and other elements; and a wide range of other functions—far
too many to describe here. See Chapter 14 (Working with Fields) in the
Writer Guide for details.

Linking to another part of a document

If you type in cross-references to other parts of a document, those
references can easily get out of date if you reorganize the order of
topics, add or remove material, or reword a heading. Writer provides
two ways to ensure that your references are up to date, by inserting
links to other parts of the same document or to a different document:
• Hyperlinks
• Cross-references
The two methods have the same result if you Control+click the link
when the document is open in Writer: you are taken directly to the
cross-referenced item. However, they also have major differences:
• The text in a hyperlink does not automatically update if you
change the text of the linked item (although you can change it
manually), but changed text does automatically update in a cross-
reference.
• When using a hyperlink, you do not have a choice of the content
of the link (for example text or page number), but when using a
cross-reference, you have several choices, including bookmarks.
• To hyperlink to an object such as a graphic, and have the
hyperlink show useful text such as Figure 6, you need to either
give such an object a useful name instead of leaving it as the
default name (“Graphics6”), or you need to use the Hyperlink
dialog to modify the visible text. In contrast, cross-references to
figures with captions automatically show useful text, and you
have a choice of several variations of the name.
• If you save a Writer document to HTML, hyperlinks remain active
but cross-references do not. (Both remain active when the
document is exported to PDF.)

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Chapter 4 Getting Started with Writer 127
Using hyperlinks
The easiest way to insert a hyperlink to another part of the same
document is by using the Navigator:
1) Open the document containing the items you want to cross-
reference.
2) Open the Navigator (by clicking its icon, choosing View >
Navigator, or pressing F5.
3) Click the arrow next to the Drag Mode icon, and choose Insert
as Hyperlink. (See Figure 93.)
4) In the list at the bottom of the Navigator, select the document
containing the item that you want to cross-reference.
5) In the Navigator list, select the item that you want to insert as a
hyperlink.
6) Drag the item to where you want to insert the hyperlink in the
document. The name of the item is inserted in the document as an
active hyperlink.

Figure 93: Inserting a hyperlink using the Navigator

You can also use the Hyperlink dialog to insert and modify hyperlinks
within and between documents. See Chapter 12 (Creating Web Pages).

Using cross-references
If you type in references to other parts of the document, those
references can easily get out of date if you reword a heading, add or
remove figures, or reorganize topics. Replace any typed cross-
references with automatic ones and, when you update fields, all the
references will update automatically to show the current wording or

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page numbers. The Cross-references tab of the Fields dialog lists some

128 Getting Started with OpenOffice.org 3.x

items, such as headings, bookmarks, figures, tables, and numbered
items such as steps in a procedure. You can also create your own
reference items; see “Setting References” in Chapter 14 (Working with
Fields) in the Writer Guide for instructions.
To insert a cross-reference to a heading, figure, bookmark, or other
item:
1) In your document, place the cursor where you want the cross-
reference to appear.
2) If the Fields dialog is not open, click Insert > Cross-reference.
On the Cross-references tab, in the Type list, select the type of
item to be referenced (for example, Heading or Figure).

Figure 94: The Cross-references tab of the Fields dialog

You can leave this page open while you insert many cross-
references.
3) Click on the required item in the Selection list, which shows all
the items of the selected type. In the Format list, choose the
format required. Usually this will be Reference (to insert the full
text of the heading or caption), Category and Number (to insert
the word “Figure” or “Table” and its number, but without the
caption text), Numbering (to insert only the figure or table
number, without the word “Figure” or “Table”), or Page (to insert
the number of the page the referenced text is on). Click Insert.

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Chapter 4 Getting Started with Writer 129
Using bookmarks
Bookmarks are listed in the Navigator and can be accessed directly
from there with a single mouse click. You can cross-reference to
bookmarks and create hyperlinks to bookmarks, as described above.
1) Select the text you want to bookmark. Click Insert > Bookmark.
2) On the Insert Bookmark dialog, the larger box lists any previously
defined bookmarks. Type a name for this bookmark in the top box,
and then click OK to save.

Figure 95: Inserting a bookmark

Using mail merge

Writer provides very useful features to create and print:
• Multiple copies of a document to send to a list of different
recipients (form letters)
• Mailing labels
• Envelopes
All these facilities, though different in application, are based around
the concept of a registered data source (a spreadsheet or database
containing the name and address records and other information), from
which is derived the variable information necessary to their function.
Chapter 11 (Using Mail Merge) in the Writer Guide describes the
process.

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Using master documents
Master documents are typically used for producing long documents
such as a book, a thesis, or a long report; or when different people are
writing different chapters or other parts of the full document, so you
don’t need to share files. A master document joins separate text
documents into one larger document, and unifies the formatting, table
of contents (TOC), bibliography, index, and other tables or lists.
Yes, master documents do work in Writer. However, until you become
familiar with them, you may think that master documents are
unreliable or difficult to use. See Chapter 13 (Working with Master
Documents) in the Writer Guide.

Creating fill-in forms

A standard text document displays information: a letter, report, or
brochure, for example. Typically the reader may edit everything or
nothing in any way. A form has sections that are not to be edited, and
other sections that are designed for the reader to make changes. For
example, a questionnaire has an introduction and questions (which do
not change) and spaces for the reader to enter answers.
Forms are used in three ways:
• To create a simple document for the recipient to complete, such
as a questionnaire sent out to a group of people who fill it in and
return it.
• To link into a database or data source and allow the user to enter
information. Someone taking orders might enter the information
for each order into a database using a form.
• To view information held in a database or data source. A librarian
might call up information about books.
Writer offers several ways to fill information into a form, including
check boxes, option buttons, text boxes, pull-down lists and spinners.
See Chapter 15 (Using Forms in Writer) in the Writer Guide.

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 Chapter 5
Getting Started with Calc
Using Spreadsheets in OpenOffice.org

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What is Calc?
Calc is the spreadsheet component of OpenOffice.org (OOo). You can
enter data (usually numerical) in a spreadsheet and then manipulate
this data to produce certain results.
Alternatively you can enter data and then use Calc in a ‘What If...’
manner by changing some of the data and observing the results
without having to retype the entire spreadsheet.
Other features provided by Calc include:
• Functions, which can be used to create formulas to perform
complex calculations on data
• Database functions, to arrange, store, and filter data
• Dynamic charts: a wide range of 2D and 3D charts
• Macros, for recording and executing repetitive tasks
• Ability to open, edit, and save Microsoft Excel spreadsheets
• Import and export of spreadsheets in multiple formats, including
HTML, CSV, PDF, and PostScript

If you want to use macros written in Microsoft Excel using the

VBA macro code in OOo, you must first edit the code in the
Note OOo Basic IDE editor. See Chapter 13 (Getting Started with
Macros) in this book and Chapter 12 in the Calc Guide.

Spreadsheets, sheets and cells

Calc works with documents called spreadsheets. Spreadsheets consist
of a number of individual sheets, each sheet containing cells arranged
in rows and columns. A particular cell is identified by its row number
and column letter.
Cells hold the individual elements—text, numbers, formulas, and so on
—that make up the data to display and manipulate.
Each spreadsheet can have many sheets. and each sheet can have
many individual cells. In Calc 3.x, each sheet can have a maximum of
65,536 rows and a maximum of 1024 columns, for a total of over 67
million cells.

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Chapter 5 Getting Started with Calc 133
Parts of the main Calc window
When Calc is started, the main window looks similar to Figure 96.

Figure 96. Parts of the Calc window

Title bar
The Title bar, located at the top, shows the name of the current
spreadsheet. When the spreadsheet is newly created, its name is
Untitled X, where X is a number. When you save a spreadsheet for the
first time, you are prompted to enter a name of your choice.

Menu bar
Under the Title bar is the Menu bar. When you choose one of the
menus, a submenu appears with other options. You can modify the
Menu bar, as discussed in Chapter 14 (Customizing OpenOffice.org).

Toolbars
Three toolbars are located under the Menu bar by default: the
Standard toolbar, the Formatting toolbar, and the Formula Bar.
The icons on these toolbars provide a wide range of common
commands and functions. You can also modify these toolbars, as
discussed in Chapter 14 (Customizing OpenOffice.org).

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In the Formatting toolbar, the three boxes on the left are the Apply
Style, Font Name, and Font Size lists (see Figure 97). They show the
current setting for the selected cell or area. (The Apply Style list may
not be visible by default.) Click the down-arrow to the right of each box
to open the list.

Figure 97. Apply Style, Font Name and Font Size boxes

Formula bar
On the left hand side of the Formula bar (see Figure 98) is a small text
box, called the Name Box, with a letter and number combination in it,
such as D7. This combination, called the cell reference, is the column
letter and row number of the selected cell.

Figure 98. Formula Bar

To the right of the Name box are the the Function Wizard, Sum, and
Function buttons.
Clicking the Function Wizard button opens a dialog from which you
can search through a list of available functions This can be very useful
because it also shows how the functions are formatted.
In a spreadsheet the term function includes much more than
mathematical functions. See Chapter 7 in the Calc Guide.
The Sum button inserts a formula into the current cell that totals the
numbers in the cells above the current cell. If there are no numbers
above the current cell, then the cells to the left are placed in the Sum
formula.

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The Function button inserts an equals (=) sign into the selected cell
and the Input Line, thereby setting the cell ready to accept a formula.
When you enter new data into a cell, the Sum and Equals buttons
change to Cancel and Accept buttons .
The contents of the current cell (data, formula, or function) are
displayed in the Input line, which forms the remainder of the Formula
Bar. You can either edit the cell contents of the current cell here, or
you can do that in the current cell. To edit inside the Input line area,
click in the area, then type your changes. To edit within the current
cell, just double-click the cell.

Individual cells
The main section of the screen displays the individual cells in the form
of a grid, with each cell being at the intersection of a column and a
row.
At the top of the columns and at the left-hand end of the rows are a
series of gray boxes containing letters and numbers. These are the
column and row headers. The columns start at A and go on to the right,
and the rows start at 1 and go down.
These column and row headers form the cell references that appear in
the Sheet Area box on the Formula Bar (Figure 98). You can turn these
headers off by selecting View > Column & Row Headers.

Sheet tabs
At the bottom of the grid of cells are the sheet tabs, which enable
access to each individual sheet. The visible (active) sheet has a white
tab.
Clicking on another sheet tab displays that sheet and its tab turns
white. You can also select multiple sheet tabs at once by holding down
the Control key while you click the names.

Status bar
At the very bottom of the Calc window is the status bar, which provides
information about the spreadsheet and convenient ways to quickly
change some of its features. Most of the fields are similar to those in
other components of OOo; see Chapter 1 (Introducing OpenOffice.org)
in this book and Chapter 1 (Introducing Calc) in the Calc Guide.

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 Figure 99: Left end of Calc status bar

Figure 100: Right end of Calc status bar

Starting new spreadsheets

A new spreadsheet can be opened from any component of OOo, for
example from Writer or Draw.

From the Start Center

Click the Spreadsheet icon .

From the Menu bar
Choose File > New > Spreadsheet.
From the toolbar
If a document is open in any component of OOo (for example,
Writer), you can use the New Document button at the left-
hand end of the Standard toolbar. If you already have a spreadsheet
open, clicking this button opens a new spreadsheet in a new window.
From any other component of OOo (for example, Writer), click the
down-arrow and choose spreadsheet.
From the keyboard
If you already have a spreadsheet open, you can press Control+N to
open a new spreadsheet in a new window.
From a template
Calc documents can also be created from templates. Follow the
above procedures, but instead of choosing Spreadsheet, choose
Templates and Documents. On the Templates and Documents
window, navigate to the appropriate folder and double-click on the
required template. A new spreadsheet, based on the selected

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template, opens.

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Opening existing spreadsheets
You can open an existing spreadsheet from the Start Center or from
any component of OOo.

From the Start Center

Click the Open a document icon .

From the Menu bar
Choose File > Open.
From the toolbar

Click the Open button on the Standard toolbar.

From the keyboard
Press the key combination Control+O.
Each of these options displays the Open dialog, where you can locate
the spreadsheet that you want to open.

You can also use the Recent Documents list to open a

spreadsheet. This list is located on the File menu, directly
Tip below Open. The list displays the last 10 files that were opened
in any of the OOo components.

Opening CSV files

Comma-separated-values (CSV) files are text files that contain the cell
contents of a single sheet. Each line in a CSV file represents a row in a
spreadsheet. Commas, semicolons, or other characters are used to
separate the cells. Text is put in quotation marks, numbers are written
without quotation marks.
To open a CSV file in Calc:
1) Choose File > Open.
2) Locate the CSV file that you want to open.
3) If the file has a *.csv extension, select the file and click Open.
4) If the file has another extension (for example, *.txt), select the
file, select Text CSV in the File type box (scroll down into the
spreadsheet section to find it) and then click Open.
5) On the Text Import dialog (Figure 101), select the Separator
options to divide the text in the file into columns.

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 6) You can preview the layout of the imported data at the bottom of
the dialog. Right-click a column in the preview to set the format
or to hide the column.
7) If the CSV file uses a text delimiter character that is not in the
Text delimiter list, click in the box, and type the character.
8) Click OK to open the file.

Caution If you do not select Text CSV as the file type when opening the
file, the document opens in Writer, not Calc.

Figure 101: Text Import dialog, with Comma (,) selected as the
separator and double quotation mark (“) as the text delimiter.

Saving spreadsheets
Spreadsheets can be saved in three ways.

From the menu bar

Choose File > Save (or Save All or Save As).

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From the toolbar
Click the Save button on the Function bar. If the file has been
saved and no subsequent changes have been made, this button is
grayed-out and not clickable.
From the keyboard
Press the key combination Control+S.
If the spreadsheet has not been saved previously, then each of these
actions will open the Save As dialog. Here you can specify the
spreadsheet name and the location in which to save it.

If the spreadsheet has been previously saved, then saving will

overwrite the existing copy without opening the Save As
Note dialog. If you want to save the spreadsheet in a different
location or with a different name, then select File > Save As.

Saving as a CSV file

To save a spreadsheet as a comma separate value (CSV) file:
1) Choose File > Save As.
2) In the File name box, type a name for the file.
3) In the File type list, select Text CSV and click Save.
You may see the message box shown below. Click Keep Current
Format.

4) In the Export of text files dialog (Figure 102), select the options
you want and then click OK.

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 Figure 102: Choosing options when exporting to Text CSV

Navigating within spreadsheets

Calc provides many ways to navigate within a spreadsheet from cell to
cell and sheet to sheet. You can generally use whatever method you
prefer.

Going to a particular cell

Using the mouse
Place the mouse pointer over the cell and click.
Using a cell reference
Click on the little inverted black triangle just to the right of the
Name Box (Figure 98). The existing cell reference will be
highlighted. Type the cell reference of the cell you want to go to and
press Enter. Or just click into the Name box, backspace over the
existing cell reference and type in the cell reference you want.
Using the Navigator

To open the Navigator, click its icon on the Standard toolbar, or

press F5, or choose View > Navigator on the Menu bar, or double-
click on the Sheet Sequence Number in the Status Bar.
Type the cell reference into the top two fields, labeled Column and
Row, and press Enter. In Figure 103 the Navigator would select cell
A7.
You can dock the Navigator to either side of the main Calc window
or leave it floating. (To dock or float the Navigator, hold down the
Control key and double-click in an empty area near the icons at the
top.)

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 Figure 103: The Navigator in Calc

The Navigator displays lists of all the objects in a spreadsheet

document, grouped into categories. If an indicator (plus sign or
arrow) appears next to a category, at least one object of this kind
exists. To open a category and see the list of items, click on the
indicator.
To hide the list of categories and show only the icons at the top, click

the Contents icon . Click this icon again to show the list.

Moving from cell to cell

In the spreadsheet, one cell normally has a darker black border. This
black border indicates where the focus is (see Figure 104). If a group
of cells is selected, they have a highlight color (usually gray), with the
focus cell having a dark border.

Using the mouse

To move the focus using the mouse, simply move the mouse pointer
to the cell where you want the focus to be and click the left mouse
button. This changes the focus to the new cell. This method is most
useful when the two cells are a large distance apart.

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 Figure 104. (Left) One selected cell and (right) a group of
selected cells

Using the Tab and Enter keys

• Pressing Enter or Shift+Enter moves the focus down or up,
respectively.
• Pressing Tab or Shift+Tab moves the focus right or left,
respectively.

Using the arrow keys

Pressing the arrow keys on the keyboard moves the focus in the
direction of the arrows.
Using Home, End, Page Up and Page Down
• Home moves the focus to the start of a row.
• End moves the focus to the column furthest to the right that
contains data.
• Page Down moves the display down one complete screen and
Page Up moves the display up one complete screen.
• Combinations of Control and Alt with Home, End, Page Down,
Page Up, and the cursor keys move the focus of the current cell in
other ways.

Tip Holding down Alt+Cursor key resizes a cell.

Customizing the Enter key

You can customize the direction in which the Enter key moves the
focus, by selecting Tools > Options > OpenOffice.org Calc >
General.
The four choices for the direction of the Enter key are shown on the
right hand side of Figure 105. It can move the focus down, right, up, or

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left. Depending on the file being used or on the type of data being
entered, different directions can be useful.
The Enter key can also be used to switch into and out of editing mode.
Use the options under Input settings in Figure 105 to change the Enter
key settings.

Figure 105: Customizing the effect of the Enter key

Moving from sheet to sheet

Each sheet in a spreadsheet is independent of the others though they
can be linked with references from one sheet to another. There are
three ways to navigate between different sheets in a spreadsheet.

Using the keyboard

Pressing Control+PgDn moves one sheet to the right and pressing
Control+PgUp moves one sheet to the left.
Using the mouse
Clicking on one of the sheet tabs at the bottom of the spreadsheet
selects that sheet.
If you have a lot of sheets, then some of the sheet tabs may be
hidden behind the horizontal scroll bar at the bottom of the screen.
If this is the case, then the four buttons at the left of the sheet tabs
can move the tabs into view. Figure 106 shows how to do this.
Notice that the sheets here are not numbered in order. Sheet
numbering is arbitrary—you can name a sheet as you wish.

The sheet tab arrows that appear in Figure 106 only appear if
Note you have some sheet tabs that can not be seen. Otherwise,
they will appear faded as in Figure 106.

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 Move to the first sheet

Move left one sheet

Move right one sheet

Move to the last sheet

Sheet tabs

Figure 106. Sheet tab arrows

Selecting items in a sheet or spreadsheet

Selecting cells
Cells can be selected in a variety of combinations and quantities.

Single cell
Left-click in the cell. The result will look like the left side of Figure
104. You can verify your selection by looking in the Name box.

Range of contiguous cells

A range of cells can be selected using the keyboard or the mouse.
To select a range of cells by dragging the mouse:
1) Click in a cell.
2) Press and hold down the left mouse button.
3) Move the mouse around the screen.
4) Once the desired block of cells is highlighted, release the left
mouse button.
To select a range of cells without dragging the mouse:
1) Click in the cell which is to be one corner of the range of cells.
2) Move the mouse to the opposite corner of the range of cells.
3) Hold down the Shift key and click.
To select a range of cells without using the mouse:
1) Select the cell that will be one of the corners in the range of cells.
2) While holding down the Shift key, use the cursor arrows to select
the rest of the range.

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The result of any of these methods looks like the right side of Figure
104.

You can also directly select a range of cells using the Name
box. Click into the Name Box as described in “Using a cell
reference” on page 141. To select a range of cells, enter the
Tip cell reference for the upper left hand cell, followed by a colon
(:), and then the lower right hand cell reference. For example,
to select the range that would go from A3 to C6, you would
enter A3:C6.

Range of non-contiguous cells

1) Select the cell or range of cells using one of the methods above.
2) Move the mouse pointer to the start of the next range or single
cell.
3) Hold down the Control key and click or click-and-drag to select a
range.
4) Repeat as necessary.

Selecting columns and rows

Entire columns and rows can be selected very quickly in OOo.

Single column or row

To select a single column, click on the column identifier letter (see
Figure 96).
To select a single row, click on the row identifier number.

Multiple columns or rows

To select multiple columns or rows that are contiguous:
1) Click on the first column or row in the group.
2) Hold down the Shift key.
3) Click the last column or row in the group.
To select multiple columns or rows that are not contiguous:
1) Click on the first column or row in the group.
2) Hold down the Control key.
3) Click on all of the subsequent columns or rows while holding
down the Control key.

Entire sheet
To select the entire sheet, click on the small box between the A column
header and the 1 row header (see Figure 107).

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 Select All

Figure 107. Select All box

You can also press Control+A to select the entire sheet.

Selecting sheets
You can select either one or multiple sheets. It can be advantageous to
select multiple sheets at times when you want to make changes to
many sheets at once.

Single sheet
Click on the sheet tab for the sheet you want to select. The active sheet
becomes white (see Figure 106).

Multiple contiguous sheets

To select multiple contiguous sheets:
1) Click on the sheet tab for the first sheet.
2) Move the mouse pointer over the last sheet tab.
3) Hold down the Shift key and click on the sheet tab.
All the tabs between these two sheets will turn white. Any actions that
you perform will now affect all highlighted sheets.

Multiple non contiguous sheets

To select multiple non contiguous sheets:
1) Click on the sheet tab for the first sheet.
2) Move the mouse pointer over the second sheet tab.
3) Hold down the Control key and click on the sheet tab.
4) Repeat as necessary.
The selected tabs will turn white. Any actions that you perform will
now affect all highlighted sheets.

All sheets
Right-click any one of the sheet tabs and choose Select All Sheets
from the pop-up menu.

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Working with columns and rows

Inserting columns and rows

Columns and rows can be inserted individually or in groups,

When you insert a single new column, it is inserted to the left

of the highlighted column. When you insert a single new row, it
is inserted above the highlighted row.
Note
Cells in the new columns or rows are formatted like the
corresponding cells in the column or row before (or to the left
of) which the new column or row is inserted.

Single column or row

Using the Insert menu:
1) Select the column or rows where you want the new column or row
inserted.
2) Select either Insert > Columns or Insert > Rows.
Using the mouse:
1) Select the column or rows where you want the new column or row
inserted.
2) Right-click the header.
3) Select Insert Rows or Insert Columns.

Multiple columns or rows

Multiple columns or rows can be inserted at once rather than inserting
them one at a time.
1) Highlight the required number of columns or rows by holding
down the left mouse button on the first one and then dragging
across the required number of identifiers.
2) Proceed as for inserting a single column or row above.

Deleting columns and rows

Columns and rows can be deleted individually or in groups.

Single column or row

A single column or row can only be deleted by using the mouse:
1) Select the column or row to be deleted.
2) Right-click on the column or row header.

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Multiple columns or rows
Multiple columns or rows can be deleted at once rather than deleting
them one at a time.
1) Highlight the required number of columns or rows by holding
down the left mouse button on the first one and then dragging
across the required number of identifiers.
2) Proceed as for deleting a single column or row above.

Working with sheets

Like any other Calc element, sheets can be inserted, deleted, and
renamed.

Inserting new sheets

There are several ways to insert a new sheet. The first step for all of
the methods is to select the sheets that the new sheet will be inserted
next to. Then any of the following options can be used.
• Chosse Insert > Sheet from the menu bar.
• Right-click on the sheet tab and select Insert Sheet.
• Click in an empty space at the end of the line of sheet tabs (see
Figure 108).
Click here to insert
a new sheet

Figure 108. Creating a new sheet

Each method will open the Insert Sheet dialog (Figure 109). Here you
can select whether the new sheet is to go before or after the selected
sheet and how many sheets you want to insert. If you are inserting only
one sheet, there is the opportunity to give the sheet a name.

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 Figure 109. Insert Sheet dialog

Deleting sheets
Sheets can be deleted individually or in groups.

Single sheet
Right-click on the tab of the sheet you want to delete and select
Delete Sheet from the pop-up menu, or chose Edit > Sheet >
Delete from the menu bar.
Multiple sheets
To delete multiple sheets, select them as described earlier, then
either right-click over one of the tabs and select Delete Sheet from
the pop-up menu, or choose Edit > Sheet > Delete from the menu
bar.

Renaming sheets
The default name for the a new sheet is SheetX, where X is a number.
While this works for a small spreadsheet with only a few sheets, it
becomes awkward when there are many sheets.
To give a sheet a more meaningful name, you can:
• Enter the name in the Name box when you create the sheet, or
• Right-click on a sheet tab and choose Rename Sheet from the
pop-up menu; replace the existing name with a better one.
• (New in OOo3.1) Double-click on a sheet tab to pop up the
Rename Sheet dialog.

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 Sheet names must start with either a letter or a number; other
characters including spaces are not allowed. Apart from the
first character of the sheet name, allowed characters are
Note letters, numbers, spaces, and the underline character.
Attempting to rename a sheet with an invalid name will
produce an error message.

Viewing Calc

Using zoom
Use the zoom function to change the view to show more or fewer cells
in the window. For more about zoom, see Chapter 1 (Introducing
OpenOfice.org).

Freezing rows and columns

Freezing locks a number of rows at the top of a spreadsheet or a
number of columns on the left of a spreadsheet or both. Then when
scrolling around within the sheet, any frozen columns and rows remain
in view.
Figure 110 shows some frozen rows and columns. The heavier
horizontal line between rows 3 and 14 and the heavier vertical line
between columns C and H denote the frozen areas.. Rows 4 through 13
and columns D through G have been scrolled off the page. The first
three rows and columns remained because are frozen into place.

Figure 110. Frozen rows and columns

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You can set the freeze point at one row, one column, or both a row and
a column as in Figure 110.

Freezing single rows or columns

1) Click on the header for the row below where you want the freeze
or for the column to the right of where you want the freeze.
2) Choose Window > Freeze.
A dark line appears, indicating where the freeze is put.
Freezing a row and a column
1) Click into the cell that is immediately below the row you want
frozen and immediately to the right of the column you want
frozen.
2) Choose Window > Freeze.
Two lines appear on the screen, a horizontal line above this cell
and a vertical line to the left of this cell. Now as you scroll around
the screen, everything above and to the left of these lines will
remain in view.
Unfreezing
To unfreeze rows or columns, choose Window > Freeze. The check
mark by Freeze will vanish.

Splitting the screen

Another way to change the view is by splitting the window, also known
as splitting the screen. The screen can be split either horizontally or
vertically or both. This allows you to have up to four portions of the
spreadsheet in view at any one time.
Why would you want to do this? Imagine you have a large spreadsheet
and one of the cells has a number in it which is used by three formulas
in other cells. Using the split screen technique, you can position the
cell containing the number in one section and each of the cells with
formulas in the other sections. Then you can change the number in the
cell and watch how it affects each of the formulas.

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 Figure 111. Split screen example

Splitting the screen horizontally

To split the screen horizontally:
1) Move the mouse pointer into the vertical scroll bar, on the right-
hand side of the screen, and place it over the small button at the
top with the black triangle.

Split screen bar

Figure 112. Split screen bar on vertical scroll bar

2) Immediately above this button you will see a thick black line
(Figure 112). Move the mouse pointer over this line and it turns
into a line with two arrows (Figure 113).

Figure 113. Split screen bar on

vertical scroll bar with cursor
3) Hold down the left mouse button. A gray line appears, running
across the page. Drag the mouse downwards and this line follows.
4) Release the mouse button and the screen splits into two views,
each with its own vertical scroll bar. You can scroll the upper and
lower parts independently.

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Notice in Figure 111, the Beta and the A0 values are in the upper part
of the window and other calculations are in the lower part. Thus you
can make changes to the Beta and A0 values and watch their affects on
the calculations in the lower half of the window.

You can also split the screen using a menu command. Click in a
Tip cell immediately below and to the right of where you wish the
screen to be split, and choose Window > Split.

Splitting the screen vertically

To split the screen vertically:
1) Move the mouse pointer into the horizontal scroll bar at the
bottom of the screen and place it over the small button on the
right with the black triangle.

Split screen bar

Figure 114: Split bar on horizontal scroll bar

2) Immediately to the right of this button is a thick black line (Figure

114). Move the mouse pointer over this line and it turns into a
line with two arrows.
3) Hold down the left mouse button and a gray line appears, running
up the page. Drag the mouse to the left and this line follows.
4) Release the mouse button and the screen is split into two views,
each with its own horizontal scroll bar. You can scroll the left and
right parts of the window independently.

Removing split views

To remove a split view, do any of the following:
• Double-click on each split line.
• Click on and drag the split lines back to their places at the ends of
the scroll bars.
• Choose Window > Split to remove all split lines at the same time.

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Entering data using the keyboard
Most data entry in Calc can be accomplished using the keyboard.

Entering numbers
Click in the cell and type in the number using the number keys on
either the main keyboard or the numeric keypad.
To enter a negative number, either type a minus (–) sign in front of it or
enclose it in parentheses (brackets), like this: (1234).
By default, numbers are right-aligned and negative numbers have a
leading minus symbol.

Entering text
Click in the cell and type the text. Text is left-aligned by default.

Entering numbers as text

If a number is entered in the format 01481, Calc will drop the leading
0. (Exception: see Tip below.) To preserve the leading zero, for example
for telephone area codes, type an apostrophe before the number, like
this: '01481.
The data is now regarded as text by Calc. Formulas and functions will
treat the entry like any other text entry, which typically results in it
being a zero in a formula, and being ignored in a function.

Numbers can have leading zeros and be regarded as numbers

(as opposed to text) if the cell is formated appropriately. Right-
Tip click on the cell and chose Format Cells > Numbers. Adjust
the leading zeros setting to add leading zeros to numbers.

When using an apostrophe to allow a leading 0 to be displayed,

the apostrophe is not visible in the cell after the Enter key is
pressed—if the apostrophe is a plain apostrophe (not a “smart
quote” apostrophe). If “smart quotes” are selected for
Note apostrophes, the apostrophe remains visible in the cell.
To choose the type of apostrophe, use Tools > AutoCorrect >
Custom Quotes. The selection of the apostrophe type affects
both Calc and Writer.

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 Caution When a number is formatted as text, take care that the cell
containing the number is not used in a formula because Calc
will ignore the value.

Entering dates and times

Select the cell and type the date or time. You can separate the date
elements with a slant (/) or a hyphen (–) or use text such as 10 Oct 03.
Calc recognizes a variety of date formats. You can separate time
elements with colons such as 10:43:45.

Deactivating automatic changes

Calc automatically applies many changes during data input, unless you
deactivate those changes. You can also immediately undo any
automatic changes with Ctrl+Z.

AutoCorrect changes
Automatic correction of typing errors, replacement of straight
quotation marks by curly (custom) quotes, and starting cell content
with an uppercase (capital letter) are controlled by Tools >
AutoCorrect Options. Go to the Custom Quotes, Options, or
Replace tabs to deactivate any of the features that you do not want.
On the Replace tab, you can also delete unwanted word pairs and
add new ones as required.
AutoInput
When you are typing in a cell, Calc automatically suggests matching
input found in the same column. To turn the AutoInput on and off,
set or remove the check mark in front of Tools > Cell Contents >
AutoInput.
Automatic date conversion
Calc automatically converts certain entries to dates. To ensure that
an entry that looks like a date is interpreted as text, type an
apostrophe at the beginning of the entry. The apostrophe is not
displayed in the cell.

Speeding up data entry

Entering data into a spreadsheet can be very labor-intensive, but Calc
provides several tools for removing some of the drudgery from input.

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The most basic ability is to drop and drag the contents of one cell to
another with a mouse. However, Calc also includes several other tools
for automating input, especially of repetitive material. They include the
Fill tool, selection lists, and the ability to input information into
multiple sheets of the same document.

Using the Fill tool on cells

At its simplest, the Fill tool is a way to duplicate existing content. Start
by selecting the cell to copy, then drag the mouse in any direction (or
hold down the Shift key and click in the last cell you want to fill), and
then choose Edit > Fill and the direction in which you want to copy:
Up, Down, Left or Right.

Caution Choices that are not available are grayed out, but you can still
choose the opposite direction from what you intend, which
could cause you to overwrite cells accidentally.

A shortcut way to fill cells is to grab the “handle” in the lower

right-hand corner of the cell and drag it in the direction you
Tip want to fill. If the cell contains a number, the number will fill in
series. If the cell contains text, the same text will fill in the
direction you chose.

Figure 115: Using the Fill tool

Using a fill series

A more complex use of the Fill tool is to use a fill series. The default
lists are for the full and abbreviated days of the week and the months
of the year, but you can create your own lists as well.
To add a fill series to a spreadsheet, select the cells to fill, choose Edit
> Fill > Series. In the Fill Series dialog, select AutoFill as the Series

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type, and enter as the Start value an item from any defined series. The
selected cells then fill in the other items on the list sequentially,
repeating from the top of the list when they reach the end of the list.

Figure 116: Specifying the start of a fill series (result is in Figure 115)

Figure 117: Result of fill series

selection shown in Figure 116
You can also use Edit > Fill > Series to create a one-time fill series
for numbers by entering the start and end values and the increment.
For example, if you entered start and end values of 1 and 7 with an
increment of 2, you would get the sequence of 1, 3, 5, 7.
In all these cases, the Fill tool creates only a momentary connection
between the cells. Once they are filled, the cells have no further
connection with one another.

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Defining a fill series
To define a fill series, go to Tools > Options > OpenOffice.org Calc
> Sort Lists. This dialog shows the previously-defined series in the
Lists box on the left, and the contents of the highlighted list in the
Entries box.

Figure 118: Predefined fill series

Click New. The Entries box is cleared. Type the series for the new list
in the Entries box (one entry per line), and then click Add.

Figure 119: Defining a new fill series

Using selection lists

Selection lists are available only for text, and are
limited to using only text that has already been entered
in the same column.
To use a selection list, select a blank cell and press
Ctrl+D. A drop-down list appears of any cell in the same
column that either has at least one text character or
whose format is defined as Text. Click on the entry you
require.

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Sharing content between sheets
You might want to enter the same information in the same cell on
multiple sheets, for example to set up standard listings for a group of
individuals or organizations. Instead of entering the list on each sheet
individually, you can enter it in all the sheets at once. To do this, select
all the sheets (Edit > Sheet > Select), then enter the information in
the current one.

This technique overwrites any information that is already in

Caution the cells on the other sheets—without any warning. For this
reason, when you are finished, be sure to deselect all the
sheets except the one you want to edit. (Ctrl+click on a sheet
tab to select or deselect the sheet.)

Validating cell contents

When creating spreadsheets for other people to use, you may want to
make sure they enter data that is valid or appropriate for the cell. You
can also use validity in your own work as a guide to entering data that
is either complex or rarely used.
Fill series and selection lists can handle some types of data, but they
are limited to predefined information. For a more general case, you can
select a cell and use Data > Validity to define the type of contents
that can be entered in that cell. For example, a cell might require a
date or a whole number, with no alphabetic characters or decimal
points; or a cell may not be blank.
Depending on how validity is set up, the tool can also define the range
of contents that can be entered and provide help messages that explain
the content rules you have set up for the cell and what users should do
when they enter invalid content. You can also set the cell to refuse
invalid content, accept it with a warning, or start a macro when an
error is entered.
See Chapter 2 in the Calc Guide for more information.

Editing data
Editing data is done is in much the same way as it is entered. The first
step is selecting the cell containing the data to be edited.

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Removing data from a cell
Data can be removed (deleted) from a cell in several ways.

Removing data only

The data alone can be removed from a cell without removing any of
the formatting of the cell. Click in the cell to select it, and then press
the Backspace key.
Removing data and formatting
The data and the formatting can be removed from a cell at the same
time. Press the Delete key (or right-click and choose Delete
Contents, or use Edit > Delete Contents) to open the Delete
Contents dialog (Figure 120). From this dialog, the different
aspects of the cell can be deleted. To delete everything in a cell
(contents and format), check Delete all.

Figure 120: Delete Contents dialog

Replacing all the data in a cell

To remove data and insert new data, simply type over the old data. The
new data will retain the original formatting.

Changing part of the data in a cell

Sometimes it is necessary to change the contents of cell without
removing all of the contents, for example if the phrase “See Dick run”
is in a cell and it needs to be changed to “See Dick run fast.” It is often
useful to do this without deleting the old cell contents first.

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The process is the similar to the one described above, but you need to
place the cursor inside the cell. You can do this in two ways.

Using the keyboard

After selecting the appropriate cell, press the F2 key and the cursor
is placed at the end of the cell. Then use the keyboard arrow keys to
move the cursor through the text in the cell.
Using the mouse
Using the mouse, either double-click on the appropriate cell (to
select it and place the cursor in it for editing), or single-click to
select the cell and then move the mouse pointer up to the input line
and click into it to place the cursor for editing.

Formatting data
The data in Calc can be formatting in several ways. It can either be
edited as part of a cell style so that it is automatically applied, or it can
be applied manually to the cell. Some manual formatting can be
applied using toolbar icons. For more control and extra options, select
the appropriate cell or cells, right-click on it, and select Format Cells.
All of the format options are discussed below.

All the settings discussed in this section can also be set as a

Note part of the cell style. See Chapter 4 (Using Styles and
Templates) in the Calc Guide for more information.

Formatting multiple lines of text

Multiple lines of text can be entered into a single cell using automatic
wrapping or manual line breaks. Each method is useful for different
situations.

Using automatic wrapping

To set text to wrap at the end of the cell, right-click on the cell and
select Format Cells (or choose Format > Cells from the menu bar, or
press Ctrl+1). On the Alignment tab (Figure 121), under Properties,
select Wrap text automatically. The results are shown in Figure 122.

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Figure 121: Format Cells > Alignment dialog

Figure 122: Automatic text wrap

Using manual line breaks

To insert a manual line break while typing in a cell, press Ctrl+Enter.
This method does not work with the cursor in the input line. When
editing text, first double-click the cell, then single-click at the position
where you want the line break.
When a manual line break is entered, the cell width does not change.
Figure 123 shows the results of using two manual line breaks after the
first line of text.

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 Figure 123: Cell with manual line breaks

Shrinking text to fit the cell

The font size of the data in a cell can automatically adjust to fit in a
cell. To do this, select the Shrink to fit cell size option in the Format
Cells dialog (Figure 121). Figure Figure 124 shows the results.

Figure 124: Shrinking font size to fit cells

Formatting numbers
Several number formats can be applied to cells by using icons on the
Formatting toolbar. Select the cell, then click the relevant icon.

Figure 125: Number format icons. Left to right: currency, percentage,

date, exponential, standard, add decimal place, delete decimal place.

For more control or to select other number formats, use the Numbers
tab (Figure 126) of the Format Cells dialog.
• Apply any of the data types in the Category list to the data.
• Control the number of decimal places and leading zeros.
• Enter a custom format code.
The Language setting controls the local settings for the different
formats such as the date order and the currency marker.

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Figure 126: Format Cells > Numbers

Formatting the font

To quickly choose the font used in a cell, select the cell, then click the
arrow next to the Font Name box on the Formatting toolbar and choose
a font from the list.

To choose whether to show the font names in their font or in

plain text, go to Tools > Options > OpenOffice.org > View
Tip and select or deselect the Show preview of fonts option in the
Font Lists section. For more information, see Chapter 14
(Setting Up and Customizing Calc) of the Calc Guide.

To choose the size of the font, click the arrow next

to the Font Size box on the Formatting toolbar. For
other formatting, you can use the Bold, Italic, or
Underline icons.
To choose a font color, click the arrow next to the
Font Color icon to display a color palette. Click on
the required color.
(To define custom colors, use Tools > Options >
OpenOffice.org > Colors. See Chapter 2.)

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To specify the language of the cell (useful because it allows different
languages to exist in the same document and be spell checked
correctly), use the Font tab of the Format Cells dialog. Use the Font
Effects tab to set other font characteristics. See Chapter 4 of the Calc
Guide for more information.

Formatting the cell borders

To quickly choose a line style and color for the borders of a cell, click
the small arrows next to the Line Style and Line Color icons on the
Formatting toolbar. In each case, a palette of choices is displayed.
For more control, including the spacing between the cell borders and
the text, use the Borders tab of the Format Cells dialog. There you can
also define a shadow. See Chapter 4 of the Calc Guide for details.

The cell border properties apply to a cell, and can only be

changed if you are editing that cell. For example, if cell C3 has
Note a top border (which would be equivalent visually to a bottom
border on C2), that border can only be removed by selecting
C3. It cannot be removed in C2.

Formatting the cell background

To quickly choose a background color for a cell, click the small arrow
next to the Background Color icon on the Formatting toolbar. A palette
of color choices, similar to the Font Color palette, is displayed.
(To define custom colors, use Tools > Options > OpenOffice.org >
Colors. See Chapter 2 for more information.)
You can also use the Background tab of the Format Cells dialog. See
Chapter 4 of the Calc Guide for details.

Autoformatting cells and sheets

You can use the AutoFormat feature to quickly apply a set of cell
formats to a sheet or a selected cell range.
1) Select the cells, including the column and row headers, that you
want to format.
2) Choose Format > AutoFormat.

If the selected cell range does not have column and row
Note headers, AutoFormat is not available.

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Figure 127: Choosing an AutoFormat
3) To select which properties (number format, font, alignment,
borders, pattern, autofit width and height) to include in an
AutoFormat, click More. Select or deselect the required options.
4) Click OK.
If you do not see any change in color of the cell contents, choose View
> Value Highlighting from the menu bar.

Defining a new AutoFormat

You can define a new AutoFormat that is available to all spreadsheets.
1) Format a sheet.
2) Choose Edit > Select All.
3) Choose Format > AutoFormat. The Add button is now active.
4) Click Add.
5) In the Name box of the Add AutoFormat dialog, type a meaningful
name for the new format.
6) Click OK to save. The new format is now available in the Format
list in the AutoFormat dialog.

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Formatting spreadsheets using themes
Calc comes with a predefined set of formatting themes that you can
apply to your spreadsheets.
It is not possible to add themes to Calc, and they cannot be modified.
However, you can modify their styles after you apply them to a
spreadsheet.
To apply a theme to a spreadsheet:
1) Click the Choose Themes icon in the Tools toolbar. If this toolbar
is not visible, you can show it using View > Toolbars > Tools.
The Theme Selection dialog appears. This dialog lists the
available themes for the whole spreadsheet.

2) In the Theme Selection dialog, select the theme that you want to
apply to the spreadsheet.
As soon as you select a theme, some of the properties of the
custom styles are applied to the open spreadsheet and are
immediately visible.
3) Click OK. If you wish, you can now go to the Styles and
Formatting window to modify specific styles. These modifications
do not change the theme; they only change the appearance of this
spreadsheet document.

Using conditional formatting

You can set up cell formats to change depending on conditions that you
specify. For example, in a table of numbers, you can show all the values
above the average in green and all those below the average in red.
Conditional formatting depends upon the use of styles, and the
AutoCalculate feature (Tools > Cell Contents > AutoCalculate)
must be enabled. See Chapter 2 in the Calc Guide for details.

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Hiding and showing data
When elements are hidden, they are neither visible nor printed, but
can still be selected for copying if you select the elements around
them. For example, if column B is hidden, it is copied when you select
columns A and C. When you need a hidden element again, you can
reverse the process, and show the element.
To hide or show sheets, rows, and columns, use the options on the
Format menu or the right-click (context) menu. For example, to hide a
row, first select the row, and then choose Format > Row > Hide (or
right-click and choose Hide).
To hide or show selected cells, choose Format > Cells from the menu
bar (or right-click and choose Format Cells). On the Format Cells
dialog, go to the Cell Protection tab.

Figure 128: Hiding or showing cells

Outline group controls

If you are continually hiding and showing the same cells, you can
simplify the process by creating outline groups, which add a set of
controls for hiding and showing the cells in the group that are quick to
use and always available.
If the contents of cells falls into a regular pattern, such as four cells
followed by a total, then you can use Data > Group and Outline >
AutoOutline to have Calc add outline controls based on the pattern.
Otherwise, you can set outline groups manually by selecting the cells
for grouping, then choosing Data > Group and Outline > Group. On
the Group dialog, you can choose whether to group the selected cells
by rows or columns.

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When you close the dialog, the outline group controls are visible
between either the row or column headers and the edges of the editing
window. The controls resemble the tree-structure of a file-manager in
appearance, and can be hidden by selecting Data > Outline > Hide
Details. They are strictly for on screen use, and do not print.
The basic outline controls have plus or minus signs at the start of the
group to show or hide hidden cells. However, if one or more outline
group is nested in another, the controls have numbered buttons for
hiding different levels of group.
If you no longer need a group, place the mouse cursor in any cell in it
and select Data > Group and Outline > Ungroup. To remove all
groups on a sheet, select Data > Group and Outline > Remove.

Figure 129: Outline group controls

Filtering which cells are visible

A filter is a list of conditions that each entry has to meet in order to be
displayed. You can set three types of filters from the Data > Filter
sub-menu.
Automatic filters add a drop-down list to the top row of a column that
contains commonly used filters. They are quick and convenient, and,
because the condition includes every unique entry in the selected cells,
are almost as useful with text as with numbers.
In addition to each unique entry, automatic filters include the option to
display all entries, the ten highest numerical values, and all cells that
are empty or not-empty, as well as a standard filter. Their drawback is
that they are somewhat limited. In particular, they do not allow regular
expressions, so you cannot display contents that are similar, but not
identical, by using automatic filters.
Standard filters are more complex than automatic filters. You can set

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operators AND and OR. Standard filters are mostly useful for numbers,
although a few of the conditional operators, such as = and < > can
also be useful for text.
Other conditional operators for standard filters include options to
display the largest or smallest values, or a percentage of them. Useful
in themselves, standard filters take on added value when used to
further refine automatic filters.
Advanced filters are structured similarly to standard filters. The
differences are that advanced filters are not limited to three
conditions, and their criteria are not entered in a dialog. Instead,
advanced filters are entered in a blank area of a sheet, then referenced
by the advanced filter tool to apply them.

Sorting records
Sorting arranges the visible cells on the sheet. In Calc, you can sort by
up to three criteria, with each criterion applied one after the other.
Sorts are handy when you are searching for a particular item, and
become even more powerful after you have filtered data.
In addition, sorting is often useful when you add new information.
When a list is long, it is usually easier to add new information at the
bottom of the sheet, rather than adding rows in the proper places.
After you have added information, you can then sort it to update the
sheet.
You can sort by highlighting the cells to be sorted, then selecting Data
> Sort. The selected cells can be sorted by the order of information in
up to three columns or rows, in either ascending (A-Z, 1-9) or
descending (Z-A, 9-1) order.
On the Options tab of the Sort dialog, you can choose the following
options:
Case sensitive
If two entries are otherwise identical, one with an upper case letter
is placed before one with a lower case letter in the same position.
Range contains column labels
Does not include the column heading in the sort.
Include formats
A cell's formatting is moved with its contents. If formatting is used
to distinguish different types of cells, then use this option.

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Copy sort results to
Sets a spreadsheet address to which to copy the sort results. If a
range is specified that does not have the necessary number of cells,
then cells are added. If a range contains cells that already have
content, then the sort fails.
Custom sort order
Select the box, then choose one of the sort orders defined in Tools >
Options > Spreadsheet > Sort Lists from the drop-down list.
Direction
Sets whether rows or columns are sorted. The default is to sort by
columns unless the selected cells are in a single column.

Printing
Printing from Calc is the same as printing from other OOo components
(see Chapter 10), but some details are different, especially regarding
preparation for printing.
The Print dialog (Figure 125), reached from File > Print, has some
Calc-specific options: which sheets to print.

Figure 130. Part of the Print dialog

The Printer Options dialog (reached by clicking the Options button on
the bottom left of the Print dialog) has only two choices, as shown in
Figure 119: Suppress output of empty pages and Print only
selected sheets.

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Figure 131. Top of the Printer Options dialog

Selecting sheets to print

You can select one or more sheets for printing. This can be useful if
you have a large spreadsheet with multiple sheets and only want to
print certain sheets. For example, an accountant might record costs
over time with one sheet for each month. To print the November and
December sheets, follow this procedure:
1) Go to the November sheet. Hold down the Control key and click
on the tab of the December sheet.
2) To print all of the sheets, go to File > Print and select Options.

The Options button is different from the Properties button.

Note Properties deals with the settings of the printer, whereas
Options deals with OOo’s settings.

3) Select Print only selected sheets. This choice affects the print
preview, export, and printing of your spreadsheet. Click OK.

Caution If you keep the selected sheets selected, when you enter data
on one sheet, you enter data on all sheets at the same time.
This might not be what you want.

Selecting the page order, details, and scale

To select the page order, details, and scale to be printed:
1) Select Format > Page from the main menu.
2) Select the Sheet tab (Figure 118).
3) Make your selections, and then click OK.

Page Order
You can set the order in which pages print. This is especially useful in a
large document; for example, controlling the print order can save time
if you have to collate the document a certain way.

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Where a sheet prints on more than one page of paper, it can be printed
either by column, where the first column of pages prints, and then the
second column and so on, or by row as shown in the graphic on the top
right of the dialog shown in Figure 132.

Figure 132. The Sheet tab of the Page Style dialog

Print
You can specify which details to print. Those details include:
• Row and column headers
• Sheet grid—prints the borders of the cells as a grid
• Notes—prints the notes defined in your spreadsheet on a separate
page, along with the corresponding cell reference
• Objects and graphics
• Charts
• Drawing objects
• Formulas—prints the formulas contained in the cells, instead of
the results
• Zero Values—prints cells with a zero value

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 Remember that since the print detail options are a part of the
page’s properties, they are also a part of the page style’s
Note properties. Therefore, different page styles can be set up to
quickly change the print properties of the sheets in the
spreadsheet.

Scale
Use the scale features to control the number of pages the data will
print on. This can be useful if a large amount of data needs to be
printed more compactly or, if the reader has poor eyesight, text can be
enlarged when it prints.
• Reduce/Enlarge printout—scales the data in the printout either
larger or smaller. For example if a sheet would normally print out
as four pages (two high and two wide), a scaling of 50% would
print as one page (both width and height are halved).
• Fit print range(s) on number of pages—defines exactly how many
pages the printout will take up. This option will only reduce a
printout, it will not enlarge it. To enlarge a printout, the
reduce/enlarge option must be used.
• Fit print range(s) to width/height—defines how high and wide the
printout will be, in pages.

Using print ranges

Print ranges have several uses, including printing only a specific part
of the data or printing selected rows or columns on every page. For
more about using print ranges, see Chapter 6 (Printing, Exporting, and
E-mailing) in the Calc Guide.

Defining a print range

To define a new print range or modify an existing print range:
1) Highlight the range of cells that comprise the print range.
2) Choose Format > Print Ranges > Define.
The page break lines display on the screen.

You can check the print range by using File > Page Preview.
Tip OOo will only display the cells in the print range.

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Adding to the print range
After defining a print range, you can add more cells to it. This allows
multiple, separate areas of the same sheet to be printed, while not
printing the whole sheet. After you have defined a print range:
1) Highlight the range of cells to be added to the print range.
2) Choose Format > Print Ranges > Add. This adds the extra cells
to the print range.
The page break lines no longer display on the screen.

The additional print range will print as a separate page, even if

Note both ranges are on the same sheet.

Removing a print range

It may become necessary to remove a defined print range, for example
if the whole sheet needs to be printed later.
Choose Format > Print Ranges > Remove. This removes all defined
print ranges on the sheet. After the print range is removed, the default
page break lines will appear on the screen.

Editing a print range

At any time, you can directly edit the print range, for example to
remove or resize part of the print range. Choose Format > Print
Ranges > Edit. See Chapter 2 of the Calc Guide for details.

Printing rows or columns on every page

If a sheet is printed on multiple pages, you can set up certain rows or
columns to repeat on each printed page.
For example, if the top two rows of the sheet as well as column A need
to be printed on all pages, do the following:
1) Choose Format > Print Ranges > Edit. On the Edit Print
Ranges dialog, type the rows in the text entry box under Rows to
repeat. For example, to repeat rows 1 and 2, type $1:$2. In the
Rows to repeat list, - none - changes to - user defined -.

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Figure 133: Specifying repeating rows
2) Columns can also repeat; type the columns in the text entry box
under Columns to repeat. For example, to repeat column A, type
$A. In the Columns to repeat list, - none - changes to
- user defined -.
3) Click OK.

You do not need to select the entire range of the rows to be

Note repeated; selecting one cell in each row works.

Page breaks
While defining a print range can be a powerful tool, it may sometimes
be necessary to manually tweak Calc’s printout. To do this, you can use
a manual break. A manual break helps to ensure that your data prints
properly. You can insert a horizontal page break above, or a vertical
page break to the left of, the active cell.

Inserting a page break

To insert a page break:
1) Navigate to the cell where the page break will begin.
2) Select Insert > Manual Break.
3) Select Row Break or Column Break depending on your need.
The break is now set.

Row break
Selecting Row Break creates a page break above the selected cell.
For example, if the active cell is H15, then the break is created
between rows 14 and 15.

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Column break
Selecting Column Break creates a page break to the left of the
selected cell. For example, if the active cell is H15, then the break is
created between columns G and H.

To see page break lines more easily on screen, you can change
Tip their color. Choose Tools > Options > OpenOffice.org >
Appearance and scroll down to the Spreadsheet section.

Deleting a page break

To remove a page break:
1) Navigate to a cell that is next to the break you want to remove.
2) Select Edit > Delete Manual Break.
3) Select Row Break or Column Break depending on your need.
The break is now removed.

Multiple manual row and column breaks can exist on the same
page. When you want to remove them, you have to remove
each one individually. This may be confusing at times, because
although there may be a column break set on the page, when
you go to Edit > Manual Break, Column break may be
Note grayed out.
In order to remove the break, you have to be in the cell next to
the break. So, for example, if you set the column break while
you are in H15, you can not remove it if you are in cell D15.
However, you can remove it from any cell in column H.

Headers and footers

Headers and footers are predefined pieces of text that are printed at
the top or bottom of a sheet outside of the sheet area. They are set the
same way.
Headers and footers are assigned to a page style. You can define more
than one page style for a spreadsheet and assign different page styles
to different sheets. For more about page styles, see Chapter 4 (Using
Styles and Templates) in the Calc Guide.
To set a header or footer:
1) Navigate to the sheet that you want to set the header or footer
for. Select Format > Page.
2) Select the Header (or Footer) tab. See Figure 134.
3) Select the Header on option.

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From here you can also set the margins, the spacing, and height for
the header or footer. You can check the AutoFit height box to have
the height of the header or footer automatically adjust.

Margin
Changing the size of the left or right margin adjusts how far the
header or footer is from the side of the page.
Spacing
Spacing affects how far above or below the sheet the header or
footer will print. So, if spacing is set to 1.00", then there will be 1
inch between the header or footer and the sheet.
Height
Height affects how big the header or footer will be.

Figure 134: Header dialog

Header or footer appearance

To change the appearance of the header or footer, click More.
From this dialog (Figure 135) you can set the background and border
of the header or footer.

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 Figure 135: Header/Footer Border/Background

Contents of the header or footer

The header or footer of a Calc spreadsheet has three columns for text.
Each column can have different contents.
To set the contents of the header or footer, click the Edit button in the
header or footer dialog shown in Figure 134 to display the dialog
shown in Figure 136.

Figure 136: Edit contents of header or footer

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Areas
Each area is independent and can have different information in it.
Header
You can select from several preset choices in the Header drop-down
list, or specify a custom header using the buttons below. (If you are
formatting a footer, the choices are the same.)
Custom header
Click in the area (Left, Center, Right) that you want to customize,
then use the buttons to add elements or change text attributes.
Opens the Text Attributes dialog.
Inserts the total number of pages.
Inserts the File Name field.
Inserts the Date field.
Inserts the Sheet Name field.
Inserts the Time field.
Inserts the current page number.

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 Chapter 6
Getting Started with
Impress
Presentations in OpenOffice.org

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What is Impress?
Impress is OpenOffice.org’s slide show (presentations) program. You
can create slides that contain many different elements, including text,
bulleted and numbered lists, tables, charts, clip art, and a wide range
of graphic objects. Impress also includes a spelling checker, a
thesaurus, prepackaged text styles, and attractive background styles.
This chapter includes instructions, screenshots, and hints to guide you
through the Impress environment while designing the easier
presentations. Although more difficult designs are mentioned
throughout this chapter, explanations for creating them are in the
Impress Guide. If you have a working knowledge of how to create slide
shows, we recommend you use the Impress Guide for your source of
information.
To use Impress for more than very simple slide shows requires some
knowledge of the elements which the slides contain. Slides containing
text use styles to determine the appearance of that text. Slides
containing objects are created the same way that drawings are created
in Draw. For this reason, we recommend that you also study Chapter 3
(Working with Templates and Styles) and Chapter 7 (Getting Started
with Draw).

Parts of the main Impress window

The main Impress window (Figure 137) has three parts: the Slides
pane, Workspace, and Tasks pane. Additionally, several toolbars can be
displayed or hidden during the creation of a presentation.

You can remove the Slides pane or Tasks pane from view by
clicking the X in the upper right corner. You can also show or
Tip hide these panes using View > Slide Pane or View > Tasks
Pane.

Slides pane
The Slides pane contains thumbnail pictures of the slides in your
presentation, in the order they will be shown (unless you change the
order). Clicking a slide selects it and places it in the Workspace. While
it is there, you can apply any changes desired to that particular slide.

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Figure 137: Main window of Impress
Several additional operations can be performed on one or more slides
in the Slides pane:
• Add new slides at any place within the presentation after the first
slide.
• Mark a slide as hidden so that it will not be shown as part of the
slide show.
• Delete a slide from the presentation if it is no longer needed.
• Rename a slide.
• Copy or move the contents of one slide to another (copy and
paste, or cut and paste, respectively).
It is also possible to perform the following operations, although there
are more efficient methods than using the Slides pane:
• Change the slide transition following the selected slide or after
each slide in a group of slides.
• Change the sequence of slides in the presentation.
• Change the slide design. (A window opens allowing you to load
your own design.)
• Change slide layout for a group of slides simultaneously. (This
requires using the Layouts section of the Tasks pane.)

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Tasks pane
The Tasks pane has five sections.
Master Pages
Here you define the page style for your presentation. Impress
contains 28 prepackaged Master Pages (slide masters). One of them
—Default—is blank, and the rest have a background.

Press F11 to open the Styles and Formating window, where

Tip you can modify the styles used in any slide master to suit your
purpose. This can be done at any time.

Layout
Twenty prepackaged layouts are shown. You can choose the one you
want, use it as it is or modify it to your own requirements. At
present it is not possible to create custom layouts.
Table Design
Eleven standard table styles are provided in this pane. You can
further modify the appearance of a table with the selections to show
or hide specific rows and columns, or to apply a banded appearance
to the rows and columns.
Custom Animation
A variety of animations for selected elements of a slide are listed.
Animation can be added to a slide, and it can also be changed or
removed later.
Slide Transition
Fifty-six transitions are available, including No Transition. You can
select the transition speed (slow, medium, fast). You can also choose
between an automatic or manual transition, and how long you want
the selected slide to be shown (automatic transition only).

Workspace
The Workspace has five tabs: Normal, Outline, Notes, Handout, and
Slide Sorter. These five tabs are called View buttons. There are also
many toolbars that can be used during slide creation; they are revealed
by selecting them with View > Toolbars. The Workspace is below the
View buttons. This is where you assemble the various parts of your
selected slide.

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Each view is designed to make completing certain tasks easier. In
summary:
• Normal view is the main view for creating individual slides. Use
this view to format and design slides and to add text, graphics,
and animation effects.
• Outline view shows topic titles, bulleted lists, and numbered lists
for each slide in outline format. Use this view to rearrange the
order of slides, edit titles and headings, rearrange the order of
items in a list, and add new slides.
• Notes view lets you add notes to each slide that are not seen
when the presentation is shown.
• Slide Sorter view shows a thumbnail of each slide in order. Use
this view to rearrange the order of slides, produce a timed slide
show, or add transitions between selected slides.
• Handout view lets you print your slides for a handout. You can
choose one, two, three, four, or six slides per page from Tasks
pane > Layouts. Thumbnails can be re-arranged in this view by
dragging and dropping them.

Toolbars
The various Impress toolbars can be displayed or hidden by clicking
View > Toolbars and selecting from the menu. You can also select the
icons that you wish to appear on each toolbar. For more information,
refer to Chapter 1 (Introducing OpenOffice.org).
Many of the toolbars in Impress are similar to the toolbars in OOo
Draw. Refer to the Draw Guide for details on the functions available
and how to use them.

Status bar
The Status bar (Figures 138 and 139) is located at the bottom of the
workspace. In addition to fields common to several OOo components, it
includes several Impress-specific fields. For details on the contents and
use of these fields, see Chapter 1 (Introducing OpenOffice.org) in this
book and Chapter 1 (Introducing Impress) in the Impress Guide.

The sizes are given in the current measurement unit (not to be

confused with the ruler units). This unit is defined in Tools >
Note Options > OpenOffice.org Draw > General, where you can
also change the scale of the page. Another way to change the
scale is to double-click on the number shown in the status bar.

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 Figure 138: Left end of the Impress status bar

Figure 139: Right end of Impress status bar

Navigator
The Navigator (Figure 140) displays all objects contained in a
document. It provides another convenient way to move around a
document and find items in it. The Navigator icon is located on the
Standard toolbar. You can also display the Navigator by choosing Edit
> Navigator on the menu bar or pressing Ctrl+Shift+F5.
The Navigator is more useful if you give your slides and objects
(pictures, spreadsheets, and so on) meaningful names, instead of
leaving them as the default “Slide n” and “Shape n” shown in
Figure 140.

Figure 140: Navigator

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Working with views
This section describes the use of the five views.

Normal view
Normal view is the main view for working with individual slides. Use
this view to format and design and to add text, graphics, and animation
effects.
To place a slide in the Slide Design area of the Normal view, click the
slide thumbnail in the Slides pane or use the Navigator.
To select a slide in the Navigator, scroll down the list until you find it
and then double-click it.

Outline view
Outline view (Figure 141) contains all the slides of the presentation in
their numbered sequence. It shows topic titles, bulleted lists, and
numbered lists for each slide in outline format. Only the text contained
in the default text boxes in each slide is shown, so if your slide includes
other text boxes or drawing objects, the text in these objects is not
displayed. Slide names are also not included.

Figure 141: Outline view

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Outline view serves at least two purposes.
4) Making changes in the text of a slide:
• You can add and delete the text in a slide just as you would in
the Normal view.
• You can move the paragraphs of text in the selected slide up
or down by using the up and down arrow buttons (Move Up or
Move Down) on the Text Formatting toolbar.
• You can change the Outline Level for any of the paragraphs in
a slide using the left and right arrow buttons (Promote or
Demote).
• You can both move a paragraph and change its outline level
using a combination of these four arrow buttons.
5) Comparing the slides with your outline (if you have prepared one
in advance). If you notice from your outline that another slide is
needed, you can create it directly in the Outline view (pressing
Enter when the cursor is on the first line of the slide) or you can
change to the Normal view to create it, then return to Outline
view to continue reviewing the slides against your outline.
If a slide is not in the correct sequence, you can move it to its
proper place.
a) In the slide pane, click the slide icon of the slide you are
moving.
b) Drag and drop it where you want it.

Notes view
Use the Notes view to add notes to a slide.
1) Click the Notes tab in the Workspace (Figure 142).
2) Select the slide to which you want to add notes.
• Click the slide in the Slide pane, or
• Use the Previous Slide and Next Slide buttons to move to
the desired slide in the Navigator.
3) In the text box below the slide, click on the words Click to add
notes and begin typing.
You can resize the Notes text box using the green resizing handles and
move it by placing the pointer on the border, then clicking and
dragging. To make changes in the text style, press the F11 key to open
the Styles and Formatting window.

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 Figure 142: Notes view

Slide Sorter view

Slide Sorter view contains all the slide thumbnails (Figure 143). Use
this view to work with a group of slides or with only one slide.

Figure 143: Slide Sorter view

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Change the number of slides per row if desired.
1) Check View > Toolbars > Slide View to make the Slide View
toolbar (Figure 144) visible.

Figure 144: Slide Sorter and Slide View toolbars

2) Adjust the number of slides (up to a maximum of 15).
3) When you have adjusted the number of slide per row, click View
> Toolbars > Slide View to remove this toolbar from view.
To move a slide in a presentation in the Slide Sorter:
1) Click the slide. A thick black border is drawn around it.
2) Drag and drop it to the location you want.
• As you move the slide, a black vertical line appears to one side
of the slide.
• Drag the slide until this black vertical line is located where
you want the slide to be moved.
To select a group of slides, use one of these methods:
• Use the Control (Ctrl) key: Click on the first slide and, while
pressing Control, select the other desired slides.
• Use the Shift key: Click on the first slide, and while pressing the
Shift key, click on the final slide in the group. This selects all of
the other slides in between the first and the last.
• Use the mouse cursor: Click on the first slide to be selected. Hold
down the left mouse button. Drag the cursor to the last slide
thumbnail. A dashed outline of a rectangle forms as you drag the
cursor through the slide thumbnails and a thick black border is
drawn around the selected slides. Make sure the rectangle
includes all the slides you want to select.
To move a group of slides:
1) Select the group.
2) Drag and drop the group to their new location. The same vertical
black line appears to show you where the group of slides will go.

Selection of a group of slides works in a rectangular fashion.

Note Slides that do not fall within a rectangular area cannot be
grouped.

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You can work with slides in the Slide Sorter view just as you can in the
Slide pane. To make changes, right-click a slide and do any of the
following using the pop-up menu:
• Add a new slide after the selected slide.
• Delete the selected slide.
• Change the slide layout.
• Change the slide transition.
• For one slide, click the slide to select it. Then add the desired
transition.
• For more than one slide, select the group of slides and add the
desired transition.
• Mark a slide as hidden. Hidden slides are not shown in the slide
show.
• Copy or cut and paste a slide.

Handout view
Handout view is for setting up the layout of your slide for a printed
handout. Click the Handout tab in the workspace, then choose Layouts
in the Tasks pane. Layout contains five choices: 1, 2, 3, 4, 6, or 9 slides
per page (Figure 145).

Figure 145: Handout

layouts
To print a handout:
1) Select the slides using the Slide Sorter. (Use the steps listed in
selecting a group of slides on page 191.)
2) Select File > Print or press Control+P to open the Print dialog.
3) Select Options in the bottom left corner. of the Print dialog.
4) Check Handouts in the Contents section, and then click OK.
5) Click OK to close the Print dialog.

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Creating a new presentation
This section describes how to set up a new presentation. The settings
selected here are general: they apply to all the slides.

Planning a presentation
The first thing to do is to decide what you are going to do with the
presentation. For example, putting a group of digital photos together in
a presentation requires very little planning. However, using a
presentation to increase the knowledge of others about your topic
requires much more planning.
You need to ask and answer many questions before you begin creating
a presentation. If you are not acquainted with creating presentations,
the answers will be more general. Those who have created a variety of
presentations in the past will want to have more specific answers.
Who is to see the presentation? How will it be used? What is the
subject matter? What should be in its outline? How detailed should the
outline be? Will an audio file be played? Is animation desirable? How
should the transition between slides be handled? These are some of the
many questions that should be asked, answered, and written down
before creating the presentation. Sound and animation are more
advanced topics and are explained in the Impress Guide.
Again, it is not always necessary at this point to have specific answers
to every question. Making an outline is extremely important. You may
already know exactly what some of the slides will contain. You may
only have a general idea of what you want on some of the slides. That
is alright. You can make some changes as you go. Change your outline
to match the changes you make in your slides.
The important part is that you have a general idea of what you want
and how to get it. Put that information on paper. That makes it much
easier to create the presentation.

Using the Presentation Wizard

You can start Impress in several ways:
• From the OOo Welcome screen, if no component is open.
• From the system menu or the OOo Quickstarter. Details vary with
your operating system; see Chapter 1 for more information.
• From any open component of OOo. Click the triangle to the right
of the New icon on the main toolbar and select Presentation from

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 the drop-down menu or choose File > New > Presentation from
the menu bar.
When you start Impress, the Presentation Wizard appears (Figure
146).

If you do not want the wizard to start every time you launch
Impress, select the Do not show this wizard again checkbox.
You can enable it again later if you need under Tools >
Options > OpenOffice.org Impress > General > Wizard,
Tip and select the Start with wizard checkbox.
Leave the Preview checkbox selected, so templates, slide
designs, and slide transitions appear in the preview box as you
choose them.

Figure 146. Choosing the type of presentation

1) Select Empty Presentation under Type. It creates a presentation

from scratch.

From Template uses a template design already created as the

basis for a new presentation. The wizard changes to show a list
of available templates. Choose the template you want.
Note Open Existing Presentation continues work on a previously
created presentation. The wizard changes to show a list of
existing presentations. Choose the presentation you want.
Both of these options are covered in the Impress Guide.

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 2) Click Next. Figure 147 shows the Presentation Wizard step 2 as it
appears if you selected Empty Presentation at step 1. If you
selected From Template, an example slide is shown in the Preview
box.

Figure 147. Selecting a slide design

3) Choose a design under Select a slide design. The slide design
section gives you two main choices: Presentation Backgrounds
and Presentations. Each one has a list of choices for slide designs.
If you want to use one of these other than <Original>, click it to
select it.
• The types of Presentation Backgrounds are shown in Figure
147. By clicking an item, you will see a preview of the slide
design in the Preview window. Impress contains three choices
under Presentations: <Original>, Introducing a New Product,
and Recommendation of a Strategy.
• <Original> is for a blank presentation slide design.
• Both Introducing a New Product and Recommendation of a
Strategy have their own prepackaged slide designs. Each
design appears in the Preview window when its name is
clicked.

Introducing a New Product and Recommendation of a Strategy

are prepackaged presentation templates. They can be used to
Note create a presentation by choosing From template in the first
step (Figure 146).

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 4) Select how the presentation will be used under Select an output
medium. Most often, presentations are created for computer
screen display. Select Screen.
5) Click Next. The Presentation Wizard step 3 appears.

Figure 148. Selecting a slide design

6) Choose the desired slide transition from the Effect drop-down
menu.
7) Select the desired speed for the transition between the different
slides in the presentation from the Speed drop-down menu.
Medium is a good choice for now.
8) Click Create. A new presentation is created.

You might want to accept the default values for both Effect and
Speed unless you are skilled at doing this. Both of these values
Tip can be changed later while working with Slide transitions
and animations. These two are explained in more detail in
Chapter 9 of the Impress Guide.

If you selected From template on step 1 of the Wizard, the Next

Note button will be active on step 3 and other pages will be
available. These pages are not described here.

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Formatting a presentation
Now put your presentation together based on your outline.

Remember to save frequently while working on the

presentation, to prevent any loss of information should
Caution something unexpected occur. You might also want to activate
the AutoRecovery function (Tools > Options > Load/Save >
General). Make sure Save AutoRecovery information every
is selected and that you have entered a recovery frequency.

Creating the first slide

The first slide is normally a title slide. Decide which of the layouts will
best suit your purposes for this first slide: simplicity would be
appropriate in this instance. You can use the prepackaged layouts
available in the Layout section of the Tasks pane. Suitable layouts are
Title Slide (which also contains a section for a subtitle) or Title Only,
however all but one layout (the blank one) contains a title section, so
you are not restricted to the two layouts described here.

If you do not know the names for the prepackaged layouts, you
can use the tooltip feature. Position the cursor on an icon in
the Layout section (or on any toolbar icon) and its name will be
displayed in a small rectangle.
If the tooltips are not enabled, you can enable them. From the
Tip
main menu, select Tools > Options > OpenOffice.org >
General > Help and mark the Tips checkbox. If the
Extended tips checkbox is also marked, you will get more
detailed tooltip information, but the tooltip names themselves
will not be provided.

Select a layout in the Layout section of the Tasks pane by clicking on it:
it appears in the Workspace. To create the title, click on “Click to add
title” (assuming the Blank Slide layout was not used) and then type the
title text. Adjustments to the formatting of the title can be done by
pressing the F11 key, right-clicking the Title presentation style entry,
and selecting Modify from the pop-up menu.
If you are using the Title Slide layout, click on Click to add text to add
a subtitle. Proceed as above to make adjustments to the formatting if
required.

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Inserting additional slides
The steps for inserting additional slides are basically the same as for
selecting the title page. It is a process that has to be repeated for each
slide. Unless you are using more than one slide master, your only
concern is the Layouts section of the Tasks pane (Figure 149).

Figure 149: Choosing a slide layout

First insert all the slides your outline indicates you will need. Only
after this should you begin adding special effects such as custom
animation and slide transitions.
Step 1: Insert a new slide. This can be done in a variety of ways—take
your pick.
• Insert > Slide.
• Right-click on the present slide, and select Slide > New Slide
from the pop-up menu.
• Click the Slide icon in the Presentation toolbar (Figure 150).

Figure 150: Presentation toolbar

Step 2: Select the layout slide that bests fits your needs.
Step 3: Modify the elements of the slide. At this stage, the slide
consists of everything contained in the slide master, as well as the
chosen layout slide, so this includes removing unneeded elements,
adding needed elements (such as pictures), and inserting text.

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 Changes to any of the pre-packaged layouts can only be made
Caution using View > Normal, which is the default. Attempting to do
this by modifying a slide master may result in unpredictable
results and requires extra care as well as some trials and
errors.

1) Remove any element on the slide that is not required.

• Click the element to highlight it. (The green squares show it is
highlighted.)
• Press the Delete key to remove it.

Sometimes you will accidentally select the wrong layout slide

Tip or decide to change it. This is safe and does not cause loss of
the contents already on the slide.

2) Add any elements to the slide that you do need.

a) Adding pictures to the clipart frame, if your chosen layout
includes one:
• Double-click the picture within the frame. The Insert
picture dialog opens.
• Browse to the location of the picture you want to include.
To see a preview of the picture, check Preview at the
bottom of the Insert picture dialog.
• Select the picture and click Open.
• Resize the picture as necessary. Follow the directions in
the Caution note below.
b) Adding pictures from graphic files to places other than the
clipart frame:
• Insert > Picture > From File. The Insert picture dialog
opens.
• Browse to the graphic file. To see a preview of the picture,
check Preview at the bottom of the Insert picture dialog.
Select a picture and click Open.
• Move the picture to its location.
• Resize the picture, if necessary.
c) Adding OLE Objects is an advanced technique covered in
Chapter 7 of the Impress Guide.

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 When resizing a graphic, right-click the picture. Select
Position and Size from the context menu and make sure that
Keep ratio is selected. Then adjust the height or width to the
Caution size you need. (As you adjust one dimension both dimensions
will change.) Failure to do so will cause the picture to become
distorted. Remember also that resizing a bitmap image will
reduce its quality; better by far to create an image of the
desired size outside of Impress.

3) Adding text to a slide: If the slide contains text, click on Click to

add an outline in the text frame and then type your text. The
Outline styles from 1 to 10 are automatically applied to the text as
you insert it. You can change the outline level of each paragraph
as well as its position within the text using the arrow buttons on
the Text Formatting toolbar.
Step 4: To create additional slides, repeat steps 1–3.

Modifying the appearance of slides

To change the background and other characteristics of all slides in the
presentation, you need to modify the slide master or choose a different
slide master.
A Slide Master is a slide with a specified set of characteristics which is
used as the beginning point for creating other slides. These
characteristics include the background, objects in the background,
formatting of any text used, and any background graphics.

OOo uses three interchangeable terms for this one concept.

Master slide, slide master, and master page all refer to a slide
Note that is used to create other slides. This book, however, will use
only the term slide master, except when describing the user
interface.

Impress has 28 prepackaged slide masters, found in the Master Pages

section of the Tasks pane. You can also create and save additional slide
masters.

Modifying the slide show

Now review the entire presentation and answer some questions. Run
the slide show at least once before answering them. You might want to
add some questions of your own.
1) Are the slides in the correct order? If not, some of them will need

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200 Getting Started with OpenOffice.org 3.x

 2) Would an additional slide make a particular point clearer? If so,
another slide needs to be created.
3) Would some custom animations help some of the slides?
(Advanced technique.)
4) Should some of the slides have a different slide transition than
others? The transition of those slides should be changed.
5) Do some of the slides seem unnecessary? Delete the affected slide
or slides after checking if they are indeed unnecessary.

If one or more slides seems to be unnecessary, hide the slide

or slides, and view the slide show a few more times to make
sure. To hide a slide, right-click the slide in the Slides pane
Tip and select Hide Slide in the pop-up menu. Do not delete a
slide until you have done this, otherwise you may have to
create that slide again.

Once you have answered these and your own questions, you should
make the necessary changes. This is done most easily in the Slide
Sorter view. If you need one or more new slides, create them using the
steps listed in “Inserting additional slides” on page 198.

Slide masters and styles

A slide master is a slide that is used as the starting point for other
slides. It is similar to a page style in Writer: it controls the basic
formatting of all slides based on it. A slide show can have more than
one slide master.

OOo uses three terms for this one concept. Master slide, slide
master, and master page all refer to a slide which is used to
Note create other slides. This book uses the term slide master,
except when describing the user interface.

A slide master has a defined set of characteristics, including the

background color, graphic, or gradient; objects (such as logos,
decorative lines, and other graphics) in the background; headers and
footers; placement and size of text frames; and the formatting of text.
All of the characteristics of slide masters are controlled by styles. The
styles of any new slide you create are inherited from the slide master
from which it was created. In other words, the styles of the slide
master are available and applied to all slides created from that slide
master. Changing a style in a slide master results in changes to all the

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slides based on that slide master; it is, however, possible to modify
each individual slide without affecting the slide master.
Slide masters have two types of styles associated with them:
presentation styles and graphic styles. The pre-packaged presentation
styles can be modified, but new presentation styles cannot be created.
However, not only can the prepackaged graphic styles be modified, but
new graphic styles can also be created. What styles to use and when to
use them is described later in this chapter.
Presentation styles affect three elements of a slide master: the
background, background objects (such as icons, decorative lines, and
text frames), and the text placed on the slide. Text styles are further
divided into Notes, Outline 1 through Outline 9, Subtitle, and Title. The
outline styles are used for the different levels of the outline to which
they belong. For example, Outline 2 is used for the subpoints of Outline
1, and Outline 3 is used for the subpoints of Outline 2.
Graphic styles affect many of the elements of a slide. Notice that text
styles exist in both the presentation and graphic style selections.

Working with slide masters

Impress comes with 28 prepackaged slide
masters. They are shown in the Master Pages
section of the Tasks pane (Figure 153). This
section has three subsections: Used in This
Presentation, Recently Used, and Available for
Use. Click the + sign next to the name of a
subsection to expand it to show thumbnails of
the slides, or click the – sign to collapse the
subsection to hide the thumbnails.
Each of the slide masters shown in the
Available for Use list is from a template of the
same name. If you have created your own
templates, or added templates from other
sources, slide masters from those templates
will also appear in this list.

Figure 151: Available

master pages (slides)

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Creating slide masters
You can create a new slide master in a similar way to modifying the
default slide master.
To start, enable editing of slide masters by View > Master > Slide
Master.
On the Master View toolbar, click the New Master icon.
A second slide master appears in the Slides pane. Modify this slide
master to suit your requirements. It is also recommended that you
rename this new slide master: right-click on the slide in the Slides
pane and select Rename master from the popup menu.
When you are done, close the Master View toolbar to return to normal
slide editing mode.

Applying a slide master

In the Tasks Pane, be sure the Master Pages section is showing.
To apply one of the slide masters to all slides in your presentation,
click on it in the list.
To apply a different slide master to one or more selected slides:
1) In the Slide Pane, select the slides you want to change.
2) In the Tasks Pane, right-click on the slide master you want to
apply to the selected slides, and click Apply to Selected Slides
on the pop-up menu.

Loading additional slide masters

Sometimes, in the same set of slides, you may need to mix multiple
slide masters that may belong to different templates. For example, you
may need a completely different layout for the first slide of the
presentation, or you may want to add to your presentation a slide from
a different presentation (based on a template available on the hard
disk).
The Slide Design dialog makes this possible. Access this dialog either
from the menu bar (Format > Slide design) or by right-clicking on a
slide in the Slides pane.
The main window in the dialog shows the slide masters already
available for use. To add more:
1) Click the Load button.

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 2) Select in the new dialog the template from which to load the slide
master. Click OK.
3) Click OK again to close the slide design dialog.
The slide masters in the template you selected are now shown also in
the Master Pages section of the Tasks pane in the Available for use
subsection.

The slide masters you have loaded will also be available the
next time you load the presentation. If you want to delete the
unused slide masters, click the corresponding checkbox in the
Note Slide Design dialog. Due to a bug, if the slide master was not
used in the presentation, it is removed from the list of
available slide masters anyway.

To limit the size of the presentation file, you may want to

Tip minimize the number of slide masters used.

Modifying a slide master

The following items can be changed on a slide master:
• Background (color, gradient, hatching, or bitmap)
• Background objects (for example, add a logo or decorative
graphics)
• Size, placement, and contents of header and footer elements to
appear on every slide
• Size and placement of default frames for slide titles and content
Before working on the slide master, make sure that the Styles and
Formatting window is open.
To select the slide master for modification:
1) Select View > Master > Slide Master from the menu bar. This
unlocks the properties of the slide master so you can edit it.
2) Click Master Pages in the Tasks pane. This gives you access to the
pre-packaged slide masters.
3) Click on the slide master you want to modify among the ones
available (Figure 153).
4) Make changes as required, then click the Close Master View
icon on the Master View toolbar. For details, see Chapter 2 of the
Impress Guide
5) Save the file before continuing.

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 Any changes made to one slide when in Master View mode will
appear on all slides using this slide master. Always make sure
Caution you close Master View and return to Normal view before
working on any of the presentation slides. Select View >
Normal from the menu bar, or click Close Master View in
the Master View toolbar to return to the normal slide view.

The changes made to one of the slides in Normal view (for example
changes to the bullet point style or the color of the title area and so
on...) will not be overridden by subsequent changes to the slide master.
There are cases, however, where it is desirable to revert a manually
modified element of the slide to the style defined in the slide master: to
do that, select that element and choose Format > Default
Formatting from the menu bar.
Sometimes you may want to try several of the available layouts to see
which one is more suitable for your contents. Applying a layout only
requires that you open the Layouts section of the Tasks pane and
double-click on the new layout. Alternatively you can right-click on the
desired layout thumbnail and select Apply to selected slide from the
pop-up menu.

Adding text to all slides

Some of the supplied slide masters have text objects in the footer. You
can add other text objects to the master page for your slides to act as a
header or a footer.
1) Choose View > Master > Slide Master from the menu bar.
2) On the Drawing toolbar (see Figure 147), select the Text icon.
3) Click once and drag in the master page to draw a text object, and
then type or paste your text into the object or add fields as
described below.
4) Choose View > Normal when you are finished.
To add a field, such as the date or page number, to a text object in the
header or footer, choose Insert > Fields. and select the required field
from the submenu. If you want to edit a field in your slide, select it and
choose Edit > Fields.
The fields you can use in Impress are:
• Date (fixed)
• Date (variable)—updates automatically when you reload the file
• Time (fixed)

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 • Author—First and last names listed in the OpenOffice.org user
data
• Page number (slide number)
• File name

To change the number format (1,2,3 or a,b,c or i,ii,iii, etc.) for

the page number field, choose Format > Page and then select
Tip a format from the list in the Layout Settings area.
To change the author information, go to Tools > Options >
OpenOffice.org > User Data.

Adding and formatting text

Text in slides is contained in text boxes.
There are two ways to add text boxes to a slide:
• Choose a predefined layout from the Layouts section of the Tasks
pane. These text boxes are called AutoLayout text boxes.
• Create a text box using the text tool.

Using text boxes created from the Layout pane

In Normal view:
1) Click in the text box that reads Click to add text, Click to add
an outline, or a similar notation.
2) Type or paste your text in the text box.

Using text boxes created from the text box tool

In Normal View:
1) Click on the Text icon on the Drawing toolbar. If the toolbar
with the text icon is not visible, choose View > Toolbars >
Drawing.
2) Click and drag to draw a box for the text on the slide. Do not
worry about the vertical size and position—the text box will
expand if needed as you type.
3) Release the mouse button when finished. The cursor appears in
the text box, which is now in edit mode (gray hashed border with
green resizing handles shown in Figure 152).
4) Type or paste your text in the text box.
5) Click outside the text box to deselect it.

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 Figure 152: Selected text box showing the
green resizing handles and text toolbar
You can move, resize, and delete text boxes. For more information, see
Chapter 3 in the Impress Guide.

In addition to the normal text boxes where text is horizontally

aligned, it is possible to insert text boxes where the text is
aligned vertically. This choice is available only when Asian
languages are enabled in Tools > Options > Language
Note Settings > Languages.

Click on the button in the drawing toolbar to create a vertical

text box. Note that when editing the contents, the text is
displayed horizontally.

Quick font resizing

Starting with OOo3.1, Impress has convenient buttons on the
Formatting toolbar to increase or decrease font size of selected text.
The amount by which the font size changes depends on the standard
sizes available for the font in use.

Pasting text
You can insert text into a text box by copying it from another document
and pasting it into Impress. However, the pasted text will probably not
match the formatting of the surrounding text or that of the other slides
in the presentation. This may be what you want on some occasions,
however in most cases you want to make sure that the presentation

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Chapter 6 Getting Started with Impress 207

bullet points and so on. There are several ways to ensure consistency;
these methods are explained below.

Pasting unformatted text

It is normally good practice to paste text without formatting and apply
the formatting later. To paste without formatting, either press
Control+Shift+V and then select Unformatted text from the dialog
that appears, or click on the small black triangle next to the paste

symbol in the standard toolbar and select Unformatted text.

The unformatted text will be formatted with the outline style at the
cursor position in an AutoLayout text box or with the default graphic
style in a normal text box.

Formatting pasted text

If pasting the text into an AutoLayout area, then to give the pasted
text the same look and feel of the rest of the presentation. you need to
apply the appropriate outline style to the text.
1) Paste the text in the desired position. Do not worry if it does not
look right: it will in a minute.
2) Select the text you have just pasted.
3) Select Format > Default formatting from the menu bar.
4) Use the four arrow buttons in the Text Formatting toolbar

to move the text to the appropriate position and

give it the appropriate outline level. The button with the arrow
pointing left promotes the list entry by one level (for example
from Outline 3 to Outline 2), the right arrow button demotes the
list entry by one level, the up and down arrow buttons move the
list entry.
5) Apply manual formatting as required to sections of the text (to
change font attributes, tabs, and so on).
If you are pasting text in a text box, you can still use styles to quickly
format the text. Note that one and only one graphic style can be
applied to the copied text. To do that:
1) Paste the text in the desired position.
2) Select the text you have just pasted.
3) Select the desired graphic style.
4) Apply manual formatting as required to sections of the text.

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 Presentation styles are very different from Writer styles and
Tip are applied in quite a different way.

Creating bulleted and numbered lists

The procedure to create a bulleted or numbered list is quite different
depending on the type of text box used, although the tools to manage
the list and customize the appearance are the same.
In text boxes created automatically by Impress (called AutoLayout), the
outline styles available are by default bulleted lists, while for normal
text boxes an additional step is required to create a bulleted list.

Creating lists in AutoLayout text boxes

Every text box included in the available layouts is already formatted as
a bulleted list, therefore to create a bulleted list the only necessary
steps are:
1) From the Layout pane, choose a slide design that contains a text
box. Those are easily recognizable from the thumbnail.
2) Click in the text box that reads Click to add an outline.
3) Type the text, then press Enter to start a new bulleted line.
4) The default list type is a bulleted list. The mechanisms to change
the list from bulleted to numbered and vice versa are explained in
“Changing the appearance of the list” on page 210.

Press Shift + Enter to start a new line without creating a new

bullet or number. The new line will have the same indentation
of the previous line. Press instead the button bullets on/off on
Tip the text formatting toolbar for a line without bullet. If the text
formatting toolbar is not showing, enable it selecting View >
Toolbar > Formatting in the menu bar.

Creating lists in other text boxes

To create a list in a text box, follow these steps:
1) Place the cursor in the text box.

2) Click the Bullets On/Off button on the text formatting

toolbar. If the text formatting toolbar is not showing, enable it by
selecting View > Toolbar > Formatting from the menu bar.
3) Type the text and press Enter to start a new bulleted line.

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 4) The default list type is a bulleted list. The mechanisms to change
the appearance of the list are explained on page 210.

Creating a new outline level

1) If necessary, press Enter to begin a new line.
2) Press Tab. Each time you press Tab the line indents to the next
outline level. Pressing Enter creates a new line at the same level
as the previous one. To return to the previous level, press
Shift+Tab.
In the AutoLayout text boxes, promoting or demoting an item in the list
corresponds to applying a different outline style, so the second outline
level corresponds to Outline 2 style, the third to Outline 3 style, and so
on.

Unlike styles in Writer, do not try to change the outline level

by selecting the text and then clicking the desired outline
Note style. Due to the way the presentation styles work, it is not
possible to apply them in this way.

Changing the appearance of the list

You can fully customize the appearance of a list, changing the bullet
type or numbering for the entire list or for single entry. All of the
changes can be made using the Bullets and Numbering dialog, which is
accessed by selecting Format > Bullets and Numbering or by
clicking on the Bullets and Numbering icon on the text formatting
toolbar.
For the entire list:
1) Select the entire list or click on the gray border of the text box so
that just the green resizing handles are displayed.
2) Select Format > Bullets and Numbering or click on the

Bullets and Numbering icon .

3) The Bullets and Numbering dialog contains five tabs: Bullets,
Numbering type, Graphics, Position, and Customize.
• If a bullet list is needed, select the desired bullet style from
the six default styles available on the Bullets page.
• If a graphics style is needed, select one from those available
on the Graphics page.
• If a numbered list is needed, select one of the 6 default
numbering styles on the Numbering type page.

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For a single line in the list:
1) Click anywhere in the line to place the cursor in it.
2) Follow steps 2–4 of the previous instruction set.
If the list was created in an AutoLayout text box, then an alternative
way to change the entire list is to modify the Outline styles. Changes
made to the outline style will apply to all the slides using them.
Sometimes this is what you want; sometimes it is not, so some care
must be taken.

Creating tables
For displaying tabular data, you can insert basic tables directly into
your slides in a number of ways:
• Use the Insert > Table menu option.

• With the Table button on the main toolbar.

• With the Table Design button on the table toolbar.
• By selecting a Style option from the Table Design section of the
Tasks pane.
Each method opens the Insert Table dialog, shown in Figure 153.
Alternatively, clicking on the black arrow next to the Table button
displays a graphic that you can drag and select the number of rows
and columns for your table.

Figure 153. Creating a table with the Insert

Table dialog.

Selecting from any of the styles in the Table Design section of

the Tasks pane creates a table based on that style. If you
Note create a table by another method, you can still apply a style of
your choice later.

With the table selected, the Table toolbar should appear. If it does not,

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you can access it by selecting View > Toolbars > Table. The Table

Chapter 6 Getting Started with Impress 211

toolbar offers many of the same buttons as the table toolbar in Writer,
with the exception of functions like Sort and Sum for performing
calculations. For those functions, you need to use a spreadsheet
inserted from Calc (discussed below).
After the table is created, you can modify it in much the same ways as
you would modify a table in Writer: adding and deleting rows and
columns, adjusting width and spacing, adding borders, background
colors and so on. Detailed information on working with tables and the
Table Properties dialog can be found in Chapter 9 of the Writer Guide.
By modifying the style of the table from the Table Design section of the
Tasks pane, you can quickly change the appearance of the table or any
newly created tables based on the Style options you select. You can
choose to add emphasis to a header and total row as well as the first
and last columns of the table, and apply a banded appearance to the
rows and columns.
Having completed the table design, entering data into the cells is
similar to working with text box objects. Click in the cell you wish to
add data to, and begin typing. To move around cells quickly, use the
following key options:
• The arrow keys move the cursor to the next table cell if the cell is
empty, otherwise they move the cursor to the next character in
the cell.
• The Tab key moves to the next cell, skipping over the contents of
the cell; Shift+Tab move backwards in this manner.

Adding graphics, spreadsheets, charts,

and other objects
Graphics in Impress are handled much the same as graphics in Draw.
For more information, see Chapter 7 (Getting Started with Draw), the
Draw Guide, or Chapters 4, 5, and 6 in the Impress Guide.
Spreadsheets embedded in Impress include most of the functionality of
spreadsheets in Calc and are therefore capable of performing
extremely complex calculations and data analysis. If you need to
analyze your data or apply formulas, these operations are best
performed in a Calc spreadsheet and the results displayed in an
embedded Impress spreadsheet.
To add a spreadsheet to a slide, select the corresponding layout in the
list of predefined layouts in the Tasks pane. This inserts a placeholder

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for a spreadsheet in the center of a slide. To insert data and modify the

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formatting of the spreadsheet, it is necessary to activate it and enter
the edit mode. To do so, double-click inside the frame with the green
handles.
Alternatively, select Insert > Spreadsheet from the main menu bar.
This opens a small spreadsheet in the middle of the slide. When a
spreadsheet is inserted using this method, it is already in edit mode. It
is also possible to insert a spreadsheet as an OLE object.
To add a chart to a slide, select the corresponding layout in the list of
predefined layouts in the task pane or use the Insert Chart feature.
Impress offers the capability of inserting in a slide various other types
of objects such as music or video clips, Writer documents, Math
formulas, generic OLE objects and so on. A typical presentation may
contain movie clips, sound clips, OLE objects and formulas; other
objects are less frequently used since they do not appear during a slide
show.
For details on using spreadsheets, charts, and other objects in Impress,
refer to Chapter 7 of the Impress Guide.

Adding comments to a presentation

Starting with OOo 3.2, Impress supports comments (formerly called
sticky notes) similar to those in Writer and Calc.
In Normal View, choose Insert > Comment from the menu bar. A
small box containing your initials appears in the upper left-hand corner
of the slide, with a larger text box beside it. Impress has automatically
added your name and the date at the bottom of this text box.

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Chapter 6 Getting Started with Impress 213
Type or paste your comment into the text box. You can optionally apply
some basic formatting to parts of the text by selecting it, right-clicking,
and choosing from the pop-up menu. (From this menu, you can also
delete the current comment, all the comments from the same author,
or all the comments in the document.)
You can move the small comment markers to anywhere you wish on the
page. Typically you might place it on or near an object you refer to in
the comment.
To show or hide the comment markers, choose View > Comments.
Select Tools > Options > User Data to configure the name you want
to appear in the Author field of the comment, or to change it.
If more than one person edits the document, each author is
automatically allocated a different background color.

Setting up the slide show

Impress gives you the tools to organize and display a slide show,
including:
• Which slides to show and in what order
• Whether to run the show automatically or manually
• Transitions between slides
• Animations on individual slides
• Interactions: what happens when you click a button or link
Chapter 9 of the Impress Guide describes these tools.
Most tasks associated with putting together a show from your slides
are best done in Slide Sorter view. Choose View > Slide Sorter from
the menu bar or click the Slide Sorter tab at the top of the workspace.
All of your slides appear in the workspace; you may need to scroll to
see them all.
Custom animations are found on the Tasks pane. This is an advanced
technique and is explained in Chapter 9 (Slide Shows) in the Impress
Guide.
Your first slide show should probably have the same slide transition for
all slides. Setting Advance slide to On mouse click is the default and
a simple setting. If you want each slide to be shown for a specific
amount of time, click Automatically after and enter the number of
seconds. Click Apply to all slides.

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Slide transition choices are also found on the Tasks pane. For more
information about slide transitions, see Chapter 9 in the Impress
Guide.

The Slide transition section has a very useful choice:

Automatic preview. Select its checkbox. Then when you make
Tip any changes in a slide transition, the new slide is previewed in
the Slide Design area, including its transition effect.

Running the slide show

To run the slide show, do one of the following:
• Click Slide Show > Slide Show.
• Click the Slide Show button on the Presentation toolbar.

Figure 154: Presentation Toolbar

• Press F5 or F9.
If the slide transition is Automatic after x seconds, let the slide show
run by itself.
If the slide transition is On mouse click, do one of the following to
move from one slide to the next:
• Use the arrow keys on the keyboard to go to the next slide or to
go back to the previous one.
• Click the mouse to move to the next slide.
• Press the spacebar on the keyboard to advance to the next slide.
Right-click anywhere on the screen to open a menu from which you can
navigate the slides and set other options.
To exit the slide show at any time including at the end, press the Esc
key.

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 Chapter 7
Getting Started with Draw
Vector Drawing in OpenOffice.org

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What is Draw?
Draw is a vector graphics drawing program. It offers a series of
powerful tools that enable you to quickly create all sorts of graphics.
Vector graphics store and display an image as vectors (two points and
a line) rather than a collections of pixels (dots on the screen). Vector
graphics allow for easier storage and scaling of the image.
Draw is perfectly integrated into the OpenOffice.org suite, and this
makes exchanging graphics with all components of the suite very easy.
For example, if you create an image in Draw, reusing it in a Writer
document is as simple as copying and pasting. You can also work with
drawings directly from within Writer and Impress, using a subset of the
functions and tools from Draw.
Draw’s functionalities are very extensive and complete. Although it
was not designed to rival high-end graphics applications, Draw
possesses more functions than the majority of drawing tools that are
integrated into office productivity suites.
A few examples of drawing functions might whet your appetite: layer
management, magnetic grid point system, dimensions and
measurement display, connectors for making organization charts, 3D
functions enabling small three-dimensional drawings to be created
(with texture and lighting effects), drawing and page style integration,
and Bézier curves, to name a few.
This chapter introduces some of Draw’s features, but it does not
attempt to cover all of them. See the Draw Guide and the application
Help for more information.

The Draw workspace

The main components of the Draw workspace are shown in Figure 155.
You can surround the drawing area with toolbars and information
areas. The number and position of the visible tools vary with the task
at hand or user preferences. Therefore, your setup may appear a little
different. For example, many people put the main Drawing toolbar on
the left-hand side of the workspace, not at the bottom as shown here.
You can split drawings in Draw over several pages. Multipage drawings
are used mainly for presentations. The Pages pane, on the left side of
the Draw window in Figure 155 gives an overview of the pages that
you create. If the Pages pane is not visible on your setup,you can
enable it from the View menu (View > Page Pane).

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Chapter 7 Getting Started with Draw 217
Figure 155. Initial Draw window

Rulers
You should see rulers (bars with
numbers) on the upper and left-hand
side of the workspace. These show
the size of a selected object on the
page (see the gray double lines,
highlighted in Figure 156). When no
object is selected, they show the
location of the mouse pointer, which
helps to accurately position drawing Figure 156: Rulers show the
objects. You can also use the rulers size of the selected object
to manage object handles and guide lines, making it easier to position
objects. The page margins in the drawing area are also represented on
the rulers. You can change the margins directly on the rulers by
dragging them with the mouse.

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To modify the units of measurement of
the rulers, right-click on one of the
rulers (Figure 3). The two rulers can
have different units.

Figure 157. Ruler units

Status bar
The Status bar (Figures 158 and 159) is located at the bottom of the
workspace. In addition to fields common to several OOo components, it
includes several Draw-specific fields. For details on the contents and
use of these fields, see Chapter 1 (Introducing OpenOffice.org) in this
book and Chapter 1 (Introducing Draw) in the Draw Guide.

The sizes are given in the current measurement unit (not to be

confused with the ruler units). This unit is defined in Tools >
Note Options > OpenOffice.org Draw > General, where you can
also change the scale of the page. Another way to change the
scale is to double-click on the number shown in the status bar.

Figure 158: Left end of the Draw status bar

Figure 159: Right end of Draw status bar

Toolbars
You can display or hide the various Draw toolbars according to your
needs.
To display or hide a toolbar, click View > Toolbars. On the menu that
appears, choose which toolbars you want to display.

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Chapter 7 Getting Started with Draw 219
You can also select the icons that you wish to appear on the
corresponding toolbar. On the View > Toolbars menu, choose
Customize, click on the Toolbars tab, select the toolbar you want to
change, and then select the desired icons for that toolbar.
Many toolbar icons are marked with a small arrow. The arrow indicates
that this icon has additional functions. Click this arrow and a submenu
or a toolbar appears, showing its additional functions (see Figure 160).
Most icons marked with a small arrow can become floating toolbars. To
make a submenu into a floating toolbar, click the area at the top of the
submenu, drag it across the screen, and then release the mouse
button. Floating toolbars can be docked on an edge of the screen or
within one of the existing toolbar areas at the top of the screen, as
described in Chapter 1.

Figure 160. An arrow next to a button

indicates additional functions
Click the arrow on the title bar of a floating toolbar to display
additional functions (see Figure 161).

Figure 161. An arrow on a floating toolbar indicates

additional functions

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The tools available in the various toolbars are explained in the
following sections. The appearance of the toolbar icons may vary with
your operating system and the selection of icon size and style in Tools
> Options > OpenOffice.org > View.

Standard toolbar
The Standard toolbar looks like this:

It is the same for all parts of OpenOffice.org.

Line and Filling toolbar

The Line and Filling toolbar lets you modify the main properties of a
drawing object. See page 240 for details.

If the selected object is text, the toolbar changes to the one shown
below, which is similar to the Formatting toolbar in Writer.

Drawing toolbar
The Drawing toolbar is the most important toolbar in Draw. It contains
all the necessary functions for drawing various geometric and freehand
shapes and organizing them on the page.

Color Bar
To display the Color Bar, use View > Toolbars > Color Bar. The
toolbar then appears at the bottom of the workspace.

This toolbar lets you rapidly choose the color of the objects in your
drawing. The first box in the panel corresponds to transparency (no
color).
You can access several specialized color palettes in Draw, as well as
change individual colors to your own taste. This is done using the Area
dialog, reached by choosing Format > Area or the pouring can icon on
the Line and Filling toolbar.
On the Area dialog, choose the tab marked Colors (Figure 8).

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Chapter 7 Getting Started with Draw 221
 Figure 162. Changing the color palette
To load another palette, click on the Load Color List button (circled).
The file selector dialog asks you to choose one of the standard OOo
palettes (files bearing the file extension *.soc). For example, web.soc
is a color palette that is adapted to creating drawings that are going to
appear in Web pages. The colors will correctly display on workstations
with screens displaying at least 256 colors.
The color selection box also lets you individually change any color by
modifying the numerical values in the fields provided to the right of the
color palette. You can use the color schemes known as CMYK (Cyan,
Magenta, Yellow, Black), and RGB (Red, Green, Blue).
Clicking on the Edit button opens a special dialog to allow setting
individual colors (see Figure 163). Many more input possibilities are
available in this dialog.
In the lower area you can enter values in the RGB and CMYK models
as well as in the HSB (Hue, Saturation and Brightness) model.
The two color fields at lower right show the value of the color as
selected (left) and the new value from the chosen color value fields
(right).
For a more detailed description of color palettes and their options, see
Chapter 8 (Tips and Tricks) in the Draw Guide.

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 Color
schemes
Figure 163. Defining color schemes

Options toolbar
The Options toolbar lets you activate or deactivate various drawing
aids. The Options toolbar is not displayed by default. To display it,
select View > Toolbars > Options. The functions of the various icons
are described in Table 2.

Figure 164: Options toolbar

Table 2: Functions on the Options toolbar

Icon Function
Rotation mode after clicking object
Display (or hide) the grid
Display (or hide) the guides
Display (or hide) guides when moving
Snap to grid
Snap to guides
Snap to page margins
Snap to object borders
Snap to object points

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Chapter 7 Getting Started with Draw 223
 Icon Function
Allow quick editing
Select text area only
Double-click to edit text
Simple handles
Large handles

Positioning objects with snap functions

In Draw, objects can be positioned to grid points, to special snap points
and lines, to object frames, to single object points, or to page edges.
This function is known as Snap. In this manner objects can be very
accurately positioned in a drawing.
If you want to use the snap function, it is much easier to work with the
highest practical zoom value. It is possible to use two different snap
functions at the same time, for example snap to a guide line and to the
page edge. It is best, however, to activate only those functions that you
really need.
This section describes the snap-to-grid function. For more information
about this and the other snap functions, see Chapter 8 (Tips and
Tricks) and Chapter 10 (Advanced Draw Techniques) in the Draw
Guide.

Snap to grid
Use this function to move an object exactly to a grid point (see Figure
165). This function can be switched on and off with View > Grid >
Snap to Grid and on the Options toolbar with the icon .

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Figure 165: With snap to grid, objects align to the grid precisely.

224 Getting Started with OpenOffice.org 3.x

Showing the grid
Make the grid visible under View > Grid > Display Grid.
Alternatively turn the grid on and off with the icon on the Options
toolbar.

Configuring the grid

The color, spacing, and resolution of the grid points can be individually
chosen for each axis. The spacing between the lines is defined in the
Grid options dialog under the Drawing area of the OOo options (Tools
> Options > OpenOffice.org Draw > Grid).

Figure 166. Setting grid options

In the dialog shown in Figure 166, you can set the following
parameters:
• Vertical and horizontal spacing of the dots in the grid. You can
also change the unit of measurement used in the general Draw
options (Tools > Options > OpenOffice.org Draw > General).
• The resolution is the size of the squares or rectangles in the grid.
If the resolution is Horizontal 1 cm, Vertical 2 cm, the grid
consists of rectangles 2 cm high and 1 cm wide.
• Subdivisions are additional points that appear along the sides of
each rectangle or square in the grid. Objects snap to subdivisions
as well as to the corners of the grid.

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 • The pixel (pix element) size of the snap area defines how close
you need to bring an object to a snap point or line before it will
snap to it.

Changing the color of the grid points

The default grid dots are light gray, which can be hard to see. To
improve visibility, go to Tools > Options, then OpenOffice.org >
Appearance (Figure 167).

Figure 167: Changing the grid color

In the Drawing / Presentation section, you can change the color of the
grid points. On the Color Settings pulldown menu, select a more
suitable/visible color, for example black.

Positioning objects with helper lines

To simplify the positioning of objects it is possible to make visible
guiding lines—extensions of the edges of the object—while it is being
moved. These guiding lines have no snap function.
The guiding lines can be activated or deactivated under Tools >
Options > OpenOffice.org Draw > View > Guides when moving,
or by clicking on the icon on the Options toolbar.

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The basic drawing shapes
Draw provides a wide range of shapes, located in palettes accessed
from the Drawing Toolbar. This chapter describes only a few of the
basic shapes; see the Draw Guide for a complete description of the
shapes available. These shapes include rectangles and squares; circles,
ellipses, and arcs; 3D objects; curves; lines and arrows; text; and
connectors.
When you draw a basic shape or select one for editing, the Info field at
the left side in the status bar changes to reflect the present action:
Line created, Text frame xxyy selected, and so on.
Figure 168 shows part of the Drawing toolbar with the icons needed in
the following sections. The Text icon is also included.

Figure 168: Part of the Drawing toolbar

Drawing a straight line

Let’s start by drawing the simplest of shapes: a straight line. Click on
the Line icon on the Drawing Toolbar and place the mouse pointer
where you want to start the line. Drag the mouse while keeping the
button pressed. Release the mouse button when you want to end the
line.
A blue or green selection handle appears at each end of the line,
showing that this is the currently selected object. The colors depend on
the selection mode (green for simple selection and blue when in point
edit mode). This effect is easily apparent if on the Options toolbar both
Simple Handles and Large Handles are switched on.

Figure 169: Drawing a straight line

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Hold down the Shift key while drawing the line to restrict the angle of
the line to a multiple of 45 degrees (0, 45, 90, 135, and so on).
Hold down the Control key (Ctrl in PCs) to snap the end of the line to
the nearest grid point.

The effect of the Ctrl key depends on the settings of the Snap to
Grid option on the View > Grid menu:
Note Snap to Grid on: Ctrl deactivates the snap option for this
activity.
Snap to Grid off: Ctrl activates the snap option for this activity.

The spacing (resolution) of the grid points can be adjusted under Tools
> Options > OpenOffice.org Draw > Grid. See also Chapter 8 (Tips
and Tricks) in the Draw Guide.
Hold down the Alt key to extend the line symmetrically outward from
the start point (the line extends to each side of the start point equally).
This lets you draw straight lines by starting from the middle of the line.
The line just drawn has all the default attributes, such as color and line
type. To change the line attributes, click on the line to select it and
then use the tools in the Line and Filling toolbar; or for more control,
right-click on the line and choose Line to open the Line dialog.

Drawing an arrow
Arrows are drawn like lines. Draw classifies arrows as a subgroup of
lines: Lines with arrowheads. They are shown in the information field
on the status bar only as lines. Click on the Line Ends with Arrow
icon to draw an arrow.

Drawing lines and arrows

Click on the small black triangle on the Lines and Arrows icon to
open a floating toolbar with ten tools for drawing lines and arrows
(Figure 170). Alternatively, you can click directly on the symbol to
repeat the last-used command chosen from this toolbar. In both cases,
the last-used command will be stored on the toolbar to make it quicker
to call it up again.

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 Figure 170: Lines and Arrows toolbar

Drawing a rectangle or square

Drawing rectangles is similar to drawing straight lines, except that you
use the Rectangle icon from the Drawing Toolbar. The (imaginary)
line drawn with the mouse corresponds to the diagonal of the
rectangle. In addition, the outline of the future rectangle changes
shape as you drag the mouse around. The outline is shown as a dashed
line until you release the mouse button, when the rectangle is drawn.

Starting point

Figure 171: Drawing a rectangle

Hold down the Shift key to draw a square. Hold down the Alt key to
draw a rectangle starting from its center. To combine the effects, hold
down both the Shift and Alt keys simultaneously.

Drawing a circle or ellipse

To draw an ellipse (also called an oval) or a circle, use the Ellipse icon
from the Drawing Toolbar. (A circle is simply an ellipse where the
two axes are the same length.) The ellipse drawn is the largest ellipse
that would fit inside the (imaginary) rectangle drawn with the mouse.

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 Starting point

Figure 172: Drawing an ellipse

There are three other ways to draw an ellipse or circle:
• Hold down the Shift key while drawing to force the ellipse to be a
circle.
• Hold down the Alt key to draw a symmetrical ellipse or circle
from the center instead of dragging corner to corner.
• Hold down the Control key while drawing to snap the ellipse or
circle to grid lines.

If you first press and hold the Control key and then click on one
of the icons (Line, Rectangle, Ellipse, or Text), an object is
Note drawn automatically in the work area; the size, shape, and color
are all standard values. These attributes can be changed later,
if desired.

Drawing curves
The tools for drawing curves or polygons are on the toolbar that
appears when you click the Curve icon on the Drawing toolbar.
This toolbar contains eight tools (Figure 173).

Hovering the mouse over this icon gives a tooltip of Curve. If

Note you convert the icon to a floating toolbar, however, the title is
Lines, as shown in Figure 173.

Polygon, Filled Polygon (45°), Filled

Freeform Line, Filled

Curve, Filled

Curve Freeform Line

Polygon Polygon (45°)

Figure 173: Floating Curves toolbar (incorrectly titled “Lines”)

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If you move the mouse cursor over one of the icons, a tooltip pops up
with a description of the function. For a more detailed description of
the handling of Bézier curves (curves and filled curves), see Chapter
10 (Advanced Draw Techniques) in the Draw Guide.

Polygons
Draw the first line from the start point with the left mouse button
held down. As soon as you release the mouse button, a first corner
point is drawn, and you can move the mouse to see how the second
line will look. Every mouse click sets another corner point. A double-
click ends the drawing. A filled polygon automatically joins the last
point to the first point to close off the figure and fills it with the
current standard fill color. A polygon without filling will not be
closed at the end of the drawing.
Polygon 45°
Just as with ordinary polygons, these will be formed from lines but
with angles of 45 or 90 degrees between them.
Freeform Line
With this tool you can draw just like with a pencil. Press and hold
the left mouse button and move the mouse. It is not necessary to end
the drawing with a double-click. Just release the mouse button and
the drawing is completed. If you have selected Freeform Line, Filled,
the end point is joined automatically to the start point and the object
is filled with the appropriate color.

Writing text
Use the Text tool to write text and select the font, color, size, and
other attributes. Click on an empty space in the workspace to write the
text at that spot or drag an area to write inside the dragged frame.
Press Enter to drop to the next line.
When you have finished typing text, click outside the text frame.
Double-click on the text at any time to edit it.
When you type text, the upper toolbar includes the usual paragraph
attributes: indents, first line, and tab stops.
You can change the style of all or part of the text. The Styles and
Formatting window also works here (select Format > Styles and
Formatting or press F11 to launch), so you can create Graphics styles
that you can reuse for other text frames. Graphics styles affect all of
the text within a text frame. To style parts of the text, use direct
formating with the toolbar.

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Text frames can also have fill colors, shadows, and other attributes,
just like any other Draw object. You can rotate the frame and write the
text at any angle. These options are available by right-clicking on the
object.
Use the Callout tool, located on the Drawing toolbar, to create callouts
(also known as captions or figure labels).
If you double-click on an object or press F2 (or the Text icon in the
Drawing toolbar) when an object is selected, text is written in the
center of the object and remains within the object. Nearly any kind of
object contains such an additional text element. These texts have slight
differences to those in text frames concerning position and
hyphenation.
For more about text, see Chapter 2 (Drawing Basic Shapes) and
Chapter 10 (Advanced Draw Techniques) in the Draw Guide.

Gluepoints and connectors

All Draw objects have associated invisible gluepoints, which become
visible when you choose any of the connectors under the Connectors
icon on the Drawing toolbar and then move the mouse pointer over
the object.
Most objects have four gluepoints, as shown in Figure 174. You can
add more gluepoints, and customize gluepoints, using the toolbar
under the Gluepoint icon on the Drawing toolbar.

Figure 174: Four gluepoints

Gluepoints are different from handles (the small blue or green squares
around an object). Use the handles to move or resize an object; use the
gluepoints to attach connectors to an object.
Connectors are a type of line or arrow whose ends dock to glue points
on other objects. When you move the other object, the connector
moves with it. Connectors are particularly useful for making
organizational charts. You can reorganize the blocks of your chart and
all the connected objects stay connected.

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Figure 175 shows two Draw objects and a connector.

Figure 175: A connector between two objects

Draw has a range of advanced connector functions. You can change
connector types by opening the floating Connectors toolbar (click on
the Connector icon ) and modify various attributes of a selected
connector by right-clicking and choosing Connector from the pop-up
menu. For more about connectors and gluepoints, see Chapter 9
(Organization Charts, Flow Diagrams, and More) in the Draw Guide.

Drawing geometric shapes

Geometric shapes include basic shapes, symbol shapes, block arrows,
flowcharts, callouts, and stars.
Figure 176 shows part of the Drawing toolbar with the icons referred
to in the following sections. Clicking on the arrow next to the icon
opens a floating toolbar with the relevant work tools. The use of all
these tools is similar to that of the Rectangle tool, even though they
produce different geometric shapes.

Figure 176: Part of the main Drawing toolbar

Basic shapes
The Basic Shapes icon makes available the
range of tools for drawing basic shapes.
If you choose the rectangle tool from this
toolbar, it looks the same as a rectangle drawn
using the Rectangle tool on the Drawing
toolbar. The only differences you will see are in
the information field in the status bar (for
example: shape selected).

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Symbol shapes
The Symbol Shapes icon brings you to an
array of tools for drawing the various symbol
shapes.

Block arrows
The Block Arrows icon opens the Block Arrows
toolbar.

Flowcharts
The tools for drawing flowcharts are accessed by
clicking on the Flowcharts icon .
The creation of flowcharts, organization charts, and
similar planning tools are described in Chapter 9
(Organization Charts, Flow Diagrams, and More) in
the Draw Guide.

Callouts
Use the Callouts icon to open the Callouts
toolbar.

Stars and banners

These tools are associated with the Stars icon
.

You can add text to all these shapes. See Chapter 2 (Drawing Basic
Shapes) and Chapter 10 (Advanced Draw Techniques) in the Draw
Guide for details.

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Selection modes
There are three selection modes: moving and changing size, rotating,
and editing points.
The default mode for selecting objects depends on whether the Points
button on the Drawing toolbar is active (appears lit) or not inactive
(appears dark or dimmed) .
In standard mode (when you begin a new drawing),
the Points button is not active, and the default mode
is for selections to be moved or changed in size; these
selections are indicated by small green squares.

When the Points button is active, the default mode is

for selections to be edited; these selections are
indicated by blue squares. Some objects will have one
or more extra handles, which are larger or colored
differently. This is explained in more detail in the
Draw Guide.
Selections for rotating objects are indicated by small
red circles and a symbol representing the center of
rotation. To choose these selections, click on the
Effects drop-down button from the Drawing
toolbar.

Changing the selection mode

To go from one mode to another, you can do one of the following:
• Toggle the Points button on the Drawing toolbar to switch from
the simple selection mode to the Points mode . You can also use
the keyboard shortcut F8 (Points).
• Choose the Effects drop-down button from the Drawing toolbar
to activate the Rotation mode for a selected object.
• If you often work in Rotation mode, you can choose the Rotation
Mode after Clicking Object button from the Options bar, you
can cycle through normal and rotation modes just by clicking on
the object. This can be more convenient than clicking the object,
then clicking the Rotate button from the Drawing Toolbar.
• To stop working in Rotation mode, click the Rotation Mode after
Clicking Object button again.

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Selecting objects

Direct selection
To select an object, the easiest way is to click directly on it. For objects
that are not filled, click directly on the object's outline to select it.

Selection by framing
You can select several objects by using the mouse to
drag a large rectangle around the objects, as shown.
For this to work, the Select icon on the Drawing
toolbar must be active. Only objects that lie entirely
within the rectangle are selected.

Selecting hidden objects

Even if objects are located behind others and not visible, they can still
be selected. To select an object that is covered by another object, hold
down the Alt key and click the object. To select an object that is
covered by several objects, hold down the Alt key and click through the
objects until you reach the required underlying object. To cycle
through the objects in reverse order, hold down the Alt+Shift keys
when you click. To help in making accurate selections, you can check
the number and type of the selected objects, shown at the left of the
status bar.

There may be some variation in the use of the Alt key on

different operating systems. If the Alt key on your system does
Note not operate as described above, use the Tab key method
described below.

To select an object that is covered by another object using the

keyboard, press Tab to cycle through the objects, stopping at the
object you wish to select. To cycle through the objects in reverse order,
press Shift+Tab. This may not be practical if you have a large number
of objects in your drawing.

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When you click on the selected object, its outline
appears briefly through the objects on top of the
selected object.
In the illustration to the right, the square located
beneath the circle was selected in this way (the circle
was made transparent in order to see the square).

Arranging objects
In a complex drawing, you may have objects stacked up, one on top of
the other, with the result that a particular object is hidden by one or
more other objects above it. You can rearrange the stacking order of
objects (move an object to the front or to the back of the stack) by
selecting the object, clicking Modify > Arrange and selecting the
appropriate Bring Forward or Send Backward option, or by right-
clicking the object and selecting Arrange from the context menu, then
selecting from the list of Bring Forward or Send Backward options.
On the Drawing toolbar, the Arrange tear-off menu on the button
contains the above options. A keyboard shortcut is Shift+Ctrl++ to
bring an object to the top, and Shift+Ctrl+− to send an object to the
bottom.
Draw also provides tools for aligning multiple objects; details are given
in the Draw Guide.

Selecting several objects

To select or deselect several objects one by one, press the Shift key
and click on the various objects to be selected or deselected. One click
on an object selects it; a second click deselects it.

Moving and dynamically adjusting an

object’s size
There are several ways of moving or changing the size of an object.
The method described here will be called dynamic in the sense that it
is carried out using the mouse.
When you dynamically change an object, remember to check the
central area of the status bar at the bottom of your screen. This area
shows detailed information about the ongoing manipulation. This
information changes when the mouse is moved.

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Dynamic movement of objects
To move an object, select it and then click within
the object’s border and hold down the left mouse
button while moving the mouse. To drop the
object at its new location, release the mouse
button.
During movement, the shape of the object
appears as dotted lines to help with
repositioning.
If you have selected Guides when moving in
Tools > Options > OpenOffice.org Draw >
View, then during movement, dotted lines
appear, to help with repositioning.

Dynamic size modification of objects

To change the size of an object (or group of
selected objects) with the mouse, you need to move
one of the handles located around the selection. As
shown in the following illustration, the outline of
the resulting new object appears as a dotted line.

The results differ depending on which handle you use. If you choose a
corner handle, you will resize the object along two axes at the same
time. If you use a side handle, the objects will only be resized along
one axis.

If you press the Shift key at the same time as you carry out the
resizing operation, the size change will be carried out
Note symmetrically with respect to the two axes; this enables you to
keep the aspect (height/length) ratio of the object.

Rotation
Rotating an object lets you move the object around an axis. To do this
dynamically, use the red handles, as you do when changing the size of
the object.

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 Rotation works in a slightly different way for 3D objects
because the rotation occurs in 3D space and not in one plane.
Note See Chapter 7 (Working with 3D Objects) in the Draw Guide
regarding rotation when Edit Points mode is active.

To rotate an object (or a group of objects), drag the red corner handle
points of the selection with the mouse. The mouse cursor takes the
shape of an arc of a circle with an arrow at each end. A dotted outline
of the object being rotated appears and the current angle of rotation is
dynamically shown in the status bar.
Rotations are made about an axis which is displayed as a small symbol.
You can move the axis of rotation with the mouse, as shown in
Figure 177.
If you hold down the Shift key during the rotation, the operation will be
carried out in increments of 15°.

Figure 177: Rotating an object

Inclination and perspective

To slant or shear objects, use the red handles located at the midpoint
of an edge of the selected objects. The mouse pointer changes to a
when the pointer hovers over one of these midpoint handles. Not every
object can be slanted. Basic shapes can be rotated but not slanted.
The slant axis is the point directly opposite the midpoint handle to be
used for shearing the object. This point stays fixed in location; the
other sides and edges move in relation to it as the mouse is dragged
(make sure that the handle icon is showing before dragging).
As with rotation, you can set the inclination to occur as steps of 15° by
pressing the Shift key while moving the handle.

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Editing objects
To change an object’s attributes (such as color, border width, among
others) you can use the Line and Filling toolbar or the context menu.
If the Line and Filling toolbar (Figure 178) is not visible, you can
display it using View > Toolbars > Line and Filling. From here you
can edit the most common object attributes. You can also open the Line
dialog by clicking on the Line icon and the Area dialog by clicking
on the Area icon to see more options.

1 Styles and Formatting 4 Line Style 7 Area

2 Line 5 Line Width 8–9 Area Style / Filling
3 Arrow Style 6 Line Color 10 Shadow
Figure 178: Line and Filling toolbar
When you select text, this toolbar changes to show text formatting
options.

The context menu

When an object is selected, you can right-click on the object to bring
up a context menu, which provides additional access to the options
shown above and another way to change an object’s attributes. The
entries with a small arrow on the right-hand side contain a submenu.

Editing lines and borders

Lines (like arrows) and the borders of an
object are managed through the same dialog.
An object’s border is just another type of line.

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You can change some properties from the Line and Filling toolbar. To
see more options, select the object and click on the Line icon or
right-click on the object and choose Line from the context menu. This
opens the Line dialog.

Common line properties

In most cases the property you want to change is the line’s style (solid,
dashed, invisible, and so on), its color, or its width. These options are
all available from the Line and Filling toolbar (Figure 178).
You can also edit these properties from the Line dialog, where you can
also change the line’s transparency. Figure 179 illustrates different
degrees of transparency.

Figure 179: The vertical lines have different

levels of transparency (0%, 25%, and 50%).

Drawing arrows
Arrowheads (and other line endings, usually referred to
collectively as arrows) are a line property. Select a line and
click on the Arrow Style icon from the Line and Filling
toolbar. This opens the Arrowheads menu.
Several types of arrowheads are available. Each end of the
line can have a different arrowhead (or no arrowhead).
Arrowheads are only applicable to lines. They have no
effect on an object’s border.

Customizing line and arrow styles

You can modify the line and arrow styles and create your own. See
Chapter 4 (Changing Object Attributes) in the Draw Guide for details.

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Editing the inside (fill) of an object
The OpenOffice.org term for the inside of an object is Area fill. The
area fill of an object can be a uniform color, a gradient, a hatching, or a
pattern from an image. It can be made partly or fully transparent and
can throw a shadow.

In most cases, you will choose one of the standard fill options, which
are all available from the Line and Filling toolbar. You can also define
your own area fills; see Chapter 4 of the Draw Guide for details.

Adding a shadow
In Draw, shadows are considered as an area
property. Click on the Shadow icon on the Line
and Filling toolbar.
You can customize the position, distance, color,
and transparency of shadows using Format >
Area > Shadow or by right-clicking on the
selected object and choosing Area > Shadow.

Adding transparency
You can make objects partly or fully transparent, or even with a
varying degree of transparency (as a gradient).

Using styles
Suppose that you want to apply the same area fill, line thickness, and
border to a set of objects. This repetitive process can be greatly
simplified by the use of styles. Styles allow you to define a formatting
template (a style) and then to apply that style to multiple objects. For
more information about styles, see Chapter 3 (Using Styles and
Templates).

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Special effects
With Draw, you can apply many special effects to objects and groups of
objects. This section describes a few of these effects. Others include
distorting, shadows, and transparency. See the Draw Guide for
examples of the many effects available.

Flip an object
Select an object and click on the Flip icon . You will
see a dashed line through the middle of the object.

This dashed line is the axis of symmetry. The object

will be reflected about this line. Move one or both
ends of the line with your mouse to set the axis.
Then, grab any one of the eight green handles and
move it across to the other side of the dashed line.
The new position of the figure is shown dashed until
the mouse is released.

If you hold down the Shift key while moving the line, the line will
Note rotate in 45-degree increments.

Mirror copies
Officially, this useful command does not (yet) exist in Draw. It can,
however, be easily emulated.
Move the axis of symmetry to the desired location of the mirror axis.
Copy the object to the clipboard. Flip the object, then click on an
empty area of the Draw screen in order to deselect the object. Paste
from the clipboard to put a copy of the object in its original location
and now you have a mirror copy.

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Distorting an image
There are three tools on the Effects menu that let you drag the
corners and edges of an object to distort the image.
The Distort tool distorts an object in perspective, the Set to Circle
(slant) and Set in Circle (perspective) tools both create a pseudo
three-dimensional effect. See Chapter 4 of the Draw Guide for details.

Dynamic gradients
You can control transparency gradients in the same manner as color
gradients. Both types of gradient can be used together. With a
transparency gradient, the direction and degree of an object’s fill color
changes from opaque to transparent (in a regular gradient, the fill
changes from one color to another, but the degree of transparency
remains the same). See Chapter 4 of the Draw Guide for details.

Duplication
Duplication makes copies of an object while applying a set of changes
(such as color or rotation) to the duplicates. The result of a duplication
is a new group.
To start duplication, click on an object or group and choose Edit >
Duplicate. The dialog shown in Figure 180 appears.
The options chosen in
Figure 180 applied to a
blue rectangle produce
the following result.

Figure 180: Duplicating an object

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Cross-fading
Cross-fading transforms a shape from one form to another, with
OpenOffice.org handling all of the intermediate transitions. The result
is a new group of objects including the two end points and the
intermediate steps.
To carry out a cross-fade, select both objects (hold the Shift key while
selecting each object in turn) and then choose Edit > Cross-fading
On the Cross-fading dialog, choose the number of increments
(transition steps). You probably want to have Cross-fade attributes and
Same orientation both checked. The end result is shown in Figure 182.

Figure 181: Choosing cross-fading settings

Figure 182: Cross-fading example

Combining multiple objects

Using Draw, you can combine drawing objects together in two distinct
ways: grouping and combining. These two methods allow you to treat
multiple objects as one unit, or to merge objects to form a new shape.
Grouping is like putting objects in a container. You can move them as a
group and apply global changes to them. A group can always be
undone and the objects that make up the group can always be
manipulated separately.
A combination is a permanent fusion of objects leading to a new object.
The original objects are no longer available as individual entities and
the operation is not reversible.

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Grouping by common selection
When several objects are selected, any operations you carry out are
applied to all of the objects. For example, you can rotate a group of
objects in its entirety. Groups obtained through common selection of
several objects are undone as soon as you click outside the group.
However, you can group objects and keep those selected objects
grouped together.

Maintaining groups and undoing groups

To group selected objects, right-click and choose Group from the pop-
up menu. You can also use the keyboard shortcut Control+Shift+G or
choose Modify > Group from the menu bar.
When objects are grouped, any editing operations carried out on that
group are applied to all members of the group. If you click on one
member of the group, the whole group is selected.
The objects of a group retain their own individual properties. To undo a
group, right-click and choose Ungroup from the pop-up menu, use the
keyboard shortcut Control+Alt+Shift+G or choose Modify >
Ungroup from the menu bar.
You can edit a member of a group individually without breaking the
group. To do this, right-click and choose Enter group or double-click
on the group.

Combining objects
In contrast to grouping functions, combinations create a new object;
subsequent “un-combining” in the same manner as ungrouping is not
possible. Select a collection of objects, then right-click and choose
Combine from the pop-up menu.
After you have selected more than one object, the Merge, Subtract,
and Intersect functions can be reached in the Modify > Shapes menu
or though the group’s right-click menu under the heading Shapes.

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Aids for positioning objects
Draw has various tools to help you arrange the objects with respect to
each other:
• Moving an object to the front or to the back
• Aligning objects with respect to each other
• Distributing the distance and space between objects
See Chapter 5 (Combining Multiple Objects) in the Draw Guide for
more information.

Inserting and editing pictures

Draw contains a number of functions for editing raster graphics
(bitmaps)—for example, photos and scanned images—including import
and and export as well as conversion from one format to another. Draw
can read in all the usual range of graphic file formats.
You can add pictures from several sources:
• The Gallery—see Chapter 11 (Graphics, the Gallery, and
Fontwork)
• Directly from a scanner (Insert > Picture > Scan)
• Images created by another program, including photographs from
a digitial camera (Insert > Picture > From File)
Draw provides tools for working with bitmap images: the Picture
toolbar and the bitmap image management palette. However, it does
not have the same capabilities as the specialized raster graphics
programs like Adobe Photoshop or The Gimp. See Chapter 6 (Editing
Pictures) in the Draw Guide for details and examples.

Working with 3D objects

Although Draw does not match the functionality of the leading drawing
programs, it does offer a wide array of tools and methods to produce
and edit very good 3D drawings.
Draw offers two types of 3D objects: the ones carried forward from
OOo version 1, 3D bodies, and the ones introduced in version 2, 3D
shapes. Depending on which type you choose, there are different
possibilities for further editing of the object (rotation, illumination,
perspective). Setting up and editing 3D objects is simpler with 3D

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shapes than with 3D bodies, but 3D bodies currently allow for more
customizing than 3D shapes.
See Chapter 7 (Working with 3D Objects) in the Draw Guide for details.

Exporting graphics
To save a Draw image in a foreign format, use File > Export. Draw
can save to many graphic file formats, as listed in Appendix B
(Background Information). You can export the entire file or selected
objects.
You can also export Draw files to HTML, PDF, or Flash. PDF export is
the same as for any part of OpenOffice.org, as described in Chapter 10
(Printing, E-mailing, and Exporting). Flash export creates a .swf file.
HTML export uses a conversion wizard that creates as many web
pages as there are pages in your Draw document. You can optionally
choose to display the pages in frames with a navigator and can set an
index page. For more information, see Chapter 12 (Creating Web
Pages: Saving Documents as HTML Files).

Adding comments to a drawing

Starting with OOo 3.2, Draw supports comments (formerly called
notes) similar to those in Writer and Calc.
Choose Insert > Comment from the menu bar. A small box containing
your initials appears in the upper left-hand corner of the Draw page,
with a larger text box beside it. Draw has automatically added your
name and the date at the bottom of this text box.

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Type or paste your comment into the text box. You can optionally apply
some basic formatting to parts of the text by selecting it, right-clicking,
and choosing from the pop-up menu. (From this menu, you can also
delete the current comment, all the comments from the same author,
or all the comments in the document.)
You can move the small comment markers to anywhere you wish on the
page. Typically you might place it on or near an object you refer to in
the comment.
To show or hide the comment markers, choose View > Comments.
Select Tools > Options > User Data to configure the name you want
to appear in the Author field of the comment, or to change it.
If more than one person edits the document, each author is
automatically allocated a different background color.

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 Chapter 8
Getting Started with Base
OpenOffice.org’s Database Component

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Introduction
A data source, or database, is a collection of pieces of information that
can be accessed or managed by OpenOffice.org (OOo) . For example, a
list of names and addresses is a data source that could be used for
producing a mail merge letter. A shop stock list could be a data source
managed through OOo.

OpenOffice.org uses the terms “Data Source” and “Database” to

Note refer to the same thing, which could be a database such as
MySQL or dBase or a spreadsheet or text document holding data.

This chapter covers creating a database, showing what is contained in

a database and how the different parts are used by OOo. It also covers
using the Base component of OOo to register other data sources. A
data source can be a database, spreadsheet, or text document.

OOo Base uses the HSQL database engine. All of the files
Note created by this engine are kept in one zipped file. The database
forms are included in this zipped file.

A database consists of a number of fields that contain the individual

pieces of data. Each table of the database is a group of fields. When
creating a table, you also determine the characteristics of each field in
the table. Forms are for data entry into the fields of one or more tables
associated with the form. They can also be used for viewing fields from
one or more tables associated with the form. A query creates a new
table from the existing tables based upon how you create the query. A
report organizes the information of the fields of a query in a document
according to your requirements.
The database in OOo requires Java Runtime Environment (JRE).
If you do not have it on your computer, you can download it
Caution from www.java.com and install it following the instructions on
the site. It should be Java 5.0 or higher. In OOo, use Tools >
Options > OpenOffice.org > Java to register Java.
Windows' version of JRE can not be used, while there are other
versions that can.

Base creates relational databases. This makes it fairly easy to create a

database in which the fields of the database have relationships with
each other.
For example: Consider a database for a library. It will contain a field

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for the names of the authors and another field for the names of the

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books. There is an obvious relationship between the authors and the
books they have written. The library may contain more than one book
by the same author. This is what is known as a one-to-many
relationship: one author and more than one book. Most if not all the
relationships in such a database are one-to-many relationships.
Consider an employment database for the same library. One of the
fields contains the names of the employees while others contain the
social security numbers, and other personal data. The relationship
between the names and social security numbers is one-to-one: only one
social security number for each name.
If you are acquainted with mathematical sets, a relational database can
easily be explained in terms of sets: elements, subsets, unions, and
intersections. The fields of a database are the elements. The tables are
subsets. Relationships are defined in terms of unions and intersections
of the subsets (tables).
To explain how to use a database, we will create one for automobile
expenses. In the process, we will be explaining how a database works.

Planning a database
The first step in creating a database is to ask yourself many questions.
Write them down, and leave some space between the questions to later
write the answers. At least some of the answers should seem obvious
after you take some time to think.
You may have to go through this process a few times before everything
becomes clear in your mind and on paper. Using a text document for
these questions and answers makes it easier to move the questions
around, add additional questions, or change the answers.
Here are some of the questions and answers I developed before I
created a database for automobile expenses. I had an idea of what I
wanted before I started, but as I began asking questions and listing the
answers, I discovered that I needed additional tables and fields.
What are the fields going to be? My expenses divided into three broad
areas: fuel purchases, maintenance, and vacations. The annual cost for
the car’s license plate and driver’s license every four years did not fit
into any of these. It will be a table of its own: license fees.
What fields fit the fuel purchases area? Date purchased, odometer
reading, fuel cost, fuel quantity, and payment method fit. (Fuel
economy can be calculated with a query.)

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What fields fit the maintenance area? Date of service, odometer
reading, type of service, cost of service, and next scheduled service of
this type (for example, for oil changes list when the next oil change
should be). But it would be nice if there was a way to write notes. So, a
field for notes was added to the list.
What fields fit the vacations area? Date, odometer reading, fuel
(including all the fields of the fuel table), food (including meals and
snacks), motel, total tolls, and miscellaneous. Since these purchases
are made by one of two bank cards or with cash, I want a field to state
which payment type was used for each item.
What fields fit into the food category? Breakfast, lunch, supper, and
snacks seem to fit. Do I list all the snacks individually or list the total
cost for snacks for the day? I chose to divide snacks into two fields:
number of snacks and total cost of snacks. I also need a payment type
for each of these: breakfast, lunch, supper, and total cost of snacks.
What are the fields that are common to more than one area? Date
appears in all of the areas as does odometer reading and payment
type.
How will I use this information about these three fields? While on
vacation, I want the expenses for each day to be listed together. The
date fields suggest a relationship between the vacation table and the
dates in each of these tables: fuel and food, This means that the date
fields in these tables will be linked as we create the database.
The type of payment includes two bank cards and cash. So, we will
create a table with a field for the type of payment and use it in list
boxes in the forms.

While we have listed fields we will create in the tables of the

database, there is one more field that may be needed in a table:
the field for the primary key. In some tables, the field for the
Tip primary key has already been listed. In other tables such as the
payment type, an additional field for the primary key must be
created.

Creating a new database

To create a new database, choose File > New > Database from the
menu bar, or click the arrow next to the New icon on the Standard
toolbar and select Database from the dropdown menu. Both methods
open the Database Wizard.

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Chapter 8 Getting Started with Base 253
On the first page of the Database Wizard, select Create a new
database and then click Next.
The second page has two questions. Make sure the choice for the first
question is Yes, register the database for me and the choice for the
second question is Open the database for editing. Click Finish.

If the database is not registered, it will not be accessible to the

Note other OOo components such as Writer and Calc. If the database is
registered, other components can access it.

Save the new database with the name Automobile. This opens the
Automobile – OpenOffice.org Base window. Figure 183 shows part of
this window.

Figure 183: Creating database tables

Every time the Automobile database is opened, the Automobile –

OpenOffice.org Base window opens. Changes can then be made
Tip to the database. The title for this window is always <database
name> – OpenOffice.org Base.

As you create a database, you should save your work regularly.

This means more than just saving what you have just created. You
Caution must save the whole database as well.
For example, when you create your first table, you must save it
before you can close it. When the table is first saved, it is also
made part of the database.

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Creating database tables
In a database, a table stores information for a group of things we call
fields. For example, a table might hold an address book, a stock list, a
phone book or a price list. A database can have from one to several
tables.
To work with tables, click the Tables icon in the Database list, or press
Alt+a. The three tasks that you can perform on a table are in the Tasks
list (see Figure 183).

Using the Wizard to create a table

Wizards are designed to do the basic work. Sometimes this is not
sufficient for what we want; in those cases we can use a wizard as a
starting point and then build upon what it produces.
The Table Wizard in Base contains two categories of suggested tables:
business and personal. Each category contains sample tables from
which to choose. Each table has a list of available fields. We can delete
some of these fields and add other fields.
A field in a table is one bit of information. For example, a price list
table might have one field for item name, one for the description, and a
third for the price.
Since none of the fields we need for our Automobile database are
contained in any of the sample wizard tables, we will create a simple
table using the wizard that has nothing to do with our database. This
section is an exercise in explaining how the Wizard works.
The Wizard permits the fields of the table to come from more than one
suggested table. We will create a table with fields from three different
suggested tables in the Wizard.

Every table requires a Primary key field. (What this field does
Caution
will be explained later.) We will use this field to number our
entries and want that number to automatically increase as we
add each entry.

Click Use Wizard to Create Table. This opens the Table Wizard
(Figure 184).

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Step 1: Select fields.
We will use the CD-Collection Sample table in the Personal category to
select the fields we need.
1) Category: Select Personal. The Sample Tables dropdown list
changes to a list of personal sample tables.
2) Sample tables: Select CD-Collection. The Available fields box
changes to a list of available fields for this table.
3) Selected fields: Using the > button, move the following fields
from the Available fields window to the Selected fields window in
this order: CollectionID, AlbumTitle, Artist, DatePurchased,
Format, Notes, and NumberofTracks.
4) Selected Fields from another sample table. Click Business as the
Category. Select Employees from the dropdown list of sample
tables. Use the > button to move the Photo field from the
Available fields window to the Selected fields window. It will be at
the bottom of the list directly below the NumberofTracks field.
5) If you make a mistake in selecting fields, click on the field name
in the Selected fields list and use the < button to move it from the
Selected fields list back to the Available fields list.
6) If you make a mistake in the order of the selected fields, click on
the field name that is in the wrong order and use the Up or Down
arrow on the right side of the Selected fields list to move the field
name to the correct position.
7) Click Next.

Figure 184: Selecting fields for the table

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Step 2: Set field types and formats.
In this step you give the fields their properties. When you click a field,
the information on the right changes. (See Figure 185.) You can then
make changes to meet your needs. Click each field, one at a time, and
make the changes listed below.

Figure 185: Changing field types

If any of these fields requires an entry, set Entry required to Yes.

An entry with that field blank will then not be allowed . In
Note general, only set Entry required to Yes if something must always
be put in that field. By default, Entry required is set to No.

• CollectionID: Change AutoValue from No to Yes.

• AlbumTitle:
– Entry required: Leave Entry required as No, unless all of your
music is in albums.
– Length: Unless you have an album title that exceeds 100
characters counting the spaces, do not change the length.
In Base the maximum length of each field must be specified on
creation. It is not easy to change this later, so if in doubt specify
a greater length. Base uses VCHAR as the field format for text
fields. This format only uses the actual number of characters in a
Note field up to the limit set. So, a field containing 20 characters will
only use space for 20 characters even if the limit is set at 100.
Two album titles containing 25 and 32 characters respectively
will use space for 25 and 32 characters and not 100 characters.

• Artist: Use the Default setting. And since music has artists, set
Entry Required to Yes.
• Date Purchased: Field type: default date setting. Entry required
should be No. (You may not know the date.)
• Format: Only change the Entry Required setting: from No to Yes.
• Notes: No changes are required.

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 • NumberofTracks: Change the Field Type to Tiny Integer
[TINYINT]. Your allowable number of tracks will be 999. Small
Integer [SMALLINT] would allow 99999 tracks if you needed
more than 999 tracks.
• Photo: Use the default settings.
When you have finished, click Next.

Each field has a Field Type, which must be specified. Types

include text, integer, date, and decimal. If the field is going to have
general information in it (for example, a name or a description),
Note use text. If the field will always contain a number (for example, a
price), the type should be decimal or another numerical field . The
wizard picks the right field type, so to get an idea of how this
works, see what the wizard has chosen for different fields.

Step 3: Set primary key.

1) Create a primary key should be checked.
2) Select option Use an existing field as a primary key.
3) In the Fieldname dropdown list, select CollectionID.
4) Check Auto value if it is not already checked.
5) Click Next.
A primary key uniquely identifies an item (or record) in the table .
For example, you might know two people called “Randy Herring”
or three people living at the same address and the database
needs to distinguish between them.
The simplest method is to assign a unique number to each one:
Note
number the first person 1, the second 2, and so on. Each entry has
one number and every number is different, so it is easy to say
“record ID 172”. This is the option chosen here: CollectionID is
just a number assigned automatically by Base to each record of
this table.

Step 4: Create the table.

1) If desired, rename the table at this point. If you rename it, make
the name meaningful to you. For this example, make no changes.
2) Leave the option Insert data immediately checked.
3) Click Finish to complete the table wizard. Close the window
created by the table wizard. You are now back to the main
window of the database with the listing of the tables, queries,
forms, and reports. Notice that a table named “CD-Collection” is

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Creating a table by copying an existing table
If you have a large collection of music, you might want to create a
table for each type of music you have. Rather than creating each table
from the wizard, you can make copies of the original table, naming
each according to the type of music contained in it.
1) Click on the Tables icon in the Database pane to see the existing
tables.
2) Right-click on the CD-Collection table icon. Choose Copy from the
pop-up menu.
3) Move the mouse pointer below this table, right-click, and select
Paste. The Copy table dialog opens.
4) Change the table name to Pop and click Next.
5) Click the >> button to move all the fields from the left box to the
right box and click Next.
6) Since all the fields already have the proper Field type, no changes
should be needed. However, this is the time and place to make any
changes if they are needed. (See Caution below for the reason
why.) Click Create. The new table is created.

Once tables have been created using the wizard and data has
been entered, editing them should be very limited. Fields can
be added or deleted, but adding a field requires taking the time
to enter the data for that one field for every record having an
entry for that field.
Caution
Deleting a field deletes all the data once contained in that
field. Changing the field type of a field can lead to data being
lost either partially or completely. When creating a new table, it
pays to create the fields with the correct names, length, and
format before you add any data.
Deleting a table removes all of the data contained in every field
of the table. Unless you are sure, do not delete a table.

Creating tables in Design View

Design View is a more advanced method for creating a new table, in
which you directly enter information about each field in the table. We
will use this method for the tables of our database.
While the Field type and formatting are different in Design View,
Note the concepts are the same as in the Wizard.

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The first table to be created is Fuel. Its fields are FuelID, Date,
FuelCost, FuelQuantity, Odometer, and PaymentType.
1) Click Create Table in Design View.
2) FuelID field:
a) Type FuelID as the first Field Name. Press the Tab key to
move to the Field Type column.
b) Select Integer [INTEGER] as the Field Type from the
dropdown list. (The default setting is Text [VARCHAR].)

A shortcut for selecting from the Field Type dropdown list: press
Tip the key for the first letter of the choice. You can cycle through
the choices for a given letter by repeatedly pressing that key.

c) Change the Field Properties in the bottom section.

Change AutoValue from No to Yes.
d) Set FuelID as the Primary key.
Right-click on the green triangle to the left of FuelID
(Figure 186) and choose Primary Key from the menu. This
places a key icon in front of FuelID.

Figure 186: Defining the primary key field

The primary key serves only one purpose: to uniquely identify

Note the record. Any name can be used for this field. We have used
FuelID for convenience, so we know to which table it belongs.

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 3) All other fields (Date, FuelCost, FuelQuantity, Odometer, and
PaymentType):
• Type the next field name in the Field Name column.
• Select the Field Type for each field.
– For Date use Date[DATE]. (Press the D key to select it.)
– PaymentType uses Text [VARCHAR], the default setting.
– All other fields use Number [NUMERIC]. (Press the N key
once to select it.)
• FuelCost, FuelQuantity, and Odometer need changes in the
Field Properties section (Figure 187).
– FuelQuantity: Change Length to 6 and Decimal places to 3.
(Many fuel pumps measure fuel to thousands of a gallon in
the USA where I live.)
– Odometer: Change the Length to 10 and the Decimal
places to 1.
– FuelCost: Change the Length to 5 and Decimal places to 2.
Click the Format example button (Figure ). This opens the
Field Format window (Figure 188). Use Currency as the
Category and your currency as the Format. My currency
has two decimal places. Use what is appropriate for yours.

Figure 187: Changing field properties

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Chapter 8 Getting Started with Base 261
 Figure 188: Field Format options
4) To access additional formatting options, click the button to the
right of the Format example field.
5) Description can be anything, or can be left blank.
6) To save and close the table, choose File > Save. Name the table
Fuel. Close the Fuel table.
Follow the same steps to create the Vacations table. The fields and
their field types are listed in Figure 189. Make sure you make the Date
field the primary key before closing. (Right-click the gray box to the
left of Date and select Primary key from the menu.) Save the table
and name it Vacations. Close the Vacations table.

Figure 189: Fields in Vacations table

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Creating tables for the list box
When the same information can be used in several fields, design a
table for each type of information. Each table will contain two fields:
the information field and ID, in that order.

You must create these tables with the information field listed
first and the ID field listed last. Failure to do so will produce
the wrong results. For my Payment table, I use Name and ID as
Caution my fields, with Dan, Kevin, and Cash being the Name entries.
The corresponding ID entries are 0, 1, 2. When the Name field
is listed first in the table, one of the three names will appear in
the payment field of the Fuel table. If the ID field is listed first,
0, 1, or 2 appear in the payment field instead.

1) Follow the directions in “Creating tables in Design View” on page

259. In the table, the two fields can be Type and PaymentID. In
the Field Properties, set AutoValue to Yes for the PaymentID field.
Set the PaymentID field as the primary key. (See Figure 190.)
2) Save the table using the name Payment Type.

Figure 190: Table in Design View

If you have several tables to create with the same fields, design
one table and produce the other tables by cutting and pasting.
Note: (See “Creating a table by copying an existing table” on page
259.)

Adding data to the list table

List tables do not require a form. Instead, add their data directly to the
table. In this example, use the names of the two people with a bank
card and Cash for cash purchases.
1) In the main database window, click on the Tables icon (Figure
183). In the list of tables, right-click on Payment Type and select
Open from the pop-up menu.
a) Enter Dan in the Type column in the first row. Press the Tab
key to move to the second row. Notice that the PaymentID
value for this row changes from <AutoField> to 0.
b) Enter Kevin in the second row. The PaymentID changes to 1.

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Chapter 8 Getting Started with Base 263
 c) Enter Cash in the third row. The PaymentID changes to 2.
2) Save and close the table window.

You can also use the Enter key to move from entry field to entry
Tip field, or use the down arrow key to move from row to row.

Defining relationships
Now that the tables have been created, what are the relationships
between our tables? This is the time to define them based upon the
questions we asked and answered in the beginning.
When on vacation, we want to enter all of our expenses all at one time
each day. Most of these expenses are in the Vacations table, but the
fuel we buy is not. So, we will relate these two tables using the Date
fields. Since the Fuel table may have more than one entry per date,
this relationship between the Vacations and Fuel tables is one to many.
(It is designated 1:n.)
The Vacations table also contains several fields for the type of payment
used. For each field listing the payment type, there is only one entry
from the Payment Type table. This is a one to one relationship: one
field in one table to one entry from the other table. (It is designated
1:1.) Other tables also contain fields for the type of payment. The
relationship between the fields of those tables and the Payment Type
table are also 1:1.
Since the Payment Type table only provides a static list, we will not be
defining a relationship between the Payment Type table and the fields
of the other tables which use the entries of the Payment Type table.
That will be done when the forms are created.
The Fuel and Maintenance tables do not really have a relationship even
though they share similar fields: Date and Odometer.
As you create your own databases, you need to also determine
Tip where tables are related and how.

1) To begin defining relationships, choose Tools > Relationships.

The Automobile – OpenOffice.org Base: Relation Design window
opens and the Add Tables dialog pops up. (You can also open it by
clicking the Add Tables icon on the Relation Design window.)
2) On the Add Tables dialog, use either of these ways to add a table
to the Relation Design window:

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 • Double-click the name of the table. In our case, do this for
both Vacations and Fuel.
• Or, click the name of the table and then click Add for each
table.
3) Click Close to close the Add Tables dialog when you have added
the tables you want.
4) You can define the relationship between the Vacations and Fuel
tables in two ways:
• Click and drag the Date field in the Fuel table to the Date field
in the Vacations table. When you release the mouse button, a
connecting line forms between the two date fields (Figure 191).

Figure 191: Designation for a 1:n relationship

• Or, click the New Relation icon. This opens the Relations
window (Figure Error: Reference source not found). Our two
tables are listed in the Tables involved section.
– In the Fields involved section, click the dropdown list
under the Fuel label.
– Select Date from the Fuel table list.
– Click in the cell to the right of this dropdown list. This
opens a dropdown list for the Vacations table.
– Select Date from the Vacations table list. It should now
look like Figure 192.
– Click OK.

Figure 192: Selected fields in a relationship

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Chapter 8 Getting Started with Base 265
 5) Modifying the Update options and Delete options section of the
Relation window.
a) Right-click the line connecting the Date fields in the two table
lists to open a menu.
b) Select Edit to open the Relations dialog (Figure 193).
c) Select Update cascade.
d) Select Delete cascade.
e) Click OK to close the Relations dialog and choose File > Save
to save the Relation Design window.
While these options are not strictly necessary, they do help.
Having them selected permits you to update a table that has a
relationship defined with another table. It also permits you to
delete a field from the table.

Figure 193: Update options and Delete options section

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Creating a database form
Databases are used to store data. But, how is the data put into the
database? Forms are used to do this. In the language of databases, a
form is a front end for data entry and editing.

Figure 194: Fields of a simple Figure 195: Simple form with

form additions
A simple form consists of the fields from a table (Figure 194). More
complex forms can contain much more, including additional text,
graphics, selection boxes, and many other elements. Figure 195 is
made from the same table with a text label (Fuel Purchases), a list box
placed in PaymentType, and a graphic background.

Using the Wizard to create a form

We will use the Form Wizard to create a Vacations form, which will
contain a form and a subform.
In the main database window (Figure 183), click the Forms icon in the
left column. In the Tasks list, double-click Use Wizard to Create
Form to open the Form Wizard (Figure 196). Simple forms require only
some of these steps, while more complex forms may use all of them.
Step 1: Select fields.
1) Under Tables or queries, select Table: Vacations. Available fields
lists the fields for the Vacations table.
2) Click the right double arrow to move all of these fields to the
Fields in the form list. Click Next.

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Chapter 8 Getting Started with Base 267
 Figure 196: Form Wizard steps

Step 2: Set up a subform.

Since we have already created a relationship between the Fuel and
Vacations tables, we will use that relationship. If no relationship had
been defined, this would be done in step 4.
1) Click the box labeled Add Subform.
2) Click Subform based upon existing relation.
3) Fuel is listed as a relation we want to add. So, click Fuel to
highlight it, as in Figure 197. Click Next.

Figure 197: Adding a subform

Step 3: Add subform fields.

This step is exactly the same as step 1. The only difference is that not
all of the fields will be used in the subform.
1) Fuel is preselected under Tables or queries.
2) Use the >> button to move all the fields to the right.
3) Click the FuelID field to highlight it.
4) Use the < button to move the FuelID to the left (Figure 198).

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 5) Click Next.

Figure 198: Selecting fields of a subform

Step 4: Get joined fields.

This step is for tables or queries for which no relationship has been
defined. Because we have already defined the relationship, the wizard
skips this step.

It is possible to create a relationship between two tables that is

Note based upon more than one pair of fields. How to do that and
why is discussed in the Base Guide.

When selecting a pair of fields from two tables to use as a

relationship, they have to have the same field type. That is why
we used the Date field from both tables: both their field types
are Date[DATE].
Whether a single pair of fields from two tables are chosen as
Caution the relationship or two or more pairs are chosen, certain
requirements must be met for the form to work.
• No field from the subform can be the Primary key for its table.
(FuelID cannot be used.)
• Each pair of joined fields must have the same file type.
• One of the fields from the main form must be the Primary key
for its table. (Date would have to be used.)

Step 5: Arrange controls.

Each control in a form consists of two parts: label and field. This step
in creating the form determines where a control’s label and field are

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placed in relationship with each other. The four choices from left to

Chapter 8 Getting Started with Base 269

right are Columnar left, Columnar - Labels on top, As Data Sheet, and
In Blocks - Labels Above.
1) Arrangement of the main form:
Click the second icon
(Columnar - Labels on top). The
labels will be placed above
their field.
2) Arrangement of the subform:
Click the third icon (As Data
Sheet). (The labels are column
headings and the field entries
are in spreadsheet format.)
Click Next.

Step 6: Set data entry.

Unless you have a need for any of these entries to be checked, accept
the default settings. Click Next.

Step 7: Apply styles.

1) Select the color you want in the Apply Styles list. (I chose the
beige which is Orange 4 in the Color table.)
2) Select the Field border you want. (I prefer the 3-D look. You might
want to experiment with the different possible settings.)
3) Click Next.

Step 8: Set name.

1) Enter the name for the form. In this case, it is Fuel.
2) Click Modify the form.
3) Click Finish. The form opens in Edit mode.

Modifying a form
We will be moving the controls to different places in the form and
changing the background to a picture. We will also modify the label for
the PaymentType field as well as change the field to a list box.
First, we must decide what we want to change. The discussion will
follow this ten step outline of our planned changes.

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 1) Provide a dropdown capability for the Date field in the main form,
and lengthen the field to show the day of the week, month, day,
and year.
2) Shorten the length of the payment fields (all fields containing the
word Payment).
3) Move the controls into groups: food, fuel subform, and
miscellaneous.
4) Change the wording of some of the labels. Some single words
should be two words. Some abbreviations should be used if
possible (Misc. for miscellaneous).
5) Change the lengths of several fields and labels. Only Lunch,
Supper, Motel, and Tolls have acceptable lengths. But for a better
appearance, changes will be made to these as well.
6) Replace all the fields whose label ends in Payment with a list box
containing the entries from the Payment Type table.
7) Lengthen the Note field vertically, add a scroll bar, and move it.
8) Make changes in the Date and PaymentType columns of the
subform that are similar to the changes in the main form.
9) Add headings for each group in the main form.
10) Change the background to a picture, then modify some of the
labels so that they can be read clearly. Change the font color of
the headings.
Here are some methods that we will be using in these steps. The
controls in the main form consists of a label and its field. Sometimes
we want to work with the entire control, other times we want to work
with only the label or the field, and there are times when we want to
work with a group of controls.
• Clicking a label or field selects the entire control. A border
appears around the control with eight green handles (Figure
199). You can then drag and drop it where you want.

Figure 199: A selected control

• Control+click a label or field selects only the label or the field
(Figure 200). You can press the Tab key to change the selection
from the field to the label or the label to the field.

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 Figure 200: Selecting a field of a control

• Moving a group of controls is almost as easy as moving one of

them.
1) Click the field of the top left control to be moved, to select it.
2) Move the cursor to just above and to the left of the selected
control.
3) Drag the cursor to the bottom right of the group of controls
and release the mouse button.
As you drag the cursor, a dashed box appears showing what is
contained in your selection. Make sure it is big enough to
include the entire length of all the controls.
When you release the mouse button, a border with its green
handles appears around the controls you selected (Figure 201).

Figure 201: Selecting multiple controls

Move the cursor over one of the fields. It changes to a drag
icon. Drag the group of controls to where you want them.

When either changing size or moving a control, two properties of

the Form Design toolbar should be selected: Snap to Grid, and
Tip Guides when Moving. Your controls will line up better, and an
outline of what you are moving moves as the cursor moves.
You should also have both rulers active (View > Ruler).

Step 1: Change the Date field.

1) Control+click the Date field to select it.
2) Move the cursor over the middle green handle on the right side. It
should change to a double-headed arrow.
3) Hold the left mouse button down as you drag the cursor to the
right until the length is 6 cm. The vertical dashed line is lined up
with the 6. Release the mouse button.
4) Click the Control icon in the Form Controls toolbar (Figure 202).
The Properties: Date Field window opens. Each line contains a
property of the field.

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272 Getting Started with OpenOffice.org 3.x
 Figure 202: Form Controls toolbar
• Scroll down to the Date format property. This is a dropdown
list with Standard (short) as the default setting. Click it to
open the list. Select the Standard (long) entry.
• Scroll down to the Dropdown property. Its default setting is
No. It is also a dropdown list. Click to open the list. Select Yes.

To see what the Date field will look like, click the Form Mode
On/Off icon (the second icon from the left in Figure 202). You
Tip can do this any time you want to see the form with the changes
you have made.

Step 2: Shorten the width of some fields.

All of the fields with a label containing the word payment are too wide.
They need shortening before the controls are moved.
1) Control+click the BPayment field (Figure 203).

Figure 203: Selecting a field

2) Move the cursor over the middle green handle on the right. The
cursor becomes a double-headed arrow.
3) Drag the cursor to the left until the field is 2.5 cm wide (1 inch).

If you have the Snap to Grid and Guides when moving icons
Tip selected in the Design Format toolbar, you will see how wide the
field is as you shorten it.

4) Repeat these steps to shorten these fields: Lpayment, SPayment,

SnPayment, Mpayment, and MiscPayment.

Step 3: Move the controls to group them by category.

We want to move the controls so that they look like Figure 204.

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 Figure 204: Positioning of controls
1) Click the first control you want to move. A border appears around
the control with eight green handles.
2) Move the cursor over the label or field of the control. It change
shape to a drag icon.
3) Drag and drop the control to where you want it.

Caution Do not use Control+click when moving a field. It moves either

the field or the label but not both. To move both, use a mouse
click and drag to the desired spot.

4) Use the same steps to move the rest of the controls to where they
belong.
Step 4: Change the label wording.
Field names have been single words for some time. However, the
labels for the fields in a form can be more than one word. So, we will
change them by editing the text in the label.

The table wizard in Base contains suggested fields which are

single words, often consisting of two separate words. Table
names in the wizard have been that way also. However, you can
Note use multiple words as the name of a field, label, or table. We will
do so when we create a list box for each of the payment type
controls.

1) Control+click the SnackNo label. Do one of the following:

• Right-click the SnackNo label and select Control from the
pop-up menu.
• Or, click the Control icon in the Form Control toolbar (Figure
202).

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 2) The dialog that opens is labeled Properties: Label Field. It
contains all of the properties of the selected label.
• In the Label selection, edit the label to Snack No.
• Close the Properties dialog.
3) Use the same procedure to change these labels as well: BPayment
to Payment, LPayment to Payment, SPayment to Payment,
Miscellaneous to Misc., SnackCost to Snack Cost, MPayment to
Payment, MiscPayment to Misc. Payment, and MiscNotes to Misc.
Notes.
You can modify all of the listings in the Properties window. For
example, if you change the Alignment from Left to Center, the
Tip word or words in the label are centered within the label. When
you have some time, you might want to experiment with
different settings just to see the results you get.

Step 5: Change the widths of the labels and fields.

We want the following controls to be 2 cm wide (0.8 inches): Breakfast,
Lunch, Supper, Odometer, Snack No., Tolls, Snack Cost, Motel, and
Misc. All of the payment fields were changed in step 2, but Misc.
Payment needs to be changed to 3 cm (1.2 inches).
1) Right-click Breakfast and choose Position and Size. On the
Position and Size dialog, change Width to 2 cm.
2) Repeat for the other listed controls, using 3 cm for Misc.Payment.

Caution When changing the position or size of an entire control, use the
Position and Size dialog or the drag and drop method.
When working with either the label or the field (but not both at
the same time), you can use the Properties dialog to make these
changes when you want to be exact. However, you need to be
careful not to accidentally select the entire control for use with
the Properties dialog or you will apply the exact same values to
both the label and field. For example, if you enter the values for
a new position, both the field and the label moves to the same
position and the field is positioned on top of the label. Then you
have to move each of them to where you want them.

To open the Properties window, right-click a control and select

Control from the pop-up menu. Or, you can click the Control
icon in the Form Controls toolbar. Just be careful, and use
Note Control+Z to undo any mistakes you may make. Detailed
instructions on how to use the Properties window will be in the
Base Guide.

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Step 6: Replace fields with other fields.
We want to replace the PaymentType field with a List Box. Then we can
choose the type of payment from the Payment Type table rather than
having to manually enter the type. In my case, each of my payment
types begins with a different letter. If I enter the first letter of the
payment type, the rest of the word automatically appears. I can then
go to the next field.
1) Control+click the Payment field for Breakfast. The green handles
appear around the field but not around the Label (Figure 205).

Figure 205: Selecting a field of a control

2) Right-click within the green handles and select Replace with >
List Box.
3) Click the Control icon in the Form Controls toolbar to open the
Properties: List Box dialog.
4) On the General tab, scroll down to the Dropdown selection.
Change the No to Yes (Figure 206).

Figure 206: Dropdown list open to

reveal choices
5) Click the Data tab.
• Type of list contents is a dropdown list. Change it to Sql.

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 Figure 207: Type of list contents dropdown
list
• Type the following exactly as it is in the List contents box:
SELECT "Type", "Type" FROM "Payment Type"

Figure 208: List content for payment type fields

What you wrote is called an SQL command. The words SELECT

and FROM are written in capital letters because they are
commands. When the command SELECT is used, it requires a
field name within quotation marks and then the field’s alias, also
Note within quotation marks. In this case, the field and its alias are the
same. The FROM command requires the name of the table which
contains the field. Single-word table names do not require
quotation marks, but multiple-word table names do.

• Repeat these steps for the payment fields for Lunch, Supper,
Motel, Snacks, and Misc. The main form should look like
Figure 209 as far as where the controls are located. It also
shows what the Note control should look like. Those changes
are explained in the next step.
• Close the Properties window.

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 Figure 209: Position of controls in main form

Step 7: Change the Misc. Notes field.

We want the Misc. Notes control, which has a field type of Memo, to
have a vertical scrollbar for additional text space if desired.
1) Control+click the Misc. Notes field. The green handles should
surround the field but not its label.
2) Click the Control icon to open the Properties window (Figure
210).
3) Scroll down to the Scrollbars setting. Change the selection from
None to Vertical in this dropdown list.

Figure 210: Scrollbar selections in the Properties window

4) Close the Properties window.

5) Lengthen the Misc. Notes field by moving the cursor over the
middle green handle at the bottom of the field and dragging down

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until the length is 6 cm (2.4 inches).

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Step 8: Change labels and fields in the subform.
The subform is located at the bottom of the form. We want to widen the
Date column, change the field in the PaymentType column to a list box,
and change the label for the PaymentType column to two words.
To widen the Date column, move the mouse pointer over the dividing
line between the Date and FuelCost columns. When the pointer
changes shape, click and drag to move the divider to the right.
To change the PaymentType column:
1) Right-click the label PaymentType and choose Replace with >
List box from the menu.
2) Again right-click the label PaymentType to open the menu. Select
Column to open the Properties dialog (Figure 211).
3) In the Label box, change PaymentType to Payment Type.
4) Click the Data tab.
5) From the Type of list contents dropdown list, select Sql.
6) Type the following exactly as it is written:
SELECT "Type", "Type" FROM "Payment Type"
7) Close the Properties dialog.

Figure 211: Properties window for

control in a subform

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Step 9: Add headings to groups.
This step is easier to do if you have end-of-paragraph markers visible.
Choose View > Nonprinting Characters to turn them on.
1) Make sure the cursor in in the upper left corner. If it is not, click
in that corner to move it there.
2) Press the Enter key to move the cursor down to the space
between the Date field and the Breakfast field.
3) Change the Apply Styles dropdown list from Default to Heading 2.

Figure 212: Apply Styles list

4) Use the spacebar to move the cursor to where you want the
heading to start.
5) Type the heading Meals.
6) Use the spacebar to move the cursor to the center of snack area.
7) Type the heading Snacks.
8) Use the Enter key to move the cursor between the Supper control
and the subform.
9) Use the spacebar to move the cursor to the center of the subform.
10) Type the heading Fuel Data.

If you know how to use styles, you can open the Styles and
Formatting window using F11. Right-clicking the Heading 2
Note paragraph style allows you to modify the appearance of all three
headings. See Chapter 6 of the Writer Guide for details.

Step 10: Change the background of a form.

The background for a form can be a color, or a graphic (picture). You
can use any of the colors in the Color Table at Tools > Options >
OpenOffice.org > Colors. If you know how to create custom colors,
you can use them. You can also use a picture (graphic file) as the
background.
If you choose a dark background, you many need to change many of
the labels and headings so they can be seen.
1) Select the labels of the top row of controls.
a) Control+click the Date label.

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 b) Control+shift+click the rest of the labels of the top row. The
border will gradually grow to the right as you do this until all
the labels are enclosed in it.

Figure 213: Selecting multiple labels at one time

c) Click the Control icon in the Design Form toolbar to open the
Properties dialog.
d) Change the Background color selection from Default to Light
cyan. (This is a dropdown list.) Close the Properties dialog.
2) Select the other labels in the same way and then change their
background color.
3) To change the font color for the headings:
a) Open Styles and Formating using the F11 key. Make sure the
Paragraph icon is selected at the left end of the icons in
Figure 214.

Figure 214: Styles and Formating window

b) Right-click the Heading 2 style to open a pop-up window and

select Modify from this menu.
c) In the Paragraph Style Heading 2 dialog, click the Font
Effects tab. Change Font color from Automatic to Light Cyan.
d) Click OK to close the dialog.

Learning how to use styles can be very helpful at times. By using

styles, we changed the font color for all three headings at one
Tip time. There are other methods of changing the font color, but
they require repeating the same steps for each heading.

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 4) To add a graphic to the background:
a) Right-click on the background and select Page from the pop-up
menu.
b) On the Page Style dialog, click the Background tab, change the
As dropdown list from Color to Graphic.
c) Click Browse to find and select the graphic file you want to use,
and click Open.
d) In the Type section of the Background tab, select Area.
e) Click OK to close the dialog.
The form should look like Figure 215.

Figure 215: Finished form

Step 11: Change the tab order.

The Tab key moves the cursor from field to field. This is much easier to
do than to click each field to enter data into it. It also permits us to
group our expenses into areas before we begin entering data. For
example, all of our meal receipts can be grouped together as can our
snacks and also our fuel purchases.
1) Control+click the Date field.
2) Click the Form Design icon in the Form Controls toolbar to open
the Form Design toolbar (Figure 216), or choose View >
Toolbars > Form Design to open this toolbar.

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3) Click the Activation Order icon (circled).

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 Figure 216: Form Design toolbar with Activation Order icon circled
4) Rearrange the order of the fields in the Tab Order window.
a) Find the txtMPayment listing near the bottom of the list and
click it.
b) Click the Move Up button until txtPayment is just below
fmtMotel.
c) Use the same two steps to put the fields in the same order as
in Figure 217. Click OK.

Figure 217: Tab order for the main form

5) Save and close the form.

6) Save the database.

Creating forms and subforms in Design View

This method requires using the Form Controls and Form Design
toolbars extensively. These techniques are beyond the scope of this
document. Instructions for creating forms using Design view will be
described in the Database Guide.

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Accessing other data sources
OpenOffice.org allows data sources to be accessed and then linked into
OOo documents. For example, a mail merge links an external document
containing a list of names and addresses into a letter, with one copy of
the letter being generated for each entry.
To access a data source that is not a *.odb file:
1) File > New > Database opens the Database Wizard window.
2) Select Connect to an existing database. Click the arrow next to
the Database type field and select the database type from the
dropdown list. Click Next.
3) Click Browse and select the database. Click Next.
4) Accept the default settings: Register the database for me, and
Open the database for editing. Click Finish. Name and save the
database in the location of your choice.

Accessing a spreadsheet as a data source

Accessing a spreadsheet is similar to accessing other databases:
1) Choose File > New > Database.
2) Select Connect to an existing database. Select Spreadsheet as the
Database type.
3) Click Browse to locate the spreadsheet you want to access. If the
spreadsheet is password protected, check the Password required
box. Click Next.
4) If the spreadsheet requires a user’s name, enter it. If a password
is also required, check its box. Click Next.

Using this method of accessing a spreadsheet, you cannot

change anything in the spreadsheet. You can only view the
contents of the spreadsheet, run queries, and create reports
based upon the data already entered into the spreadsheet.
Note All changes in a spreadsheet must be made in the spreadsheet
itself, using Calc. After modifying the spreadsheet and saving it,
you will see the changes in the database. If you create and save
an additional sheet in your spreadsheet, the database will have
a new table the next time you access it.

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Registering *.odb databases
Databases created by OOo2.x or later are in the *.odb (OpenDocument
Base) format. Other programs can also produce databases in this
format. Registered a *.odb database is simple:
1) Choose Tools > Options > OpenOffice.org Base > Databases.
2) Under Registered databases, click New.
3) Browse to where the database is located.
4) Make sure the registered name is correct.
5) Click OK.

Sometimes when updating OOo to a newer version, your list of

registered database files disappears. When that happens, you
Note need to use these steps to register your database files with your
latest version of OOo.

Using data sources in OpenOffice.org

Having registered the data source, whether a spreadsheet, text
document, external database or other accepted data source, you can
use it in other OpenOffice.org components including Writer and Calc.

Viewing data sources

Open a document in Writer or Calc. To view the data sources available,
press F4 or select View > Data Sources from the pull-down menu.
This brings up a list of registered databases, which will include
Bibliography and any other database registered, such as the
Automobile database created earlier in this chapter.
To view each database, click on the + to the left of the database’s
name (see Figure 218). This brings up Tables and Queries. Click on the
+ next to Tables to view the individual tables created . Now click on a
table to see all the records held in it.

Figure 218: Databases

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Editing data sources
Some data sources can be edited in the View Data Sources dialog. A
spreadsheet can not. A record can be edited, added, or deleted.
The data is displayed on the right side of the screen. Click in a field to
edit the value.
Beneath the records are five tiny buttons. The first four move
backwards or forwards through the records, or to the beginning or end .
The fifth button, with a small star, inserts a new record (Figure 219).

Insert new
record
Figure 219: View Data Sources navigation buttons
To delete a record, right-click on the gray box to the left of a row to
highlight the entire row, and select Delete Rows to remove the
selected row.

Figure 220: Deleting a row in the Data View window

Launching Base to work on data sources

You can launch OOo Base at any time from the View Data Source pane .
Just right-click on a database or the Tables or Queries icons and select
Edit Database File. Once in Base, you can edit, add, and delete tables,
queries, forms, and reports.

Using data sources in Writer and Calc

Data can be placed into Writer and Calc documents from the tables in
the data source window. In Writer, values from individual fields can be
inserted. Or, a complete table can be created in the Writer document.
One common way to use a data source is to perform a mail merge.

Choosing Tools > Mail Merge Wizard or clicking on the Mail

Merge icon on the View Data Source pane launches the Mail
Tip Merge wizard which steps you through creating a mail merge
document. See Chapter 11 in the Writer Guide.

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Writer documents
To insert a field from a table opened in the data source window into a
Writer document, click on the field name (the gray square at the top of
the field list) and, with the left mouse button held down, drag the field
onto the document. In a Writer document, it will appear as <FIELD>
(where FIELD is the name of the field you dragged).
For example, to enter the cost of meals and who paid for them on a
certain date of a vacation:
1) Open the list of data sources (F4) and select the Vacations table in
the Automobile database.
2) Use this sentence: “On (date), our breakfast cost (amount) paid by
(name), our lunch cost (amount) paid by (name), and our supper
cost (amount) paid by (name).” But only type “On , our breakfast
cost paid by , our lunch cost paid by , and our supper cost paid
by .”
3) To replace (date), click the field name Date in the data source
window and drag it to the right of the word On. The result: On
<Date>. If you have Field shadings turned on (View > Field
shading), <Date> has a gray background. Otherwise it does not.
4) To replace first (amount), click the Breakfast field name and drag
it to the right of our breakfast cost. Make sure you have the
proper spacing between the field names and the words before and
after them. Result: breakfast cost <Breakfast>.
5) To replace the first (name), click the Bpayment field name and
drag it to the right of paid by. Result: paid by <Bpayment>.
6) In the same way, fill in the rest of the fields in the sentence.
• Use <Lunch> and <LPayment> for the second set of (amount)
and (name) in the sentence.
• Use <Supper> and <SPayment> for the third set of (amount)
and (name) in the sentence.
7) Final result: On <Date>, our breakfast cost <Breakfast> paid by
<BPayment>, our lunch cost <Lunch> paid by <LPayment>, and
our supper cost <Supper> paid by <SPayment>.
8) Add data to the fields of the sentence:
• Click the gray box to the left of the row of data you want to
add. That row should be highlighted like the second row of
Figure 221.
• Click the Data to Fields icon (circled). This should fill the
fields with the data from the row you chose.

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 • Click another row and then click this icon again. The data in
the sentence changes to this selected row of data.
• Save the document if you want to use it as an example later.

Figure 221: Selected row in data source window

Adding data in table format is a little easier and takes perhaps fewer
steps. Some of the steps will be quite similar.
1) Navigate to the place you want to place the table and click the
location.
2) Control+Click the gray box to the left of each row of the data
source that you want to be a row in your table when the rows are
not consecutive. To select consecutive rows, click the gray box to
the left of the top desired row and Shift+click the bottom desired
row.
3) Click the Data to text icon to open the Insert Database Columns
dialog (Figure 222). (The Data to text icon is to the left of the
Data to Fields icon in Figure 221.)

Figure 222: Insert Database Columns dialog

4) Move the fields you want in your table from the Database
Columns list to the Table column(s) list.
• To place the fields in the order you select, click the field and
use the single arrow to move the fields in the order you desire.

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 You can also limit the fields you use to less than all of the
fields available.
• If you want to use all of the fields, use the double arrow
pointing to the right to move all of them at one time. The
order of the fields in the table you create will be the same as
in the data source table.
• To remove a single field from the Table Column(s) list, click
the field and use the single arrow pointing to the left.
• To start over, click the double arrow pointing to the left.
5) Select the settings for your table. Use the default settings as in
Figure 222.
6) Click OK. Save the document.

Calc spreadsheets
There are two ways to enter data in a Calc spreadsheet. One enters the
data into the spreadsheet cells. The other creates records in the
spreadsheet just like they are done in creating a form in a database.
While you can directly access the data in the spreadsheet cells, you can
only see the data in the records created in the spreadsheet.
Entering data directly to the spreadsheet cells uses the Data to Text
icon as we did to make a table in a Writer document. But differences
exist in these two situations.
The steps are straightforward.
1) Click the cell of the spreadsheet which you want to be the top left
of your data including the column names.
2) Use F4 to open the database source window and select the table
whose data you want to use.
3) Select the rows of data you want to add to the spreadsheet:
• Click the gray box to the left of the row you want to select if
only selecting one row. That row is highlighted.
• To select multiple rows, hold down the Control key while
clicking the gray box of the rows you need. Those rows are
highlighted.
• To select all the rows, click the gray box in the upper left
corner. All rows are highlighted.
4) Click the Data to text icon to insert the data into the spreadsheet
cells.
5) Save the spreadsheet.

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Adding records to a spreadsheet is fairly easy. You need to have the
Data Source window open, your spreadsheet open, and the table you
want to use selected.
1) Click the gray box above the field name for the table's ID field.
2) Drop and drag the gray box for the table's ID field to where you
want the record to appear in the spreadsheet.
3) Repeat until you have moved all of the fields you need to where
you want them.
4) Name and save the spreadsheet.
5) Click a row of the table in the Data Source window.
6) Drag the data in the ID field in the selected row onto the ID field
in the spreadsheet. The Save icon should activate.
7) Click the Edit File button to make the spreadsheet read only.
Click Save when asked if you want to save the file.
8) The Data Source window goes blank, the fields in the spreadsheet
are populated with data from the row you selected, and the Form
Navigation toolbar appears at the bottom of the spreadsheet.
(Figure 223)

Figure 223: Navigation arrows of a form

9) Click the arrows on the Form Navigation toolbar to view the
different records of the table. (The arrows are circled in red.) The
number in the box changes when you change the record number
by clicking an arrow. The data in the fields changes
correspondingly to the data for that particular record number.

Entering data in a form

Records are used to organize the data we enter into a form. They also
organize the data we enter into a subform.
Each type of field allows a different method to enter the data. In many
if not all cases, more than one method can be used.
The first step to entering data in a form is to open it from the main
database window (Figure 183).
1) Click the Forms icon in the Database list.
2) Find the form’s name in the Forms list (Vacations).
3) Double-click the form’s name.

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The quickest way to enter a date in the Date field is to click the arrow
that opens the dropdown calendar. Then click the day the you want
(Figure 224). Then press the Tab key to go to the Odometer field.

Figure 224: Calendar dropdown

The Odometer, Tolls, and Motel fields are numerical fields. Enter
values directly into them, or use the up and down arrows. When the
value is entered, use the Tab key to go to the next field.
• Clicking the up arrow increases the value, and the down arrow
decreases the value one unit.
• These two arrows only change the numerals to the left of the
decimal place.
• Numerals to the right of the decimal place must be changed by
deleting them and typing the desired ones.
The Motel’s Payment field is a dropdown list. If as in my case, all of the
elements of the list start with different letters, typing the first letter
selects the desired entry.
• If two or more elements of the list have the same first letter,
repeated typing of the first letter will cycle through the elements
with this same first letter.
• When the selection is correct, use the Tab key to go to the Misc.
field.
The rest of the fields of the main form are either numerical fields or
dropdown lists until we reach the Misc. Notes field. It is a text field.
Type anything you desire in this field just as you would any simple text
editor.

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 Since the Tab key is used to move between fields, it can not be
used in a text field. All spacing must be done by the spacebar.
Finally, the Enter key only acts as a line break to move the
cursor to the next line. While the Enter key will move from non-
Note text fields to non-text fields, it will not do so from a text field.
Use the Tab key instead.
If we did not have a subform for fuel data, pressing the Tab key
in the last field would save all of the fields, clear them, and
make the form ready to accept data on the second record.

Since we have a subform form, using the Tab key places the cursor in
the first Date field of the subform with the date automatically entered
to match the Date field of the main form.
The FuelCost, FuelQuantity, and Odometer fields are numerical fields.
The Payment field is a dropdown list. Enter the data just as you did in
the main form, and use the Tab key to go to the next field.
When you use the Tab key to leave the Payment field, it goes to the
Date field of the next line and automatically enters the date. Now you
can enter your second set of fuel data for this day.
To move to another record when the form has a subform, click any of
the fields of the main form. In this case, click the Date field of the main
form. Then use the directional arrows at the bottom. There are four of
them from left to right: First Record, Previous Record, Next Record,
and Last Record (Figure 223). To the right of these arrows is the New
Record icon.
To create a new record while in another record in the main form, click
either the Next Record icon or the New Record icon.

The number in the Record box is the number of the record whose
data is shown in the form.
Tip If you know the number of the record you want, you can enter it
into the record box and then press Enter to take you to that
record.

Figure 225 is a record with data inserted in its fields.

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 Figure 225: Sample record of the Vacation form and subform

Creating queries
Queries are used to get specific information from a database. Query
results are special tables within the database.
To demonstrate the use of queries, we will use two different methods:
• Using our CD-Collection table, we will create a list of albums by a
particular artist. We will do this using the Wizard.
• The information we might want from the Fuel table includes what
our fuel economy is. We will do this using the Design View.
(Queries that require calculations are best created with the
Design view.)

Using the Wizard to create a query

Queries created by the wizard provide a list or lists of information
based upon what one wants to know. It is possible to obtain a single
answer or multiple answers, depending upon the circumstances.
In the main database window (Figure 183), click the Queries icon in
the Databases section, then in the Tasks section, click Use Wizard to
Create Query. The Query Wizard window opens (Figure 226). The
information we want is what albums are by a certain musical group or
individual (the album’s author). We can include when each album was
bought.

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 When working with a query, more than one table can be used.
Since different tables may contain the same field names, the
format for naming fields in a query is Table name.field name,
Note with a period (.) between the table name and the field name. For
example, The Lunch field of the Vacation table used in a query
has the name Vacation.Lunch.

Step 1: Select the fields.

1) Select the CD-Collection table from the dropdown list of tables.
2) Select fields from the CD-Collection table in the Available fields
list.
a) Click Artist, and use the > button to move it to the Fields in
the Query list.
b) Move the AlbumTitle and DatePurchased fields in the same
manner.
c) Click Next.

To change the order of the fields, select the field you want to
Tip move and click the up or down arrow.

Figure 226: First page of the Query Wizard

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Step 2: Select the sorting order.
Up to four fields can be used to sort the information of our query. A
little simple logic helps at this point. Which field is most important?
In our query, the artist is most important. The album title is less
important, and the date purchased is of least importance. Of course, if
we were interested in what music we bought on a given day, the date
purchased would be the most important.

Figure 227: Sorting order page

1) Click the first Sort by dropdown list.
• Click CD-Collection.Artist to select it.
• To list the artists in alphabetical order (a-z), select Ascending
on the right.
2) Click the second Sort by dropdown list.
• Click CD-Collection.ArtistTitle. and select Ascending.
3) Repeat this process for CD-Collection.DatePurchased.
4) Click Next.

Step 3: Select the search conditions.

The search conditions allow us to compare the name we entered with
the names of the artist in our database and decide whether to include a
particular artist in our query or not.
• is equal to: the same as
• is not equal to: not the same as
• is smaller than: comes before
• is greater than: comes after
• is equal or less than: the same as or comes before
• is equal or greater than: the same as or comes after
• like: similar to in some way

These conditions apply to numbers, letters (using the

Note alphabetical order), and dates.

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 1) Since we are only searching for one thing, we will use the default
setting of Match all of the following.
2) We are looking for a particular artist, so select CD-Collection.
Artist in the Fields list and is equal to as the Condition.
3) Type the name of the artist in the Value box. Click Next.

Step 4: Select type of query.

We want simple information, so the default setting: Detailed query is
what we want. Click Next at the bottom of the window.
Since we have a simple query, the Grouping and Grouping
Note conditions are not needed. Steps 5 and 6 of the wizard are
skipped in our query.

Step 7: Assign aliases if desired.

We want the default settings. Click Next.

Step 8: Overview.
Name the query (suggestion: Query_Artists). To the right of this are
two choices. Select Display Query. Click Finish.

Using the Design View to create a query

Creating a query using Design View is not as difficult as it may first
seem. It may take multiple steps, but each step is fairly simple.
What fuel economy is our vehicle getting (miles per gallon in the USA)?
This question requires creating two queries, with the first query being
used as part of the second query.
Step 1: Open the first query in Design View.
Click Create Query in Design View.

Step 2: Add tables.

Figure 228: Add Tables or Query window

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 1) Click Fuel to highlight it.
2) Click Add. Click Close.

Move the cursor over the bottom edge of the fuel table (Figure
Tip 229) and drag the to make it longer and easier to see all of the
fields in the table.

Figure 229: Fuel table in query

Step 3: Add fields to the table at the bottom.
1) Double-click the FuelID field in the Fuel table.
2) Double-click the Odometer field.
3) Double-click the FuelQuantity field.
The table at the bottom of the query window should now have three
columns (Figure 230).

Figure 230: Query table

Step 4: Set the criterion for the query.

We want the query’s FuelID to begin with the numeral 1.
1) Type >0 in the Criterion cell under FuelID in the query table.
2) Click the Run Query icon in the Query Design toolbar (Figure
231).

Figure 231: Query Design toolbar

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Figure 232 contains the Fuel table with my entries and the query
results based upon the Fuel table: the query results are in the right
table.

Figure 232: Fuel table and query of the fuel table

Step 5: Save and close the query.

Since this query contains the ending odometer reading for our
calculations, name it End-Reading when saving it. Then close the
query.

Step 6: Create the query to calculate the fuel economy.

1) Click Create Query in Design View to open a new query.
2) Add the Fuel table to the query just as you did in step 2: Add
tables But, do not close the Add Tables window.
3) Add the End-Reading query to this query.
a) Click Queries to get the list of queries in the database.

Figure 233: Selecting queries to add to another query

b) Click End-Reading.
c) Click Add, and then click Close.

Step 7: Add fields to the table at the bottom of the query.

We are going to calculate the fuel economy. To do this we need the
FuelQuantity and distance traveled. Since the FuelQuantity we want to
use is at the ending odometer reading, we will use the End-Reading
query to get it. We will also use the Odometer field from the Fuel table
and End-Reading query.

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 Figure 234: Tables in this query
1) Double-click FuelQuantity in the End-Reading query.
2) Double-click Odometer in the End-Reading query.
3) Double-click Odometer in the Fuel table.

Figure 235: Added fields to the query

Step 8: Enter the FuelID difference field.

We want the difference between the FuelID value of the Fuel table and
FuelID value of the End-Reading query to equal one (1).
1) Type "End-Reading".FuelID - Fuel.FuelID in the field to the
right of the Odometer field of the Fuel Table (Figure 236).
Type the numeral 1 (one) in the Criterion cell of this column.

Figure 236: Typing in calculation of fields

2) Calculate the distance traveled (Figure 237):

• Type "End-Reading".Odometer – Fuel.Odometer in the Field
cell.
• Type >0 in the Criterion cell.

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 Figure 237: Field for distance traveled
calculations
3) Calculate fuel economy (Figure 238):
Type ("End-Reading".Odometer – Fuel.Odometer)/"End-
Reading".FuelQuantity in the next column to the right of the
word Field.

Figure 238: Fuel economy calculation field

When entering fields for these calculations, you must follow

this format: table or query name followed by a period follow by
the field name. For hyphenated or multiple-word names (table
or query), use double quotes around the table or query name.
Note The query will then add the rest of the double quotes as in
Figure 236.
Use the arithmetical symbol between the two. More than one
calculation can be done by using parentheses to group the
arithmetical operations.

Step 9: Run the query and make some modification.

After we run the query to make sure it works correctly, we will hide all
of the fields that we do not need.
1) Click the Run Query icon in the Design Query toolbar (Figure
231). The results are in Figure 239.

Figure 239: Result of running the fuel economy query

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 Notice that not all of the last column label is visible because some
of the labels are long. We can fix this problem by using an alias
for many of the fields. The labels are replaced by their aliases.
2) Add Aliases:
Type in the aliases as they are listed in Figure 240.

Figure 240: Query table with aliases added

3) Run the query again. The results are in Figure 235.

Figure 241: Query run with aliases

We really do not need the column showing the difference between
the FuelID fields from the table and query, so we will hide it.
While it will not be visible, it will still be used in the calculations.
4) Hide a field that does not need to be seen.
Remove the check in the box of the Visible cell as in Figure 242.

Figure 242: Making a field invisible in a query run

5) Rerun the query (Figure 243).

Figure 243: Query run with aliases

Step 10: Close, save, and name the query.

My suggestion for a name is Fuel Economy.
There are obviously other calculations that can be made in this query
such as cost per distance traveled and how much of the cost belongs to
each of the payments types.

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 To fully use queries requires a knowledge of set operations
(unions, intersections, and, or, complements, and any
Note combinations of these). Having a copy of the Hsqldb User Guide,
available from http://hsqldb.org/, is also extremely useful.

Creating reports
Reports provide information found in the database in a useful way. In
this they are similar to queries. Reports are generated from the
database’s tables or queries. They can contain all of the fields of the
table or query or just a selected group of fields. Reports can be static
or dynamic. Static reports contain the data in the selected fields at the
time the report was created. Dynamic reports can be updated to show
the latest data.
For example, a report on expenses for a vacation in the past should
probably be a static report because it is based upon specific data that
does not change. However, a report on the fuel data should probably
be a dynamic report, because this report depends upon data that does
change.

Dynamic reports update only the data that is changed or added

to a table or query. They do not show any modifications made to
Caution the table or query itself. For example, after creating the report
below, open the fuel economy query created in the previous
section. For the "End-Reading".”Odometer – Fuel.”Odometer”
column, change the number 1 to the number 3. The report will
be identical before and after you make the change.

All reports are based upon a single table or query. So you need first to
decide what fields you want to use in the report. If you want to use
fields from different tables, you must first combine these fields in a
single query. Then you can create a report on this query.
For example, a report on vacation expenses includes both fuel costs
and meal costs. These values are contained in fields of two different
tables: Vacations and Fuel. So this report requires creating a query.

Creating a static report

We will create a report on vacation expenses. Certain questions need
to be asked before creating the report.
• What information do we want in the report?

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 • How do we want the information arranged?
• What fields are required to provide this information?
• Will a query have to be created because these fields are in
different tables?
• Are there any calculations required in the data before being
added to the report?
The expenses for our vacation are motel, tolls, miscellaneous,
breakfast, lunch, supper, snacks, and fuel. One possible report would
simply list the totals of each of these expense groups. Another possible
report would list the expense totals for each day of the vacation. A
third possible report would list the totals for each expense group for
each type of payment. (This would let us know where the money came
from to pay the expenses.) The best way to create reports like these is
to create the queries needed to gather the needed data, insert the
query data into a spreadsheet, and use the necessary Calc functions on
this data.
We will create two reports, one listing the expenses each day other
than fuel and the second listing the fuel costs each day.
The fields we need for the first report from the Vacations table are:
Date, Motel, Toll, Breakfast, Lunch, Supper, SnackCost, and
Miscellaneous. This report will not require an additional query.
The second report involves the Fuel table. Since this table includes fuel
purchases at times other than during the vacation, we need to create a
query that contains only the fuel purchased during the vacation.

Vacations table report

To create a new report.
1) Click the Reports icon in the Database list in the Automobile –
OpenOffice.org Base window (Figure 183).
2) In the Tasks list, click Use Wizard to Create Report. The Report
Wizard opens.

Step 1: Field selection

1) Select Table: Vacations in the Tables or Queries dropdown list.
2) Use the > to move these fields from the Available fields list to the
Fields in report list: Date, Motel, Tolls, Miscellaneous, Breakfast,
Lunch, Supper, and SnackCost (Figure 244). Click Next.

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 Figure 244: Adding fields to a report
Step 2: Labeling fields
Change any field labels you wish. We will shorten Miscellaneous to
Misc. Click Next.

Step 3: Grouping
Since we are grouping by the date, use the > button to move the Date
field to the Grouping list. Click Next.

Figure 245: Selecting fields for grouping data

Step 4: Sort options

We do not want to do any additional sorting. Click Next.

Step 5: Choose layout

Use default settings for the layout. Click Next.

Step 6: Create report

• Label the report: Vacation Expenses.
• Select Static report.
• Click Finish.

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 If you feel adventurous, try selecting some of the other layout
choices. After selecting a choice, drag the Report Wizard
Note window out of the way so that you can see what you have
selected. (Move the cursor over the Title Bar of the window, and
then drag and drop.)

Vacation fuel report

1) Create a query containing only fuel bought on the days of the
vacation.
a) Open a query in Design View.
b) Follow the steps for adding tables in “Add tables” on page 296
to add the Fuel table.
c) In the Fuel table, double-click Date and FuelCost to enter
them in the table at the bottom of the query.
d) In the Criterion cell of the Date field, type the following:
BETWEEN #5/25/2007# AND #5/26/2007#

Figure 246: Setting the criterion for a query

2) Save, name, and close the query. (Suggestion: Vacation Fuel
Purchases.)

When using dates in a query, enter them in numerical form

MM/DD/YYYY or DD/MM/YYYY depending upon your language's
default setting for dates (my default setting is MM/DD/YYYY).
Tip
Each date must have a # before and after it. Hence, May 25,
2007 is written #05/25/2007# or #25/5/2007# depending upon
your language’s default setting for dates.

3) Open a new report.

• Right-click the Vacation Fuel Purchases query.
• Select Report Wizard from the pop-up menu.

When a new report is opened in this way, the query used to

Note open it is automatically selected in the Tables or queries
dropdown list in the Report Wizard.

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 4) Create the report.
Use >> to move both fields from the Available fields list to the
Fields in report list. Click Next.
5) Label fields.
Add a space to FuelCost to make it Fuel Cost (two words). Click
Next.
6) Group fields.
Click Date to highlight it. Use > to move the Date field to the
Groupings list. Click Next.
7) Choose layout.
We will be making no changes in the layout. Click Next.
8) Create report (final settings).
• Use the suggested name, which is the same as the query.
• Select Static report. Click Finish.

Creating a dynamic report

Now we will create a report with some statistics on our fuel
consumption. To do this, we have to modify two queries: End-Reading
and Fuel Economy. We will be adding the FuelCost field to the End-
Reading query. Then we will add the FuelCost field from the End-
Reading query to the Fuel Economy query.
When opening a query to edit it, it might appear as in Figure
Tip 247. If you move your cursor over the black line (circled), it
becomes a double headed arrow. Drag it to a lower position.

Figure 247: Appearance of query when opened for editing

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 1) Add the FuelCost field to the End-Reading query:
a) Right-click the End-Reading query and select Edit from the
pop-up menu.
b) In the Fuel table list, double-click to add FuelCost to the
bottom table (Figure 248).
c) Save and close the query.

Figure 248: Adding an additional field to the query

2) Add the FuelCost field from the End-Reading query to the Fuel
Economy query:
• Right-click the Fuel Economy query and select Edit from the
pop-up menu.
• Double-click the FuelCost field in the End-Reading query list
to add it to the query table at the bottom.
3) Add a calculation field to the right of the FuelCost field.
• Type the following in a Field cell in the table at the bottom:
"End-Reading".FuelCost/("End-Reading".Odometer –
Fuel.Odometer)
• Type the following in its Alias cell: cost per mile.

If you use the metric system, cost per km is the appropriate

Note alias.

4) Save and close the query.

5) Open a new report.
Right-click the Fuel Economy query and select Report Wizard.
6) Select fields.
Move all the fields from the Available fields to the Fields in report
list. Use the >> to do so. Click Next.
7) Label fields.
Change FuelCost to Fuel Cost by placing a space between the
words. Click Next.

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 8) Group fields.
Use > to move the Date field to the Groupings list. Click Next.
9) Sort options: the wizard skipped this one.
10) Choose layout: accept the default. Click Next.
11) Create the report.
• Change the report name to Fuel Statistics.
• The default setting is Dynamic report, so no change is
necessary.
• Select Modify report layout.
• Click Finish.

Modifying a report
At the end of the last section, we left the Fuel Statistics report open in
the edit mode (Figure 249). We will be working on that report. These
same steps can be used with any report that you open for editing.

Figure 249: A report in edit mode

The Author is the name you listed in Tools > Options >
OpenOffice.org > User Data. The date is not correct. The columns
need to be moved to the left to give a better appearance. None of the
numbers are correct, but their only purpose is to show the number of
decimal places.
Step 1: Change the date.
1) Click to the right of the date (4/26/20) so that the cursor is next to
the field. Use the Backspace key to erase the date.
2) Insert > Fields > Date. This places today’s date where the
original date was.
3) Change the date formatting:
a) Double-click the date field you just inserted. The Edit Fields:
Document window opens (Figure 250).

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 Figure 250: Modifying a date field
b) Since this is a dynamic report, change the Select field from
Date (fixed) to Date.
c) Change the Format to what you desire. (I use the Friday,
December 31, 1999 choice.) Click OK.

Step 2: Change the column widths.

The column widths can be changed by moving the cursor over the right
border of each column so that it becomes a double-headed arrow. Then
drag and drop it to where you want it. This has to be done for each
column in each table in the report. This can also be done with the last
column on the right even though there is no black border. It should
now look something like Figure 251.

Figure 251: Realigned columns in a report

Step 3: Change the number formatting in the cells.

The fuel quantity should have three decimal places. The Begin, End,
and Distance should have one decimal place. Fuel Cost should be
currency and have two decimal places, and Cost per mile should have
three decimal places.
1) Right-click the cell below Quantity and select Number format.
(The cell is circled in Figure 251.)
2) In the Options section (Figure 252),
a) Change the number of Decimal places to 3.
b) Click the green checkmark. Click OK.

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 Figure 252: Option section of the Number Formating window
3) Change the Cost per mile field.
a) Right-click in the cell below Fuel Cost.
b) Select Number Format.
c) In the Category list, select Currency. Click OK.
4) Change the Fuel Cost field.
a) Right-click in the cell below Cost per mile.
b) Select Number Format.
c) In the Category list, select Currency.
d) In the Option section:
• Set the number of decimal places to 3.
• Click the green checkmark.
e) Click OK.
Step 4: Save and close the report.
Double-click the report. It should now look like Figure 253.

Figure 253: Final report

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More ways to create reports
An extension is available to assist in report creation. Sun Report
Builder creates stylish, complex database reports. You can define
group and page headers, group and page footers, and calculation
fields. It is available from http://extensions.services.openoffice.org/.
To install this extension, follow these steps:
1) Choose Tools > Extension Manager from the menu bar. In the
Extension Manager dialog, click Get more extensions online....
2) The OOo extensions page opens in your browser. Find and select
the extension you want and follow the prompts to install it. During
installation, you will be asked to accept a license agreement.
3) When the installation is complete, the extension is listed in the
Extension Manager dialog.
For more about extensions, see Chapter 14 (Customizing
OpenOffice.org).

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 Chapter 9
Getting Started with Math
OpenOffice.org’s Equation Editor

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What is Math?
Math is OpenOffice.org (OOo)’s component for writing mathematical
equations. It is most commonly used as an equation editor for text
documents, but it can also be used with other types of documents or
stand-alone. When used inside Writer, the equation is treated as an
object inside the text document.

The equation editor is for writing equations in symbolic form, as

Note in equation 1. If you want to evaluate a numeric value, see the
Calc Guide.

df  x −1 2
=ln  x  tan  x  (1)
dx

Getting started
To insert an equation, choose Insert > Object > Formula. The
equation editor opens at the bottom of the screen, and the floating
Formula Elements window (called “Selection” before Math 3.2) may
appear. A small box with a gray border also appears in your document,
where the formula will be displayed, as shown in Figure 254.

Figure 254. Equation Editor, Formula Elements window, and

location of resulting equation.

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Entering a formula
The equation editor uses a markup language to represent formulas. For
example, %beta creates the Greek character beta (  ). This markup is
designed to read similar to English whenever possible. For example, a
a
over b produces a fraction: b .

You can enter a formula in three ways:

• Select a symbol from the Formula Elements window.
• Right-click on the equation editor and select the symbol from the
context menu.
• Type markup in the equation editor.
The context menu and the Formula Elements window insert the
markup corresponding to a symbol. This provides a convenient way to
learn the OOo Math markup.

Click on the document body to exit the formula editor.

Note
Double-click on a formula to enter the formula editor again.

The Formula Elements window

The simplest method for entering a formula is to use the Formula
Elements window, shown in Figure 254.

Figure 255. Symbols are divided into categories

In OOo Math before V3.2.0, the Formula Elements window was

Note called the Selection window.

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The Formula Elements window is divided into two main parts.
• The top shows the symbol categories. Click on these to change
the list of symbols.
• The bottom shows the symbols available in the current category.

You can hide or show the Formula Elements window with View
Tip > Formula Elements.

Example 1: 5×4
For this example we will enter a simple formula: 5×4 . On the Formula
Elements window (Figure 256):
1) Select the top-left button of the categories (top) section.
2) Click on the multiplication symbol.

Figure 256. Selecting the multiplication symbol

When you select the multiplication symbol on the Formula Elements
window, two things happen:
• The equation editor shows the markup: <?> times <?>
• The body of the document shows a gray box like this: ×

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Figure 257. Result of selecting the multiplication symbol

Chapter 9 Getting Started with Math 315

The <?> symbols shown in Figure 257 are placeholders that you can
replace by other text, for example 5 and 4. The equation will update
automatically, and the result should resemble Figure 258.

Figure 258. Result of entering 5 and 4 next to the times operator

To keep the equation from updating automatically, choose View

Tip >AutoUpdate display from the menu bar. To update a formula
manually, press F9 or choose View > Update.

Right-click menu
Another way to access mathematical symbols is to right-click on the
equation editor. This pops up the menu shown in Figure 259. The items
in this menu correspond exactly to those in the Formula Elements
window.

Figure 259. Right-click menu

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Markup
You can type the markup directly in the equation editor. For example,
you can type 5 times 4 to obtain 5×4 . If you know the markup, this
can be the fastest way to enter a formula.

The formula markup resembles the way the formula reads in

Tip English.

Below is a short list of common equations and their corresponding

markup.
Display Command Display Command
a=b a=b a sqrt {a}

a2 a^2 an a_n

∫ f  x dx int f(x) dx ∑ an sum a_n

a≤b a <= b ∞ infinity

a×b a times b x⋅y x cdot y

Greek characters
Greek characters (  ,  ,  ,  , etc) are common in mathematical
formulas. These characters are not available in the Formula Elements
window or on the right-click menu. Fortunately, the markup for Greek
characters is simple: Type a % sign followed the name of the character,
in English.
• To write a lowercase character, type the name of the character in
lowercase.
• To write an uppercase character, type the name of the character
in uppercase.
See the table below for some examples.
Lowercase Uppercase
%alpha   %ALPHA  A
%beta   %BETA  B
%gamma   %GAMMA  
%psi   %PSI  
%phi   %PHI  
%theta   %THETA  

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 A complete table of Greek characters is provided in the Math
Note Objects chapter in the Writer Guide.

Another way to enter Greek characters is by using the Symbols catalog

window. Choose Tools > Catalog. This window is shown in Figure
260. Under Symbol set, select Greek and double-click on a Greek
letter from the list.

Figure 260. Symbols catalog, used for entering Greek characters

Example 2:  ≃ 3.14159
For this example we will suppose that:
• We want to enter the above formula (the value of pi rounded to 5
decimal places).
• We know the name of the Greek character (pi).
• But we do not know the markup associated with the ≃ symbol.

Step 1: Type % followed by the text pi. This displays the Greek
character  .
Step 2: Open the Formula Elements window (View > Formula
Elements).
Step 3: The ≃ symbol is a relation, so we click on the Relations
button. If you hover the mouse over this button you see the tooltip
Relations (Figure 261).
Figure 262 shows the Formula Elements window after clicking the
Relations button. The symbol we want is circled.

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 Figure 261. Tooltip indicates
the Relations button.
Figure 262. After selecting
Relations.
Step 4: Click on the a ≃ b symbol. The equation editor now shows the
markup %pi<?> simeq <?>.
Step 5: Delete the <?> text and add 3.14159 at the end of the
equation. We end up with the markup %pi simeq 3.14159. The result
is shown in Figure 263.

Figure 263. Final result

Customizations

Formula editor as a floating window

The formula editor can cover a large part of the Writer window. To turn
the formula editor into a floating window, do this:
1) Hover the mouse over the editor frame, as shown in Figure 264.

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 2) Hold down the Control key and double-click.

Figure 264. Hold down the Control key and

double-click on the border of the formula
editor to turn it into a floating window.

Figure 265 shows the result. You can dock the floating window again
by using the same steps. Hold down the Control key and double-click
the window frame.

Figure 265. Formula editor as a floating window.

How can I make a formula bigger?

This is one of the most common questions people ask about OOo Math.
The answer is simple, but not intuitive:
1) Start the formula editor and choose Format > Font size.

Figure 266. Changing the font size for a formula.

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 2) Select a larger font size under Base size (top-most entry).

Figure 267. Edit Base size (top) to make a formula bigger.

The result of this change is illustrated in Figure 268.

Figure 268. Result of changing the base font size.

Formula layout
The most difficult part of using OOo Math comes when writing
complicated formulas. This section provides some advice.

Brackets are your friends

OOo Math knows nothing about order of operation. You must use
brackets to state the order of operations explicitly. Consider the
following example.

Markup Result
2
2 over x + 1 1
x
2
2 over {x + 1}
x1

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Equations over more than one line
Suppose you want to type an equation covering more than one line. For
x=3
example:
y=1
Your first reaction would be to simply press the Enter key. However, if
you press the Enter key, though the markup goes to a new line, the
resulting equation does not. You must type the newline command
explicitly. This is illustrated in the table below.

Markup Result
x = 3
x=3 y=1
y = 1
x = 3 newline
y = 1

How do I add limits to my sum/integral?

The sum and int commands can (optionally) take the parameters from
and to. These are used for lower and upper limits respectively. These
parameters can be used singly or together. Limits for integrals are
usually treated as subscripts and superscripts.

Markup Result
n
sum from k = 1 to n a_k ∑ ak
k =1

int from 0 to x f(t) dt x

x
or ∫ f t  dt or ∫0 f t dt
0
int_0^x f(t) dt

int from Re f ∫f
ℜ
∞
sum to infinity 2^{-n} ∑ 2−n

For more details on integrals and sums, see the Math Objects
Note chapter in the Writer Guide.

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Brackets with matrices look ugly!
For background, we start with an overview of the matrix command.
Markup Result
a b
matrix { a # b ## c # d }
c d

Rows are separated by two #’s and entries within each row are
Note separated by one #.

The first problem people have with matrices is that brackets do not
scale with the matrix.

Markup Result

( matrix { a # b ## c # d } )

OOo Math provides scalable brackets. That is, the brackets grow in
size to match the size of their contents. Use the commands left( and
right) to make scalable brackets.
Markup Result

left( matrix { a # b ## c # d } right)  

a b
c d

Tip Use left[ and right] to obtain square brackets.

How do I make a derivative?

Making derivatives essentially comes down to one trick: Tell OOo it’s a
fraction.
In other words, you have to use the over command. Combine this with
either the letter d (for a total derivative) or the partial command (for a
partial derivative) to achieve the effect of a derivative.

Notice that we have to use braces (squiggly brackets) to make

Note the derivative.

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 Markup Result

{df} over {dx}

{partial f} over {partial y}

{partial^2 f} over {partial t^2}

How do I align my equations at the equals sign?

OOo Math does not have a command for aligning equations on a
particular character, but you can use a matrix to do this, as shown
below.
Markup Result

matrix{
alignr x+y # {}={} # alignl 2 ## x y = 2
alignr x # {}={} # alignl 2-y x = 2− y
}

The empty braces around = are necessary because = is a binary

operator and thus needs an expression on each side.
You can reduce the spacing around = if you change the inter-column
spacing of the matrix:
1) With the equation editor open, choose Format > Spacing from
the menu bar.

Figure 269: Changing spacing in a matrix formula

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 2) In the Spacing dialog (Figure 269), click the Category button and
select Matrices in the drop-down menu.
3) Enter 0% for Column spacing and click OK.

Numbering equations
Equation numbering is one of OOo Math’s best hidden features. The
steps are simple, but obscure:
1) Start a new line.
2) Type fn and then press F3.

The fn is replaced by a numbered formula:

2
E=mc (2)

Now you can double-click on the formula to edit it. For example, here
is the Riemann Zeta function:
∞
1
 z = ∑ z (3)
n=1 n
You can reference an equation (“as shown in Equation (2)”) with these
steps:
1) Choose Insert > Cross-reference from the menu bar.
2) On the Cross-references tab (Figure 270), under Type, select Text.
3) Under Selection, select the equation number.
4) Under Format, select Reference.
5) Click Insert.
Done! If you later add more equations to the paper before the
referenced equation, all the equations will automatically renumber and
the cross-references will update.

To insert the equation number without parenthesis around it,

Tip choose Numbering instead of Reference under Format.

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 Figure 270. Inserting a cross-reference to an equation number

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326 Getting Started with OpenOffice.org 3.x
 Chapter 10
Printing, Exporting,
and E-mailing

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Introduction
This chapter provides general information about printing, exporting,
and e-mailing documents from OOo.

Quick printing
Click the Print File Directly icon to send the entire document to
the default printer defined for your computer.

You can change the action of the Print File Directly icon to
send the document to the printer defined for the document
Note instead of the default printer for the computer. Go to Tools >
Options > Load/Save > General and select the Load
printer settings with the document option.

Controlling printing
For more control over printing, use File > Print to display the Print
dialog.
On the Print dialog, you can choose:
• Which printer to use (if more than one are installed on your
system) and the properties of the printer—for example,
orientation (portrait or landscape), which paper tray to use, and
what paper size to print on. The properties available depend on
the selected printer; consult the printer’s documentation for
details.
• What pages to print, how many copies to print, and in what order
to print them. Use dashes to specify page ranges and commas or
semicolons to separate ranges; for example: 1, 5, 11–14, 34–40.
Selection is the highlighted part of a page or pages.
• What items to print. Click the Options button to display the
Printer Options dialog.
Selections on the Printer Options dialog are different in Writer, Calc,
Impress, and Draw, but in all cases they apply to this printing of this
document only. For details, see the chapters on the various OOo
components.
To specify default printing options, see Chapter 2 (Setting up
OpenOffice.org) and the chapters on the various OOo components.

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 Figure 271. The Print dialog

Exporting to PDF
OpenOffice.org can export documents to PDF (Portable Document
Format). This industry-standard file format is ideal for sending the file
to someone else to view using Adobe Reader or other PDF viewers.
The process and dialogs are the same for Writer, Calc, Impress, and
Draw, with a few minor differences mentioned in this section.

Quick export to PDF

Click the Export Directly as PDF icon to export the entire
document using your default PDF settings. You are asked to enter the
file name and location for the PDF file, but you do not get a chance to
choose a page range, the image compression, or other options.

Controlling PDF content and quality

For more control over the content and quality of the resulting PDF, use
File > Export as PDF. The PDF Options dialog opens. This dialog has
five pages (General, Initial View, User Interface, Links, and Security).
Make your selections, and then click Export. Then you are asked to
enter the location and file name of the PDF to be created, and click
Save to export the file.

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General page of PDF Options dialog
On the General page, you can choose which pages to include in the
PDF, the type of compression to use for images (which affects the
quality of images in the PDF), and other options.

Figure 272: General page of PDF Options dialog

Range section
• All: Exports the entire document.
• Pages: To export a range of pages, use the format 3-6 (pages 3 to
6). To export single pages, use the format 7;9;11 (pages 7, 9, and
11). You can also export a combination of page ranges and single
pages, by using a format like 3-6;8;10;12.
• Selection: Exports whatever material is selected.

Images section
• Lossless compression: Images are stored without any loss of
quality. Tends to make large files when used with photographs.
Recommended for other kinds of images or graphics.

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 • JPEG compression: Allows for varying degrees of quality. A
setting of 90% works well with photographs (small file size, little
perceptible loss of quality).
• Reduce image resolution: Lower-DPI (dots per inch) images
have lower quality. For viewing on a computer screen generally a
resolution of 72dpi (for Windows) or 96dpi (GNU/Linux) is
sufficient, while for printing it is generally preferable to use at
least 300 or 600 dpi, depending on the capability of the printer.
Higher dpi settings greatly increase the size of the exported file.

EPS images with embedded previews are exported only as

Note previews. EPS images without embedded previews are
exported as empty placeholders.

General section
• PDF/A-1: PDF/A is an ISO standard established in 2005 for long-
term preservation of documents, by embedding all the pieces
necessary for faithful reproduction (such as fonts) while
forbidding other elements (including forms, security, encryption,
and tagged PDF). If you select PDF/A-1, the forbidden elements
are greyed-out (not available).
• Tagged PDF: Exports special tags into the corresponding PDF
tags. Some tags that are exported are table of contents,
hyperlinks, and controls. This option can increase file sizes
significantly.
• Create PDF form - Submit format: Choose the format of
submitting forms from within the PDF file. This setting overrides
the control’s URL property that you set in the document. There is
only one common setting valid for the whole PDF document: PDF
(sends the whole document), FDF (sends the control contents),
HTML, and XML. Most often you will choose the PDF format.
• Export bookmarks: Exports headings in Writer documents, and
page names in Impress and Draw documents, as “bookmarks” (a
table of contents list displayed by some PDF readers, including
Adobe Reader).
• Export comments: Exports comments in Writer and Calc
documents as PDF notes. You may not want this! In Impress,
exports a set of Comments pages following the set of slides.
• Export automatically inserted blank pages: If selected,
automatically inserted blank pages are exported to the PDF. This
is best if you are printing the PDF double-sided. For example,

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 numbered (right-hand) page. When the previous chapter ends on
an odd page, OOo inserts a blank page between the two odd
pages. This option controls whether to export that blank page.

Initial View page of PDF Options dialog

On the Initial View page, you can choose how the PDF opens by default
in a PDF viewer. The selections should be self-explanatory.

Figure 273: Initial View page of PDF Options dialog

User Interface page of PDF Options dialog

On the User Interface page (Figure 274), you can choose more settings
to control how a PDF viewer displays the file. Some of these choices
are particularly useful when you are creating a PDF to be used as a
presentation or a kiosk-type display.

Window options section

• Resize window to initial page. Causes the PDF viewer window
to resize to fit the first page of the PDF.
• Center window on screen. Causes the PDF viewer window to be
centered on the computer screen.
• Open in full screen mode. Causes the PDF viewer to open full-
screen instead of in a smaller window.

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 • Display document title. Causes the PDF viewer to display the
document’s title in the title bar.

Figure 274: User Interface page of PDF Options dialog

User interface options section

• Hide menubar. Causes the PDF viewer to hide the menu bar.
• Hide toolbar. Causes the PDF viewer to hide the toolbar.
• Hide window controls. Causes the PDF viewer to hide other
window controls.
Transitions
In Impress, displays slide transition effects as their respective PDF
effects.
Bookmarks
Select how many heading levels are displayed as bookmarks, if
Export bookmarks is selected on the General page.

Links page of PDF Options dialog

On this page you can choose how links are exported to PDF.

Export bookmarks as named destinations

If you have defined Writer bookmarks, Impress or Draw slide names,
or Calc sheet names, this option exports them as “named
destinations” to which Web pages and PDF documents can link.

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Convert document references to PDF targets
If you have defined links to other documents with OpenDocument
extensions (such as .ODT, .ODS, and .ODP), this option converts the
files names to .PDF in the exported PDF document.

Figure 275: Links page of PDF Options dialog

Export URLs relative to file system

If you have defined relative links in a document, this option exports
those links to the PDF.
Cross-document links
Defines the behavior of links clicked in PDF files.

Security page of PDF Options dialog

PDF export includes options to encrypt the PDF (so it cannot be
opened without a password) and apply some digital rights management
(DRM) features.
• With an open password set, the PDF can only be opened with the
password. Once opened, there are no restrictions on what the
user can do with the document (for example, print, copy, or
change it).
• With a permissions password set, the PDF can be opened by
anyone, but its permissions can be restricted. See Figure 276.
After you set a password for permissions, the other choices on the
Security page become available.
• With both the open password and permission password set, the
PDF can only be opened with the correct password, and its
permissions can be restricted.
Figure 277 shows the pop-up dialog displayed when you click the Set
open password button on the Security page of the PDF Options
dialog.

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 Figure 276: Security page of PDF Options dialog

Figure 277: Setting a password to encrypt a PDF

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 Permissions settings are effective only if the user’s PDF viewer
Note respects the settings.

Exporting to other formats

OOo uses the term “export” for some file operations involving a change
of file type. If you cannot find what you want under Save As, look
under Export as well.
OpenOffice.org can export files to XHTML. In addition, OOo Draw and
OOo Impress can export to Adobe Flash (.swf) and a range of image
formats.
To export to one of these formats, choose File > Export. On the Export
dialog, specify a file name for the exported document, then select the
required format in the File format list and click the Export button.

E-mailing documents
OOo provides several ways to quickly and easily send documents as an
e-mail attachment in one of three formats: OpenDocument (OOo’s
default format), Microsoft Office formats, or PDF.
To send the current document in OpenDocument format:
1) Choose File > Send > Document as E-mail. OpenOffice.org
opens the e-mail program specified in Tools > Options >
Internet > E-mail. The document is attached.
2) In your e-mail program, enter the recipient, subject and any text
you want to add, then send the e-mail.
File > Send > E-mail as OpenDocument Text (or Spreadsheet or
Presentation) has the same effect.
If you choose E-mail as Microsoft [Word, Excel, or Powerpoint],
OOo first creates a file in one of those formats and then opens your e-
mail program with the file attached.
Similarly, if you choose E-mail as PDF, OOo first creates a PDF using
your default PDF settings (as when using the Export Directly as PDF
toolbar button) and then opens your email program with the .PDF file
attached.

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E-mailing a document to several recipients
To e-mail a document to several recipients, you can use the features in
your e-mail program or you can use OOo’s mail merge facilities to
extract email addresses from an address book.
You can use OOo’s mail merge to send e-mail in two ways:
• Use the Mail Merge Wizard to create the document and send it.
See Chapter 11 (Using Mail Merge) of the Writer Guide for details.
• Create the document in Writer without using the Wizard, then use
the Wizard to send it. This method is described here.
To use the Mail Merge Wizard to send a previously-created Writer
document:
1) Click Tools > Mail Merge Wizard. On the first page of the
wizard, select Use the current document and click Next.

Figure 278: Select starting document

2) On the second page, select E-mail message and click Next.

Figure 279: Select document type

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 3) On the third page, click the Select Address List button. Select
the required address list (even if only one is shown) and then click
OK. (If the address list you need is not shown here, you can click
Add to find it and add it to the list.)

Figure 280: Selecting an address list

4) Back on the Select address list page, click Next. On the Create
salutation page, deselect This document should contain a
salutation.

Figure 281: Deselecting a salutation

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338 Getting Started with OpenOffice.org 3.x
 5) In the left-hand list, click 8. Save, print or send. OOo displays a
“Creating documents” message and then displays the Save, print
or send page of the Wizard.
6) Select Send merged document as E-Mail. The lower part of the
page changes to show e-mail settings choices.

Figure 282: Sending a document as an email message

7) Type a subject for your email and click Send documents. OOo
sends the e-mails.

Digital signing of documents

To sign a document digitally, you need a personal key, the certificate. A
personal key is stored on your computer as a combination of a private
key, which must be kept secret, and a public key, which you add to your
documents when you sign them. You can get a certificate from a
certification authority, which may be a private company or a
governmental institution.
When you apply a digital signature to a document, a kind of checksum
is computed from the document’s content plus your personal key. The
checksum and your public key are stored together with the document.

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When someone later opens the document on any computer with a
recent version of OpenOffice.org, the program will compute the
checksum again and compare it with the stored checksum. If both are
the same, the program will signal that you see the original, unchanged
document. In addition, the program can show you the public key
information from the certificate. You can compare the public key with
the public key that is published on the web site of the certificate
authority.
Whenever someone changes something in the document, this change
breaks the digital signature.
On Windows operating systems, the Windows features of validating a
signature are used. On Solaris and Linux systems, files that are
supplied by Thunderbird, Mozilla or Firefox are used. For a more
detailed description of how to get and manage a certificate, and
signature validation, see “Using Digital Signatures” in the OOo Help.
To sign a document:
1) Choose File > Digital Signatures.
2) If you have not saved the document since the last change, a
message box appears. Click Yes to save the file.
3) After saving, you see the Digital Signatures dialog. Click Add to
add a public key to the document.
4) In the Select Certificate dialog, select your certificate and click
OK.
5) You see again the Digital Signatures dialog, where you can add
more certificates if you want. Click OK to add the public key to
the saved file.
A signed document shows an icon in the status bar. You can double-
click the icon to view the certificate.

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 Chapter 11
Graphics, the Gallery, and
Fontwork

Free eBook Edition

Introduction
You can add graphic and image files, including photos, drawings,
scanned images, and others, to OpenOffice.org documents. OOo can
import various vector (line drawing) and raster (bitmap) file formats.
The most commonly used graphic formats are GIF, JPG, PNG, and BMP.
See Appendix B for a full list of the graphic formats OOo can import.
Graphics in OOo are of three basic types:
• Image files, such as photos, drawings, and scanned images
• Diagrams created using OOo’s drawing tools
• Charts created using OOo’s Chart facility
This chapter covers images and diagrams.
More detailed descriptions on working with drawing tools can be found
in the Draw Guide and Impress Guide. Instructions on how to create
charts are given in the Calc Guide.

Adding images to a document

Images can be added to a document in several ways: by inserting an
image file, directly from a graphics program or a scanner, or from the
OOo Gallery.

Inserting an image file

When the image is in a file stored on the computer, you can insert it
into an OOo document using either of the following methods.

Drag and drop

1) Open a file browser window and locate the image you want to
insert.
2) Drag the image into the Writer document and drop it where you
want it to appear. A faint vertical line marks where the image will
be dropped.
This method embeds (saves a copy of) the image file in the Writer
document. To link the file instead of embedding it, hold down the
Control+Shift keys while dragging the image.

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Insert Picture dialog
1) Click in the OOo document where you want the image to appear.
2) Choose Insert > Picture > From File from the menu bar.
3) On the Insert Picture dialog, navigate to the file to be inserted,
select it, and click Open.

Figure 283. Insert picture dialog

At the bottom of the dialog are two options, Preview and Link. Select
Preview to view a thumbnail of the selected image on the right, so you
can verify that you have the correct file. See below for the use of Link.

Linking an image file

If the Link option in the Insert picture dialog is selected, OOo creates
a link to the file containing the image instead of saving a copy of the
image in the document. The result is that the image is displayed in the
document, but when the document is saved, it contains only a
reference to the image file—not the image itself. The document and the
image remain as two separate files, and they are merged together only
when you open the document again.
Linking an image has two advantages and one disadvantage:
• Advantage – Linking can reduce the size of the document when it
is saved, because the image file itself is not included. File size is
usually not a problem on a modern computer with a reasonable
amount of memory, unless the document includes many large
graphics files; OOo can handle quite large files.

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 • Advantage – You can modify the image file separately without
changing the document because the link to the file remains valid,
and the modified image will appear when you next open the
document. This can be a big advantage if you (or someone else,
perhaps a graphic artist) is updating images.
• Disadvantage – If you send the document to someone else, or
move it to a different computer, you must also send the image
files, or the receiver will not be able to see the linked images. You
need to keep track of the location of the images and make sure
the recipient knows where to put them on another machine, so
the document can find them. For example, you might keep images
in a subfolder named Images (under the folder containing the
document); the recipient of the file needs to put the images in a
subfolder with the same name (under the folder containing the
document).

When inserting the same image several times in the document

it would appear beneficial to create links; however, this is not
Note necessary as OOo embeds in the document only one copy of
the image file.

Embedding linked images

If you originally linked the images, you can easily embed one or more
of them later if you wish. To do so:
1) Open the document in OpenOffice.org and choose Edit > Links.
2) The Edit Links dialog (Figure 283) shows all the linked files. In
the Source file list, select the files you want to change from linked
to embedded.
3) Click the Break Link button.
4) Save the document.

Going the other way, from embedded to linked, is not so easy—

Note you must delete and reinsert each image, one at a time,
selecting the Link option when you do so.

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 Figure 284: The Edit Links dialog

Inserting an image from the clipboard

Using the clipboard, you can copy images into an OOo document from
another OOo document and from other programs. To do this:
1) Open both the source document and the target document.
2) In the source document, select the image the image to be copied.
3) Move the mouse pointer over the selected image and press
Control+C to copy the image to the clipboard.
4) Switch to the target document.
5) Click to place the cursor where the graphic is to be inserted.
6) Press Control+V to insert the image.

Caution If the application from which the graphic was copied is closed
before the graphic is pasted into the target, the image stored on
the clipboard could be lost.

Inserting an image using a scanner

If a scanner is connected to your computer, OOo can call the scanning
application and inserted the scanned item into the OOo document as
an image. To start this procedure, place the cursor where the graphic
is to be inserted and select Insert > Picture > Scan > Select
Source.
Although this practice is quick and easy, it is unlikely to result in a
high-quality image of the correct size. You may get better results by
scanned material into a graphics program and cleaning it up there

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Chapter 11 Graphics, the Gallery, and Fontwork 345

Modifying and positioning graphics
OpenOffice.org provides many tools for resizing, modifying, filtering,
and positioning graphics; wrapping text around graphics; and using
graphics as backgrounds and watermarks. These tools are described in
relevant chapters of the other guides. Some sophisticated adjustments
of the graphics are best done in an image manipulation program and
the results brought into OOo, rather than using OOo’s inbuilt tools.

Using the OpenOffice.org Gallery

The Gallery contains objects (graphics and sounds) that you can insert
into your documents. The Gallery is available in all components of
OpenOffice.org.
To open the Gallery, choose Tools > Gallery, or click the Gallery icon
. If the Gallery is open, these choices close it.
Graphics in the Gallery are grouped by themes, such as Bullets, Rulers,
and Backgrounds. You can create other groups or themes.
The box on the left of the gallery window lists the available themes.
Click on a theme to see its contents displayed in the Gallery window.
You can display the Gallery in Icon View (Figure 285) or Detailed View,
and you can hide or show the Gallery by clicking on the Hide button
(similar to the Hide button for the Navigator and the Styles and
Formatting window when they are docked).
By default, the Gallery is docked above the workspace. To expand the
Gallery, position the pointer over the line that divides it from the top of
the workspace. When the pointer changes to parallel lines with arrows,
click and drag downward. The workspace resizes in response.
As for other docked windows, you can “float” the Gallery by moving the
mouse pointer over an edge of the Gallery window, holding down the
Control key, and double-clicking. Repeat this procedure to dock the
Gallery again.

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Figure 285. Icon view of one theme in the Gallery

Inserting images into a document

You can copy or link an object from the Gallery into a document.
To insert an object:
1) Choose Tools > Gallery or click the Gallery icon on the Standard
toolbar.
2) Select a theme.
3) Select an object with a single click.
4) Drag and drop the image into the document. (See Figure 286.)
You can also right-click on the object and choose Insert > Copy.
To insert an object as a link:
1) Choose Tools > Gallery and select a theme.
2) Select an object with a single click, then while pressing the Shift
and Control keys, drag and drop the object into the document.

Inserting an object as a background

To insert an object as the background to a page or paragraph:
1) Choose Tools > Gallery and select a theme.
2) Select an object with a single click, right-click on the object, and
choose Insert > Background > Page or > Paragraph.

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Figure 286. Copying a graphic object from the Gallery into a document

Managing the Gallery

The default themes are locked; no items can be added to or deleted
from these themes. The locked themes are easily recognizable by right-
clicking on them; the only available option in the pop-up menu is
Properties.
In a default installation, only the My themes theme is customizable,
although new themes can be added as explained in “Adding a new
theme to the Gallery” on page 350.

Adding objects to the Gallery

You may wish to add to the Gallery any images that you use frequently,
for example, a company logo. You can then very easily insert these
graphics into a document later. You can add images only to “My
Theme” or to any other theme that you have created; these are
indicated by a green icon in the list of themes. You cannot add images
to the built-in themes, indicated by an icon of another color.

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Method 1 (selecting a file):
1) In the theme’s Properties, on the Files page, click the Find Files
button. The Select path dialog opens.
2) You can enter the path for the file’s directory in the Path text box,
or you can navigate to locate the file’s directory. Use the File type
drop-down list to help limit the search.
3) Click the Select button to start the search.
4) A list of graphic files is then displayed in the window. You can use
the File type filter again to further limit the search.
5) Select the files to add. To select more than one file, hold the
Control key down while you click on each file.
6) Finally, click Add.
Method 2 (drag and drop):
1) Open the document containing an image you want to add to the
Gallery, and display the Gallery theme to which you want to add
it.
2) Position the mouse pointer above the image, without clicking.
3) If the mouse pointer changes to a hand symbol, the image refers
to a hyperlink. In this case, press the Alt key while you click the
image, to select it without activating the link. If the mouse pointer
does not change to a hand symbol, you can simply click the image
to select it.
4) Once the image is selected, evident from the green selection
handles around it, release the mouse button. Click again on the
image, keeping the mouse button pressed for more than two
seconds. Without releasing the mouse button, drag the image into
the document.
5) Release the mouse button.

Deleting images from the Gallery

To delete an image from a theme that you created:
1) Right-click on the name of the image file or its thumbnail in the
Gallery.
2) Click Delete on the pop-up menu. A message appears, asking if
you want to delete this object. Click Yes.

Deleting the name of a file from the list in the Gallery does not
Note delete the file from the hard disk or other location.

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Chapter 11 Graphics, the Gallery, and Fontwork 349
Adding a new theme to the Gallery
To add a new theme to the Gallery:
1) Click the New Theme button above the list of themes (Figure
285).
2) In the Properties of New Theme dialog, click the General tab and
type a name for the new theme.
3) Click the Files tab and add images to the theme, as described
earlier.

Deleting a theme from the Gallery

You can delete only theme that you have added to the Gallery; you
cannot delete any of the inbuilt themes. To delete a theme from the
Gallery:
1) Go to Tools > Gallery.
2) In the left part of the Gallery, select in the list the theme you wish
to delete.
3) Right-click on the theme, then click Delete on the pop-up menu.

Location of the Gallery and the objects in it

Graphics and other objects shown in the Gallery can be located
anywhere on your computer’s hard disk, on a network drive, or on a
CD-ROM. Listings in the Gallery refer to the location of each object.
When you add graphics to the Gallery, the files are not moved or
copied; only the location of each new object is added as a reference.
In a workgroup situation, you may have access to a shared Gallery
(where you cannot change the contents unless authorized to do so) and
a user Gallery, where you can add, change, or delete objects.
The location of the user Gallery is specified in Tools > Options >
OpenOffice.org > Paths. You can change this location, and you can
copy your gallery files (*.sdv) to other computers.
Gallery contents provided with OOo are stored in a different location.
You cannot change this location.

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Creating an image map
An image map defines areas of an image (called hotspots) with
hyperlinks to web addresses, other files on the computer, or parts of
the same document. Hotspots are the graphic equivalent of text
hyperlinks (described in Chapter 12). Clicking on a hotspot causes OOo
to open the linked page in the appropriate program (for example, the
default browser for an HTML page; OOo Calc for a .ODS file; a PDF
viewer for a PDF file). You can create hotspots of various shapes and
include several hotspots in the same image.
To use the image map editor:
1) In your OOo document, select the picture where you want to
define the hotspots.
2) Choose Edit > ImageMap from the menu bar. The ImageMap
Editor (Figure 287) opens.
3) Use the tools and fields in the dialog (described on the next page)
to define the hotspots and links necessary.
4) Click the Apply icon to apply the settings.
5) When done, click the Save icon to save the imagemap to a file,
then click the X in the upper right corner to close the dialog.

Figure 287: The dialog to create or edit an image map

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Chapter 11 Graphics, the Gallery, and Fontwork 351
The main part of the dialog shows the image on which the hotspots are
defined. A hotspot is identified by a line indicating its shape.
The toolbar at the top of the dialog contains the following tools:
• Apply button: click this button to apply the changes.
• Load, Save, and Select icons.
• Tools for drawing a hotspot shape: these tools work in exactly the
same way as the corresponding tools in the Drawing toolbar.
• Edit, Move, Insert, Delete Points: advanced editing tools to
manipulate the shape of a polygon hotspot. Select the Edit Points
tool to activate the other tools.
• Active icon: toggles the status of a selected hotspot between
active and inactive.
• Macro: associates a macro with the hotspot instead of just
associating an hyperlink.
• Properties: sets the hyperlink properties and adds the Name
attribute to the hyperlink.
Below the toolbar, specify for the selected hotspot:
• Address: the address pointed by the hyperlink. You can also point
to an anchor in a document; to do this, write the address in this
format: file:///<path>/document_name#anchor_name
• Text: type the text that you want to be displayed when the mouse
pointer is moved over the hotspot.
• Frame: where the target of the hyperlink will open: pick among
_blank (opens in a new browser window), _self (opens in the
active browser window), _top or _parent.

The value _self for the target frame will work just fine in the vast
Tip majority of occasions. It is therefore not recommended to use
the other choices unless absolutely necessary.

Using OOo’s drawing tools

You can use Ooo’s drawing tools to create graphics such as simple
diagrams using rectangles, circles, lines, text, and other predefined
shapes. You can also group several drawing objects to make sure they
maintain their relative position and proportion.
You can place the drawing objects directly on a page in your document,
or you can insert them into a frame.

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You can also use the drawing tools to annotate photographs, screen
captures, or other illustrations produced by other programs, but this is
not recommended because:
• You cannot include images in a group with drawing objects, so
they may get out of alignment in your document.
• If you convert a document to another format, such as HTML, the
drawing objects and the graphics will not remain associated; they
are saved separately.
In general, if you need to create complex drawings, it is recommended
to use OpenOffice.org Draw, which includes many more features such
as layers, styles, and so on.

Creating drawing objects

To begin using the drawing tools, display the Drawing toolbar (Figure
288) by clicking View > Toolbars > Drawing.
If you are planning to use the drawing tools repeatedly, you can tear off
this toolbar and move it to a convenient place on the window.

1 Select 5 Freeform Line 9 Symbol Shapes 13 Stars

2 Line 6 Text 10 Block arrows 14 Points
3 Rectangle 7 Callouts 11 Flowcharts 15 Fontwork Gallery
4 Ellipse 8 Basic Shapes 12 Callouts 16 From File
17 Extrusion On/Off
Figure 288. The Drawing toolbar
To use a drawing tool:
1) Click in the document where you want the drawing to be
anchored. You can change the anchor later, if necessary.
2) Select the tool from the Drawing toolbar (Figure 288). The mouse
pointer changes to a drawing-functions pointer .
3) Move the cross-hair pointer to the place in the document where
you want the graphic to appear and then click-and-drag to create
the drawing object. Release the mouse button. The selected
drawing function remains active, so you can draw another object
of the same type.
4) To cancel the selected drawing function, press the Esc key or

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Chapter 11 Graphics, the Gallery, and Fontwork 353

 5) You can now change the properties (fill color, line type and
weight, anchoring, and others) of the drawing object using either
the Drawing Object Properties toolbar (Figure 289) or the choices
and dialogs reached by right-clicking on the drawing object.

Set or change properties for drawing objects

To set the properties for a drawing object before you draw it:
1) On the Drawing toolbar (Figure 288), click the Select tool.
2) On the Drawing Object Properties toolbar (Figure 289), click on
the icon for each property and select the value you want for that
property.
3) For more control, or to define new attributes, you can click on the
Area or Line icons on the toolbar to display detailed dialogs.
The default you set applies to the current document and session. It is
not retained when you close the document or close Writer, and it does
not apply to any other document you open. The defaults apply to all the
drawing objects except text objects.

1 Line 5 Line Color 9 To Foreground 13 Alignment

2 Arrow Style 6 Area 10 To Background 14 Change Anchor
3 Line Style 7 Area Style / Filling 11 Bring to Front 15 Ungroup
4 Line Width 8 Rotate 12 Send to Back 16 Group
Figure 289. Drawing Object Properties toolbar

To change the properties for an existing drawing object:

1) Select the object.
2) Continue as described above.
You can also specify the position and size, rotation, and slant and
corner radius properties of the drawing object:
1) Right-click on the drawing object and then click Position and Size
from the pop-up menu. The Position and Size dialog is displayed.
2) Choose any properties, as required.

Resizing a drawing object

The same considerations for resizing an image apply also to resizing an

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object. Select the object, click on one of the eight handles around it

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and drag it to its new position. For a scaled resizing, select one of the
corner handles and keep the Shift key pressed while dragging the
handle to its new position.
For more sophisticated control of the size of the object, select Format
> Object > Position and Size from the menu bar. Use the Position
and Size dialog to set the width and height independently. If the Keep
ratio option is selected, then the two dimensions change so that the
proportion is maintained, allowing for a scaled resizing.

Grouping drawing objects

To group drawing objects:
1) Select one object, then hold down the Shift key and select the
others you want to include in the group. The bounding box
expands to include all the selected objects.
2) With the objects selected, hover the mouse pointer over one of
the objects and choose Format > Group > Group from the menu
bar or right-click and choose Group > Group from the pop-up
menu.

You cannot include an embedded or linked graphic in a group

Note with drawing objects.

Using Fontwork
With Fontwork you can create graphical text art objects for making
your work more attractive. There are many different settings for text
art objects (line, area, position, size, and more), so you have a large
choice. You will surely find one that fits your document.
Fontwork is available with each component of OOo, but you will notice
small differences in the way that each component displays it.

The Fontwork toolbars

You can use two different toolbars for creating and editing a Fontwork
object.
• Go to View > Toolbars > Fontwork.

Figure 290. The floating Fontwork toolbar

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Chapter 11 Graphics, the Gallery, and Fontwork 355
 • If you click on an existing Fontwork object, the Formatting toolbar
changes to display the Fontwork options as shown in Figure 284.
The contents of this toolbar vary depending on the OOo
component with which it is being used.

Creating a Fontwork object

1) On the Drawing or Fontwork toolbar, click the Fontwork Gallery
icon . If the Drawing toolbar is not visible, go to View >
Toolbars > Drawing to display it.
2) In the Fontwork Gallery (Figure 291), select a Fontwork style,
then click OK. The Fontwork object will appear in your document.
Notice the blue squares around the edge (indicating that the
object is selected) and the yellow dot; these are discussed in
“Moving and resizing Fontwork objects” on page 361.

Figure 291. The Fontwork Gallery

3) Double-click the object to edit the Fontwork text. Type your own
text in place of the black Fontwork text that appears over the
object (Figure 292).

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356 Getting Started with OpenOffice.org 3.x
 Figure 292. Editing Fontwork text
4) Click anywhere in a free space or press Esc to apply your
changes.

Editing a Fontwork object

Now that the Fontwork object is created, you can edit some of its
attributes. To do this, you can use the Fontwork toolbar, the Formatting
toolbar, or menu options as described in this section. If the selected
Fontwork object is a 3D object, you can also use the 3D-Settings
toolbar.

Using the Fontwork toolbar

Make sure that the Fontwork toolbar, shown in Figure 290, is visible. If
you do not see it, go to View > Toolbars > Fontwork.
Click on the different icons to edit Fontwork objects.
Fontwork Shape: Edits the shape
of the selected object. You can
choose from a palette of shapes.

Figure 293. Fontwork

toolbar showing palette of
shapes

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Chapter 11 Graphics, the Gallery, and Fontwork 357
 Fontwork Same Letter Heights: Changes the height of
characters in the object. Toggles between normal height (some
characters taller than others, for example capital letters, d, h, l
and others) and all letters the same height.

Figure 294. Left: normal letters; right:

same letter heights
Fontwork Alignment: Changes the alignment
of characters. Choices are left align, center,
right align, word justify, and stretch justify. The
effects of the text alignment can only be seen if
the text spans over two or more lines. In the
stretch justify mode, all the lines are filled
completely.

Fontwork Character Spacing: Changes the

character spacing and kerning in the object.
For custom spacing, input a percentage value:
100% is normal spacing; less than 100% is
tight spacing; more than 100% is expanded
spacing.

Using the Formatting toolbar

Now let us go further and customize the Fontwork object with several
more attributes.
Click on the Fontwork object. The Formatting toolbar changes to show
the options for editing the object. (The toolbar shown in Figure 284
appears when you use Fontwork in Writer.)

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 Figure 295. Formatting toolbar for a Fontwork object in Writer
This figure shows the toolbar floating. In its default, docked position it
is one of the toolbars located below the menu bar. The example toolbar
has also been customized to show all of the available options; by
default only a subset of these options is shown.
On the Formatting toolbar you have a large choice of options for
customizing your object. These choices are the same as the ones for
other drawing objects. For more information, see the Draw Guide.

Line options
Line icon: Opens a dialog with three tabs: Line, Line Styles, Arrow
Styles. Use the Line tab to edit the most common properties of the
line around the selected Fontwork object, by choosing from previously-
defined attributes including line style, line color, and arrow styles. Use
the Lines Styles and Arrow Styles tabs to edit the properties of line
and arrow styles, and define new styles.
Arrow Style icon: Choose from the different arrow styles.
Line Style box: Choose from the available line styles.
Line Width box: Set the width of the line.
Line Color box: Select the color of the line.

Area options
Area icon: Opens a dialog with seven tabs: Area, Shadow,
Transparency, Colors, Gradients, Hatching, Bitmaps.
• Area tab: Choose from the predefined list a color, bitmap,
gradient or hatching pattern to fill the selected object.

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• Shadow tab: Set the shadow properties of the selected object.

Chapter 11 Graphics, the Gallery, and Fontwork 359

 • Transparency tab: Set the transparency properties of the
selected object.
• Colors tab: Modify the available colors or add new ones to appear
on the Area tab.
• Gradients tab: Modify the available gradients or add new ones to
appear on the Area tab.
• Hatching tab: Modify the available hatching patterns or add new
ones to appear on the Area tab.
• Bitmaps tab: Create simple bitmap patterns and import bitmaps,
to make them available on the Area tab.
Area Style / Filling boxes: Select the type of the fill of the selected
object. For more detailed settings, use the Area icon.
Positioning options
Rotate icon: Rotate the selected object manually using the mouse to
drag the object.
To Foreground icon: Move the selected object in front of the text.
To Background icon: Move the selected object behind the text.
Alignment icon: Modify the alignment of the selected objects.
Bring to front icon: Move the selected object in front of the others.
Send to back icon: Move the selected object behind the others.
Change Anchor icon: Choose between anchoring options:
• To Page - The object keeps the same position in relation to the
page margins. It does not move as you add or delete text.
• To Paragraph - The object is associated with a paragraph and
moves with the paragraph. It may be placed in the margin or
another location.
• To Character - The object is associated with a character but is not
in the text sequence. It moves with the paragraph but may be
placed in the margin or another location. This method is similar to
anchoring to a paragraph.
• As Character - The object is placed in the document like any
character and moves with the paragraph as you add or delete text
before the object.
Ungroup icon: Ungroup the selected objects, so you can manage them
individually.
Group icon: Group the selected objects, so you can manage them as a
single object.

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Using menu options
You can use some the choices on the Format menu to anchor, align,
arrange and group selected Fontwork objects, wrap text around them,
and flip them horizontally and vertically.
You can also right-click on a Fontwork object and choose many of the
same options from the pop-up menu. The pop-up menu also provides
quick access to the Line, Area, Text, and Position and Size dialogs. The
Text dialog offers only a few options for Fontwork objects and is not
discussed here. On the Position and Size dialog, you can enter precise
values concerning size and position. For more information on all of
these menu options, see the Draw Guide.

Using the 3D-Settings toolbar

If the selected Fontwork object is a 3D object, you can also use the
options on the 3D-Settings toolbar. You can also change a 2D Fontwork
object into a 3D object (or change a 3D object into a 2D object) by
clicking the Extrusion On/Off icon on the 3D-Settings toolbar. For more
information, see the Draw Guide.

Figure 296: 3D-Settings toolbar

Moving and resizing Fontwork objects

When you select a Fontwork object, eight blue squares (known as
handles) appear around the edge of the object, as shown below. You
can drag these handles to resize the object.
A yellow dot also appears on the object. This
dot may be along an edge of the object, or it
may be somewhere else; see figure to right
for an example. If you hover the pointer over
this yellow dot, the pointer turns into a hand
symbol. You can drag the dot in different
directions to distort the object.

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Chapter 11 Graphics, the Gallery, and Fontwork 361
Hovering the pointer over other parts of the object turns the pointer
into the usual symbol for dragging the object to another part of the
page.
For precise control of the location and size of the object, use the
Position and Size dialog.

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 Chapter 12
Creating Web Pages
Saving Documents as HTML Files

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Introduction
This chapter describes how to do the following in Writer, Calc, Draw
and Impress:
• Create hyperlinks within a document and to other documents
such as web pages, PDFs, and other files.
• Save documents as web pages (HTML documents).
When creating a document that you plan to deliver as a web page, you
need to consider the following:
• In an HTML document, hyperlinks are active (clickable) but other
cross-references inserted by OOo are not active links.
• An object such as a image is saved as a separate file. However, if
that object has been placed in a frame (for example, with an
associated caption), it is not saved and does not appear in the
HTML document; instead, the name of the frame appears.

Inserting hyperlinks
When you type text (such as a website addresses or URL) that can be
used as a hyperlink, and then press the spacebar or the Enter key, OOo
automatically creates the hyperlink and applying formatting to the text
(usually a color and underlining). If this does not happen, you can
enable this feature using Tools > AutoCorrect Options > Options
and selectingthe URL Recognition option.
If you do not want OOo to convert a specific URL to a hyperlink,
choose Edit > Undo Insert from the menu bar or press Control+Z
immediately after the formatting has been applied.

Hyperlinks between documents can be set as relative or

absolute, using the Save URLs relative to option in Tools >
Options > Load/Save > General.
Relative linking is only possible when the document you are
working on and the link destination are on the same drive, and
Note you need to create the same directory structure on your hard
disk as will apply on the destination website.
OOo uses absolute path names internally, so when you move
your mouse cursor over a hyperlink, the tooltip displays the
absolute reference even when it is set to be a relative link.

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You can also insert hyperlinks using the Navigator and the Hyperlink
dialog, and you can modify all hyperlinks using the Hyperlink dialog, as
described in this section.

Using the Navigator

The easiest way to insert a hyperlink to another part of the same
document is by using the Navigator:
1) Open the documents containing the items you want to cross-
reference.
2) Open the Navigator (by clicking its icon, choosing View >
Navigator, or pressing F5.
3) Click the arrow next to the Drag Mode icon, and choose Insert
as Hyperlink. (See Figure 297.)
4) In the list at the bottom of the Navigator, select the document
containing the item that you want to cross-reference.
5) In the Navigator list, select the item that you want to insert as a
hyperlink.
6) Drag the item to where you want to insert the hyperlink in the
document. The name of the item is inserted in the document as an
active hyperlink.

Figure 297: Inserting a hyperlink using the Navigator

When using the Navigator to hyperlink to an object such as a graphic,
to have the hyperlink show useful text such as Figure 6, you need to
give such objects useful names instead of leaving them as the default
names (“Graphics6”), or you need to edit the resulting link text using
the Hyperlink dialog, as described below.

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Chapter 12 Creating Web Pages 365
You can also use the Navigator to insert a hyperlink from one
document (the source) to a specific place in another document (the
target). Open the Navigator in the target document and drag the item
to the spot in the source document where you want the hyperlink to
appear.

Using the Hyperlink dialog

To display the dialog, click the Hyperlink icon on the Standard
toolbar or choose Insert > Hyperlink from the menu bar. To turn
existing text into a link, highlight it before opening the dialog.
On the left hand side, select one of the four types of hyperlink:
• Internet: a web address, normally starting with http://
• Mail & News: for example an email address.
• Document: the hyperlink points to another document or to
another place in the document.
• New document: the hyperlink creates a new document.

Figure 298. Hyperlink dialog showing details for Internet links

The top right part of the dialog changes according to the choice made
for the hyperlink type. A full description of all the choices, and their
interactions, is beyond the scope of this chapter. Here is a summary of
the most common choices.
For an Internet type hyperlink, choose the type of hyperlink (choose
between Web, FTP or Telnet), and enter the required web address
(URL).

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For a Mail and News type hyperlink, specify whether it is a mail or
news link, the receiver address and for email, also the subject.
For a Document type hyperlink, specify the document path (the Open
File button opens a file browser); leave this blank if you want to link to
a target in the same document. Optionally specify the target in the
document (for example a specific slide). Click on the Target icon to
open the Navigator where you can select the target, or if you know the
name of the target, you can type it into the box.
For a New Document type hyperlink, specify whether to edit the newly
created document immediately (Edit now) or just create it (Edit later)
and the type of document to create (text, spreadsheet, etc.). The
Select path button opens a directory picker.
The Further settings section in the bottom right part of the dialog is
common to all the hyperlink types, although some choices are more
relevant to some types of links.
• Set the value of Frame to determine how the hyperlink will open.
This applies to documents that open in a Web browser.
• Form specifies if the link is to be presented as text or as a button.
• Text specifies the text that will be visible to the user.
• Name is applicable to HTML documents. It specifies text that will
be added as a NAME attribute in the HTML code behind the
hyperlink.
• Event button: this button will be activated to allow OOo to react
to events for which the user has written some code (macro). This
function is not covered in this book.

Editing hyperlinks
To edit a hyperlink, click anywhere in the link test and then open the
Hyperlink dialog by clicking the Hyperlink icon on the Standard
toolbar or choosing Edit > Hyperlink from the menu bar. Make your
changes and click Apply. If you need to edit several hyperlinks, you
can leave the Hyperlink dialog open until you have edited all of them.
Be sure to click Apply after each one. When you are finished, click
Close.
The standard (default) behavior for activating hyperlinks within OOo is
to use Ctrl+click. This behavior can be changed in Tools > Options >
OpenOffice.org > Security > Options, by deselecting the option
Ctrl-click required to follow hyperlinks. If clicking in your links

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Chapter 12 Creating Web Pages 367
activates them, check that page to see if the option has been
deselected.
To change the color of hyperlinks, go to Tools > Options >
OpenOffice.org > Appearance, scroll to Unvisited links and/or
Visited links, pick the new colors and click OK. This will change the
color for all hyperlinks in all components of OOo.
In Writer and Calc (but not Draw or Impress), you can also change the
Internet link character style or define and apply new styles to selected
links.

Saving Writer documents as web pages

Writer’s HTML capabilities include saving existing documents in HTML
format, creating new documents as HTML (not described here), and
creating several different types of web pages using a wizard.
The easiest way to create HTML documents is to start with an existing
Writer document. You can get a good idea of how it will appear as a
web page by using View > Web Layout. However, web layout view
will not show you which features will or won’t save correctly to HTML.
Some considerations are described in the introduction to this chapter.

Saving a document as a single web page

To save a document as a single web page (HTML format), select Save
As from the File menu and specify HTML Document as the file type.

Writer does not replace multiple spaces in the original

document with the HTML code for non-breaking spaces. If you
Note want to have extra spaces in your HTML file or web page, you
need to insert non-breaking spaces in OOo. To do this, press
Control+Spacebar instead of just Spacebar.

Saving a document as a series of web pages

Writer can save a large document as a series of web pages (HTML
files) with a table of contents page. To do this:
1) Decide which headings in the document should start on a new
page and make sure all those headings have the same style (for
example, Heading 1).
2) Select File > Send and click on Create HTML Document.

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 3) In the dialog (Figure 298), type the file name to save the pages
under. Also specify which style indicates a new page (as decided
in step 1).
4) Click Save to create the multi-page HTML document. (For those
who may be interested, the resulting HTML files conform to the
HTML 4 Transitional.)

Figure 299. Creating a series of web pages from one document

Creating web pages using a Wizard

OOo’s Web wizard allows you to create several types of standard web
pages. To use it:
1) Select File > Wizards > Web Page. On the first page of the
Wizard, choose settings and click Next. If this is your first web
page, the only choice is <default>.

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Chapter 12 Creating Web Pages 369
 2) Choose or browse to the document you would like to format. The
Title, Summary and Author information is picked up from the
document’s properties; if necessary, edit it. Click Next.

3) Chose a layout for the web site by clicking on the layout boxes.
Click Next.

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 4) Choose the information to be listed and the screen resolution.
Click Next.

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Chapter 12 Creating Web Pages 371
 5) Select a style for the page. Use the drop-down list to choose
different styles and color combinations. You can browse to a
background image and icon set from the Gallery. Click Next.

6) Enter general information such as Title and HTML Metadata

information. Click Next.

7) Choose where to save the file and preview the page if you wish.
Click Finish.

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372 Getting Started with OpenOffice.org 3.x
To edit or view the document’s underlying HTML code, click View >
HTML Source or click the HTML Source icon on the Main
toolbar.

Saving Calc spreadsheets as web pages

Calc can save files as HTML documents. As for Writer, use File > Save
As and select HTML Document, or File > Wizards > Web Page.
If the file contains more than one sheet, the additional sheets will
follow one another in the HTML file. Links to each sheet will be placed
at the top of the document. Calc also allows the insertion of links
directly into the spreadsheet using the Hyperlink dialog.

Saving Impress presentations as web

pages
You can export presentations as Macromedia Flash files: select File >
Export and choose Macromedia Flash for the file type.
You can also convert presentations into a series of web pages, as
described below.

Saving as web pages (HTML format) does not retain animation

Note and slide transitions.

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 1) To begin, select File > Export and choose HTML Document as
the file type.
2) Create a folder for the files, supply a name for the resulting
HTML file, and click Save. The HTML Export Wizard opens.

Depending on the size of your presentation and the number of

graphics it contains, the HTML export function creates many
HTML, JPG, and GIF files. If you simply save to your desktop
Note (not in a specific folder), these separate HTML and graphics
files will be all over your desktop. So be sure to create a folder
to hold all the files.

3) Choose the design for all of the pages, either from an existing
design or by creating a new one. If you have not previously saved
a design, the Existing Design choice is not available.

4) Click Next to select the type of web pages to create.

• Standard HTML: one page for each slide, with navigation links
to move from slide to slide.
• Standard HTML with frames: one page with a navigation bar
on the left-hand side; uses slide title as navigation links. Click
on links to display pages in right-hand side.
• Automatic: one page for each slide, with each page set with
the Refresh meta tag so a browser automatically cycles from
one page to the next.
• WebCast: generates an ASP or Perl application to display the

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slides. Unfortunately OOo has no direct support for PHP yet.

374 Getting Started with OpenOffice.org 3.x

 5) Decide how the images will be saved (PNG, GIF, or JPG) and what
resolution to use.
When choosing a resolution, consider what the majority of your
viewers might have. If you use a high resolution, then a viewer
with a medium-resolution monitor will have to scroll sideways to
see the entire slide—probably not desirable.

6) If Create title page was chosen in step 4, supply the information

for it on the next page. The title contains an author name, e-mail
address and home page, along with any additional information
you want to include.
This page of the Wizard does not display if Create title page was
not chosen.

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 7) Choose the navigation button style to use to move from one page
to another. If you do not choose any, OOo will create a text
navigator.

8) Select the color scheme for the web pages. Available schemes
include the document’s existing scheme, one based upon browser
colors, and a completely user-defined scheme. You can save a new
scheme so that it will appear on the first page of the HTML export
wizard.

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376 Getting Started with OpenOffice.org 3.x
 9) Click Create to generate the HTML files. If this is a new design, a
small dialog pops up. If you might want to reuse this design, you
can give it a name and save it. Otherwise, click Do Not Save.

Saving Draw documents as web pages

Exporting drawings from OpenOffice.org’s Draw application is similar
to exporting a presentation from Impress. Use File > Export and
select HTML Document as the file type.
When using the wizard, you can choose to create the web page at any
time by clicking the Create button.

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Chapter 12 Creating Web Pages 377
 Chapter 13
Getting Started with
Macros
Using the Macro Recorder

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Your first macro
A macro is a saved sequence of commands or keystrokes that are
stored for later use. An example of a simple macro is one that “types”
your address. The OpenOffice.org macro language is very flexible,
allowing automation of both simple and complex tasks. Macros are
especially useful to repeat a task the same way over and over again.
OpenOffice.org macros are usually written in a language called
StarBasic, or just abbreviated Basic. Although you can learn Basic and
write macros, there is a steep learning curve to writing macros from
scratch. The usual method for a beginner is to use the built-in macro
recorder, which records your keystrokes and saves them for use.
Most tasks in OpenOffice.org are accomplished by “dispatching a
command” (sending a command), which is intercepted and used. The
macro recorder works by recording the commands that are dispatched
(see “The dispatch framework” on page 388).

Creating a simple macro

Imagine repeatedly entering simple information. Although you can
store the information in the clipboard, if you use the clipboard for
something else, the contents are changed. Storing the contents as a
macro is a simple solution. (In some simple cases, including the
example used here, a better solution is to use AutoText.)
1) Use Tools > Macros > Record Macro to start recording a
macro.
A small window is displayed so you know that
OpenOffice.org is recording.
2) Type the desired information or perform an appropriate series of
operations. In this case, I typed my name, Andrew Pitonyak.
3) Click the Stop Recording button to stop recording, save the
macro, and display the OpenOffice.org Basic Macros dialog (see
Figure 300).
4) Be certain to open the library container named My Macros. Find
the library named Standard under My Macros. Be warned, every
library container has a library named Standard. Select the
Standard library and click New Module to create a new module
to contain the macro.

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Chapter 13 Getting Started with Macros 379
Figure 300: OOo Macro Organizer dialog, DBInspection library selected

5) The default module name is Module1; choose a better name.

Although it is still not descriptive, I used Recorded. Type a
descriptive name and click OK to create the module. The
OpenOffice.org Basic Macros dialog is displayed again, showing
the new module.

Figure 301: Give your module a meaningful name

6) Highlight the newly created module. In the upper left corner, type
the macro name to use, such as “EnterMyname”, and then click
Save to save the macro.
If you followed all of the steps, the Standard library now contains a
module named Recorded, which contains the EnterMyName macro, as
shown in Figure 302. When OOo creates a new module, it
automatically adds the macro named Main; as seen in Figure 302.

Running the macro

Use Tools > Macros > Run Macro to open the Macro Selector dialog
(see Figure 302). Select the newly created macro and click Run.

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 Figure 302: Select your macro and click Run

There are other methods to run a macro. For example, use Tools >
Macros > Organize Macros > OpenOffice.org Basic to open the
macro organizer, which contains a Run button as well. The author, an
avid macro writer, prefers the macro organizer because the dialog
usually opens faster, but the selection process may be slightly slower.

Viewing and editing the macro

You can view and edit the macro that was just created. Use Tools >
Macros > Organize Macros > OpenOffice.org Basic to open the
OpenOffice.org Basic Macros dialog (see Figure 302). Select the new
macro and click Edit to open the macro in the Basic IDE (Integrated
Development Environment).

Listing 1: Generated “EnterMyname” macro.

REM ***** BASIC *****
Sub Main

End Sub

sub EnterMyName
rem -------------------------------------------------------------
rem define variables
dim document as object
dim dispatcher as object
rem -------------------------------------------------------------
rem get access to the document
document = ThisComponent.CurrentController.Frame

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Chapter 13 Getting Started with Macros 381
dispatcher = createUnoService("com.sun.star.frame.DispatchHelper")

rem -------------------------------------------------------------
dim args1(0) as new com.sun.star.beans.PropertyValue
args1(0).Name = "Text"
args1(0).Value = "Andrew Pitonyak"

dispatcher.executeDispatch(document, ".uno:InsertText", "", 0, args1())

end sub
The macro in Listing 1 is not as complicated as it first appears.
Learning a few things helps significantly in understanding the
generated macros. The discussion starts with features near the top of
the macro listing and describes them. If you like to avoid details, then
simply change the text “Andrew Pitonyak” to what you want to insert at
the current cursor position.

Comments start with REM

The keyword REM, short for remark, starts a macro comment. All text
after REM (on the same line) is ignored. As a short cut, the single
quote character can also be used to start a comment.

StarBasic is not case-sensitive for keywords, so REM, Rem,

and rem all start a comment. If you use symbolic constants
Tip defined by the API, it is safer to assume that the names are
case-sensitive—symbolic constants are an advanced topic not
usually needed by people that use the macro recorder.

Defining subroutines with SUB

Individual macros are stored in subroutines defined with the keyword
SUB. The end of a subroutine is indicated by the words END SUB. The
code starts by defining the subroutine named Main, which is empty
and does nothing. The next subroutine, EnterMyName, contains the
generated code.

OpenOffice.org creates an empty subroutine named Main

Tip when it creates a module.

There are advanced topics that are beyond the scope of this document,
but knowing about them might be of interest:
• You can write a macro so that values can be passed to the
subroutine. The values are called arguments. Recorded macros do
not accept arguments.

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 • Another kind of subroutine is called a function. A function is a
subroutine that returns a value. The keyword FUNCTION is used
rather than SUB to define a function. Generated macros are
always of type SUB.

Defining variables using DIM

You can write information on a piece of paper so that you can look at it
later. A variable, like a piece of paper, contains information that can be
changed and read. The DIM statement is similar to setting aside a
piece of paper to be used to store a message or note.
The EnterMyName macro defines the variables document and
dispatcher as type object. Other common variable types include string,
integer, and date. A third variable, named args1, is an array of
property values. A variable of type array allows a single variable to
contain multiple values, similar to storing multiple pages in a single
book. Values in an array are usually numbered starting from zero. The
number in the parentheses indicates the highest usable number to
access a storage location. In this example, there is only one value, and
it is numbered zero.

Pulling the macro together

The following details are very complete; it is not important to
understand all of the details. The first line defines the start of the
macro.
sub EnterMyName
Declare two variables:
dim document as object
dim dispatcher as object
ThisComponent refers to the current document.
The CurrentController property of a document refers to a service that
“controls” the document. For example, when you type, it is the current
controller that notices. The current controller then dispatches the
changes to the document’s frame.
The Frame property of a controller returns a main frame for a
document. Therefore, the variable named document refers to a
document’s frame, which receives dispatched commands.
document = ThisComponent.CurrentController.Frame
Most tasks in OpenOffice.org are accomplished by dispatching a
command. OOo version 2.0 introduced the dispatch helper service,
which does most of the work to use dispatches in macros. The method

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Chapter 13 Getting Started with Macros 383
CreateUnoService accepts the name of a service and it tries to create
an instance of that service. On completion, the dispatcher variable
contains a reference to a DispatchHelper.
dispatcher = createUnoService("com.sun.star.frame.DispatchHelper")
Declare an array of properties. Each property has a name and a value.
In other words, it is a name/value pair. The created array has one
property at index zero.
dim args1(0) as new com.sun.star.beans.PropertyValue
Give the property the name “Text” and the value “Andrew Pitonyak”,
which is the text that is inserted when the macro is run.
args1(0).Name = "Text"
args1(0).Value = "Andrew Pitonyak"
This is where the magic happens. The dispatch helper sends a dispatch
to the document’s frame (stored in the variable named document) with
the command .uno:InsertText. The next two arguments, frame name
and search flags, are beyond the scope of this document. The last
argument is the array of property values to be used while executing
the command InsertText.
dispatcher.executeDispatch(document, ".uno:InsertText", "", 0, args1())
Finally, the end of the subroutine.
end sub

Creating a macro
I usually ask two questions before recording a macro:
1) Can the task be written as a simple set of commands?
2) Can the steps be arranged such that the last command leaves the
cursor ready for the next command?

A complicated example
I frequently copy rows and columns of data from a web site and format
them as a table in a text document. First, I copy the table from the web
site to the clipboard. To avoid strange formatting and fonts, I paste the
text into a Writer document as unformatted text. I reformat the text
with tabs between columns so that I can use Table > Convert > Text
to Table to convert to a table.
I inspect the text to see if I can record a macro to format the text
(remember the two questions that I ask). As an example, I copied the
FontWeight constants group from the OpenOffice.org web site. The

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first column indicates the constant name. Each name is followed by a
space and a tab.

DONTKNOW The font weight is not specified/known.

THIN specifies a 50% font weight.
ULTRALIGHT specifies a 60% font weight.
LIGHT specifies a 75% font weight.
SEMILIGHT specifies a 90% font weight.
NORMAL specifies a normal font weight.
SEMIBOLD specifies a 110% font weight.
BOLD specifies a 150% font weight.
ULTRABOLD specifies a 175% font weight.
BLACK specifies a 200% font weight.

I want the first column to contain the numeric value, the second
column the name, and the third column the description. The desired
work is easily accomplished for every row except for DONTKNOW and
NORMAL, which do not contain a numeric value—but I know that the
values are 0 and 100, so I will enter those manually.
The data can be cleaned in multiple ways—all of them easy. The first
example uses keystrokes that assume the cursor is at the start of the
line with the text THIN.
1) Use Tools > Macros > Record Macro to start recording.
2) Press Ctrl+Right Arrow to move the cursor to the start of
“specifies”.
3) Press Backspace twice to remove the tab and the space.
4) Press Tab to add the tab without the space after the constant
name.
5) Press Delete to delete the lower case s and then press S to add an
upper case S.
6) Press Ctrl+Right Arrow twice to move the cursor to the start of
the number.
7) Press Ctrl+Shift+Right Arrow to select and move the cursor
before the % sign.
8) Press Ctrl+C to copy the selected text to the clipboard.
9) Press End to move the cursor to the end of the line.

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Chapter 13 Getting Started with Macros 385
10) Press Backspace twice to remove the two trailing spaces.
11) Press Home to move the cursor to the start of the line.
12) Press Ctrl+V to paste the selected number to the start of the line.
13) Pasting the value also pasted an extra space, so press Backspace
to remove the extra space.
14) Press Tab to insert a tab between the number and the name.
15) Press Home to move to the start of the line.
16) Press down arrow to move to the next line.
17) Stop recording the macro and save the macro.
It takes much longer to read and write the steps than to record the
macro. Work slowly and think about the steps as you do them. With
practice this becomes second nature.
The generated macro has been modified to contain the step number in
the comments to match the code to the step above.

Listing 2: Copy the numeric value to the start of the column.

sub CopyNumToCol1
rem -------------------------------------------------------------
rem define variables
dim document as object
dim dispatcher as object
rem -------------------------------------------------------------
rem get access to the document
document = ThisComponent.CurrentController.Frame
dispatcher = createUnoService("com.sun.star.frame.DispatchHelper")

rem (2) Press Ctrl+Right Arrow to move the cursor to the start of “specifies”.
dispatcher.executeDispatch(document, ".uno:GoToNextWord", "", 0, Array())

rem (3) Press Backspace twice to remove the tab and the space.
dispatcher.executeDispatch(document, ".uno:SwBackspace", "", 0, Array())

rem -------------------------------------------------------------
dispatcher.executeDispatch(document, ".uno:SwBackspace", "", 0, Array())

rem (4) Press Tab to add the tab without the space after the constant name.
dim args4(0) as new com.sun.star.beans.PropertyValue
args4(0).Name = "Text"
args4(0).Value = CHR$(9)

dispatcher.executeDispatch(document, ".uno:InsertText", "", 0, args4())

rem (5) Press Delete to delete the lower case s ....

dispatcher.executeDispatch(document, ".uno:Delete", "", 0, Array())

rem (5) ... and then press S to add an upper case S.

dim args6(0) as new com.sun.star.beans.PropertyValue
args6(0).Name = "Text"

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args6(0).Value = "S"

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dispatcher.executeDispatch(document, ".uno:InsertText", "", 0, args6())

rem (6) Press Ctrl+Right Arrow twice to move the cursor to the number.
dispatcher.executeDispatch(document, ".uno:GoToNextWord", "", 0, Array())

rem -------------------------------------------------------------
dispatcher.executeDispatch(document, ".uno:GoToNextWord", "", 0, Array())

rem (7) Press Ctrl+Shift+Right Arrow to select the number.

dispatcher.executeDispatch(document, ".uno:WordRightSel", "", 0, Array())

rem (8) Press Ctrl+C to copy the selected text to the clipboard.
dispatcher.executeDispatch(document, ".uno:Copy", "", 0, Array())

rem (9) Press End to move the cursor to the end of the line.
dispatcher.executeDispatch(document, ".uno:GoToEndOfLine", "", 0, Array())

rem (10) Press Backspace twice to remove the two trailing spaces.
dispatcher.executeDispatch(document, ".uno:SwBackspace", "", 0, Array())

rem -------------------------------------------------------------
dispatcher.executeDispatch(document, ".uno:SwBackspace", "", 0, Array())

rem (11) Press Home to move the cursor to the start of the line.
dispatcher.executeDispatch(document, ".uno:GoToStartOfLine", "", 0, Array())

rem (12) Press Ctrl+V to paste the selected number to the start of the line.
dispatcher.executeDispatch(document, ".uno:Paste", "", 0, Array())

rem (13) Press Backspace to remove the extra space.

dispatcher.executeDispatch(document, ".uno:SwBackspace", "", 0, Array())

rem (14) Press Tab to insert a tab between the number and the name.
dim args17(0) as new com.sun.star.beans.PropertyValue
args17(0).Name = "Text"
args17(0).Value = CHR$(9)

dispatcher.executeDispatch(document, ".uno:InsertText", "", 0, args17())

rem (15) Press Home to move to the start of the line.

dispatcher.executeDispatch(document, ".uno:GoToStartOfLine", "", 0, Array())

rem (16) Press down arrow to move to the next line.

dim args19(1) as new com.sun.star.beans.PropertyValue
args19(0).Name = "Count"
args19(0).Value = 1
args19(1).Name = "Select"
args19(1).Value = false

dispatcher.executeDispatch(document, ".uno:GoDown", "", 0, args19())

end sub

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Chapter 13 Getting Started with Macros 387
Cursor movements are used for all operations (as opposed to
searching). If run on the DONTKNOW line, the word weight is moved
to the front of the line, and the first “The” is changed to “She”. This is
not perfect, but I should not have run the macro on the lines that did
not have the proper format; I need to do these manually.

Running the macro quickly

It is tedious to repeatedly run the macro using Tools > Macros > Run
Macro (see Figure 302). The macro can be run from the IDE. Use
Tools > Macros > Organize Macros > OpenOffice.org Basic to
open the Basic Macro dialog. Select your macro and click Edit to open
the macro in the IDE.
The IDE has a Run Basic icon in the toolbar that runs the first macro
in the IDE. Unless you change the first macro, it is the empty macro
named Main. Modify Main so that it reads as shown in Listing 3.

Listing 3: Modify Main to call CopyNumToCol1.

Sub Main
CopyNumToCol1
End Sub
Now, you can run CopyNumToCol1 by repeatedly clicking the Run
Basic icon in the toolbar of the IDE. This is very fast and easy,
especially for temporary macros that will be used a few times and then
discarded.

Sometimes the macro recorder fails

Understanding the OpenOffice.org internals helps to understand how
and why the macro recorder frequently fails. The primary offender is
related to the dispatch framework and its relationship to the macro
recorder.

The dispatch framework

The purpose of the dispatch framework is to provide a uniform access
to components (documents) for commands that usually correspond to
menu items. I can use File > Save from the menu, the shortcut keys
Ctrl+S, or click on the Save toolbar icon. All of these commands are
translated into the same “dispatch command”, which is sent to the
current document.

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The dispatch framework can also be used to send “commands” back to
the UI (User Interface). For example, after saving the document, the
File Save command is disabled. As soon as the document has been
changed, the File Save command is enabled.
If we see a dispatch command, it is text such as .uno:InsertObject or
.uno:GoToStartOfLine. The command is sent to the document’s frame,
and the frame passes on the command until an object is found that can
handle the command.

How the macro recorder uses the dispatch

framework
The macro recorder records the generated dispatches. The recorder is
relatively simple to implement and the same commands that are issued
are recorded for later use. The problem is that not all dispatched
commands are complete. For example, inserting an object generates
the following code:
dispatcher.executeDispatch(document, ".uno:InsertObject", "", 0, Array())
It is not possible to specify what kind of object to create or insert. If an
object is inserted from a file, you cannot specify which file to insert.
I recorded a macro and used Tools > Options to open and modify
configuration items. The generated macro does not record any
configuration changes; in fact, the generated code is commented so it
will not even be run.
rem dispatcher.executeDispatch(document,
".uno:OptionsTreeDialog", "", 0, Array())
If a dialog is opened, the command to open the dialog is likely to be
generated. Any work done inside the dialog is not usually recorded.
Examples include macro organization dialogs, inserting special
characters, and similar types of dialogs. Other possible problems using
the macro recorder include things such as inserting a formula, setting
user data, setting filters in Calc, actions in database forms, and
exporting a document to an encrypted PDF file. You never know for
certain what will work unless you try it, however. The actions from the
search dialog are properly captured, for example.

Other options
When the macro recorder is not able to solve a specific problem, the
usual solution is to write code using the OpenOffice.org objects.
Unfortunately, there is a steep learning curve for the OOo objects. It is

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usually best to start with simple examples and then branch out slowly

Chapter 13 Getting Started with Macros 389

as you learn more. Learning to read generated macros is a good place
to start.
If you record Calc macros, and the recorder can correctly generate a
macro, there is an add-in created by Paolo Mantovani, which converts
Calc macros when they are recorded. The final code manipulates
OpenOffice.org objects rather than generating dispatches. This can be
very useful for learning the object model.
You can download the macro recorder from Paolo’s web site directly or
from the OOo Macros web site. You should check both places to see
which contains the latest version.
http://www.paolo-mantovani.org/downloads/ DispatchToApiRecorder/
http://www.ooomacros.org/user.php

Macro organization
In OpenOffice.org, macros are grouped in modules, modules are
grouped in libraries, and libraries are grouped in library containers. A
library is usually used as a major grouping for either an entire
category of macros, or for an entire application. Modules usually split
functionality, such as user interaction and calculations. Individual
macros are subroutines and functions.

Figure 303: Macro Library hierarchy

A computer scientist would use Figure 304 to precisely describe the
situation. The text “1..*” means one or more, and “0..*” means zero or
more. The black triangle means composed of or contains.

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 • A library container contains one or more libraries, and each
library is contained in one library container.
• A library contains zero or more modules, and each module is
contained in one library.
• A module contains zero or more macros, and each macro is
contained in one module.

Figure 304: Macro Library hierarchy

Use Tools > Macros > Organize Macros > OpenOffice.org Basic
to open the OpenOffice.org Basic Macros dialog (see Figure 305). All
available library containers are shown in the Macro from list. Every
document is a library container, capable of containing multiple
libraries. The application itself acts as two library containers, one
container for macros distributed with OpenOffice.org called
OpenOffice.org Macros, and one container for personal macros called
My Macros. As shown in Figure 305, only two documents are currently
open.

Figure 305: Library containers are shown on the left

The OpenOffice.org Macros are stored with the application runtime
code, which may not be editable to you unless you are an
administrator. This is just as well since these macros should not be
changed and you should not store your own macros in the OOo
container.
Unless your macros are applicable to a single document, and only to a
single document, your macros will probably be stored in the My

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Chapter 13 Getting Started with Macros 391
Macros container. The My Macros container is stored in your user area
or home directory.
If a macro is contained in a document, then a recorded macro will
attempt to work on that document; primarily because it uses
“ThisComponent” for its actions.
Every library container contains a library named Standard. It is better
to create your own libraries with meaningful names than to use the
Standard library. Not only are meaningful names easier to manage, but
they can also be imported into other library containers whereas the
Standard library cannot.

OpenOffice.org allows you to import libraries into a library

Caution container, but it will not allow you to overwrite the library
named Standard. Therefore, if you store your macros in the
Standard library, you cannot import them into another
library container.

Just as it makes good sense to give your libraries meaningful names, it

is prudent to use meaningful names for your modules. By default,
OpenOffice.org uses names such as Module1. Feel free to use your own
meaningful name.
As you create your macros, you must decide where to store them.
Storing a macro in a document is useful if the document will be shared
and you want the macro to be included with the document. Macros
stored in the application library container named My Macros, however,
are globally available to all documents.
Macros are not available until the library that contains them is loaded.
The Standard library and Template library, however, are automatically
loaded. A loaded library is displayed differently from a library that is
not loaded. To load the library and the modules it contains, double-
click on the library.

Where are macros stored?

OpenOffice.org stores user-specific data in a directory under the user’s
home directory. For example, on Windows, this is C:\Documents and
Settings\<name>\Application Data. User macros are stored in
OpenOffice.org2\user\basic. Each library is stored in its own directory
off the basic directory.
It is not important to understand where macros are stored for casual
use. If you know where they are stored, however, you can create a
backup, share your macros, or inspect them if there is an error. For

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example, on one or more of my OpenOffice.org upgrades, all of my
macros disappeared. Although the macros were still on disk, the
macros were not copied to the new directories. The solution was to
import the macros into the new installation.
Use Tools > Macros > Organize Dialogs to open the OpenOffice.org
Macros organizer dialog. Another common way to open this dialog is to
use Tools > Macros > Organize Macros > OpenOffice.org Basic
to open the OpenOffice.org Macros dialog and then click the
Organizer button (see Figure 306).

Figure 306: The macro organizer dialog

Importing macros
The OpenOffice.org Macro Organizer dialog provides functionality to
create, delete, and rename libraries, modules, and dialogs. Select the
library container to use and then click the Import button to import
macro libraries (see Figure 307).

Tip You cannot import the library named Standard.

On Linux, the OpenOffice.org-specific files are stored in a

directory whose name begins with a period. Directories and
files with names beginning with a period are not shown in a
Tip normal selection dialog. To open the directory, I navigated to
the parent directory, entered the name .openoffice.org2.0, and
then clicked Open. This opened the directory, which was not
initially shown.

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Chapter 13 Getting Started with Macros 393
Figure 307: Select a macro library to import
Navigate to the directory containing the library to import. There are
usually two files from which to choose, dialog.xlb and script.xlb. It does
not matter which of these two files you select; both will be imported.
Select a file and click Open to continue (see Figure 308).

Figure 308: Choose library import options

If the library already exists, it will not be replaced unless Replace

existing libraries is checked. If Insert as reference is checked, the
library is referenced in its current location, but you cannot edit the
library. If Insert as reference is not checked, however, the library is
copied to the user’s macro directory.
Macros can be stored in libraries inside OpenOffice.org documents.
Select a document rather than a directory on disk (as shown in Figure
307) to import libraries contained in a document.

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Downloading macros to import
Macros are available for download. Some macros are contained in
documents, some as regular files that you must select and import, and
some as macro text that should be copied and pasted into the Basic
IDE; use Tools > Macros > Organize Macros > OpenOffice.org
Basic to open the OpenOffice.org Macros dialog, choose the macro to
edit, and then click Edit to open the macro in the Basic IDE.
Some macros are available as free downloads on the Internet (see
Table 3).

Table 3. Places to find macro examples

Location Description
http://www.ooomacros.org/ Excellent collection of packaged
macros.
http://www.pitonyak.org/oo.php Reference materials regarding macros.
http://www.pitonyak.org/database/ Reference materials regarding
database macros.
http://development.openoffice.org/ Lots of links to everything.
http://www.oooforum.org/ Many examples and help.

How to run a macro

A typical method to run a macro is as follows:
1) Use Tools > Macros > Run Macro to open the Macro Selector
dialog (see Figure 309).
2) Select the library and module in the Library list (left hand side).
3) Select the macro in the Macro name list (right hand side).
4) Click Run to run the macro.
Although you can use Tools > Macros > Run Macro to run all
macros, this is not efficient for frequently run macros. A more common
technique is to assign a macro to a toolbar button, menu item,
keyboard shortcut, or a button embedded in a document. While
choosing a method, it is also good to ask questions such as:
• Should the macro be available for only one document, or globally
for all documents?
• Does the macro pertain to a specific document type, such as a
Calc document?

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• How frequently will the macro be used?

Chapter 13 Getting Started with Macros 395

Figure 309: Use the Macro Selector dialog to run macros

The answers will determine where to store the macro and how to make
it available. For example, you will probably not add a rarely used
macro to a toolbar. To help determine your choices, see Table 4.

Table 4. Methods for starting a macro

Type OpenOffice.org Document Type Document
Toolbar No Yes Yes
Menu No Yes Yes
Shortcut Yes Yes No
Event Yes No Yes

To add a menu item, keyboard shortcut, or toolbar icon that calls a

macro, use the Customize dialog (see Figure 310). Open this dialog in
either of these ways:
• Choose Tools > Customize from the main menu bar.
• Each toolbar has an icon that opens a menu; choose the
Customize Toolbar option.

Complete coverage of the Customize dialog is beyond the

Tip scope of this document. Click the Help button to access the
help pages included with OpenOffice.org.

The Customize dialog contains tabs to configure menus, keyboard

bindings, toolbars, and events.

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Figure 310: OpenOffice.org Customize dialog

Toolbar
Macros can be added to toolbars. For more about modifying toolbars,
see Chapter 14 (Customizing OpenOffice.org).

Menu item
Use Tools > Customize to open the Customize dialog, and select the
Menus tab. You can modify an existing menu, or create new menus that
call macros. For more about modifying menus, see Chapter 14.

Keyboard shortcuts
Use Tools > Customize to open the Customize dialog, and select the
Keyboard tab. Assigning keyboard shortcuts is discussed in Chapter 14.

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Event
In OpenOffice.org, when something happens, we say that an event
occurred. For example, a document was opened, a key was pressed, or
the mouse moved. OpenOffice.org allows events to cause a macro to be
called; the macro is then called an event handler. Full coverage of
event handlers is well beyond the scope of this document, but a little
knowledge can accomplish much.

Be careful when you configure an event handler. For

example, assume that you write an event handler that is
Caution called every time that a key is pressed, but you make a
mistake so the event is not properly handled. One possible
result is that your event handler will consume all key
presses, forcing you to forcibly terminate OpenOffice.org.

Use Tools > Customize to open the Customize dialog, and select the
Events tab (see Figure 311). The events in the Customize dialog are
related to the entire application and specific documents. Use the Save
In box to choose OpenOffice.org or a specific document.

Figure 311: Assign macro to an application level event

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A common use is to assign the Open Document event to call a specific
macro. The macro then performs certain setup tasks for the document.
Select the desired event and click the Macro button to open the Macro
Selector dialog (see Figure 312).
Select the desired macro and click OK to assign the macro to the
event. The Events tab shows that the event has been assigned to a
macro (see Figure 313). When the document opens, the PrintHello
macro is run.
Many objects in a document can be set to call macros when events
occur. The most common usage is to add a control, such as a button,
into a document. Even double-clicking on a graphic opens a dialog with
a Macros tab that allows you to assign a macro to an event.

Figure 312: Assign macro to the document open event

Figure 313: PrintHello is assigned to the Open Document event

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Extensions
An extension is a package that can be installed into OpenOffice.org to
add new functionality. Extensions can be written in almost any
programming language and may be simple or sophisticated. Extensions
can be grouped into types:
• Calc Add-Ins, which provide new functionality for Calc, including
new functions that act like normal built-in functions
• New components and functionality, which normally include some
level of UI integration such as new menus or toolbars
• Data pilots that are used directly in Calc
• Chart Add-Ins with new chart types
• Linguistic components such as spell checkers
• Document templates and images
Although individual extensions can be found in different places, there
is an extension repository at: http://extensions.services.openoffice.org/.
For more about obtaining and installing extensions, see Chapter 14
(Customizing OpenOffice.org).

Writing macros without the recorder

The examples covered in this chapter are created using the macro
recorder and the dispatcher. You can also write macros that directly
access the objects that comprise OpenOffice.org. In other words, you
can directly manipulate a document.
Directly manipulating OOo’s internal objects is an advanced topic that
is beyond the scope of this chapter. A simple example, however,
demonstrates how this works.

Listing 4: Append the text “Hello” to the current document.

Sub AppendHello
Dim oDoc
Dim sTextService$
Dim oCurs

REM ThisComponent refers to the currently active document.

oDoc = ThisComponent

REM Verify that this is a text document

sTextService = "com.sun.star.text.TextDocument"

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If NOT oDoc.supportsService(sTextService) Then

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 MsgBox "This macro only works with a text document"
Exit Sub
End If

REM Get the view cursor from the current controller.

oCurs = oDoc.currentController.getViewCursor()

REM Move the cursor to the end of the document

oCurs.gotoEnd(False)

REM Insert text "Hello" at the end of the document

oCurs.Text.insertString(oCurs, "Hello", False)
End Sub

Finding more information

Numerous resources are available that provide help with writing
macros. Use Help > OpenOffice.org Help to open the OOo help
pages. The upper left corner of the OOo help system contains a drop-
down list that determines which help set is displayed. To view the help
for Basic, choose OpenOffice.org Basic from this list.

Included material
Many excellent macros are included with OOo. Use Tools > Macros >
Organize Macros > OpenOffice.org Basic to open the Macro dialog.
Expand the Tools library in the OpenOffice.org library container.
Inspect the Debug module—some good examples include
WritedbgInfo(document) and printdbgInfo(sheet).

Online resources
The following links and references contain information regarding
macro programming:
http://user.services.openoffice.org/ (OOo forums, well supported)
http://api.openoffice.org/docs/common/ref/com/sun/star/module-ix.html
(official IDL reference; here you'll find almost every command with a
description)
http://wiki.services.openoffice.org/wiki/Documentation/BASIC_Guide
(official OpenOffice.org BASIC Programming Guide)
http://wiki.services.openoffice.org/wiki/Documentation/DevGuide/Open
Office.org_Developers_Guide (official OpenOffice.org Developers
Guide; contains a detailed explanation)

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http://www.pitonyak.org/oo.php (Andrew Pitonyak’s macro page)
http://www.pitonyak.org/AndrewMacro.odt (numerous examples of
working macros)
http://www.pitonyak.org/book/ (Andrew Pitonyak’s book on macros)
http://www.pitonyak.org/database/ (numerous macro examples using
Base)
http://docs.sun.com/app/docs/doc/819-0439 (Sun’s book on macro
programming—very well written and laid out; the OOo BASIC
Programming Guide and the OOo Developers Guide are derived from
this book)

Printed and eBook materials

The following books are available for purchase in both printed and
eBook form from their publishers.
Andrew Pitonyak’s OpenOffice.org Macros Explained. See
http://www.hentzenwerke.com/catalog/oome.htm.
Dr. Mark Alexander Bain’s Learn OpenOffice.org Spreadsheet Macro
Programming. See http://www.packtpub.com/openoffice-ooobasic-calc-
automation/book.

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 Chapter14
Customizing
OpenOffice.org

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Introduction
This Appendix describes some common customizations that you may
wish to do.
You can customize menus, toolbars, and keyboard shortcuts in
OpenOffice.org, add new menus and toolbars, and assign macros to
events. However, you cannot customize context (right-click) menus.
Other customizations are made easy by extensions that you can install
from the OpenOffice.org website or from other providers.

Customizations to menus and toolbars can be saved in a template.

Note To do so, first save them in a document and then save the document
as a template as described in Chapter 3 (Styles and Templates).

Customizing menu content

In addition to changing the menu font (described in Chapter 2), you
can add and rearrange items on the menu bar, add items to menus, and
make other changes.
To customize menus:
1) Choose Tools > Customize.
2) On the Customize dialog, pick the Menus page (Figure 314).
3) In the Save In drop-down list, choose whether to save this
changed menu for the application (for example, Writer) or for a
selected document.
4) In the section OpenOffice.org <name of the program
(example: Writer)> Menus, select from the Menu drop-down
list the menu that you want to customize. The list includes all the
main menus as well as sub-menus, that is menus that are
contained under another menu. For example, in addition to File,
Edit, View, and so on, there is File | Send and File |Templates. The
commands available for the selected menu are shown in the
central part of the dialog.
5) To customize the selected menu, click on the Menu or Modify
buttons. You can also add commands to a menu by clicking on the
Add button. These actions are described in the following sections.
Use the up and down arrows next to the Entries list to move the
selected menu item to a different position.
6) When you have finished making all your changes, click OK to save

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them.

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 Figure 314: The Menus page of the Customize dialog

Creating a new menu

In the Customize dialog, click New to display the dialog shown in
Figure 315.
1) Type a name for your new menu in the Menu name box.
2) Use the up and down arrow buttons to move the new menu into
the required position on the menu bar.
3) Click OK to save.
The new menu now appears on the list of menus in the Customize
dialog. (It will appear on the menu bar itself after you save your
customizations.)
After creating a new menu, you need to add some commands to it, as
described in “Adding a command to a menu” on page 407.

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Chapter 14 Customizing OpenOffice.org 405
 Figure 315: Adding a new menu

Modifying existing menus

To modify an existing menu, select it in the Menu list and click the
Menu button to drop down a list of modifications: Move, Rename,
Delete. Not all of these modifications can be applied to all the entries
in the Menu list. For example, Rename and Delete are not available
for the supplied menus.
To move a menu (such as File), choose Menu > Move. A dialog similar
to the one shown in Figure 315 (but without the Menu name box)
opens. Use the up and down arrow buttons to move the menu into the
required position.
To move submenus (such as File | Send), select the main menu (File) in
the Menu list and then, in the Menu Content section of the dialog,
select the submenu (Send) in the Entries list and use the arrow keys to
move it up or down in the sequence. Submenus are easily identified in
the Entries list by a small black triangle on the right hand side of the
name.
In addition to renaming, you can specify a keyboard shortcut that
allows you to select a menu command when you press Alt+ an
underlined letter in a menu command.
1) Select a menu or menu entry.
2) Click the Menu button and select Rename.

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 3) Add a tilde (~) in front of the letter that you want to use as an
accelerator. For example, to select the Save All command by
pressing Alt+V, enter Sa~ve All.

Adding a command to a menu

You can add commands to the supplied menus and to menus you have
created. On the Customize dialog, select the menu in the Menu list and
click the Add button in the Menu Content section of the dialog.
On the Add Commands dialog, select a category and then the
command, and click Add. The dialog remains open, so you can select
several commands. When you have finished adding commands, click
Close. Back on the Customize dialog, you can use the up and down
arrow buttons to arrange the commands in your preferred sequence.

Figure 316: Adding a command to a menu

Modifying menu entries

In addition to changing the sequence of entries on a menu or submenu,
you can add submenus, rename or delete the entries, and add group
separators.
To begin, select the menu or submenu in the Menu list near the top of
the Customize page, then select the entry in the Entries list under

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Chapter 14 Customizing OpenOffice.org 407
Menu Content. Click the Modify button and choose the required action
from the drop-down list of actions.
Most of the actions should be self-explanatory. Begin a group adds a
separator line after the highlighted entry.

Customizing toolbars
You can customize toolbars in several ways, including choosing which
icons are visible and locking the position of a docked toolbar, as
described in Chapter 1 (Introducing OpenOffice.org). This section
describes how to create new toolbars and add other icons (commands)
to the list of those available on a toolbar.
To get to the toolbar customization dialog, do any of the following:
• On the toolbar, click the arrow at the end of the toolbar and
choose Customize Toolbar.
• Choose View > Toolbars > Customize from the menu bar.
• Choose Tools > Customize from the menu bar and pick the
Toolbars page (Figure 317).

Figure 317. The Toolbars page of the Customize dialog

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To customize toolbars:
1) In the Save In drop-down list, choose whether to save this
changed toolbar for the application (for example, Writer) or for a
selected document.
2) In the section OpenOffice.org <name of the program
(example: Writer)> Toolbars, select from the Toolbar drop-
down list the toolbar that you want to customize.
3) You can create a new toolbar by clicking on the New button, or
customize existing toolbars by clicking on the Toolbar or Modify
buttons, and add commands to a toolbar by clicking on the Add
button. These actions are described below.
4) When you have finished making all your changes, click OK to save
them.

Creating a new toolbar

To create a new toolbar:
1) Choose Tools > Customize > Toolbars from the menu bar.
2) Click New. On the Name dialog, type the new toolbar's name and
choose from the Save In drop-down list where to save this
changed menu: for the application (for example, Writer) or for a
selected document.

The new toolbar now appears on the list of toolbars in the Customize
dialog. After creating a new toolbar, you need to add some commands
to it, as described below.

Adding a command to a toolbar

If the list of available buttons for a toolbar does not include all the
commands you want on that toolbar, you can add commands. When you
create a new toolbar, you need to add commands to it.
1) On the Toolbars page of the Customize dialog, select the toolbar
in the Toolbar list and click the Add button in the Toolbar Content
section of the dialog.

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Chapter 14 Customizing OpenOffice.org 409
 2) The Add Commands dialog is the same as for adding commands to
menus (Figure 316). Select a category and then the command,
and click Add. The dialog remains open, so you can select several
commands. When you have finished adding commands, click
Close. If you insert an item which does not have an associated
icon, the toolbar will display the full name of the item: the next
section describes how to choose an icon for a toolbar command.
3) Back on the Customize dialog, you can use the up and down
arrow buttons to arrange the commands in your preferred
sequence.
4) When you are done making changes, click OK to save.

Choosing icons for toolbar commands

Toolbar buttons usually have icons, not words, on them, but not all of
the commands have associated icons.
To choose an icon for a command, select the command and click
Modify > Change icon. On the Change Icon dialog, you can scroll
through the available icons, select one, and click OK to assign it to the
command.

Figure 318: Change Icon dialog

To use a custom icon, create it in a graphics program and import it into
OOo by clicking the Import button on the Change Icon dialog. Custom
icons must be 16 x 16 or 26 x 26 pixels in size and cannot contain more
than 256 colors.

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Example: Adding a Fax icon to a toolbar
You can customize OpenOffice.org so that a single click on an icon
automatically sends the current document as a fax.
1) Be sure the fax driver is installed. Consult the documentation for
your fax modem for more information.
2) Choose Tools > Options > OpenOffice.org Writer > Print. The
dialog shown in Figure 319 opens.
3) Select the fax driver from the Fax list and click OK.

Figure 319: Setting up OOo for sending faxes

4) Click the arrow icon at the end of the Standard toolbar. In the
drop-down menu, choose Customize Toolbar. The Toolbars page
of the Customize dialog appears (Figure 317). Click Add.
5) On the Add Commands dialog (Figure 320), select Documents in
the Category list, then select Send Default Fax in the Commands
list. Click Add. Now you can see the new icon in the Commands
list.
6) In the Commands list, click the up or down arrow button to
position the new icon where you want it. Click OK and then click
Close.
Your toolbar now has a new icon to send the current document as a
fax.

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 Figure 320: Adding a Send Fax command to a toolbar

Assigning shortcut keys

In addition to using the built-in keyboard shortcuts (listed in Appendix
A), you can define your own. You can assign shortcuts to standard OOo
functions or your own macros and save them for use with the entire
OpenOffice.org suite.

Be careful when reassigning your operating system’s or OOo’s

predefined shortcut keys. Many key assignments are universally
understood shortcuts, such as F1 for Help, and are always
Caution expected to provide certain results. Although you can easily
reset the shortcut key assignments to the OOo defaults,
changing some common shortcut keys can cause confusion,
frustration and possible data loss or corruption, especially if
other users share your computer.

To adapt shortcut keys to your needs, use the Customize dialog, as

described below.
1) Select Tools > Customize > Keyboard. The Customize dialog
opens.
2) To have the shortcut key assignment available in all components
of OpenOffice.org select the OpenOffice.org button.
3) Next select the required function from the Category and Function
lists.
4) Now select the desired shortcut keys in the Shortcut keys list and
click the Modify button at the upper right.
5) Click OK to accept the change. Now the chosen shortcut keys will
execute the function chosen in step 3 above whenever they are
pressed.

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 All existing shortcut keys for the currently selected Function are
listed in the Keys selection box. If the Keys list is empty, it
indicates that the chosen key combination is free for use. If it
were not, and you wanted to reassign a shortcut key
Note combination that is already in use, you must first delete the
existing key.
Shortcut keys that are greyed-out in the listing on the Customize
dialog, such as F1 and F10, are not available for reassignment.

Example: Assigning styles to shortcut keys

You can configure shortcut keys to quickly assign styles in your
document. Some shortcuts are predefined, such as Ctrl+0 for the Text
body paragraph style, Ctrl+1 for the Heading 1 style, and Ctrl+2 for
Heading 2. You can modify these shortcuts and create your own.
1) Click Tools > Customize > Keyboard. The Keyboard page of the
Customize dialog (Figure 321) opens.

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Figure 321. Defining keyboard shortcuts for applying styles

Chapter 14 Customizing OpenOffice.org 413

 2) To have the shortcut key assignment available only with one
component (for example, Writer), select that component’s name in
the upper right corner of the page; otherwise select
OpenOffice.org button to make it available to every component.
3) Choose the shortcut keys you want to assign a style to. In this
example, we have chosen Ctrl+9.
4) In the Functions section at the bottom of the dialog, scroll down
in the Category list to Styles. Click the + sign to expand the list of
styles.
5) Choose the category of style. (This example uses a paragraph
style, but you can also choose character styles and others.) The
Function list will display the names of the available styles for the
selected category. The example shows some of OOo’s predefined
styles.
6) To assign Ctrl+9 to be the shortcut key combination for the List 1
style, select List 1 in the Function list, and then click Modify.
Ctrl+9 now appears in the Keys list on the right, and List 1
appears next to Ctrl+9 in the Shortcut keys box at the top.
7) Make any other required changes, and then click OK to save
these settings and close the dialog.

Saving changes to a file

Changes to the shortcut key assignments can be saved in a keyboard
configuration file for use at a later time, thus permitting you to create
and apply different configurations as the need arises. To save keyboard
shortcuts to a file:
1) After making your keyboard shortcut assignments, click the Save
button on the Customize dialog (Figure 321).
2) In the Save Keyboard Configuration dialog, select All files from
the Save as Type list.
3) Next enter a name for the keyboard configuration file in the
File name box, or select an existing file from the list. If you need
to, browse to find a file from another location.
4) Click Save. A confirmation dialog appears if you are about to
overwrite an existing file, otherwise there will be no feedback and
the file will be saved.

Loading a saved keyboard configuration

To load a saved keyboard configuration file and replace your existing

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select the configuration file from the Load Keyboard Configuration
dialog.

Resetting the shortcut keys

To reset all of the keyboard shortcuts to their default values, click the
Reset button near the bottom right of the Customize dialog. Use this
feature with care as no confirmation dialog will be displayed; the
defaults will be set without any further notice or user input.

Assigning macros to events

In OOo, when something happens, we say that an event occured. For
example, a document was opened, a key was pressed, or the mouse
moved. You can associate a macro with an event, so the macro is run
when the event occurs. For example, a common use is to assign the
“open document” event to run a macro that performs certain setup
tasks for the document.
To associate a macro with an event, use the Events page of the
Customize dialog. For more information, see Chapter 13 (Getting
Started with Macros).

Adding functionality with extensions

An extension is a package that can be installed into OpenOffice.org to
add new functionality.
Although individual extensions can be found in different places, the
official OpenOffice.org extension repository is at
http://extensions.services.openoffice.org/. Some extensions are free of
charge; others are available for a fee. Check the descriptions to see
what licenses and fees apply to the ones that interest you.

Installing extensions
To install an extension, follow these steps:
1) Download an extension and save it anywhere on your computer.
2) In OOo, select Tools > Extension Manager from the menu bar.
In the Extension Manager dialog (Figure 322), click Add.
3) A file browser window opens. Find and select the extension you
want to install and click Open. The extension begins installing.
You may be asked to accept a license agreement.

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 4) When the installation is complete, the extension is listed in the
Extension Manager dialog.

To get extensions that are listed in the repository, you can open
the Extension Manager and click the Get more extensions
Tip here link. You do not need to download them separately as in
step 1 above.

Figure 322: Using the Extension Manager

To install a shared extension, you need write access to the

Note OpenOffice.org installation directory.

Using extensions
This section describes a few of the more important and popular
extensions to OpenOffice.org. In each case, you need to first install the
extension as described in the previous section.

PDF Import
Enables you to make minor modifications to the text of existing PDF
files when the original source files do not exist or you are unable to
open the source files. (Whenever possible, modify the source and
regenerate the PDF to obtain the best results.)

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When the extension is installed, PDF is listed as a choice in the File
Type drop-down list in the File > Open dialog.
Best results can be achieved with the PDF/ODF hybrid file format,
which this extension also enables. A hybrid PDF/ODF file is a PDF file
that contains an embedded ODF source file. Hybrid PDF/ODF files will
be opened in OpenOffice.org as an ODF file without any layout
changes.
Non-hybrid PDF documents open in Draw. Depending on the
complexity of the layout, changes may be easy or difficult to make, and
the saved result may or may not preserve the original layout. Font
substitution may occur.
Documents with more sophisticated layouts, such as those created with
professional desktop publishing applications that use special fonts and
complex vector graphics, are not suitable for the PDF Import
Extension. Similarly, longer documents (> 20 pages) may cause some
performance and stability problems.
From Sun Microsystems. Open source.

Presenter Console
Provides extra control over slide shows (presentations); for example,
the presenter has ability to see the upcoming slide, the slide notes, and
a presentation timer—while the audience sees only the current slide.
The Presenter Console displays the elements in three easily
changeable views:
• The first view displays the current slide, including the effects, and
the upcoming slide.
• The second view shows the speaker's notes in large, clear, and
scalable type, plus the current and upcoming slide.
• The third view is a slide sorter view with the slide thumbnails.
From Sun Microsystems. Open source.

The Presenter Console works only on an operating system that

Note supports multiple displays.

Report Builder
Creates stylish, complex database reports from Base. You can define
group and page headers, group and page footers, and calculation
fields. Export your reports into PDF or OpenDocument formats, or

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send them as email attachments. From Sun Microsystems. Open
source.

Professional Template Pack II

Provides more than 120 templates for Writer, Calc, and Impress.
Available in several languages. After you have installed this extension,
you will find the templates under File > New > Templates and
Documents. From Sun Microsystems. Freeware.

Template Changer
Adds two new items to the File > Templates menu in Writer that
allow you to assign a new template to the current document or to a
folder of documents. All styles and formatting will be loaded from that
template and the document will behave as it was created using that
template. Open source.

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 Appendix A
Keyboard Shortcuts

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Introduction
You can use OpenOffice.org (OOo) without requiring a pointing device,
such as a mouse or trackball, by using its built-in keyboard shortcuts.
Tasks as varied and complex as docking and un-docking toolbars and
windows, or changing the size or position of objects, can all be
accomplished with only a keyboard.
OOo has a general set of keyboard shortcuts, available in all
components, and a component-specific set directly related to the work
of that component (Writer, Calc, Impress, Draw, and Base). This
appendix lists some of the most common general shortcuts. For
component-specific shortcuts, see the relevant component guide or
the OOo Help.
For help with OOo’s keyboard shortcuts, or using OOo with a keyboard
only, search the OOo Help using the “shortcut” or “accessibility”
keywords.
In addition to using the built-in keyboard shortcuts listed in this
Appendix, you can define your own. See Chapter 14 (Customizing
OpenOffice.org) for instructions.

Some of the shortcut keys may be assigned to your desktop

system. Keys that are assigned to the desktop system are not
Note available to OOo. Try to assign different keys either for OOo
(described in Chapter 14), or for your desktop system (see your
system’s documentation).

Choosing menu items using the keyboard

Some of the characters shown on the menu bar are underlined. You
can open the menus by pressing the underlined character together
with the Alt key. Once the menu is opened, you can access menu items
by pressing the underlined character key.

Using shortcut keys in dialogs

When you open any dialog, one element (such as a button, an option
field, an entry in a list box, or a checkbox) is highlighted or indicated
by a dotted box around the field or button name. This element is said
to have the focus on it.
If the focal point is a button, pressing Enter runs it as if you had
clicked it with the mouse. A checkbox is toggled on or off by pressing
the spacebar. If an option field has the focus, use the arrow keys to

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change the activated option field in that area. Press the Tab key to go
from one element or area to the next one, or press Shift+Tab to go in
the reverse direction.
Press Esc to close the dialog without saving changes or activating any
commands.

Interrupting macros
To terminate a macro that is currently running, press Shift+Ctrl+Q.

Function key shortcuts

Shortcut Keys Result
Starts the OpenOffice.org Help.
F1
In the OpenOffice.org Help: jumps to main help page.
Activates What’s This? (extended tip) help for the
mouse pointer, which turns into a question mark.
Shift+F1
Move the pointer over an item (command, icon or
control) to view the extended tip.
Displays an extended tip for the item (command, icon
Shift+F2
or control) currently selected by using the keyboard.
Closes the current document. Closes OpenOffice.org
Ctrl+F4 or Alt+F4
when the last open document is closed.
F5 Opens the Navigator window.
F6 Sets focus in next subwindow.
Shift+F6 Sets focus in previous subwindow.
F10 Activates the first menu (File menu).
Shift+F10 Opens the context (pop-up) menu.
F11 Opens the Styles and Formatting window.

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Appendix A Keyboard Shortcuts 421
General shortcut keys for OpenOffice.org
Shortcut Keys Result
Enter Activates the focused button in a dialog.
Terminates the action or dialog. If in OpenOffice.org
Esc
Help: goes up one level.
Spacebar Toggles the focused checkbox in a dialog.
Changes the active control field in an option section
Arrow keys
of a dialog.
Advances focus to the next section or element in a
Tab
dialog.
Moves the focus to the previous section or element
Shift+Tab
in a dialog.
Opens the list of the control field currently selected
in a dialog. This shortcut applies to combo boxes
Alt+Down Arrow
and to icon buttons with pop-up menus. Close an
opened list by pressing the Esc key.
Del Deletes the selected items into the recycle bin.
Deletes the selected items without putting them in
Shift+Del
the recycle bin.
When a folder is shown: goes up one level (goes
Backspace
back).
Removes direct formatting from selected text or
Ctrl+M
objects (as in Format > Default Formatting).
Pastes unformatted text from the clipboard. The
Ctrl+Alt+Shift+V text takes on the format that exists at the insertion
point.
Enter (if an OLE
Activates the selected OLE object.
object is selected)
Enter (if a drawing
object or text object is Activates text input mode.
selected)
Ctrl+O Opens a document.
Ctrl+S Saves the current document.
Ctrl+N Creates a new document.
Shift+Ctrl+N Opens the Templates and Documents dialog.
Ctrl+P Prints the document.
Ctrl+Q Exits the application.
Ctrl+X Cuts the selected items.
Ctrl+C Copies the selected items.

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422 Getting Started with OpenOffice.org 3.x
 Shortcut Keys Result
Ctrl+V Pastes from the clipboard.
Ctrl+Shift+V Opens the Paste Special dialog.
Ctrl+A Selects all.
Ctrl+Z Undoes last action.
Ctrl+Y Redoes last action.
Ctrl+Shift+Y Repeats last command.
Ctrl+F Calls the Find & Replace dialog.
Ctrl+Shift+F Searches for the last entered search term.
Ctrl+Shift+J Toggles the view between fullscreen mode and
normal mode in Writer or Calc.
Ctrl+Shift+R Refreshes (redraws) the document view.
Ctrl+Shift+I Enables or disables the selection cursor in read-only
text.
Ctrl+I Applies the Italic attribute to the selected area or
the word in which the cursor is positioned.
Ctrl+B Applies the Bold attribute.
Ctrl+U Applies the Underlined attribute.

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Appendix A Keyboard Shortcuts 423
 Appendix B
Background Information
History, licensing, and file formats

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Introduction
OpenOffice.org is both a product and an open-source project. If you are
new to OOo, its open source development, and the community that
produces and supports it, you should read this appendix.

A short history of OpenOffice.org

The OpenOffice.org project began when Sun Microsystems released
the source code (“blueprints”) for its StarOffice® software to the open
source community on October 13, 2000. This allowed Sun to use the
technical expertise and rapid development times of an open-source
project in the development of its own software products. All recent
versions of Sun’s StarOffice use source code developed by the
OpenOffice.org community. However, the products do not provide
exactly the same features due to the copyrights of third parties that
are not compatible with open-source licensing.
OpenOffice.org 1.0, the product, was released on April 30, 2002.
Read more about OpenOffice.org’s history and organization at:
http://about.openoffice.org/
Information about StarOffice can be found at:
http://www.sun.com/software/star/staroffice/

The OpenOffice.org community

OpenOffice.org's Mission Statement is:
“To create, as a community, the leading international office suite
that will run on all major platforms and provide access to all
functionality and data through open-component based APIs and an
XML-based file format.”
The OpenOffice.org project is primarily sponsored by Sun
Microsystems, which is the primary contributor of code to the Project.
Our other major corporate contributors include Novell, RedHat,
RedFlag CH2000, IBM, and Google. Additonally over 450,000 people
from nearly every curve of the globe have joined this Project with the
idea of creating the best possible office suite that all can use. This is
the essence of an “open source” community!
With its free software licence and active Native Language
Confederation, OpenOffice.org is a key player in the drive to eradicate

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digital exclusion and preserve minority languages threatened by being

Appendix B Background Information 425

on the wrong side of the digital divide. For tens of thousands of
community members, this makes the OpenOffice.org community their
volunteering opportunity of choice.
The OpenOffice.org community invites contributors. Whatever you do
best, you can do it for OpenOffice.org. As well as software developers,
the Community welcomes translators, artists, technical writers and
editors, testers, people offering user support, sales and marketing
people, lobbyists, donors... the list is long. The Community operates
internationally in all time zones, linked by the internet.

How is OpenOffice.org licensed?

OpenOffice.org is distributed under the Open Source Initiative (OSI)
approved Lesser General Public License (LGPL).
The LGPL can be viewed on the OOo website at:
http://www.openoffice.org/licenses/lgpl_license.html
For more general information on OOo’s licensing, please refer to:
http://www.openoffice.org/license.html

What is “open source”?

The ideals of open-source software can be explained by the four
essential rights, which are embodied within the Free Software
Foundation’s General Public License (GPL):
• The right to use the software for any purpose.
• Freedom to redistribute the software for free or for a fee.
• Access to the complete source code of the program (that is, the
“blueprints”).
• The right to modify any part of the source, or use portions of it in
other programs.
Another view of this philosophy comes from the Open Source
Definiton:
“The basic idea behind open source is very simple: When
programmers can read, redistribute, and modify the source code for
a piece of software, the software evolves. People improve it, people
adapt it, people fix bugs. And this can happen at a speed that, if one
is used to the slow pace of conventional software development,
seems astonishing.”

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For more information on Free and Open Source software, visit these
websites:
Open Source Initiative (OSI): http://www.opensource.org
Free Software Foundation (FSF): http://www.gnu.org

What is OpenDocument?
Starting with Version 2.0, OpenOffice.org by default saves documents
in Open Document Format (ODF). OpenOffice.org 3 has adopted
version 1.2 of the OpenDocument standard.
OpenDocument is an XML-based file format for office documents (text
documents, spreadsheets, drawings, presentations and more),
developed at OASIS, an independent, international standards group.
Unlike other file formats, ODF is an open standard. It is publicly
available, royalty-free, and without legal or other restrictions;
therefore ODF files are not tied to a specific office suite and anybody
can build a program that interprets these files. For this reason ODF is
quickly becoming the preferred file format for government agencies,
schools and other companies who prefer not to be too dependent on a
particular software supplier.
Because OOo 3.2 currently requires a superset of the ODF 1.2
specification, it now warns users when ODF 1.2 Extended features
have been used.
The document integrity check now proves whether an ODF document
conforms to the ODF specification (this mainly affects ODF 1.2
documents). If an inconsistency is found, the document is treated as a
broken one, and OpenOffice.org offers to repair the document.

File formats OOo can open

OpenOffice.org can open a wide variety of file formats in addition to
the OpenDocument formats.

Opening text documents

In addition to OpenDocument formats (.odt, .ott, .oth, and .odm),
Writer 3 can open the formats used by OOo 1.x (.sxw, .stw, and .sxg)
and the following text document formats:

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Appendix B Background Information 427
 Microsoft Word 6.0/95/97/2000/XP) (.doc and .dot)
Microsoft Word 2003 XML (.xml)
Microsoft Word 2007 XML (.docx, .docm, .dotx, .dotm)
Microsoft WinWord 5 (.doc)
WordPerfect Document (.wpd)
WPS 2000/Office 1.0 (.wps)
.rtf, .txt, and .csv
StarWriter formats (.sdw, .sgl, .vor)
DocBook (.xml)
Unified Office Format text (.uot, .uof)
Ichitaro 8/9/10/11 (.jtd and .jtt)
Hangul WP 97 (.hwp)
T602 Document (.602, .txt)
AportisDoc (Palm) (.pdb)
Pocket Word (.psw)
Most of these file types are automatically detected by OOo, so they can
be opened without explicitly selecting the document type in the file
picker.
When opening .htm or .html files (used for web pages), OOo
customizes Writer for working with these files.

Opening spreadsheets
In addition to OpenDocument formats (.ods and .ots), Calc 3 can open
the formats used by OOo 1.x (.sxc and .stc) and the following
spreadsheet formats:
Microsoft Excel 97/2000/XP (.xls, .xlw, and .xlt)
Microsoft Excel 4.x–5.0/95 (.xls, .xlw, and .xlt)
Microsoft Excel 2003 XML (.xml)
Microsoft Excel 2007 XML (.xlsx, .xlsm, .xlts, .xltm)
Microsoft Excel 2007 binary (.xlsb)
Lotus 1-2-3 (.wk1, .wks, and .123)
Data Interchange Format (.dif)
Rich Text Format (.rtf)
Text CSV (.csv and .txt)
StarCalc formats (.sdc and .vor)
dBASE (.dbf)
SYLK (.slk)
Unified Office Format spreadsheet (.uos, .uof)
.htm and .html files, including Web page queries
Pocket Excel (pxl)
Quattro Pro 6.0 (.wb2)

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Opening presentations
In addition to OpenDocument formats (.odp, .odg, and .otp), Impress 3
can open the formats used by OOo 1.x (.sxi and .sti) and the following
presentation formats:
Microsoft PowerPoint 97/2000/XP (.ppt, .pps, and .pot)
Microsoft PowerPoint 2007 (.pptx, .pptm, .potx, .potm)
StarDraw and StarImpress (.sda, .sdd, .sdp, and .vor)
Unified Office Format presentation (.uop, .uof)
CGM – Computer Graphics Metafile (.cgm)
Portable Document Format (.pdf)

Opening graphic files

In addition to OpenDocument formats (.odg and .otg), Draw 3 can open
the formats used by OOo 1.x (.sxd and .std) and the following graphic
formats:
BMP JPEG, JPG PCX PSD SGV WMF
DXF MET PGM RAS SVM XBM
EMF PBM PLT SDA TGA XPM
EPS PCD PNG SDD TIF, TIFF
GIF PCT PPM SGF VOR

Opening formula files

In addition to OpenDocument Formula (.odf) files, Math 3 can open the
format used by OOo 1.x (.sxm), StarMath, (.smf), and MathML (.mml)
files.
When opening a Word document that contains an embedded equation
editor object, if the option for it is checked in Tools > Options >
Load/Save > Microsoft Office, the object will be automatically
converted to an OpenOffice.org Math object.

File formats OOo can save to

Saving in an OpenDocument format guarantees the correct rendering
of the file when it is transferred to another person or when the file is
re-opened with a later version of OpenOffice.org. It is strongly
recommended that you use ODF as default file format. However, you
can save files in other formats, if you wish.

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Appendix B Background Information 429
 When sharing a document that you do not expect or want the
recipient to modify, the safest option is to convert the document
Tip to PDF. OOo provides a very straightforward way to convert
documents to PDF.

Saving text documents

In addition to OpenDocument formats (.odt and .ott), Writer 3 can save
in these formats:
OpenOffice.org 1.x Text Document (.sxw)
OpenOffice.org 1.x Text Document Template (.stw)
Microsoft Word 6.0, 95, and 97/2000/XP (.doc)
Microsoft Word 2003 XML (.xml)
Rich Text Format (.rtf)
StarWriter 3.0, 4.0, and 5.0 (.sdw)
StarWriter 3.0, 4.0, and 5.0 Template (.vor)
Text (.txt)
Text Encoded (.txt)
Unified Office Format text (.uot, .uof)
HTML Document (OpenOffice.org Writer) (.html and .htm)
DocBook (.xml)
AportisDoc (Palm) (.pdb)
Pocket Word (.psw)
Encryption support within the Microsoft Word 97/2000/XP filter allows
password protected Microsoft Word documents to be saved.

The .rtf format is a common format for transferring text files

between applications, but you are likely to experience loss of
Note formatting and images. For this reason, other formats should be
used.

Saving spreadsheet files

In addition to OpenDocument formats (.ods and .ots), Calc 3 can save
in these formats:
OpenOffice.org 1.x Spreadsheet (.sxc)
OpenOffice.org 1.x Spreadsheet Template (.stc)
Microsoft Excel 97/2000/XP (.xls and .xlw)
Microsoft Excel 97/2000/XP Template (.xlt)
Microsoft Excel 5.0 and 95 (.xls and .xlw)
Microsoft Excel 2003 XML (.xml)
Data Interchange Format (.dif)

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 dBase (.dbf)
SYLK (.slk)
Text CSV (.csv and .txt)
StarCalc 3.0, 4.0, and 5.0 formats (.sdc and .vor)
Unified Office Format spreadsheet (.uos)
HTML Document (OpenOffice.org Calc) (.html and .htm)
Pocket Excel (.pxl)

The Java Runtime Environment is required to use the mobile

Note device filters for AportisDoc (Palm), Pocket Word, and Pocket
Excel.

Saving presentations
In addition to OpenDocument formats (.odp, .otp, and .odg), Impress 3
can save in these formats:
OpenOffice.org 1.x Presentation (.sxi)
OpenOffice.org 1.x Presentation Template (.sti)
Microsoft PowerPoint 97/2000/XP (.ppt and .pps)
Microsoft PowerPoint 97/2000/XP Template (.pot)
StarDraw, StarImpress (.sda, .sdd, and .vor)
Unified Office Format presentation (.uop)
Impress can also export to MacroMedia Flash (.swf) and any of the
graphics formats listed for Draw.

Saving drawings
Draw 3 can only save in the OpenDocument Drawing formats (.odg and
.otg), the OpenOffice.org 1.x formats (.sxd and .std) and StarDraw
format (.sda, .sdd, and .vor).
However, Draw can also export to BMP, EMF, EPS, GIF, JPEG, MET,
PBM, PCT, PGM, PNG, PPM, RAS, SVG, SVM, TIFF, WMF, and XPM.

Writer/Web can save in these formats

HTML document (.html and .htm), as HTML 4.0 Transitional
OpenOffice.org 1.0 HTML Template (.stw)
OpenOffice.org 2.x HTML Template (.oth)
StarWriter/Web 4.0 and 5.0 (.vor)
Text (OpenOffice.org Writer/Web) (.txt)
Text Encoded (OpenOffice.org Writer/Web) (.txt)

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Appendix B Background Information 431
Exporting to other formats
OOo uses the term “export” for some file operations involving a change
of file type. If you cannot find what you want under Save As, look
under Export as well.
OpenOffice.org can export files to XHTML. In addition, Draw and
Impress can export to Adobe Flash (.swf) and a range of image
formats.
To export to one of these formats, choose File > Export. On the Export
dialog, specify a file name for the exported document, then select the
required format in the File format list and click the Export button.

Frequently asked questions

Is this software a “demo” No, this is a fully functioning software suite.
version?
May I distribute OOo to Yes.
anyone?
How many computers may I As many as you like.
install it on?
May I sell it? Yes.
May I use OpenOffice.org in Yes.
a business?
Is OpenOffice available in OpenOffice.org has been translated
my language? (localized) into over 40 languages, so your
language probably is supported. Additionally,
there are over 70 spelling, hyphenation, and
thesaurus dictionaries available for
languages, and dialects that do not have a
localized program interface. The dictionaries
are available from the OpenOffice.org
website at:
http://lingucomponent.openoffice.org/downlo
ad_dictionary.html
How can you make it for A large share of the development, and much
free? of the support for the project, is currently
supplied or sponsored by Sun Microsystems.
There are also many other people who work
on OOo as volunteers.
What if I need technical Read the section titled “How to get help” in
support? Chapter 1 (Introducting OpenOffice.org).

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Who owns the software? The copyright is shared by Sun Microsystems
and all the volunteers who have contributed.
Does that mean that they No. The licenses under which OOo is
can take away the software? developed and distributed can never be
revoked, so it cannot be taken away.
I am writing a software You may, within the parameters set in the
application. May I use LGPL. Read the license:
programming code from http://www.openoffice.org/license.html
OpenOffice.org in my
program?
Why is my favorite feature That feature is probably a third-party add-on
from StarOffice not available that Sun cannot distribute with
in OOo? OpenOffice.org.
Why do I need Java to run OpenOffice.org is not written in Java; it is
OOo? Is it written in Java? written in the C++ language. Java is one of
several languages that can be used to extend
OOo. The Java JDK/JRE is only required for
some features. The most notable one is the
HSQLDB relational database engine.
Note: Java is available at no cost. If you don't
want to use Java, you can still use nearly all
of the features of OOo.
How can I contribute to You can help with the development of OOo in
OpenOffice.org? many ways, and you do not need to be a
programmer. To start, check out this
webpage:
http://www.openoffice.org/contributing.html
What’s the catch? There really is none; you can read the
licenses here:
http://www.openoffice.org/license.html

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Appendix B Background Information 433
Index
A color options 44
accepting or rejecting changes 127 color palette 222
accessibility features 420 color scheme 49
accessibility options 49 combining objects 246
advantages of OpenOffice.org 13 comma separated values (CSV) 138, 140
antialiasing screen font 40 command line, starting from 19
appearance options 48 Community Forum (user support) 16
Apply Style list 66 complex text layout (CTL) 13, 58
area fill, editing 242 components of OpenOffice.org 11
arranging objects 237 conditional formatting 168
arrow styles, customizing 241 connectors 232
arrows 241 consultants 16
Asian language support 58 context menu 240
Asian languages enabled 207 context menus 25
AutoCorrect 61, 102 conversion 247
AutoInput 156 copying object from Gallery 347
AutoLayout 206 create document from template 73
automatic changes 156 creating a document 27
automatic saving 29 cross-fading 245
AutoRecovery 29, 53 cross-references
AutoUpdate styles 68 inserting references 129
overview 128
B CSV files 138, 140
background images from Gallery 347 Ctrl-click required to follow hyperlinks
Basic 379 48
bitmaps 247 custom dictionary 59
BitTorrent 14 Customize dialog 396
book preview 120 customizing
booklet printing 120 keyboard shortcuts 412
bookmarks 129 menus 404
borders, editing 240 toolbars 408
brackets (Math) 321 D
bring forward 237
brochure printing 120 data source
bulleted list 209 description 251
Bullets and Numbering dialog 210 editing 286
linking 284
C registering 284
Calc macros 390 using in OOo documents 286
CD or DVD of OpenOffice.org 14 viewing 285
check for updates automatically 51 data validity 160
circle, drawing 229 database
clipboard 41 AutoValue 260
closing a document 34 creating 253
closing OpenOffice.org 34 creating tables 255
CMYK 222 field types and formats 257
Color Bar 221 list table 263

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planning 252

434 Getting Started with OpenOffice.org 3.x

 primary key 255, 258, 260 Documentation Project 16
registering 285 download updates automatically 51
Report Wizard 303 downloading OpenOffice.org 14
Table Wizard 255 drag and drop 342
tables 255 Draw 217, 248
database form drawing
activation order 282 circle or ellipse 229
background 280 duplication 244
creating in Design View 283 Flash export 248
creating using a Wizard 267 HTML export 248
entering data 290 inserting pictures 247
modifying 270 line 227
subform 268 rectangle 229
tab order 282 save in a foreign format 248
database reports Drawing Object Properties toolbar 354
creating 302 drawing objects
modifying 308 grouping 355
static 302 properties 354
database table Drawing toolbar 221, 353
create using wizard 255 drawing tools 352
dynamic 306 duplication 244
joined fields 269 dynamic gradients 244
relationships 264
date conversion, automatic 156
E
default file format 53 e-mailing
default formatting 205, 208 Mail Merge Wizard 337
default template 79 several recipients 337
deleting files 30 Writer document as attachment 336
derivative markup (Math) 323 edit document properties before saving
Design View (Base) 53
creating a new table 259 ellipse, drawing 229
creating forms 283 en and em dashes 99
creating queries 296 en-dash and em-dash 99
dictionaries, installing 57 envelope
dictionary 101 formatting address blocks 122
different first page 84 mail merge from database 122
digital rights management (DRM) 334 printing 121
digital signature 339 envelope printing 121
DIM 383 EPS images in PDF 331
dispatch framework 388 equation
dispatch helper 383 inserting 313
distorting an image 244 numbering 325
dockable window 23 equation editor 313
document brackets 321
closing 34 derivative markup 323
create from template 73 equations over more than one line 322
creating 27 floating window 319
opening 28 font size 321
starting new 27 Formula Elements window 314
document status option 38 formula layout 321

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limits to sum/integral 322

Index 435
 markup 317 Gallery 356
matrix markup 323 grouping 360
right-click menu 316 line options 359
event handling 398 moving and resizing objects 361
export directly as PDF 329 positioning options 360
export HTML 56 same letter heights 357
exporting to PDF 329 toolbar 355, 357
extended tips 37 Form Wizard 267
extension formatting
Sun Report Builder 311 conditional 168
Extension Manager 78, 311 Formatting toolbar 22
extensions 400, 415 formula editor
extensions and addons See: equation editor 319
sources of 15 formula files, opening 429
formula layout 321
F Free Software Foundation (FSF) 427
fax icon, adding to toolbar 126, 411 function key shortcuts 421
fax sending 125
FDF 331 G
fields 205 Gallery
fields adding objects 348
bookmarks 129 copying object into document 347
cross-reference 128 creating a new theme 350
Fields dialog box deleting images 349
References tab 129 deleting objects 349
file locations 43 hide/show 346
file sharing options 46, 47 inserting object as background 347
Fill Format 66 location 350
fill, editing 242 open/close 346
Flash export 373 themes 346
flip an object 243 views (icon/detailed) 346
floating toolbars 22, 23 general options 37
floating window 23 glue points 232
font GNU/Linux
history 41 system requirements 14
ignore settings when importing HTML gradients 244
56 grammar checker 101
options 45 graphic files
preview 41 opening 429
replacement table 45 saving 431
replacements 45 graphic styles 202
sizes for HTML 55 graphics
Fontwork adding from file 342
alignment 358 linking 343
anchoring 360 vector 217
area options 359 graphics styles
attributes 358 formatting text 208
character spacing 358 grid options 225
creating an object 356 grid points 224
editing an object 357 guiding lines 226

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436 Getting Started with OpenOffice.org 3.x

H OpenOffice.org general 422
handouts (Impress) 192 resetting to default values 415
header saving to a file 414
different on right and left pages 85 keyboard shortcuts (macros) 396
Help Agent 38 L
Help system 15 label printing 124
Help Tips 37 labels
hidden objects 236 printing 124
high contrast 38 landscape pages 85
history of OpenOffice.org 425 language settings 57
HTML compatibility 55 language support 13
HTML export 56 Layout pane 206
HTML Export Wizard 374 LGPL 433
hyperlinks libraries of macros 390
editing 367 library containers 390
inserting 364 licensing of OpenOffice.org 426
hyphenation limits to sum/integral 322
manual 108 Line and Filling toolbar 221
I line properties 241
icon size and style (user interface) 40 line, customizing 241
icons in menus 40 line, drawing 227
IDE 381 lines, editing 240
ignore font settings when importing linking object from gallery 347
HTML 56 Linux
image map 351 Quickstarter 19
images system requirements 14
adding from file 342 list table (database) 263
linking 343 load Basic code to edit 54
scanned 345 load/save options 52
importing files 427 loading styles 72
importing numbers from an HTML page locale settings 58
56 M
inclination 239 Mac OS X
Insert Bookmark dialog 130 support 16
Insert Picture dialog 343 system requirements 14
installing and setting up 15 macro information 16
Internet options 60 Macro Organizer dialog 393
J macro security options 47
Java options 50 Macro Selector dialog 396
Java Runtime Environment (JRE) 251 Macromedia Flash 373
JRE (Java Runtime Environment) 14, 51 macros 379
assigning to events 415
K Calc 390
KDocker 19 comments 382
keyboard shortcuts creating 384
assigning 412, 420 DIM 383
customizing 412 dispatch framework 388
function keys 421 dispatch helper 383

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loading from a file 414 downloading 395

Index 437
 editing 381 Mozilla plug-in 60
event handling 398 music objects, inserting 213
example 384 MySQL 251
functions 390
IDE 381, 388
N
library container 379 Native Language Project 16
library containers 390 Navigation toolbar 32
menu items 396 Navigator 31, 187
module 379 new document 27
modules 390 non-breaking hyphen 99
organization 390 non-breaking spaces 99
recording 379 Normal view (Impress) 188
REM 382 Notes view (Impress) 189
resources 401 numbered list 209
running 380, 395 numbering equations 325
storage 392 O
subroutines 382, 390
OASIS 14
variables 383
objects
viewing 381
adjusting size 237
writing 400
arranging 237
Mail Merge Wizard
dynamic movement 238
e-mailing Writer document 337
dynamic size modification 238
Mantovani, Paolo 390
framing 236
margins 218
hidden 236
margins (Writer) 113
moving 237
Master Pages 202
rotating 238
master slides 200
selecting several 237
Math formulas, inserting 213
ODF format version, saving 53
mathematical equations 313
ODF plugin (Sun) 93
mathematical markup 317
Office Assistant (Microsoft) 38
mathematical symbols 314
OLE objects, inserting 213
matrix markup (Math) 323
online update options 51
measurement unit 100, 219
OOo Macro Organizer dialog 380
memory options 39
Open and Save As dialogs 30
menu bar 21
Open Source Initiative (OSI) 426, 427
menus
Open/Save dialogs 38
adding commands 407
OpenDocument Format 14, 53
creating 405
opening a document 28
customizing 404
OpenOffice.org Basic Macros dialog 379
modifying 406
Options Bar (Draw) 223
modifying entries 407
orientation of page 85
Microsoft Office file conversion 55
outline level 210
Microsoft Windows
Outline view (Impress) 188
file associations 17
OXT extension 78
Quickstarter 18
system requirements 14 P
Microsoft Word 93 page layout
middle mouse button function 41 different first page 84
mirror copies 243 landscape page 85
mouse positioning 41

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orientation 85

438 Getting Started with OpenOffice.org 3.x

page margins 113, 218 print file directly 117, 328
parts of the main window 21 print options
password protection 29 general 42
password-protect PDF 334 Printer Options dialog 118
pasting unformatted text 208 printer settings 53
path options 43 printing
PDF black and white on color printer 119
blank page export 331 book preview 120
digital rights management (DRM) 334 booklet 120
encrypt 334 brochure 120
EPS images 331 choosing what to print 117, 328
export documents to 329 envelopes 121
form 331 grayscale on color printer 119
image compression and resolution 330 labels 124
initial view selection 332 previewing 119
pages to export 330 print options 118
password-protect 334 printer selection 117, 328
security settings 334 Professional Template Pack extension
tagged 331 418
user interface settings 332
PDF import 416
Q
PDF Options dialog 330 queries (database)
PDF/A-1 331 aliases 301
pictures creating using a Wizard 293
adding from file 342 creating using Design View 296
linking 343 joined fields 269
Pitonyak, Andrew 16 search conditions 295
pixels 217 Query Wizard (database) 293
positioning objects 247 Quickstarter 18, 193
Powerpoint Quickstarter
See: Impress 183 enabling 39
preloading OOo under Linux/KDE 19 quotation marks 156
presentation R
first slide 197
raster graphics 247
formatting 197
rectangle, drawing 229
modifying 200
regular expressions 97
output medium 196
relationships (database) 264
planning 193
REM 382
running 215
remove manual formatting 205
slide design 195
remove personal information on saving
title slide 197
48
transition effect 196
renaming files 30
transitions 196
replacement table (font) 45
presentation styles 202
Report Builder extension 417
Presentation Wizard 194
Report Wizard (database) 303
presentations
RGB 222
saving 431
right to left (RTL) layout 13
primary key 258
right-click (context) menus 25
primary key (database) 258
rotating an object 238
Print dialog 117, 328

Free eBook Edition

rulers (Draw) 218

Index 439
S special characters 103
save as spelling checker 101
web page 368 spelling options 59
save AutoRecovery information 53 spreadsheet
save original Basic code 54 using as data source 284
save relative URLs 53 spreadsheets
saving files 28 opening 428
scaling factor (user interface) 40 saving 430
scanner 345 saving as CSV 140
screen font antialiasing 40 Standard toolbar 22
security 29 StarBasic 379
security options 46 starting a new document 27
selecting objects 236 starting OpenOffice.org 17
selection clipboard 41 Status Bar (Draw) 186, 219
selection modes 235 Style dialog 68, 69
send backward 237 styles 242
send document as e-mail 336 Apply Style list 66
setup options 36 assigning to shortcut keys 413
shadows 242 AutoUpdate 68
shared extension 416 changing using Style dialog 68
shortcut keys 420, 422 creating by dragging and dropping 70
size optimization 54 creating from selection 69
slanting an object 239 creating new 69
Slide Design dialog 203 creating using Style dialog 69
slide master 200 custom 69
adding text 205 deleting 73
apply 203 description 63, 201
author information 206 Fill Format 66
create 203 formatting text 208
description 201 graphic styles 202
fields 205 linking 69
loading additional 203 loading from template or document 72
modifying 204 modifying 67
slide show presentation styles 202
organizing 214 types supported 63
See: presentation 183 updating from a selection 68
Slide Sorter view (Impress) 190 Styles and Formatting window 65
slides SUB 382
adding text 200 subroutines 390
hide 201 subroutines in macros 382
inserting 198 Sun Microsystems 425
layouts 198 Sun Report Builder 311
master 200, 201 support 15
modifying 200 system font (user interface) 40
Slides pane (Impress) 183 T
snap functions 224 Table Wizard (database) 255
Snap to grid 224 Tasks pane (Impress) 185
Solaris tear-off toolbars 22
system requirements 14 template

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sort order (database fields) 295 create document from 73

440 Getting Started with OpenOffice.org 3.x

 create from document 75 tooltips 37, 197
create using wizard 76 transparency 242, 244
deleting 83 two-digit years 38
description 63 typing errors, autocorrect 156
editing 77
exporting 84
U
Extension Manager 78 undoing groups 246
folders 82 unformatted text, pasting 208
update document styles from 77 ungrouping 246
Template Changer extension 418 unit of measurement 219
Template Management dialog 71 unsaved changes flag 90
templates URL Recognition 364
importing 83 user data options 36
text user guides 16
bulleted or numbered list 209 user interface options 40
default formatting 208 user-specific settings 52
formatting pasted text 208 V
outline level 210
validity 160
pasting 207
variables in macros 383
text boundaries (show/hide) 49
VBA properties load/save options 54
text box
vector graphics 217
AutoLayout 206, 209
vertical alignment of text 207
creating 206
video objects, inserting 213
moving 215
view options 39
vertical alignment of text 207
text box tool 206 W
text documents Web Layout 368
opening 427 web page export
Text Formatting toolbar 208 Calc spreadsheets 373
text in Draw 231 Impress presentations 373
theme Web wizard (Writer) 369
deleting 350 Writer documents 368, 369
themes 346 wildcards 97
themes (Gallery) 350 windows, dockable/floating 23
title slide 197 wizard
toolbar icons (macros) 396 form (database) 267
toolbars 186 presentation 194
adding commands 409 query (database) 293
choosing icons for commands 410 report (database) 303
Color Bar 221 table (database) 255
creating 409 web 369
customizing 24 workspace
displaying or hiding 22 Draw 217
Draw 219 workspace views (Impress) 188
Drawing 221
Fontwork 355 X
Line and Filling toolbar 221 XML 54
moving 23
Options Bar (Draw) 223 Y
overview 21 year (two digits) 38

Index Free eBook Edition 441

 Free eBook Edition
442 Getting Started with OpenOffice.org 3.x