UNIT 1 – DIGITAL DOCUMENTATION

Session1: Create and Apply Styles in the document

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.

Styles/ categories in Word Processor

Styles are logical attributes. We use styles every day. Styles help improve consistency
in a document.

OpenOffice.org Writer has five types of styles:

 Paragraph styles affect an entire paragraph.

 Character styles affect a block of text inside a paragraph.
 Page styles affect page formatting (page size, margin, and the like).
 Frame styles affect frames and graphics.
 List styles affect numbered lists and bulleted lists.
Fill format mode is used 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.
New Style (Custom)from Selection: New Style from Selection icon type a name for
the new styleOK
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.
Modifying OpenOffice.org provides several ways to modify styles (both the predefined
styles and custom styles that you create):
• Updating a style from a selection - In the Styles and Formatting window, select the
style you want to update click on new style from selection icon click on Update
style.
• Load or copy styles from another document or template - You can copy styles by
loading them from a template or another document. Click on new style from selection
icon click on Load style.

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 are copying
them into. Click OK to copy the styles.
Session 2: Insert and use images in document

Options to insert image to document from various sources –

Inserting an image file stored on the computer . To link the file instead of
embedding it, hold down the Control+ Shift keys while dragging the image.
Insert Picture dialog - Insert > Picture > From File from the menu bar.
Inserting an image from the clipboard - Open both the source document and
the target document. Control+ C to copy the image to the clipboard. Control+ V to
insert the image
Inserting an image using a scanner - Insert > Picture > Scan > Select Source.
Inserting an image from the Gallery - Gallery icon on Standard toolbar / gallery
> Tool menu.

Options to modify, resize, crop and delete an image.

Modifying images using
picture toolbar (View>Toolbars>picture)
Graphics filter Toolbar

Using the formatting toolbar and picture dialog box.

 Cropping images – Cropping means removing unwanted area from an
image starting from its boundary. To crop, right click on it and select Picture
from the pop-up menu

When Keep scale is selected (default), cropping the image does not change the scale
of the picture. When Keep image size is selected, cropping produces enlargement (for
positive cropping values), shrinking (for negative cropping values), or distortion of the
image so that the image size remains constant.

Resizing(Scaling) images - Position the pointer over one of the green resizing
handles. The corner handles resize both the width and the height of the graphic
object simultaneously, while the other four handles only resize one dimension at
a time.
Creating drawing objects and changing its properties – View > Toolbars >
Drawing.
 Drawing objects include autoshapes, curves, lines and graphics textArt drawing
objects.

Select the tool from the Drawing toolbar. The mouse pointer changes to a drawing-
functions pointer

Grouping drawing objects- Format groupgroup

Grouping allows you to combine multiple objects to behave like one object.
Positioning image in the text –
When you place images in a document, you may need to position text around the
image in multiple ways. This is known as wrapping text around image.

Positioning of a graphic is controlled by four settings:

1.Arrangement refers to the placement of a graphic on an imaginary vertical axis.
Arrangement controls how graphics are stacked upon each other or relative to the text.

2.Alignment refers to the vertical or horizontal placement of a graphic in relation to the

chosen anchor point.

3.Anchoring refers to the reference point for the graphics. This point could be the page,
or frame where the object is, a paragraph, or even a character. An image always has an
anchor point.

4.Text wrapping refers to the relation of graphics to the surrounding text, which may
wrap around the graphic on one or both sides, be overprinted behind or in front of the
graphic, or treat the graphic as a separate paragraph or character.

Session 3: Create and use template

Templates – A template is a model that you use to create other documents. It is

a special type of empty document that stores formatting features, such as styles,
headers and footers, macros and other such details.

Advantages of templates –
 simplify document creation
 save time and money
 Offer consistency and clarity.

Using predefined templates – To create a document based on an existing,
predefined template. FilenewTemplates and documents. In the dialog box,
select templates folders available under templates. click on the desired template
based on which you want to create a document. A new document based on the
selected template will open in writer.
Creating a template - You can create your own templates in two ways: from a
document, and using a wizard.
- 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.
- You can use wizards to create templates for letters, faxes, agendas,
presentations, and Web pages. File > Wizards >[type of template required]

Set up a custom default template – By default, when you create a new

document in writer, it creates a document based on its own default template.
However, you can set your own template as the default template if you want to
create new document every time based on your template.
FileTemplatesorganize to open a template management dialog.
Resetting the default template - In the Template Management dialog, click any folder
in the box on the left. 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.

Changing to a different template – Create a new document using the template with
which you want to attach an existing document. Open existing document in a separate
window. Press ctrl+A in a document to select all the content and press ctrl+C to copy it.

Now paste this content in the blank document you created. Save your updated
document as per the new template with a name. you have updated your document as
per the new template.

Session 4: Create and customize table of contents

Table of contents – A table of contents(TOC) is a list or a table of listing all the

chapters or section titles or headings along with their commencing page
numbers. A TOC is usually given in the beginning of a book.

Hierarchy of headings – The TOCs are based on the styles you apply to the topic
headings in your document and hierarchy of headings. It clearly defines the levels of
headings where higher level heading pertain to tile, main headings and sub headings,
the lower level headings pertain to sections and sub-sections etc.

Preparation of table of contents – To quickly create table of contents in writer, create

a proper hierarchy of headings in the document. Place the cursor in your document ,
where you want to place the TOC. Click Insertindexes and Tables indexes and
Tables . In the insert index/table dialog, do the necessary changes and click ok.

Customization of TOC – right click on the TOC and select Edit Index/Table
The Insert/Index Table window has five tabs. Four of them are used when creating a
table of contents: • Use the Index/Table tab to set the table's attributes. • Use the
Entries and Styles tabs to format the table entries. • Use the Background tab to add
color or a graphic to the table background.

To set the table's basic attributes: 1) From the Type drop-down list in the Type and
title area of the tab, select Table of Contents if it isn't already selected. 2) From the
drop-down list in the Create index/table area, select Entire document. 3) In the Create
from area, check the Outline check box. 4) In the Create from area, clear the Index
marks check box.

Using the Entries tab-

The E# button represents the

chapter number. • The E
button represents the entry
text. • The T button represents
a tab stop. • The # button
represents the page number. •
The LS button represents the
start of a hyperlink. • The LE
button represents the end of a
hyperlink.
To change the default Structure line so that the chapter number and the entry text
form a hyperlink, follow these steps: 1) On the Structure line, place your cursor in the
white field to the left of the E# button. (Recall that the E# button represents the chapter
number.) 2) Click the Hyperlink button. An LS button, representing the start of the
hyperlink, appears on the Structure line. 3) On the Structure line, place your cursor in
the white field to the right of the E button. (Recall that the E button represents the entry
text.) 4) Click the Hyperlink button again. An LE button, representing the end of the
hyperlink, appears on the Structure line.

Character styles –
On the structure line, click the
button representing the
element to which you want to
apply a style and from the
character style drop-down list,
select the desired list.

Maintaining a table of contents- Make

sure to update the TOC whenever there
is any change in the headings or page
numbers etc.

Note: By default, Writer evaluates 10 levels

of headings when it builds the table of contents.
Session 5: Implement Mail Merge

Mail merge is the process of merging the main document (letter or certificates) with the
mailing address of various persons. It is used to send invitations, letters or to print
certificates for several people.
Mail merge - needs main document and Data source

contains the actual information the address list

Creating the data source - A data source is a set of mailing addresses in the form of a
rows and columns generally called database. To create an address book using
spreadsheet or database is little easier, as they use the table format to store the data.
It is also possible to create an address book during the mail merge process using
mail merge wizard

Using Mail Merge:

 Create a new document and type the letter

to be sent to the multiple recipients.

Step1 - Select Starting document → Use the

current document → Next

Step2 - select the Document type → Letter

→ Next

Step3 – Insert Address block “Select Address List”.

The “Select Address List” window will open, which will allow you to create the recipient
list.

 Click on the Create button. After clicking on the Create button a New Address List
window will appear to enter the information of the
recipient.
 If you wish to customize the fields of recipient information, click on Customize button.
A 'Customize Address List' window will appear
where you can add, delete or rename any field.
 After entering the data of first recipient, click on new to enter the data for the next
recipient.
 Click on OK to save the list of recipient in .CSV format.
 Select the address block for the document and click on next.

Step4 – Create a salutation to set the salutations for male and female recipients.

Step5 – Adjust a layout to set the layout of the recipient address on the page.

Now we can edit the individual documents to merge the letter with the address of the
recipients. (a) to exclude some of the recipient check on the checkbox of Exclude
recipient. (b) to save the merged document, click on the Save Merged Documents
button. (c) to print the merged document, click on the Print Merged Documents button.
(d) to send the letters by email, click on the Send Email Messages button.

Printing a letter and its address label

To prepare mailing labels for printing:

● Choose File > New > Labels.

● On the Options tab, ensure that the

Synchronize contents option is selected.

● On the Labels tab (), select the Database and

Table. Select the Brand of labels to be used, and then select the Type of label and also
measure the label dimensions.

Note:

 View > Field Names  to view data source headings(Ctrl+F9)

 Press Delete to remove the new line character and then press Return (or the
Enter key) to insert a paragraph marker View > Nonprinting Charactersto
insert paragraph marker.
 General form of blank address field ![Database.Table.Database field]
 File > Templates > Save as Template to save it as an Open Document Text
Template (.ott)

Removing blank lines from labels -

General form of blank address field ![Database.Table.Database field]

For example,

In our Points database the condition to test if the Last Name field is empty would be

![Points.Sheet1.Last Name]

To test for multiple conditions, use the operators AND and/or OR between the
conditional statements,

![Points.Sheet1.Title]AND![Points.Sheet1.Last Name]

Click Insert, but do not close the dialog until all lines have been amended.

Printing –

Choose File > Print. The message shown in appears. Click Yes to print. If you prefer to
save the labels to a file then you should select File in the output section of the Mail
Merge dialog. This changes the dialog to highlight the Save merged document section,
where Save as single document is preselected. In this case, clicking OK brings up the
Save as dialog, where a file name can be entered for the saved labels.

Editing a saved file of mailing labels -

Right-click any correctly spelled word in a label record. Select Edit Paragraph Style from
the context menu. (Note: If you click on a misspelled word, a different menu appears.)
Then from the Paragraph Style dialog, you can make changes to the font name, the font
size, the indents, and other attributes.