OpenOffice 3.2 User Manual
Getting Started
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with
OpenOffice.org
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Copyright
Free eBook Edition
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:
authors@user-faq.openoffice.org
Publication date and software version
Published 2 February 2010. Based on OpenOffice.org 3.2.
You can download
an editable version of this document from
http://oooauthors.org/english/userguide3/published/
Contents
Free eBook Edition
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
Getting Started with OpenOffice.org 3.x 3
What are styles?................................................................................ 63
Free eBook Edition
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
4 Getting Started with OpenOffice.org 3.x
Linking to another part of a document...........................................127
Free eBook Edition
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
Getting Started with OpenOffice.org 3.x 5
Chapter 6
Free eBook Edition
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
6 Getting Started with OpenOffice.org 3.x
Working with 3D objects.................................................................247
Free eBook Edition
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
Getting Started with OpenOffice.org 3.x 7
Chapter 11
Free eBook Edition
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
Customizing menu content.............................................................404
8 Getting Started with OpenOffice.org 3.x
Customizing toolbars......................................................................408
Free eBook Edition
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
Getting Started with OpenOffice.org 3.x 9
Chapter 1
Free eBook Edition
Introducing
OpenOffice.org
What is OpenOffice.org?
Free eBook Edition
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
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.
correct name for both the open-source project and its software is
OpenOffice.org.
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.
Chapter 1 Introducing OpenOffice.org 11
Impress (presentations)
Free eBook Edition
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.
12 Getting Started with OpenOffice.org 3.x
The advantages of OpenOffice.org
Free eBook Edition
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
import and edit some PDF files.
Chapter 1 Introducing OpenOffice.org 13
• No vendor lock-in. OOo3 uses OpenDocument, an XML
Free eBook Edition
(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
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
Free eBook Edition
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
comprehensive online support from community venues such as
Chapter 1 Introducing OpenOffice.org 15
newsgroups, forums, or mailing lists. There are also numerous
Free eBook Edition
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
Users Mailing
List
Documentation
Project
to post messages. To subscribe, send a blank email to
users-subscribe@openoffice.org
List archives are here:
http://www.openoffice.org/servlets/ SummarizeList?
listName=users
Templates, user guides, how-tos, and other
documentation. http://documentation.openoffice.org/
See also the Documentation wiki,
http://wiki.services.openoffice.org/ wiki/Documentation
Native Language
Project
Mac Support
OpenOffice.org
Community
Forum
OpenOffice.org
Macro
Information
Information, resources, and mail lists in your language.
http://projects.openoffice.org/native-lang.html
Support for installing and using OOo on Mac OS X.
http://porting.openoffice.org/mac/index.html
Extensive discussion forum for OpenOffice.org issues
from setup to advanced programming features.
http://user.services.openoffice.org/en/forum/
Andrew Pitonyak, the author of OpenOffice.org Macros
Explained, maintains this site, which provides extensive
documentation on OOo’s macro capability. Many good
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
OpenOffice.org website.
16 Getting Started with OpenOffice.org 3.x
Starting OpenOffice.org
Free eBook Edition
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.
Chapter 1 Introducing OpenOffice.org 17
Using the Quickstarter under Windows
Free eBook Edition
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.
18 Getting Started with OpenOffice.org 3.x
Reactivating the Quickstarter
Free eBook Edition
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
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
Most users will never need to do this.
Writer will start and create a new document. Likewise, you can start
other OOo components from the command line:
Chapter 1 Introducing OpenOffice.org 19
Type of document Component Command-line option
Free eBook Edition
Text Writer
Spreadsheet Calc
Drawing Draw
Presentation Impress
Formula Math
Database Base
Web page Writer
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.
-writer
-calc
-draw
-impress
-math
-base
-web
-nologo
-show <odp-file>
-view <documents ...>
-minimized
-norestore
-invisible
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.
Do not show the startup screen.
Start presentation immediately.
Open documents in viewer (read-only) mode.
Start OOo minimized.
Suppress restart/restore after fatal errors.
No startup screen, no default document, and
no UI. This is useful for third-party
applications that use functionality provided
by OOo.
20 Getting Started with OpenOffice.org 3.x
Parts of the main window
Free eBook Edition
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.
Chapter 1 Introducing OpenOffice.org 21
The top docked toolbar (default position) is called the Standard
Free eBook Edition
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 tearoff 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
22 Getting Started with OpenOffice.org 3.x
Moving toolbars
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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.
Chapter 1 Introducing OpenOffice.org 23
To dock a window or toolbar, do one
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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 doubleclicking without using the
Control key.
Figure 5: Docking a window
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.
24 Getting Started with OpenOffice.org 3.x
Right-click (context) menus
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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.
Chapter 1 Introducing OpenOffice.org 25
Digital signature
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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 behindthe-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.
26 Getting Started with OpenOffice.org 3.x
Figure 9: Dialog showing common controls:
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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
the drop-down menu, select the type of document to be created.
Chapter 1 Introducing OpenOffice.org 27
• Press Control+N on the keyboard.
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• 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.
28 Getting Started with OpenOffice.org 3.x
To save an open document with the current file name, choose File >
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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.
Chapter 1 Introducing OpenOffice.org 29
Renaming and deleting files
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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
30 Getting Started with OpenOffice.org 3.x
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