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Getting Started Guide

Getting Started with Writer Word Processing with OpenOffice.org Copyright (c) 2005-2008 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. Or later.

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Raymond Gorda
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© Attribution Non-Commercial (BY-NC)
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0% found this document useful (0 votes)
56 views

Getting Started Guide

Getting Started with Writer Word Processing with OpenOffice.org Copyright (c) 2005-2008 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. Or later.

Uploaded by

Raymond Gorda
Copyright
© Attribution Non-Commercial (BY-NC)
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
You are on page 1/ 47

Getting Started Guide

Chapter 4
Getting Started with
Writer
Word Processing with OpenOffice.org
Copyright
This document is Copyright © 2005–2008 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
Agnes Belzunce Daniel Carrera
Spencer E. Harpe Peter Hillier-Brook
Peter Kupfer Gary Schnabl
Janet Swisher 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 13 October 2008. Based on OpenOffice.org 3.0.

You can download


an editable version of this document from
http://oooauthors.org/en/authors/userguide3/published/
Contents
Copyright...............................................................................................2
What is Writer?......................................................................................5
The Writer interface...............................................................................5
Status bar...........................................................................................6
Document views..................................................................................7
Moving quickly through a document...................................................8
Working with documents........................................................................9
Saving as a Microsoft Word file..........................................................9
Working with text.................................................................................10
Selecting items that are not consecutive..........................................10
Selecting a vertical block of text.......................................................11
Cutting, copying, and pasting text....................................................12
Finding and replacing text and formatting.......................................12
Inserting special characters..............................................................14
Setting tab stops and indents...........................................................14
Checking spelling..............................................................................15
Using language tools........................................................................16
Using AutoCorrect............................................................................18
Using word completion.....................................................................18
Using AutoText..................................................................................19
Inserting dashes and non-breaking spaces.......................................20
Formatting text....................................................................................20
Using styles.......................................................................................20
Formatting paragraphs.....................................................................20
Formatting characters......................................................................21
Autoformatting..................................................................................22
Creating numbered or bulleted lists.................................................23
Hyphenating words...........................................................................24
Undoing and redoing changes.............................................................25
Formatting pages.................................................................................26

Getting Started with Writer 3


Which layout method to choose?.......................................................26
Creating headers and footers............................................................28
Numbering pages..............................................................................29
Changing page margins....................................................................30
Adding notes to a document.................................................................31
Creating a table of contents.................................................................33
Creating indexes and bibliographies....................................................34
Working with graphics.........................................................................34
Printing from Writer.............................................................................34
Quick printing...................................................................................34
Controlling printing..........................................................................35
Selecting print options for a document.............................................36
Printing in black and white on a color printer..................................37
Previewing pages before printing.....................................................37
Printing a brochure...........................................................................38
Printing envelopes............................................................................39
Printing labels...................................................................................41
Sending a fax using Writer...................................................................43
Sending a fax through the Print dialog.............................................43
Adding a Fax icon to the toolbar.......................................................43
Tracking changes to a document.........................................................44
Using mail merge.................................................................................44
Using master documents......................................................................45
Creating fill-in forms............................................................................45
Using fields..........................................................................................45
Using cross-references.........................................................................46
Using bookmarks.................................................................................47

4 Getting Started with Writer


What is Writer?
Writer is the word processor component of OpenOffice.org (OOo). In
addition to the usual features of a word processor (spell checking,
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)
• Powerful 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 1. 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 1: The main Writer workspace in Print


Layout view

The Writer interface 5


Status bar
The Writer status bar provides information about the document and
convenient ways to quickly change some document features. From left
to right, the fields are as follows.

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.
To jump to the location of a bookmark, right-click on this field. A list
of bookmarks pops up; click on the required one.
To jump to a specific page in the document, double-click in this field.
The Navigator opens. Click in the Page Number field and type the
required page number.
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 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 to exclude the text from spellchecking 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)
and BLK (Block) selection. EXT is an alternative to Shift+click when
selecting text. See “Working with text” on page 10 for more
information about ADD and BLK.
Digital signature
If the document has been digitally signed, an icon shows in this
part of the Status bar. You can double-click the icon to view the
certificate.

6 Getting Started with Writer


Section or object information
When the cursor is on a section or object (such as a picture),
information about that item appears in this field. For details, consult
the Help or the Writer Guide.
View layout
Click the appropriate icon to change between single page, side-by-
side, and book layout views (Figure 2). You can edit the document in
any view.

Figure 2: View layouts: single, side-by-side, book.


Zoom
To change the view magnification, drag the Zoom slider or click on
the + and – signs or click on the slider itself. You can also right-click
on the zoom level percentage to select a magnification value. Zoom
interacts with the selected view layout to determine how many
pages are visible in the document window.

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.)

The Writer interface 7


When in Web Layout, you can use the Zoom slider on the Status bar, as
described above. In Print Layout, you can use both the Zoom slider and
the View Layout icons on the Status bar.

Figure 3: Choosing Zoom and View Layout


options.
You can also choose View > Zoom from the menu bar to display the
Zoom & View Layout dialog (see Figure 3), where you can set the same
options as on the Status bar. In Web Layout view, most of the choices
are not available.

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 4.

Figure 4: Navigation icons.


The Navigation toolbar (Figure 5) shows icons for all the object types
shown in the Navigator, plus some extras (for example, the results of a
Find command).

8 Getting Started with Writer


Figure 5: 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.

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


To save a document as a Microsoft Word file:
1) First save your document in OOo’s format (.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 click File > Save As. The Save As window (Figure 6)
appears.
3) In the Save as type drop-down menu, select the type of Word
format you need.
4) Click Save.
From this point on, all changes you make to the document will occur
only in the Microsoft Word document. You have actually changed the
name of your document. If you want to go back to working with the
OOo version of your document, you must open it again.

Working with documents 9


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).

Figure 6. 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 7) 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).

10 Getting Started with Writer


Macintosh users: substitute the Command key when
Note instructions in this chapter say to use the Control key.

Figure 7: 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.
5) Now you can work with the selected text.
6) 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 8.

Working with text 11


Figure 8: 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.
Cut: Use Edit > Cut or Control+X or the Cut icon on the toolbar.

Copy: Use Edit > Copy or Control+C or the Copy icon.

Paste: Use Edit > Paste or Control+V or the Paste icon.

If you simply click on the Paste icon, any formatting the text has (such
as bold or italics) is retained. To make the pasted text take on the
formatting of the surrounding text where it is being pasted, click the
triangle to the right of the Paste icon and select Unformatted text
from the menu (Figure 9).

Figure 9: Paste menu

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 regular expressions (wildcards) 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 10), use the keyboard
shortcut Control+F or select Edit > Find & Replace.

12 Getting Started with Writer


Type the text you want to find in the Search for box.
To replace the text with different text, type the new text in the
Replace with box.
You can select various options such as matching the case, matching
whole words only, or doing a search for similar words. (See below for
some other choices.)
When you have set up your search, click Find. To replace text, click
Replace instead.

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.

Figure 10: Expanded Find & Replace dialog

Use Replace All with caution; otherwise, you may end up


Caution with some hilarious (and highly embarrassing) mistakes. A
mistake with Replace All might require a manual, word-by-
word, search to fix.

Working with text 13


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) Click Insert > Special Character to open the Special
Characters window (Figure 11).
3) Select the characters 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 11: 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.

Setting tab stops and indents


The horizontal ruler shows both the default tab stops and any that you
have defined. To set the measurement unit and the spacing of default
tab stops, go to Tools > Options > OpenOffice.org Writer >
General.
You can also set or change the measurement unit by right-clicking on
the ruler to open a list of units, as shown in Figure 12. Click on one of
them to change the ruler to that unit.

14 Getting Started with Writer


Double-click on a blank part of the ruler to open the Indents & Spacing
page of the Paragraph dialog. Double-click on the ruler itself to open
the Tabs page of the Paragraph dialog (Figure 13) and fine-tune tab
stop settings.

Figure 12: Ruler showing default tab stops

Figure 13: The Tabs page of the Paragraph dialog

Checking spelling
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 Spellcheck button. This checks the document
or selection and opens the Spellcheck dialog if any misspelled
words are found.

Working with text 15


Here are some more features of the spelling checker:
• Right-click on a word with a wavy underline to open a menu. If
you select from the suggested words on the menu, the selection
will replace the misspelled word in your text.
• You can change the dictionary language (for example, to Spanish,
French or German) on the Spellcheck dialog.
• You can add a word to the dictionary. Click Add in the Spellcheck
dialog and pick the dictionary to add it to.
• The Options dialog of the Spellcheck tool has a number of
different options such as whether to check uppercase words and
words with numbers. It also allows you to 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.

Using language tools


OOo provides some tools that make your work easier if you mix
multiple languages within the same document or write documents in
various languages.
You can set the language for the whole document, selected paragraphs,
or even individual words or characters. In versions earlier than OOo
3.0 it was necessary to use styles in order to insert within a document
paragraphs or individual groups of characters that use a different
language, while now this can be conveniently done from the main
menu.

Tip Using character and paragraph styles is still the preferred


method, as styles allow a greater level of control and make
changing the language much faster. See Chapter 7 (Working
with Styles) in the Writer Guide for information on how to
manage the language settings of a style.

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.
The language tools can be found in Tools > Languages on the main
menu, as shown in Figure 14.

16 Getting Started with Writer


Figure 14: The Language menu
The following options are available:
• For selection: select this option to apply a specified language to
the selected text (the selection can comprise only a few
characters or several paragraphs).
• For paragraph: select this option to apply the specified language
to the paragraph where the cursor is located.
• For all text: select this option to apply the specified language to
all the document.
An alternative 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 (Figure
15), you can choose a different language for all the text.

Caution Unlike the menu tool that applies to the individual document,
a change in the default language from the Options dialog is
a general change of settings of OOo and will therefore apply
to all the documents created in the future. If you want to
change the language for the current document only, be sure
to select the For the current document only option.

Spell checking is available 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.

Figure 15: Options available in the Languages settings

Working with text 17


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”. Select Tools > AutoCorrect 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 by default. To turn it off, uncheck


Tip Format > AutoFormat > While Typing.

To stop Writer from replacing a specific spelling, use Tools >


AutoCorrect > Replace, highlight the word pair and click Delete.
To add a new spelling to correct, type it into the Replace and With
boxes 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.

Many people prefer not to use Word Completion. If you do not


Tip want to use it, select Tools > AutoCorrect > Word
Completion and uncheck Enable Word Completion.

18 Getting Started with Writer


You can customize word completion from the Tools > AutoCorrect >
Word Completion page:
• 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.

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 might just type “sm”
and press F3. Or you can save a formatted Note (like the one on this
page) as AutoText and then insert a copy by typing “note” and pressing
F3.
To assign some text to an AutoText shortcut:
1) Type the text into your document.
2) Select the text so it is highlighted.
3) Select 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.

Working with text 19


Inserting dashes and non-breaking spaces
You can insert a dash by using the Special Characters window or by
using AutoCorrect. For more about AutoCorrect, see “Controlling
OOO’s AutoCorrect functions” in Chapter 2 (Setting up
OpenOffice.org) and “Using AutoCorrect” on page 18 in this chapter.
– is an en-dash; that is, a dash the width of the letter “n” in the font
you are using. It is U+2013 (scroll down to the General
Punctuation section in the Special Characters window). To enter
an en-dash using AutoCorrect, 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. It is U+2014. To enter it using AutoCorrect,
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.
To insert a non-breaking space (to keep characters together, for
example in a telephone number), press Control+Space on the
keyboard.

Formatting text

Using styles
Styles are central to using Writer. Styles enable you to easily format
your document consistently, and to change the format with minimal
effort. Often, when you format your document in Writer, you are using
styles whether you realize it or not. 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).

Formatting paragraphs
You can apply many formats to paragraphs using the buttons on the
Formatting toolbar. Figure 16 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

20 Getting Started with Writer


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

It is highly recommended that you use paragraph styles rather


than manually formatting paragraphs, especially for long or
Tip standardized documents. For information on the advantages of
styles, and how to use them, see Chapter 13 (Working with
Styles) in this book and Chapters 6 and 7 in the Writer Guide.

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 16: The Formatting toolbar, showing icons for
paragraph formatting.

Figure 17 shows examples of the different alignment options.

Figure 17: Different text alignment options.

Formatting characters
You can apply many formats to characters using the buttons on the
Formatting toolbar. Figure 18 shows the Formatting toolbar as a
floating toolbar, customized to show only the buttons for character
formatting.

It is highly recommended that you use character styles rather


than manually formatting characters. For information on the
Tip advantages of styles, and how to use them, see Chapter 6
(Introduction to Styles) in the Writer Guide.

Formatting text 21
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 6 Italic 12 Font Color


Formatting Window 7 Underline 13 Highlighting
2 Apply Style 8 Superscript 14 Background Color
3 Font Name 9 Subscript 15 Open Character
4 Font Size 10 Increase Font Format Dialog
5 Bold 11 Reduce Font
Figure 18: The Formatting toolbar, showing icons for
character formatting

To remove manual formatting, select the text and click Format


Tip > Default Formatting, or right-click and select Default
Formatting.

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.

22 Getting Started with Writer


To turn autoformatting on or off, go to Format > AutoFormat and
select or delete the items on the sub menu.

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 16). 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.

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 19). 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) 12 Move Down in Sub-points
with Sub-points
4 Up One Level 8 Insert Unnumbered Entry 13 Restart Numbering
5 Up One Level 9 Move Up 14 Bullets and Numbering
Figure 19: Bullets and Numbering toolbar

Formatting text 23
Hyphenating words
To turn automatic hyphenation of words on or off:
1) Press F11 to open the Styles and Formatting window (Figure 20).
2) On the Paragraph Styles page of the Styles and Formatting
window, right-click on Default in the list and select Modify.

Figure 20: Modifying a style

3) On the Paragraph Style dialog, go to the Text Flow page (see


Figure 21).
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
active; for example, you might not want headings to be
Note hyphenated. Any styles that are not based on Default are not
affected. For more on paragraph styles, see Chapter 6
(Introduction to Styles) and Chapter 7 (Working with Styles) in
the Writer Guide.

Figure 21: Turning on automatic hyphenation

24 Getting Started with Writer


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 22).

Figure 22: Setting hyphenation options

Hyphenation options set on the Writing Aids dialog are


effective only if hyphenation is turned on through paragraph
styles.
Note Choices on the Writing Aids dialog for “characters before line
break” and “characters after line break” override settings in
paragraphs styles for “characters at line end” and “characters
at line begin”.

To enter a conditional hyphen inside a word, press Control+minus


sign. The word is hyphenated at this position when it is at the end of
the line, even if automatic hyphenation for this paragraph is switched
off.
To insert a non-breaking hyphen, press Control+Shift+minus sign.

Undoing and redoing changes


To undo the most recent change, press Control+Z, or click the Undo
icon on the Standard toolbar, or select Edit > Undo from the menu
bar.
The Edit menu shows the latest change that can be undone, as shown
in Figure 23.

Figure 23: 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 24). You can select multiple
changes and undo them at the same time.

Undoing and redoing changes 25


Figure 24: 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, select
Tools > Options > OpenOffice.org > Memory and change Undo
number of steps. Be aware that asking OOo to remember more
changes consumes more computer memory.

Formatting pages
Writer provides several ways for you to control page layouts:
• Page styles
• Columns
• Frames
• Tables
• 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.

26 Getting Started with Writer


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.

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.

Formatting pages 27
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”.

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, click Insert > Header > Default (or the page
style, if not Default) as shown in Figure 25.

Figure 25: Inserting headers and footers


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) Click 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.

28 Getting Started with Writer


4) Select 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 28.
2) Place the cursor in the header or footer where you want the page
number to appear and click 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.
2) Press the spacebar once, type the word “of” and a space, then
click 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.

Formatting pages 29
Method 1:
1) Place the cursor in the first paragraph of the new page.
2) Click Format > Paragraph.
3) On the Text Flow tab of the Paragraph dialog (Figure 21 on page
24), 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 26).
3) Choose the required page Style.
4) Select Change page number.
5) Specify the page number to start from, and then click OK.

Figure 26: 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.

30 Getting Started with Writer


• Using the Page Style dialog—can specify margins to two decimal
places.

If you change the margins using the rulers, the new margins
Note affect the page style and will be shown in the Page Style dialog
the next time you open it.

To change margins using the rulers:


1) The gray sections of the rulers are the margins (see Figure 27).
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 27: Moving the margins

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 notes to a document


The use of notes in a Writer document has been improved in OOo3.
Notes are now displayed at the side of the page and color-coded
according to the user who created them.

Adding notes to a document 31


To insert a note in the text, place the cursor in the text and select
Insert > Note or press Ctrl+Alt+N. The anchor point of the note 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 note. OOo automatically adds at the
bottom of the note the name or initials of the author and a time stamp.
Figure 28 shows an example of text with notes from two different
authors.
Select 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.

Figure 28: Notes in OOo3


Right-clicking on any note pops up a menu where you can delete the
current note, all the notes from the same author, or all the notes in the
document. From this menu, you can also apply some basic formatting
to the text of the notes. You can also change the font type, size, and
alignment from the main menu.
To navigate from one note to the other, open the Navigator (F5),
expand the Notes section, and click on the note text to move the cursor
to the anchor point of the note in the document. Right-click on the note
to quickly edit or delete it.
You can also navigate the notes using the keyboard. Use
Ctrl+Alt+Page Down to move to the next note and Ctrl+Alt+Page Up
to move to the previous note.

32 Getting Started with Writer


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) Select 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
contents. To do this:
1) Place the cursor within the table of contents.
2) Right-click and select 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 select 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 a table of contents 33


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).

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.

34 Getting Started with Writer


Controlling printing
For more control over printing, use File > Print to display the Print
dialog (Figure 29).
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.
• 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 30).

Figure 29. The Print dialog

Printing from Writer 35


Figure 30. 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 (see Chapter 2) and
OpenOffice.org Writer – Print (which looks very similar to the
Printer Options dialog.
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
“Printing a brochure” on page 38.
• In the Notes section, you can choose whether to print any notes
that have been added to your document (using Insert > Note),
and where to print the notes.

36 Getting Started with Writer


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) Click 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) Click 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) Click 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 7.
• Page Preview (read-only view) —from which you can print
multiple pages onto one sheet of paper.
To use Page Preview:
1) Click File > Page Preview, or click the Page Preview button .

Printing from Writer 37


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 31. 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 32. 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). Click File >
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.)

38 Getting Started with Writer


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) Click 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) Click Insert > Envelope from the menu bar.
2) In the Envelope dialog, start with the Envelope tab (Figure 33).
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 34), 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.
• 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.

Printing from Writer 39


Figure 33. Choosing addressee and sender information

Figure 34. Choosing positioning and size of elements


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 35) 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.

40 Getting Started with Writer


You can also choose a different printer or alter printer setup (for
example, specify the tray that holds envelopes) for this print job.

Figure 35. 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.

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

Printing from Writer 41


required information, as described in Chapter 11 (Using Mail
Merge) in the Writer Guide.

Figure 36. 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 37), 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.

Figure 37. Labels dialog, Format page

42 Getting Started with Writer


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 38. 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.

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.

Sending a fax using Writer 43


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. Click
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. Later, you or another person can review and
accept or reject each change. Click Edit > Changes > Record.
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.

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.

44 Getting Started with Writer


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.

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-

Using fields 45
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.

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
page numbers. The Cross-references tab of the Fields dialog lists some
items, such as headings, bookmarks, figures, tables, and numbered
items such as steps in a procedure.
To insert a cross-reference to a heading or other text:
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 39: The Cross-references tab of the Fields dialog

46 Getting Started with Writer


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.

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, as described above. In HTML documents, bookmarks are
converted to anchors that you can jump to using a hyperlink.
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 40: Inserting a bookmark

Using bookmarks 47

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