Getting Started Guide
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]
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.
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.)
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).
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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
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.
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.
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).
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.
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.
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”.
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.
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.
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 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.
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.
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.
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.)
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 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
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).
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.
Using bookmarks 47