Getting Started Guide

Chapter 1
Introducing
OpenOffice.org
Copyright
This document is Copyright © 2005–2010 by its contributors as listed below. You may
distribute it and/or modify it under the terms of either the GNU General Public
License (http://www.gnu.org/licenses/gpl.html), version 3 or later, or the Creative
Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/), version
3.0 or later.
All trademarks within this guide belong to their legitimate owners.

Contributors
Thomas Astleitner Richard Barnes
Agnes Belzunce Daniel Carrera
Laurent Duperval Richard Holt
Ian Laurenson Alan Madden
Carol Roberts Iain Roberts
Gary Schnabl Janet M. 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 15 December 2010. Based on OpenOffice.org 3.3.

You can download

an editable version of this document from
http://oooauthors.org/english/userguide3/published/
Contents
Copyright....................................................................................................................... 2
What is OpenOffice.org?................................................................................................ 5
Writer (word processor)............................................................................................. 5
Calc (spreadsheet)..................................................................................................... 5
Impress (presentations)............................................................................................. 5
Draw (vector graphics).............................................................................................. 5
Base (database).......................................................................................................... 6
Math (formula editor)................................................................................................ 6
The advantages of OpenOffice.org................................................................................. 6
Minimum requirements................................................................................................. 7
How to get the software................................................................................................. 7
How to install the software............................................................................................ 8
Extensions and add-ons................................................................................................. 8
How to get help.............................................................................................................. 8
Help system............................................................................................................... 8
Free online support.................................................................................................... 8
Paid support and training.......................................................................................... 9
Starting OpenOffice.org................................................................................................. 9
Starting from an existing document........................................................................10
Using the Quickstarter under Windows...................................................................10
Using the Quickstarter in Linux............................................................................... 11
Preloading OOo under Linux/KDE........................................................................... 11
Starting from the command line..............................................................................11
Parts of the main window............................................................................................. 12
Menu bar.................................................................................................................. 12
Toolbars.................................................................................................................... 13
Right-click (context) menus..................................................................................... 15
Status bar................................................................................................................. 16
What are all these things called?.................................................................................17
Starting a new document............................................................................................. 18
Opening an existing document.................................................................................... 18
Saving a document....................................................................................................... 19
Password protection................................................................................................. 19
Saving a document automatically............................................................................ 20
Renaming and deleting files........................................................................................ 20
Using the Open and Save As dialogs...........................................................................20
Using the Navigator..................................................................................................... 21
Undoing and redoing changes..................................................................................... 23
Closing a document...................................................................................................... 24

Introducing OpenOffice.org 3
Closing OpenOffice.org................................................................................................ 24
Using OpenOffice.org on a Mac...................................................................................25

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

Because someone else owns the trademark OpenOffice, the correct

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

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

suite. If you have used previous versions of OpenOffice.org, you might want to look
over the new features lists at http://www.openoffice.org/dev_docs/features/3.0/,
http://www.openoffice.org/dev_docs/features/3.1/,
http://www.openoffice.org/dev_docs/features/3.2/, and
http://www.openoffice.org/dev_docs/features/3.3/.
OOo’s native file format is OpenDocument, an open standard format that is being
adopted by governments worldwide as a required file format for publishing and
accepting documents. OOo can also open and save documents in many other formats,
including those used by several versions of Microsoft Office.
OOo includes the following components.

Writer (word processor)

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

Calc (spreadsheet)
Calc has all of the advanced analysis, charting, and decision-making features
expected from a high-end spreadsheet. It includes over 300 functions for financial,
statistical, and mathematical operations, among others. The Scenario Manager
provides “what if” analysis. 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.

Impress (presentations)
Impress provides all the common multimedia presentation tools, such as special
effects, animation, and drawing tools. It is integrated with the advanced graphics
capabilities of OOo’s Draw and Math components. Slide shows 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

What is OpenOffice.org? 5
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.

The advantages of OpenOffice.org

Here are some of the advantages of OpenOffice.org over other office suites:
• No licensing fees. OOo is free for anyone to use and distribute at no cost.
Many features that are available as extra cost add-ins in other office suites
(like PDF export) are free with OOo. There are no hidden charges now or in the
future.
• Open source. You can distribute, copy, and modify the software as much as
you wish, in accordance with either of OOo’s Open Source licenses.
• Cross-platform. OOo3 runs on several hardware architectures and under
multiple operating systems, such as Microsoft Windows, Mac OS X, Linux, and
Solaris.
• Extensive language support. OOo’s user interface is available in over 40
languages, and the OOo project provides spelling, hyphenation, and thesaurus
dictionaries in over 70 languages and dialects. OOo also provides support for
both Complex Text Layout (CTL) and Right to Left (RTL) layout languages
(such as Urdu, 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.

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

Minimum requirements
OpenOffice.org 3.x requires one of the following operating systems:
• Microsoft Windows 2000 (Service Pack 2 or higher), XP, Vista, or 7
• GNU/Linux Kernel version 2.4 and glibc 2.3.2 or higher (starting with OOo 3.3
glibc2 version 2.5 or higher is required)
• Mac OS X 10.4 (Tiger) or higher
• Solaris 10 OS or higher
Some OpenOffice.org features (wizards and the HSQLDB database engine) require
that the Java Runtime Environment (JRE) 1.5.x or higher 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, http://www.openoffice.org/dev_docs/source/sys_reqs_30.html.

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, you can download the installation package from the
project’s home page or by using a Peer to Peer client such as BitTorrent. Instructions
for BitTorrent are here: http://distribution.openoffice.org/p2p/.
The installation package is approximately 150MB. People with slow Internet
connections may prefer to purchase a copy on a CD or DVD from a third-party
distributor. The project maintains a list of distributors, but the distributors are not

How to get the software 7

connected with, nor endorsed by, OpenOffice.org.
http://distribution.openoffice.org/cdrom/sellers.html

How to install the software

Information on installing and setting up OpenOffice.org on the various supported
operating systems is given here:
http://download.openoffice.org/common/instructions.html.
You can also download the more detailed Installation Guide from
http://wiki.services.openoffice.org/wiki/Documentation.

Extensions and add-ons

Extensions and add-ons to enhance OpenOffice.org are collected in the official
extensions repository, http://extensions.services.openoffice.org/. 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 newsgroups, forums, or mailing lists. There are also
numerous websites run by users that offer free tips and tutorials.

Free OpenOffice.org support

Free community support provided by a network of hundreds of
experienced users. You must be subscribed to post messages.
To subscribe, send a blank email to
Users Mailing List [email protected]
List archives are here:
http://www.openoffice.org/servlets/ SummarizeList?
listName=users

8 Introducing OpenOffice.org
 Free OpenOffice.org support
Templates, user guides, how-tos, and other documentation.
Documentation http://documentation.openoffice.org/
Project See also the Documentation wiki,
http://wiki.services.openoffice.org/wiki/Documentation
Native Language Information, resources, and mail lists in your language.
Project http://projects.openoffice.org/native-lang.html
Support for installing and using OOo on Mac OS X.
Mac Support
http://porting.openoffice.org/mac/index.html
Extensive discussion forum for OpenOffice.org issues from
OpenOffice.org
setup to advanced programming features.
Community Forum
http://user.services.openoffice.org/en/forum/
Andrew Pitonyak, the author of OpenOffice.org Macros
OpenOffice.org Explained, maintains this site, which provides extensive
Macro Information 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.
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,
http://bizdev.openoffice.org/consultants.html.

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

Note for Mac users

You should see the OpenOffice.org icon in the Applications folder. When you double-
click this icon, OpenOffice.org opens at the Start Center (Figure 10)

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.

Starting OpenOffice.org 9
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 18 for more
information.

Using the Quickstarter under Windows

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

Using the Quickstarter icon

Right-click the Quickstarter icon in the system tray to open a pop-up menu (Figure
1) 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

10 Introducing OpenOffice.org
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.

Reactivating the Quickstarter

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

Using the Quickstarter in Linux

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

Preloading OOo under Linux/KDE

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

Starting from the command line

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

Note Most users will never need to do this.

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

Starting OpenOffice.org 11
 Type of document Component Command-line option
Text Writer -writer
Spreadsheet Calc -calc
Drawing Draw -draw
Presentation Impress -impress
Formula Math -math
Database Base -base
Web page Writer -web

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

If you have a customized version of OOo (such as the one provided by Linux
Mandrake, Gentoo, Debian and Ubuntu), 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.

Parts of the main window

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

Menu bar
The Menu bar is located across the top of the OOo window, just below the Title bar.
When you choose one of the menus listed below, a submenu drops down to show
commands.

12 Introducing OpenOffice.org
 • 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 8.

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

Displaying or hiding toolbars

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

Submenus and tear-off toolbars

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

Parts of the main window 13

 Figure 2: Example of a tear-off toolbar

Moving toolbars
To move a docked toolbar, place the mouse pointer over the toolbar handle (the small
vertical bar to the left of the toolbar), 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).

14 Introducing OpenOffice.org
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.
To dock a window or toolbar, 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 of the
floating window) to dock it in its last position.
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.

Figure 5: Customizing toolbars

To show or hide icons defined for the selected toolbar, choose Visible Buttons from
the drop-down menu. Visible icons are indicated by an outline around the icon. Click
on icons to hide or show them on the toolbar.

Figure 6: Selection of visible toolbar icons

Right-click (context) menus

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

Parts of the main window 15

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.

Digital signature
If the document has been digitally signed, an icon shows here. You can
double-click the icon to view the certificate.

Object information
Displays information relevant to the cursor’s position or the selected element of
the document. Double-clicking in this area usually opens a relevant dialog.

Zoom slider and percent

To change the view magnification, drag the Zoom slider, or click on the + and –
signs, or right-click on the zoom level percent to pop up a list of magnification
values from which to choose.
Double-clicking on the zoom level percent opens the Zoom & View Layout
dialog.

16 Introducing OpenOffice.org
What are all these things called?
The terms used in OpenOffice.org for most parts of the user interface (the parts of
the program you see and use, in contrast to the behind-the-scenes code that actually
makes it work) are the same as for most other programs.
A dialog is a special type of window. Its purpose is to inform you of something, or
request input from you, or both. It provides controls for you to use to specify how to
carry out an action. The technical names for common controls are shown in Figure 9;
not shown is the list box (from which you select an item). In most cases we do not use
the technical terms in this book, but it is useful to know them because the Help and
other sources of information often use them.
In most cases, you can interact only with the dialog (not the document itself) as long
as the dialog remains open. When you close the dialog after use (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.

Figure 9: Dialog showing common controls:

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

What are all these things called? 17

Starting a new document
You can start 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), the Start Center 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.

Figure 10: OpenOffice.org Start Center

You can also start a new document in one of the following ways.
• 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.
• Press Control+N on the keyboard.
• Use File > Wizards for some special types of documents.
If a document is already open in OOo, the new document opens in a new window.

Opening an existing document

When no document is open, the Start Center provides an icon for opening an existing
document or choosing from a list of recently-edited documents.

18 Introducing OpenOffice.org
You can also open an existing document in one of the following ways.
• Choose 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 Save As
Note dialogs or the ones provided by Microsoft Windows. See “Using the
Open and Save As dialogs” on page 20.

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

Password protection
To protect an entire document from being viewable without a password, use the
option on the Save As dialog to enter a password.
1) On the Save As dialog, select the Save with password option, and then click
Save. You will receive a prompt (Figure 11).
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

Saving a document 19
 match, you receive an error message. Close the message box to return to the
Set Password dialog box and enter the password again.

Caution OOo uses a very strong encryption mechanism that makes it almost
impossible to recover the contents of a document if you lose the
password.

Figure 11: Entering a password for a document

Writer and Calc provide a second level of protection, which allows a file to be viewed
but not changed without a password; that is, the file opens in read-only mode.

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.

Renaming and deleting files

You can rename or delete files within the OOo dialogs, just as you can in your usual
file manager. However, you cannot copy or paste files within the dialogs.

Using the Open and Save As dialogs

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

20 Introducing OpenOffice.org
This section discusses the OpenOffice.org Open and Save As dialogs. Figure 12 shows
the Save As dialog; the Open dialog is similar.

Figure 12: 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 folders; to go to one of the
folders on the list, move the mouse pointer over its name and release the
mouse button.
• Create New Folder.
• Default Directory.
For OOo documents that have been saved with more than one version, use the
Version drop-down to select which version you wish to open in read-only mode. For
Microsoft Office documents, only the current version can be opened.
Use the File type field to specify the type of file to be opened or the format of the file
to be saved.
The Read-only option on the Open dialog opens the file for reading and printing only.
Consequently, most of the toolbars disappear, and most menu options are disabled.
An Edit File button is displayed on the Standard toolbar to open the file for editing.
You can open files from the Web by typing a URL in the File name field on the Open
dialog.

Using the Open and Save As dialogs 21

Using the Navigator
The Navigator lists objects contained in a document, collected into categories. For
example, in Writer it shows Headings, Tables, Text frames, Comments, Graphics,
Bookmarks, and other items, as shown in Figure 13. In Calc it shows Sheets, Range
Names, Database Ranges, Graphics, Drawing Objects, and other items. In Impress
and Draw it shows Slides, Pictures, and other items.

To open the Navigator, click its icon on the Standard toolbar, or press F5, or
choose View > Navigator on the menu bar.
You can dock the Navigator to either side of the main OOo window or leave it floating
(see “Docking/floating windows and toolbars“ on page 15).

Figure 13: The Navigator

Click the marker (+ or arrow) by any of the categories to display the list of objects in
that category.
To hide the list of categories and show only the toolbars at the top, click the List Box

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

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

Figure 14: Navigation toolbar

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

Undoing and redoing changes

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

Figure 15: 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. You can select multiple changes and undo them at the same time.

Undoing and redoing changes 23

 Figure 16: List of actions that can be undone

After changes have been undone, Redo becomes active. To redo a change, select

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

Closing a document
To close a document, choose File > Close.
You can also close a document by clicking on the Close icon on the document
window. This button looks like the X shown in Figure 17. It may be in a different
location on your operating system.

Figure 17. Close icons

If more than one OOo window is open, each window looks like the sample shown on
the left in Figure 17. Closing this window leaves the other OOo windows open.
If only one OOo window is open, it looks like the sample shown on the right in Figure
17. Notice the small X below the large X. Clicking the small X closes the document
but leaves OOo open. Clicking the large X closes OOo completely.
If the document has not been saved since the last change, a message box is
displayed. Choose whether to save or discard your changes.
• Save: The document is saved and then closed.
• Discard: The document is closed, and all modifications since the last save are
lost.
• Cancel: Nothing happens, and you return to the document.

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

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

Using OpenOffice.org on a Mac

Some keystrokes and menu items are different on a Mac from those used in Windows
and Linux. The following table gives some common substitutions for the instructions
in this book. For a more detailed list, see the application Help.

Windows/Linux Mac equivalent Effect

Tools > Options OpenOffice.org > Access setup options
menu selection Preferences
Right-click Control+click Open context menu
Ctrl (Control) z (Command) Used with other keys
F5 Shift+z+F5 Open the Navigator
F11 z+T Open the Styles and Formatting
window

Using OpenOffice.org on a Mac 25