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OpenOffice Writer training notes (request:

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Fedora
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directoryfolders(xdguserdirs)

OpenOffice.orgisoneofthemostimportantlayersoftheopensourcestack.Althoughitdoesa
superbjob,wereallyneedtomakeefforttogetmoreusersworkingonit.

SimosXenitellisonGangnamStylein
Ubuntu

HerewepresenttrainingnotesfortheuseofWriter,thewordprocessorcomponentof
OpenOffice.org.Weaimtomakethebestuseofstylesbycreatingwellstructureddocuments.What
weshowhereisbuiltonworkofothers,includingtheOpenOfficeLinux.comarticlesbyBruce
Byfield,theamazingOpenOffice.orgdocumentationandthespotonarticleofChristianParatschek
atosnews.com.Actually,thefollowingfollowmoreorlessChristian'sarticle.
WhentraininginOpenOffice.org,itisimportanttocreateafluidworkflowthatstartsfromthebasics
andincreasesgraduallyincomplexity.Itwouldbegreatifsomeonecouldturnthenotesina
trainingvideo.
1. WestartofwithrunningOpenOffice.orgWriter.Thedefaultwindowsappears.Comparedwithother
wordprocessors,inOOoweseethistextboundaryinthedocument(thedimrectanglethatshowsthe
areawecanwritein).Wementionwecanshow/hideitwithView/Textboundaries.
2. Whencreatingadocument,itisgoodtosetthepropertiessuchasTitleandSubject.Wedothatfrom
File/Properties/Description.Itmaylooktoomucheffortnow,butitwillhelpuslaterwhereverwewant
towritethedocumenttitleorsubject.UseUsingOpenOffice.orgWriterfortitleandHowtowritenice
documentinOpenOffice.orgWriterforsubject.
3. Writersupportsstyleswhichmakeslifemucheasier.Youprobablyhaveusedstylesbeforeusing
Heading1,Heading2forheadingssothatyoucancreateeasilytheTableofContents.Writerhasa
StylesandFormattingwindowthatisaccessiblefromtheicon/buttonneartheFilemenu.Theicon
lookslikeahandclickingona3x3grid.YoucanalsogetthewindowsfromFormat/Stylesand
Formatting,orbysimplypressingF11.Onceyoudothat,yougetafloatingwindow.Youcandockit
bydraggingittotherightedgeoftheWriterwindow.Ifyouareinto3Ddesktop,itmaynotbeeasyto
dock(itautomaticallyswitchestoanothersideofthedesktopcube).Inthiscase,usethekey
combinationCtrlShiftF10todocktheStylesandFormattingwindow.Itisgoodheretoresizethe
document(thatis,changethemagnification)sothatitappearscenteredwithlittleemptyspacearound.
4. Writersupportsstyles,notonlyforParagraphs(likeHeading1)butalsoforPages.Seethestatusbar
atthebottomoftheWriterwindowitmentionsDefaultwhichisthedefaultpagestyle.Whenwewrite
adocument,thefirstpageisgoodtohaveadistinctstylethatisappropriatetothepropertiesofafirst
page.Thisincludes,makingsurethesecondpageappearsempty,thepagegetsnopagenumberingand
soon.OntheStylesandFormatingdockweselectthePagestylestabandwedoubleclickontheFirst
Pagestyle.ThiswillsetthecurrentpagetotheFirstPagestyle,andwecanverifyvisuallybylooking
atthestatusbar(NowFirstPageinsteadoftheoldDefault).
5. Wearenotwritingyetletscreatethesubsequentpagesfirst.Todoso,weinsertmanualbreaksinour
document.ClickonInsent/ManualBreak.../andselecttoinsertaPageBreak.Asstyleforthepage
afterthebreakchoosetheIndexpagestyle,tickonChangepagenumber,andmakesurethenumbering
startsfrom1.ClickOK.ProperdocumentsstartnumberingfromtheIndexpage.TheIndexpageisthe
pageweputtheTableofContents,TableofFiguresandsoon.
6. MakesurethecursorisonthenewpagewiththeIndexstyle.Weneedtocreateanewpagebreak,so
thatwecangetwritingtheactualdocument.ClickonInsert/ManualBreak.../andselectaPageBreak.
AsstyleforthepageafterthebreakyoucanchooseDefault.Leaveanypagenumberingsettingsasis
becauseitinheritsfrombefore.ClickOK.
7. Now,toviewwhatwehaveachieved,let'sgotoPrintPreview,andchoosetoseefourpagesatatime.
Wecanseethefirstpage,anotherpagewhichisintentionallyleftblank,theIndexpageandtheDefault
page.ClosePrintpreviewandreturntothedocument.
8. Nowlet'sgobacktothefirstpage.Wewanttoputthetitleonthefirstpage.Nothingextravagant,at
leastyet.WhatwedoiswevisittheParagraphstylesandfindtheTitlestyle.Whilethecursorisonthe
firstpageatthestart,wedoubleclickontheTitlestyle.Thecursormovesthethecenterofthe
documentandwecanverifythattheTitleparagraphstylehasbeenappliedseeontherightofthe
StylesandFormatingicononthetopleftoftheWriterwindow.Shallwewritethetitleofthedocument
now?Notsofast.Wecaninsertthetitleasafield,becausewealreadywroteitinthepropertiesatthe
beginninginStep2.ClickInsert/Fields/Title.
9. NowpressEnterthecursormovesdownanditsomehowautomaticallychangestotheSubtitlestyle.
StylesinOpenOfficeallowyoutochooseaNextstyle(afollowupstyle)andinthiscase,when
someonepressesEnterontheTitlestyle,theygetanewparagraphintheSubtitlestyle.Whileinthe
line/paragraphwithSubtitlestyle,clickonInsert/Field.../Subject.FieldsinOpenOffice.orgappearwith

ThanosonGangnamStyleinUbuntu
SimosXenitellisonGangnamStylein
Ubuntu
SimosXenitellisonGangnamStylein
Ubuntu
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ThanosonGangnamStyleinUbuntu
EfstathiosIosifidisonGangnamStyle
inUbuntu
on
WGS84(..
GPS)87(GGRS87,GR87,
)
SimosXenitellisonAvestankeyboard
layout
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line/paragraphwithSubtitlestyle,clickonInsert/Field.../Subject.FieldsinOpenOffice.orgappearwith
adarkgraybackgroundthisdoesnotappearinprinting,itisjusttheretohelpyouidentifywherethe
fieldsare.
Nowletsmovetothelastpage,thepagewithDefaultstyleandwritesomething.SelecttheHeading1
paragraphstyleandtypeIntroduction.PressenterandyounoticethatthenextstyleisTextbody.Text
bodyisthenaturalparagraphstylefortextinWriter(mostdocumentshavethedefaultDefault
paragraphstylewhichiswrong).NowwritesomethinginTextBodysuchasIlovewritingdocuments
inOpenOffice.orgWriter.Copythelineandpasteseveraltimessothatwegetaniceparagraphofat
leastfivelines.Makesurewhenpastingthatafterafullstopthereshouldbeasinglespace,thenthe
newsentencestarts.
PressEnterandnowwearereadytoaddanewheading.TypeWritingdocumentsandsettheHeading
1paragraphstyle.PressEnterandfillupaparagraphwithmoreofIlovewritingdocumentsin
OpenOffice.orgWriter.
PressEnterandcreateanewsection(addaHeading2,nameitWritingdocumentsinstyleandfillupa
correspondingparagraph).
PressEnterandcreatealastsection(addaHeading1,nameitConclusion,andfillupacorresponding
paragraphstyle).
NowwearereadytoplacethecursorattheIndexpagewecreatedbefore,andgofortheTableof
Contents.ClickonInsert/IndexesandTables/IndexesandTables.ThedefaultindextypeisTableof
Contents.WekeepthedefaultsettingsandclickOK.Wegetanicelookingtableofcontents.
Atthisstagewehaveacompletebasicdocument,withfirstpage,indexpageanddefaultpage.

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Thenextsetofstepsincludemorepolishingandaddingextraelementstoourdocument.
1. Thetextbodystyleisconfiguredtohavetheleftalignmentbydefault.Normally,onewouldselect
paragraphsandclickonaparagraphalignmentbuttononthetoolbartochangethealignment.Because
weareusingstyles,wecanmodifytheTextBodystyletohaveanotheralignment,andprestothe
wholedocumentwithtextinthesamestylefollowsuit.IntheStylesandFormatingdock,atthe
paragraphstylestab,selecttheTextBodystyle.RightclickontheTextBodystyleandchooseto
Modifystyle.FindtheAlignmenttabandchooseJustifiedasthenewalignmentforTextBody
paragraphs.ClickOkandobservethedocumentchangingtothenewconfiguration.
2. Itisnicetothesectionnumbersontheheadings,suchas2.1Writingdocumentsinstyle.Todothis,we
needtochangethedefaultoutlinenumbering.ClickonTools/Outlinenumbering...andselecttomodify
thenumberingforalllevels(underLevel,click110).Then,undertheNumberinggroup,changethe
NumberoptionfromthedefaultNoneto1,2,3,....ClickOKandthenumberischangedinthe
document.
3. GobacktotheTableofContents.Younoticethatthenumberingformatdoesnotlooknicesome
sectionnumbersaretooclosetothesectionnames.Tofix,rightclickonthegrayareaofthetableof
contentsandselectEditIndex/Table.Inthenewdialogbox,selecttheEntriestab.UnderStructureand
Formattingyoucanseethestructureofeachlineoflineinthetableofcontentstable.Thebuttonlabeled
E#istheplaceholderforthechapternumber.Afterthatthereisaplaceholderthatyoucanactuallytype
text.Inourcasewesimplyclickandpressthespacebartoaddanotherspace.WethenclicktheAll
buttonandfinallyclickOK.Now,allentriesintheTableofcontentswillhaveaspacebetweenthe
chapternumberandchaptertitle.
4. Inordertoaddafooterwiththecurrentpagenumber,clickonInsert/FooterandpickIndex,then
Default.BoththeIndexandtheDefaultstyleofpagesgettoshowpagenumbers.Then,placethe
cursorinthefooterareaandInsert/Field/PageNumber.YoucanmodifytheFooterparagraphstyleso
thatthetextalignmentiscentered.YouhavetoinsertthefieldinbothanIndexpageandaDefault
page.
5. ThepagenumberintheIndexpageiscommonlyshowninRomanlowercasenumbers.Howcanwe
fixthat?WesimplyhavetomodifytheIndexpagestyleaccordinglyclickonthePageStylestabin
StylesandFormatting,clicktomodifytheIndexpagestyle,andatthePagetabinLayoutSettings
selectthei,ii,iii,...format.ClickOK.
6. Itwouldbenicetohavethetitleontheheaderofeachpage,eitherIndexorDefault.Clickon
Insert/HeaderandaddaheaderforIndexandDefault.Then,placethecursorintheheaderforboth
stylesandclicktoaddtheTitlefield(Insert/Field/Title).Woulditbenicetoputalineundertheheader?
TheheadertexthastheHeaderparagraphstyle.IntheStylesandFormatting,clicktheParagraphstyles
tabandselecttheHeaderparagraphstyle.RightclickandchoosetoModify.IntheBorderstabenable
abottomlineandclickOK.

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Youcandownloadthissampledocument(.odt)fromthelinkUsingOpenOffice.orgWriter.

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I'llstopherefornow.TherearemoretoputsuchasTableofFigures,IndexofTablesand
Bibliography.
Itwouldbegoodtoleavefeedbackifthereisinteresttoworkonthisdirection.
Update15Mar2008:ThisappearstobeaFarsitranslation/adaptationofthearticle.

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Simos
February12th,200820:53

AnnaKrassamadesevenOpenOffice.orgtrainingvideosintheGreeklanguage,whichare
availablefrom
http://www.it.uom.gr/teaching/open/

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