OpenOffice.org consists of several application modules (subprograms), which are designed to interact with each other. They are listed in The OpenOffice.org Application Modules. A full description of each module is available in the online help, described in Section 3.8, Finding Help and Information About OpenOffice.org.
Table 3-1 The OpenOffice.org Application Modules
Module |
Purpose |
---|---|
Writer |
Word processor application module |
Calc |
Spreadsheet application module |
Impress |
Presentation application module |
Base |
Database application module |
Draw |
Application module for drawing vector graphics |
Math |
Application module for generating mathematical formulas |
The appearance of the application varies depending on the desktop or window manager you use. Regardless of the appearance, the basic layout and functions are the same.
This section contains information that applies to all of the application modules in OpenOffice.org. Module-specific information can be found in the following subsections.
openSUSE® includes the Novell edition of OpenOffice.org. The Novell edition includes several enhancements that are not yet included in the standard edition.
The Novell edition of OpenOffice.org Calc includes the following enhancements that are not found in the standard edition:
Improved Excel compatibility for certain functions (for example, ADDRESS/OFFSE).
Improved ergonomics, such as fixes for the standard
editions missing keybindings and the merge and center
problem.
Support for R1C1-style addresses.
Interoperation between OpenOffice.org Data Pilots and Microsoft* Pivot Tables*.
The ability to edit Data Pilots after they are created.
Addition of the GETPIVOTDATA function to help manipulate information from Pivot Tables.
Inclusion of a subset of Excel VBA macros that can be loaded and run in OpenOffice.org as if they were native macros, allowing a number of small accounting and management tools to be migrated to OpenOffice.org without having to rewrite them to target StarBasic.
A simple linear solver that allows simple numerical analysis.
The Novell edition of OpenOffice.org Writer includes the following enhancements that are not found in the standard edition:
The Navigator provides a tree view of the document structure, providing improved document navigation.
Improved change-tracking interoperability.
Better HTML export.
Improved printing of fonts.
Enhanced FormField handling
.
Form Fields
are a concept in
Microsoft Office which allows users to add text fields,
check boxes and drop down lists into documents in order to
create forms which are easy to fill out.
If you want to disable the support for enhanced fields and go with the limited form fields set the following configuration item:
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?> <oor:component-data xmlns:oor="http://openoffice.org/2001/registry" xmlns:xs="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema" oor:name="Common" oor:package="org.openoffice.Office"> <node oor:name="Filter"> <node oor:name="Microsoft"> <node oor:name="Import"> <prop oor:name="ImportWWFieldsAsEnhancedFields" oor:type="xs:boolean"> <value>false</value> </prop> </node> </node> </node> </oor:component-data>
The Novell edition of OpenOffice.org includes several font enhancements, including:
Aliased (bitmap) fonts are not allowed, preventing poor display of fonts when a document is projected.
Inclusion of a set of fonts licensed from AGFA, which are metrically compatible with some key, default Microsoft fonts and are transparently mapped to the corresponding Microsoft fonts when documents are exported or imported.
An improved OpenSymbol font with attractive bullets rather than a symbol which is displayed when a glyph is missing.
The linux version of the Novell edition of OpenOffice.org includes a large selection of free clipart from the OpenClipart http://openclipart.org project. To access this clipart, click .
The Novell edition includes native platform multimedia support with gstreamer on Linux.
The Novell edition of OpenOffice.org on Linux starts faster than the standard edition due to several enhancements. This is valid even on lower-memory systems.
The Novell edition of OpenOffice.org includes basic integration with GroupWise, allowing documents to be placed in and loaded from the GroupWise Document Management System.
You can use the standard edition of OpenOffice.org rather than the Novell edition. If you install the latest version of OpenOffice.org, all of your Novell Edition files remain compatible. However, the standard edition does not contain the enhancements made in the Novell edition.
OpenOffice.org can work with documents, spreadsheets, presentations, and databases in many other formats, including Microsoft Office. They can be seamlessly opened like other files and saved back to the original format. Because the Microsoft formats are proprietary and the specifications are not available to other applications, there are occasionally formatting issues. If you have problems with your documents, consider opening them in the original application and resaving them in an open format such as RTF for text documents or CSV for spreadsheets.
HINT:For good information about migrating from other office suites to OpenOffice.org, refer to the OpenOffice.org Migration Guide at http://documentation.openoffice.org/manuals/oooauthors2/0600MG-MigrationGuide.pdf.
OpenOffice.org can read, edit, and save documents in a number of formats. It is not necessary to convert files from those formats to the OpenOffice.org format to use those files. However, if you want to convert the files, you can do so. To convert a number of documents, such as when first switching to OpenOffice.org, do the following:
Select
.Choose the file format from which to convert.
There are several StarOffice and Microsoft Office formats available.
Click
.Specify where OpenOffice.org should look for templates and documents to convert and in which directory the converted files should be placed.
IMPORTANT: Documents retrieved from a Windows partition are usually in a subdirectory of /windows.
Make sure that all other settings are appropriate, then click
.Review the summary of the actions to perform, then start the conversion by clicking
.The amount of time needed for the conversion depends on the number of files and their complexity. For most documents, conversion does not take very long.
OpenOffice.org is available for a number of operating systems. This makes it an excellent tool when a group of users frequently need to share files and do not use the same system on their computers.
When sharing documents with others, you have several options.
Save the document in the format the other user needs. For example, to save as a Microsoft Word file, click
, then select the Microsoft Word file type for the version of Word the other user needs.Export the document to a PDF file with
. PDF files can be read on any platform using a viewer like Adobe Acrobat Reader.Use one of the standard document formats. The default formats comply with the OASIS standard XML format, making them compatible with a number of applications. TXT and RTF formats, although limited in formatting, might be a good option for text documents. Comma Separated Value (CSV) is useful for spreadsheets. OpenOffice.org might also offer your recipient's preferred format, especially Microsoft formats.
Click
. Your default e-mail program opens with the file attached.Click
. Your default e-mail program opens with the file attached.Click
. Your default e-mail program opens with the contents of the document as the e-mail body.Start the application in one of the following ways:
Click
.This opens Writer. To open a different module, click
from the newly opened Writer document, then choose the module you want to open.Click
, then click the name of the OpenOffice.org module you want to start.Some OpenOffice.org modules can be found in other sections of the More Applications window. For example, the Writer/Web module is listed under
and the Draw module is under .In a terminal window, enter ooffice. The OpenOffice.org window opens. Click > , then choose the module you want to open.
If any OpenOffice.org application is open, you can open any of the other applications by clicking
.To speed up the load time of OpenOffice.org by preloading the application at system startup:
Click
.Select
.The next time you restart your system, OpenOffice.org will preload. When you open an OpenOffice.org application module, it will open faster.
You can customize OpenOffice.org to best suit your needs and working style. Toolbars, menus, and keyboard shortcuts can all be reconfigured to help you more quickly access the features you use the most. You can also assign macros to application events if you want specific actions to occur when those events take place. For example, if you always work with a specific spreadsheet, you can create a macro that opens the spreadsheet and assign the macro to the Start Application event.
This section contains simple, generic instructions for customizing your environment. The changes you make are effective immediately, so you can see if the changes are what you wanted and go back and modify them if they were not. See the OpenOffice.org help files for detailed instructions.
Use the
dialog to modify OpenOffice.org toolbars.Click the arrow icon at the end of any toolbar, then click
.or
Click
.Select the toolbar you want to customize.
The toolbar you clicked should already be selected. You can change the toolbar you want to customize by selecting the desired toolbar from the
menu.Select the check boxes next to the commands you want to appear on the toolbar, and deselect the check boxes next to the commands you do not want to appear.
Select whether to save your customized toolbar in the OpenOffice.org module you are using or in the document.
OpenOffice.org module
The customized toolbar is used whenever you open that module.
Document filename
The customized toolbar is used whenever you open that document.
Repeat to customize additional toolbars.
Click
.You can quickly choose the buttons that appear on a particular toolbar.
Click the arrow icon at the end of the toolbar you want to change.
Click
to display a list of buttons.Select the buttons in the list to enable (check) or disable (uncheck) them.
You can reassign currently assigned keyboard shortcuts and assign new shortcuts to frequently used functions.
Click
.Select the keys you want to assign to a function, or select the function and assign the keys or key combinations.
Click
for more information about the options in the dialog.Modify, add, or delete keyboard shortcuts as desired.
Click
.OpenOffice.org also provides ways to assign macros to events such as application startup or the saving of a document. The assigned macro runs automatically whenever the selected event occurs.
Click
.Select the event you want to change.
Click
for more information about the options in the dialog box.Assign or remove macros for the selected event.
Click
.Global settings can be changed in any OpenOffice.org application by clicking
on the menu bar. This opens the window shown in the figure below. A tree structure is used to display categories of settings.Figure 3-1 The Options Window
The following table lists the settings categories along with a brief description of each category:
NOTE:The settings categories that appear depend on the module you are working in. For example, if you are in Writer, the OpenOffice.org Writer category appears in the list, but the OpenOffice.org Calc category does not. The OpenOffice.org Base category appears in both Calc and Writer. The Application column in the table shows where each setting category is available.
Table 3-2 Global Setting Categories
Settings Category |
Description |
Application |
---|---|---|
|
Various basic settings, including your user data (such as your address and e-mail), important paths, and settings for printers and external programs. |
All |
|
Includes the settings related to the opening and saving of several file types. There is a dialog for general settings and several special dialogs to define how external formats should be handled. |
All |
|
Covers the various settings related to languages and writing aids, such as your locale and spell checker settings. This is also the place to enable support for Asian languages. |
All |
OpenOffice.org Writer |
Configures the global word processing options, such as the basic fonts and layout that Writer should use. |
Writer |
OpenOffice.org Writer/Web |
Changes the settings related to the HTML authoring features of OpenOffice.org. |
Writer |
OpenOffice.org Calc |
Changes the settings for Calc, such as those related to sort lists and grids. |
Calc |
OpenOffice.org Impress |
Changes the settings that should apply to all presentations. For example, you can specify the measurement unit for the grid used to arrange elements. |
Impress |
OpenOffice.org Draw |
Includes the settings related to the vector drawing module, such as the drawing scale, grid properties, and some print options. |
Draw |
|
Provides a single dialog to set special print options for formulas. |
Math |
|
Provides dialogs to set and edit connections and registered databases. |
Base |
s |
Defines the default colors used for newly created charts. |
All |
|
Includes the dialogs to configure any proxies and to change settings related to search engines. |
All |
IMPORTANT:All settings listed in the table are applied globally for the specified applications. They are used as defaults for every new document you create.
Templates greatly enhance the use of OpenOffice.org by simplifying formatting tasks for a variety of different types of documents. OpenOffice.org comes with a few templates, and you can find additional templates on the Internet. You can also create your own. Creating templates is beyond the scope of this guide, but detailed instructions are found in the OpenOffice.org help system and in other documents and tutorials available online.
In addition to templates, you can find other extras and add-ins online. The following table lists a few of the prominent places where you can find templates and other extras. Please note that the information in the following table might not be current, because Web sites often close or change its content.
Table 3-3 Where to Find OpenOffice.org Templates and Extras
Location |
What You Can Find |
---|---|
OpenOffice.org documentation Web site, see http://documentation.openoffice.org/Samples_Templates/User/template_2_x/index.html |
Templates for Calc spreadsheets, CD cases, seed packets, fax cover sheets, and more |
Worldlabel.com, see http://www.worldlabel.com/Pages/openoffice-template.htm |
Templates for many types of labels |
For more information about templates, see Section 3.2.4, Using Templates to Format Documents and Section 3.3.2, Using Templates in Calc.