1. set page orientation<br />set margins<br />text alignment <br />enter text, numbers and symbols<br />insert table <br />apply borders<br />insert headers/footers including automatic fields<br />use bullets/numbering<br />use tabs/indents<br />use word count<br />set font type<br />set font size <br />emphasise text<br />insert paragraph breaks<br />insert text<br />move text<br />delete text<br />set linespacing<br />replace text<br />Finding and replacing text<br />When looking for certain words in a 3000-word essay, it is inefficient to<br />go through every word manually. Writer has a Find and Replace<br />feature that automates the process of searching for text inside a<br />document.<br />In addition to finding and replacing words and phrases, you can:<br />• Use wildcards and regular expressions to fine-tune a search.<br />• Find and replace specific formatting.<br />• Find and replace paragraph styles.<br />To display the Find & Replace dialog box (Error: Reference source not<br />found), use the keyboard shortcut Control+F or select Edit > Find &<br />Replace.<br />1) Type the text you want to find in the Search for box.<br />2) To replace the text with different text, type the new text in the<br />Replace with box.<br />3) You can select various options, such as matching the case,<br />matching whole words only, or doing a search for similar words.<br />(See below for some other choices.)<br />4) When you have set up your search, click Find. To replace text,<br />click Replace instead.<br />TipIf you click Find All, Writer selects all instances of the searchtext in the document. Similarly, if you click Replace Allbutton, Writer replaces all matches.<br />CautionUse Replace All with caution; otherwise, you may end up withsome hilarious (and highly embarrassing) mistakes. A mistakewith Replace All might require a manual, word-by-wordsearch to fix, if not discovered in time to undo.<br />Use wildcards (regular expressions)<br />Wildcards (also known as regular expressions) are combinations of<br />characters that instruct OOo how to search for something. Regular<br />expressions are very powerful but not very intuitive. They can save<br />time and effort by combining multiple finds into one.<br />Table below shows a few of the regular expressions used by OOo.<br />To use wildcards and regular expressions when searching and<br />replacing:<br />1) On the Find & Replace dialog box, click More Options to see<br />more choices. On this expanded dialog box (Figure 56), select the<br />Regular expressions option.<br />2) Type the search text, including the wildcards, in the Search for<br />box and the replacement text (if any) in the Replace with box. Not<br />all regular expressions work as replacement characters; the line<br />break () is one that does work.<br />3) Click Find, Find All, Replace, or Replace All (not<br />recommended).<br />Examples of search wildcards (regular expressions)<br />Inserting special characters<br />A “special” character is one not found on a standard English keyboard.<br />For example, © ¾ æ ç ñ ö ø ¢ are all special characters. To insert a<br />special character:<br />1) Place the cursor in your document where you want the character<br />to appear.<br />2) Click Insert > Special Character to open the Special<br />Characters dialog box.<br />3) Select the characters (from any font or mixture of fonts) you wish<br />to insert, in order; then click OK. The selected characters are<br />shown in the lower left of the dialog box. As you select each<br />character, it is shown on the lower right, along with the numerical<br />code for that character.<br />Counting the words in a selection<br />Select a block of text and choose Tools > Word Count. OOo displays<br />the number of words and characters in the selection as well as the<br />number of words in the document. You can also see the number of<br />words and characters (and other information) in the entire document<br />in File > Properties > Statistics.<br />Formatting paragraphs<br />You can apply many formats to paragraphs using the buttons on the<br />Formatting toolbar. Below figure shows the Formatting toolbar as a<br />floating toolbar, customized to show only the buttons for paragraph<br />152400307340formatting.<br />Setting tab stops and indents<br />The default tab stops affect two things: tabs within paragraphs (as<br />shown below) and the indentation of entire paragraphs by using<br />the Increase Indent button on the Formatting toolbar.<br />Using the default tab stops to space out material on a page is not<br />recommended, for two reasons:<br />• If you use the default tab interval and then send the document to<br />someone who has chosen a different default tab interval, tabbed<br />material will change to use the other person’s settings.<br />• Any changes you make to the default tab stops affect existing<br />default tab stops (in any document you open afterwards) as well<br />as tab stops you insert after making the change.<br />19050353695Both cases may cause a major formatting problem, as illustrated below.<br />To avoid these unwanted changes, do not use the default tabs. Instead,<br />define your own tab stops in paragraph styles or individual paragraphs<br />as described in “Defining your own tab stops and indents”<br />To set the measurement unit and the spacing of default tab stops, use<br />Tools > Options > OpenOffice.org Writer > General. On this page,<br />make any required changes in the Settings section and click OK to save.<br />You can also set or change the measurement unit of the ruler itself by<br />right-clicking on the ruler to open a list of units, as shown in below.<br />Click on one of them to change the ruler to that unit. This change does<br />not affect the measurement unit chosen in the Options.<br />The horizontal ruler shows both the default tab stops and any that you<br />have defined.<br />Formatting characters<br />You can apply many formats to characters using the buttons on the<br />Formatting toolbar. Figure 65 shows the Formatting toolbar as a<br />floating toolbar, customized to show only the buttons for character<br />formatting.<br />Creating numbered or bulleted lists<br />There are several ways to create numbered or bulleted lists:<br />• Use autoformatting, as described above.<br />• Use list styles.<br />• Use the Numbering and Bullets icons on the paragraph<br />formatting toolba. This last method is described here.<br />To produce a numbered or bulleted list, select the paragraphs in the<br />list and then click on the appropriate icon on the toolbar.<br />Using the Bullets and Numbering toolbar<br />You can create a nested list (where one or more list items has a sublist<br />under it, as in an outline) by using the buttons on the Bullets and<br />Numbering toolbar. You can move items up or down the<br />list, create subpoints, and even change the style of bullets.<br />Example: configuring a nested list<br />We will use a numbering style to produce the following effect:<br />I. Level-1 list item<br />A. Level-2 list item<br />i. Level-3 list item<br />a) Level-4 list item<br />This example uses one of the supplied styles, Numbering 1, however if<br />you intend to reuse this type of nested list you can also create a new<br />style as illustrated in Chapter 7 (Working with Styles).<br />1) Create the first item and apply the Numbering 1 style from the<br />Styles and Formatting window.<br />2) Select Format > Bullets and Numbering to open the dialog<br />that controls the appearance of the list.<br />3) Go to the Outline page, where you will find that one<br />style matches our requirements. Click once on that style.<br />4) To modify the layout of the list, use the Options tab. Notice that the preview on the right shows the outline<br />selected. In the Level box on the left, select 1, then 2, 3, and 4<br />and see how the information in the Numbering and After boxes<br />changes.<br />Use the Options page to set different punctuation; for example, a<br />period (full stop) after “a” on level 4 instead of a parenthesis.<br />To make the indentation at each level greater or less than the<br />default, change it on the Position page. Select the level, then<br />make any changes in the indentation, spacing, or numbering<br />alignment.<br />5) Repeat for each level as required, then click OK.<br />Choosing a predefined outline-numbering style<br />Checking the outline numbering for level-1 list items<br />Numbering style for level-2 list items<br />Setting up basic page layout using styles<br />In Writer, page styles define the basic layout of all pages, including<br />page size, margins, the placement of headers and footers, borders and<br />backgrounds, number of columns, and so on.<br />Writer comes with several page styles, which you can build on or<br />modify, and you can define new (custom) page styles. You can have one<br />or many page styles in a single document.<br />Inserting a page break without switching the style<br />In many documents (for example, a multi-page report), you may want<br />the text to flow from one page to the next as you add or delete<br />information. Writer does this automatically, unless you override the<br />text flow using one of the techniques described earlier.<br />If you do want a page break in a particular place, for example, to put a<br />heading at the top of a new page, here is how to do it:<br />1) Position the cursor in the paragraph you want to be at the start of<br />the next page. Right-click and choose Paragraph in the pop-up<br />menu.<br />2) On the Text Flow page of the Paragraph dialog box, in<br />the Breaks section, select Insert. Do not select With Page Style.<br />3) Click OK to position the paragraph at the start of the next page.<br />Defining a different first page for a document<br />Many documents, such as letters and reports, have a first page that is<br />different from the other pages in the document. For example, the first<br />page of a letterhead typically has a different header, as shown in, or the first page of a report might have no header or footer, while the other pages do. With OOo, you can define the style for the first page and specify the style for the following page to be applied automatically.<br />Changing page orientation within a document<br />A document can contain pages in more than one orientation. A<br />common scenario is to have a landscape page in the middle of a<br />document, whereas the other pages are in a portrait orientation. Here<br />are the steps to achieve it.<br />Setting up a landscape page style<br />1) Note the page style that is current and the margin settings. (You<br />can find the margin settings on the Page page of the Page Style<br />dialog box.)<br />2) Create a new style. (Right-click on the current page style in the<br />Styles and Formatting window and choose New, from the pop-up<br />menu.)<br />3) On the Organizer page of the Page Style dialog box (Figure 96),<br />name (by typing in the Name field) this new style Landscape and<br />set the Next Style property to Landscape (to allow for having<br />more than one sequential landscape page).<br />4) On the Page page of the Page Style dialog box, set the<br />Orientation to Landscape. The width and height attributes of the<br />page will automatically change.<br />5) Change the margins so that they correspond with the margins of<br />the portrait page. That is, the portrait top margin becomes the<br />landscape left margin, and so on.<br />6) Click OK to save the changes.<br />Inserting a landscape page into a portrait document<br />Now that you have defined the Landscape page style, here is how to<br />apply it.<br />1) Position the cursor in the paragraph or table at the start of the<br />page that is to be set to landscape. Right-click and choose<br />Paragraph or Table, respectively, in the pop-up menu.<br />2) On the Text Flow page of the Paragraph dialog box or<br />the Table Format dialog box select Insert (or Break<br />for a table) and With Page Style. Set the Page Style property to<br />Landscape. Click OK to close the dialog box and to apply the<br />new page style.<br />3) Position the cursor in the paragraph or table where the page is to<br />return to portrait orientation and change the properties of that<br />paragraph or table properties so that With Page Style is the<br />portrait page style that was used before the Landscape page<br />style.<br />4) Click OK to return to the previous portrait page style.<br />Specifying a page break before a paragraph<br />Specifying a page break before a table<br />Changing page margins<br />You can change page margins in two ways:<br />• Using the page rulers—quick and easy, but does not have fine<br />control.<br />• Using the Page Style dialog box—can specify margins to two<br />(fractional) decimal places.<br />To change margins using the rulers:<br />1) The shaded sections of the rulers are the margins. Put the mouse cursor over the line between the gray and<br />white sections. The pointer turns into a double-headed arrow.<br />2) Hold down the left mouse button and drag the mouse to move the<br />margin.<br />To change margins using the Page Style dialog box:<br />1) Right-click anywhere on the page and select Page from the popup<br />menu.<br />2) On the Page page of the dialog box, type the required distances in<br />the Margins boxes.<br />Creating headers and footers<br />Headers are portions of a document that always appear at the top of a<br />page; footers appear at the bottom of a page. Typically, headers display<br />the title or chapter name of a document.<br />Depending on which option you choose, an area will appear at the top<br />or bottom of the page. In this area you can enter text and graphics that will appear on every page.<br />Items such as document titles, chapter titles, and page numbers, which<br />often go into headers and footers, are best added as fields. That way, if<br />something changes, the headers and footers are all updated<br />automatically.<br />To insert the document title into the header:<br />1) Select File > Properties > Description, enter a title for your<br />document in the Title area, and click OK to close the dialog box.<br />2) Add a header (Insert > Header > Default).<br />3) Place the cursor in the header part of the page. <br />4) Select Insert > Fields > Title. The title should appear on a gray<br />background (which does not show when printed and can be<br />turned off).<br />5) To change the title for the whole document, choose File ><br />Properties > Description.<br />Numbering pages<br />This section describes techniques to insert page numbers and related<br />information in a document. Some basic knowledge of page styles,<br />which are fully described in chapters 6 and 7, may be needed to follow<br />some of the examples given.<br />Preliminaries: fields<br />OpenOffice.org uses fields to manage page numbers. To insert a page<br />number field, position the cursor where you want to insert the number<br />and choose Insert > Fields > Page Number. The page number<br />appears with a gray background. The gray background denotes a field.<br />Simple page numbering<br />The simplest case is to have the page number at the top of every page<br />and nothing more. To do this, put the cursor on the header and select<br />Insert > Fields > Page Number .<br />Combining header text and page number<br />There are a lot of interesting variations that you can apply without<br />further knowledge of page styles. Here are some suggestions:<br />• Right-align the header to make the page number appear on the<br />top-right.<br />• Add (type) the word page so the header reads page 1, page 2,<br />and so on. This also requires using the Page Number field,<br />discussed earlier.<br />• Add the document title so the header reads, for example: Peter's<br />favourite poems, left justified, and page x with right<br />justification, where x is the value of the Page Number field.<br />Consider using a (right-aligned) tab to separate the title from the<br />page number.<br />• OOo also has a Page Count field (Insert > Fields > Page<br />Count). Using it, you could, for example, have a header that<br />reads page 2 of 12.<br />Changing the number format<br />Many more variations are possible. For example, you can set the page<br />number to display in Roman numerals. To do that, you could doubleclick<br />on the page number and select the desired format; however, a<br />better choice is to specify the format of numbers in the page style as<br />explained here.<br />In the Styles and Formatting window (press F11 if not already<br />displayed) select the Page Styles icon and right-click on the<br />highlighted entry for the current style. Select Modify, which opens the<br />Page Style dialog box.<br />On the Page page of the Page Style dialog box, in the Layout settings<br />section, select i, ii, iii, ... from the Format drop-down list.<br />Numbering the first page something other than 1<br />Sometimes you may want to start a document with a page number<br />greater than 1. For example, you may be writing a book, with each<br />chapter in a separate file. Chapter 1 may start with page 1, but<br />Chapter 2 could begin with page 25 and Chapter 3 with page 51.<br />Follow these instructions to start the page numbering in a document at<br />a number greater than 1. (These instructions are for a page number in<br />a footer, but you could use a header instead.)<br />1) Choose Insert > Footer > [page style] to activate the footer. (If<br />the page style is already selected in the Footer menu, point to it<br />and click OK in the OpenOffice.org 2.0 dialog box that appears.<br />Then point to that page style again to select it.)<br />2) The cursor is now in the footer. To insert the page number, choose<br />Insert > Fields > Page Number. The page number will be 1.<br />3) Click in the first paragraph in the text area or type a paragraph of<br />text.<br />4) Choose Format > Paragraph (or right-click and choose<br />Paragraph from the pop-up menu) to display the Paragraph<br />dialog box.<br />5) On the Text Flow page, in the Breaks section, select Insert and<br />select Page in the Type drop-down list. Select With Page Style<br />and the page style you are using for the first page of the<br />document.<br />6) The Page number field is now active. Type the page number you<br />want to start with. Click OK to close the Paragraph dialog box.<br />