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Anyone else interested in OpenOffice tips?

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by tink!

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Being a cheapskate at home I am using OpenOffice on our new Vista PCs.

I haven't had a chance to explore it much, therefore I would love to see tips on how to use the OpenOffice applications.

On first glance the Writer looks alot like Word, but I have a feeling that the same commands may not be called the same names or arranged similarly.

Anyone else interested? Or have tips to supply?

24 replies

by jdclyde

I am switching my organization from the alledged SmartSuite (lotus) over to OO.

A spotlight, one app at a time would be a good thing.

The FIRST thing I do, is switch the default file format over to Office97/200/xp. I don't CARE if it is "the best", it is most compatible with the people we do business with.

Open ANY app in the suite:

Tools - Options

Under "load / Save" select "general"

At the bottom, you will see two drop down boxes. One labeled "Document type" and another "Always save as".

Select, one at a time:

text document = word 97/200/xp
spreadsheet = excel 97/2000/xp
presentation = powerpoint 97/2000/xp

[i]There will be some that disagree with this. That is their choice. My job is to allow us to work WITH people outside of our company, and will not allow us to lose business just because someone is anti-MS. If that is the tool others have, use it.[/i]

[b]The only problem is if the outside source uses office07 which AGAIN is intentionally incompatible with even all other versions of office, and THOSE I make them send back to be "save as" to a reasonable format.

by ganyssa

In my office, we are also moving off of Smart Suite. We have the haves (Office) and the have nots (OO). We have all sorts of issues passing our documents around. That will help a lot.

by jdclyde

to make it a little easier for each other. :D

If you have Office07, I also think you can set the Office2k/xp as the default, so you don't end up with the @#$@#'en docx files that are compatible with nothing.....

by 1bn0

I install OpenOffice for home and business clients alike.

My son uses it for homework as well. I have only had one question from him so far.

by jdclyde

If they are doing homework, OO is perfect. But when they take the classes specifically on the Office applications, close enough isn't close enough..... :(

It still blows my mind that school districts don't go with OO and save the buko $.

by bit24sh0cker

Tink,

Hey there. I tried for a while to get away with using Writer, but there are A LOT of things you can't do that you can in Word. One thing that really drove me crazy was the inability to format the margins. For me - that was somewhat of a dealbreaker.

Anyway, I did end up buying Office and I've been glad I did. I hope you find everything you are looking for, and you are able to make this work for you.

Lots of luck to you -

Bill

by boxfiddler Hot topic

I don't know what he's saying either. I use OO and haven't any margin problems.

by bit24sh0cker

I apologize for the uproar, I actually thought you were talking about MicroSoft Works pad. I'm guessing that's a horse of a differenct color.

My bad. That's what I get for thinking I know something intelligent.

Thanks for straightening me out.

Bill

by tink!

How [b]DO[/b] you format margins then in OO?

:D

Haven't used that aspect yet or I'd post the tip myself. :p

by 1bn0

On the menu bar. Select Format : Page

Click on the "Page" tab.
Bottom left quarter of dialogue box contains the margins settings.

Right where you would put it if you had never seen Microsoft Word.

Or just right click in the document area and select "Page" from the pop up menu.

by boxfiddler Hot topic

what was meant by 'format' margins. Does s/he want colored margins? A border? Pattern? Or just to set the size of the margin?

Setting size has been answered above. I don't play with much of the rest of it, not using it for anything but writing papers, or letters. Not a Word or Writer player.

etu

by jdclyde

As I said a step below, just go to the FORMAT pull down menu, and select PAGE.

On the popup window, go to the PAGE tab.

It could only be easier if someone did it for you.... :p

by ontheropes

I was confused because it is so simple I couldn't understand what they meant. RTFM might apply here. Spending more than five minutes actually looking at the program helps too.

I thought they might want to set the default margin size. For that I think I'd create a template or a simple, properly formatted blank document to use every time. I've got a couple of those.

by oz_media

I played with OO for a while too, then I got a 'copy' of MS Office 2007, while I dno't care for MS Office that much, it does have some presentation tools that I like better than OO Impress (which I think will get better in time) but for teh most part, for spreadheets, WP etc. I think OO is a great alternative to what can be a pricey program.

A good starting point: http://www.tutorialsforopenoffice.org/

http://www.learnopenoffice.org/tutorials.htm

As for a new topic on TR, you just started it.

by neon samurai

I normally grab the tips articles from Linux.com (search; "openoffice.org" or "openoffice.org basic crash course" or "OOo basic crash course" then see Features pages 28,30 it seems) which offer some help but adding OOo tips to the TR lineup would be welcome.

by jdclyde

Write a paper or a memo.

99.9% of the "features" go unused by the majority of the users.

by tink!

Especially since they always seem to come up short.

My daughter's computer class teaches on Word. Of course, these schools also have newer computers in most of the classrooms as well as Smartboards. Which, by the way, Smartboard are awesome! Wish I had time to play with one.

by neon samurai

They need a new laptop for school. The functions personally required would be easily met by an Eee or other hardware running a Unix like platform. The reason the notebook will be a more expensive used machine is because the school doesn't teach spreadsheets, it teaches Excel.

For schools in general, this came up in my reading today and I thought it was interesting.

http://www.linux.com/feature/148311
Italian LUG turns Pakistani school into a educational model

by neon samurai

.. just to resize, crop or convert images.

Like JD said above, 99% of functions are unused. It actually gets worse when you start talking to the experts that do touch those obscure features. I've a friend in animation whos job it is to use a single Photoshop feature. Each on the team specializes in there area of expertese. Though many may use the same tool, they each use only 10~20% of it.

by tig2

This is a great blog topic. I will start pulling something
together unless Jack beats me to it.

I know many people, including me, who are using
OpenOffice more and MS Office less. No time like the
present to learn a new skill, right?

by ontheropes

My wife's Uncle takes a lot of pictures, has quite a photo collection, an expensive camera and Photoshop. I told him that I have Photoshop Elements and he all but sneered at me. I'm not one of the elite cognoscenti. :^0

by neon samurai

While they are doing something magical like resizing a photo, I pop open portableGIMP from my flashdrive and do the same thing.

If you really wanted to mess with them, sit beside them and use one of the cli image manipulators. Alchemy was popular back in the day for converting and resizing.

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