Chapter 16. Opening Your Ubuntu Office with OpenOffice.org

Chapter 16. Opening Your Ubuntu Office with OpenOffice.org

In This Chapter

• Introducing OpenOffice.org

• Using OpenOffice.org applications

• Printing with OpenOffice.org

OpenOffice.org is a suite of applications similar in function to Microsoft Office. OpenOffice.org's application suite provides a word processor, spreadsheet, slide presentation editor, Web page editor, and other utilities. It's a powerful and sophisticated system.

OpenOffice.org's applications are compatible with their Microsoft Office peers. OpenOffice.org Writer, for instance, can read and write documents stored in Office 97/2000/XP, Office 95, and Office 6.0 — as well as many other non-Microsoft formats. It's a powerful tool and well worth its cost. Oh yeah, OpenOffice.org is developed as an open source project, which means it costs nothing. Amazing.

Thanks to all the people in the world who put their energy and inspiration into projects like OpenOffice.org. Because of all of them, people like you me get to use sophisticated software such as Writer — which I'm writing with right now, of course. This chapter describes how to harness, configure, and use OpenOffice.org Writer — in other words, how to get the most bang for your buck.

Getting to Know OpenOffice.org

OpenOffice.org provides the following applications:

• Writer: Use a full-featured word processor.

• Calc: Use a full-featured spreadsheet.

• Impress: Create static and dynamic slide presentations.

• Drawing: Create drawings and diagrams.

• Database: Read and write to databases.

• HTML editor: Edit Web forms.

Writer the word processor

The OpenOffice.org word processor is called Writer. This section describes how to open Writer and get started using it.

Choose ApplicationsOfficeOpenOffice.org from the GNOME menu at the top-left side of your desktop. Figure 16-1 shows the initial OpenOffice.org Writer window.

Figure 16-1: OpenOffice.org Writer.

You can immediately start writing the next great novel. "It was a dark and stormy night when Paul was startled from his writing by a knock at the door. He had made a lot of enemies in certain corners writing about Linux, so he pulled out his .45 and. . . ." Or you can start writing a letter to Mom. It doesn't matter, Writer is ready to record your thoughts.

Calc the spreadsheet

OpenOffice.org Calc is a spreadsheet application — the equivalent of Microsoft Excel. This section shows how to start Calc.

Choose ApplicationsOfficeOpenOffice.org Spreadsheet from the GNOME menu at the top-left side of your desktop.

Figure 16-1 shows the familiar spreadsheet form.

Figure 16-1: OpenOffice.org Calc.

Impress slide presentation editor

Impress is an Openoffice.org slideshow editor and is compatible with Microsoft PowerPoint presentation manager. Follow these steps to open and take a look at the application:

1. Choose ApplicationsOfficeOpenOffice.org Presentation from the GNOME menu bar.

   Figure 16-1 shows the Presentation Wizard that opens.

   
   Figure 16-1: OpenOffice.org Presentation Wizard.

   
   

   
   
   

2. Use the Presentation Wizard to do any of the following:

   • Create a new, empty presentation.

     You can open a new presentation window (see Figure 16-1 ) using the Impress defaults by clicking the Create button.

     
     Figure 16-1: Shows the initial Impress.

     
     
     
     
     

   • Use an existing template to create a new presentation.

   • Open an existing presentation.

The following instructions open the OpenOffice.org Presentation application to create and edit slideshows:

1. Choose ApplicationsOfficeOpenOffice.org Presentation from the GNOME menu bar.

   The Presentation Wizard opens.

2. Click Next.

   This starts the creation of an empty presentation document.

3. Click Next.

   This selects the default background.

4. Select Create.

   Impress opens a blank presentation.