Writer Guide

2

Chapter
Setting up Writer
Choosing options to suit the way you work
This PDF is designed to be read onscreen, two pages at atime. If you want to print a copy, your PDF viewer shouldhave an option for printing two pages on one sheet ofpaper, but you may need to start with page 2 to get it toprint facing pages correctly. (Print this cover page
separately.)CopyrightThis document is Copyright © 2005–2010 by its contributors as listed
in the section titled Authors. You may distribute it and/or modify it
under the terms of either the GNU General Public License, version 3 orlater, or the Creative Commons Attribution License, version 3.0 or
later.
All trademarks within this guide belong to their legitimate owners.

Authors
Jean Hollis WeberAgnes Belzunce
Daniel Carrera
Peter Hillier-Brook
Stefan A. Keel
Gary Schnabl
Janet M. Swisher
Michele Zarri

Feedback
Please direct any comments or suggestions about this document to:authors@documentation.openoffice.org

Acknowledgments
An earlier version of much of this material was first published in
Taming OpenOffice.org Writer 1.1, by Jean Hollis Weber, © 2003.

Publication date and software version
Published 25 March 2010. Based on OpenOffice.org 3.2.

You can download
an editable version of this document fromhttp://oooauthors.org/english/userguide3/published/

Contents
Copyright............................................................................................... 2
Choosing options that affect all of OOo.................................................5
User Data options...............................................................................5
General options................................................................................... 6
Memory options.................................................................................. 8
View options........................................................................................ 8
Print options.....................................................................................11
Path options...................................................................................... 12
Color options..................................................................................... 13
Font options...................................................................................... 15
Security options................................................................................ 16
Appearance options..........................................................................18
Choosing options for loading and saving documents...........................19
General Load/Save options...............................................................19
VBA Properties Load/Save options....................................................21
Microsoft Office Load/Save options..................................................22
HTML compatibility Load/Save options............................................22
Choosing options for Writer.................................................................24
General options................................................................................. 25
View options...................................................................................... 26
Formatting Aids options....................................................................27
Grid options......................................................................................27
Default fonts.....................................................................................28
Print options.....................................................................................29
Default table options.........................................................................30
Change tracking options...................................................................31
Compatibility options........................................................................32
AutoCaption options.......................................................................... 33
Mail Merge E-mail options................................................................34
Choosing options for HTML documents...............................................35
Choosing language settings.................................................................36
Setting up Writer3

Install the required dictionaries........................................................36
Change some locale and language settings......................................36
Choose spelling options....................................................................37
Controlling Writer’s AutoCorrect functions.........................................38

4

Setting up WriterChoosing options that affect all of OOo
This section covers some of the settings that apply to all thecomponents of OOo and are particularly important when using Writer.
Other general options are discussed in Chapter 2 (Setting Up
OpenOffice.org) in the Getting Started guide.
Click Tools > Options. The list on the left-hand side of the Options –OpenOffice.org dialog box varies depending on which component of
OOo is open. The illustrations in this chapter show the list as it appears
when a Writer document is open.
Click the + sign by OpenOffice.org on the left-hand side. A list of pages
drops down. Selecting an item in the list causes the right-hand side ofthe dialog box to display the relevant page.

Figure 1: OpenOffice.org options

Note

The Back button has the same effect on all pages of the
Options dialog box. It resets options to the values that were inplace when you opened OOo.

User Data options
Because Writer uses the name or initials stored in the OpenOffice.org –User Data page for several things, including document properties(created by and last edited by information) and the name of the authorof notes and changes, you will want to ensure that the correct
information appears here.
Fill in the form (shown in Figure 2) or amend or delete any existing
incorrect information.
Choosing options that affect all of OOo

5

Figure 2: Filling in user data

General options
The options on the OpenOffice.org – General page are described below.

Figure 3: Setting general options for OpenOffice.org
Help - Tips
When Tips is active, one or two words will appear when you hold themouse pointer over an icon or field, without clicking.
Help - Extended tips
When Extended tips is active, a brief description of the function of aparticular icon or menu command or a field on a dialog box appears
when you hold the mouse pointer over that item.

6

Setting up Writer

Help Agent
To turn off the Help Agent (similar to Microsoft’s Office Assistant),deselect this option. To restore the default behavior, click Reset
Help Agent.
Help formattingHigh contrast is an operating system setting that changes thesystem color scheme to improve readability. To display Help in highcontrast (if your computer’s operating system supports this), choose
one of the high-contrast style sheets from the pull-down list.
High-contrast style

Visual effectDefault

Black text on white background

High Contrast #1

Yellow text on black background

High Contrast #2

Green text on black background

High Contrast BlackWhite text on black background

High Contrast WhiteBlack text on white background

Open/Save dialogs
To use the standard Open and Save dialog boxes for your operating
system, deselect the Use OpenOffice.org dialogs option. When
this option is selected, the Open and Save dialog boxes supplied with
OpenOffice.org will be used. This book uses the OOo Open and Savedialog boxes in illustrations.
Document status
If this option is selected, then the next time you close the document
after printing, the print date is recorded in the document properties
as a change and you will be prompted to save the document again,even if you did not make any other changes.
Year (two digits)
Specifies how two-digit years are interpreted. For example, if thetwo-digit year is set to 1930, and you enter a date of 1/1/30 or later
into your document, the date is interpreted as 1/1/1930 or later. An“earlier” date is interpreted as being in the following century; thatis, 1/1/20 is interpreted as 1/1/2020.

Choosing options that affect all of OOo

7

Memory options
In the Options dialog, click OpenOffice.org > Memory. Someconsiderations:• More memory can make OpenOffice.org faster and moreconvenient (for example, more undo steps require more memory);
but the trade-off is less memory available for other applications
and you could run out of memory altogether.
• If your documents contain a lot of objects such as images, or theobjects are large, OOo’s performance may improve if you increase
the memory for OOo or the memory per object. If you find that
objects seem to disappear from a document that contains a lot ofthem, increase the number of objects in the cache. (The objects
are still in the file even if you cannot see them on screen.)• To load the Quickstarter (an icon on the desktop or in the systemtray) when you start your computer, select the option near thebottom of the dialog. This makes OpenOffice.org start faster; thetrade-off is OOo uses some memory even when not being used.
This option (sometimes called Enable systray quickstarter) is
not available on all operating systems.

Figure 4: Choosing Memory options for the OpenOffice.org
applications

View options
The options on the OpenOffice.org – View page (Figure 5) affect theway the document window looks and behaves. Some of these options
are described below. Set them to suit your personal preferences.

8

Setting up WriterFigure 5: Choosing View options for OpenOffice.org applications
User Interface – Scaling
If the text in the help files or on the menus of the OOo user interface
is too small or too large, you can change it by specifying a scaling
factor. Sometimes a change here can have unexpected results,
depending on the screen fonts available on your system. However, it
does not affect the font size of the text in your documents.
User Interface – Icon size and style
The first box specifies the display size of toolbar icons (Automatic,
Small, or Large); the Automatic icon size option uses the setting
for your operating system. The second box specifies the icon style(theme); here the Automatic option uses an icon set compatible
with your operating system and choice of desktop: for example, KDE
or Gnome on Linux.
User Interface – Use system font for user interface
If you prefer to use the system font (the default font for yourcomputer and operating system) instead of the font provided by OOo
for the user interface, select this option.
User interface – Screen font antialiasing(Not available in Windows; not shown in Figure 5.) Smooths thescreen appearance of text. Enter the smallest font size to apply
antialiasing.
Menu – Show icons in menus
Causes icons as well as words to be visible in menus.

Choosing options that affect all of OOo

9Font Lists - Show preview of fonts
Causes the font list to look like Figure 6, Left, with the font names
shown as an example of the font; with the option deselected, the fontlist shows only the font names, not their formatting (Figure 6,
Right). The fonts you will see listed are those that are installed onyour system.

Figure 6: Font list (Left) showing preview; (Right) without preview
Font Lists - Show font history
Causes the last five fonts you have assigned to the current document
are displayed at the top of the font list.
Graphics output – Use hardware acceleration
Directly accesses hardware features of the graphical display adapter
to improve the screen display. Not supported on all operating
systems and OOo distributions.
Graphics output – Use anti-aliasing
Enables and disables anti-aliasing, which makes the display of mostgraphical objects look smoother and with fewer artifacts. Not
supported on all operating systems and OOo distributions.
Tip

Press Shift+Control+R to restore or refresh the view of thecurrent document.

Mouse positioning
Specifies if and how the mouse pointer will be positioned in newly
opened dialog boxes.
Middle mouse button
Defines the function of the middle mouse button.
• Automatic scrolling – dragging while pressing the middle

mouse button shifts the view.
• Paste clipboard – pressing the middle mouse button inserts thecontents of the “Selection clipboard” at the cursor position.

10

Setting up WriterThe “Selection clipboard” is independent of the normal clipboardthat you use by Edit > Copy/Cut/Paste or their respective
keyboard shortcuts. Clipboard and “Selection clipboard” can containdifferent contents at the same time.
Function

Clipboard

Selection clipboard

Copy content

Edit > Copy
Control+C

Select text, table, or object.

Paste content

Edit > Paste
Control+V pastes atthe cursor position.

Clicking the middle mousebutton pastes at the mousepointer position.

Pasting intoanother document

No effect on the
clipboard contents.

The last marked selection isthe content of the selection
clipboard.

Print options
On the OpenOffice.org – Print page, set the print options to suit yourdefault printer and your most common printing method.

Figure 7: Choosing general printing options to apply to
all OOo components
In the Printer warnings section near the bottom of the page, you canchoose whether to be warned if the paper size or orientation specified
in your document does not match the paper size or orientation
available for your printer. Having these warnings turned on can bequite helpful, particularly if you work with documents produced byChoosing options that affect all of OOo

11

people in other countries where the standard paper size is different
from yours.
Tip

If your printouts are incorrectly placed on the page or chopped
off at the top, bottom, or sides or the printer is refusing toprint, the most likely cause is page-size incompatibility.

Path options
On the OpenOffice.org – Paths page, you can change the location offiles associated with, or used by, OOo to suit your working situation. In
a Windows system, for example, you might want to store documents bydefault somewhere other than My Documents.
To make changes, select an item in the list shown in Figure 8 and click
Edit. On the Select Paths dialog (not shown), add or delete folders as
required, and then click OK to return to the Options dialog. Note thatmany items can have at least two paths listed: one to a shared folder(which might be on a network) and one to a user-specific folder(normally on the user’s personal computer).
Tip

You can use the entries in the OpenOffice.org – Paths dialog tocompile a list of files, such as those containing AutoText, thatyou need to back up or copy to another computer.

Figure 8: Viewing the paths of files used by OOo

12

Setting up WriterColor options
On the OpenOffice.org – Colors page, you can specify colors to use in
OOo documents. You can select a color from a color table, edit anexisting color, or define new colors. These colors will then be available
in color selection palettes in OOo.

Figure 9: Defining colors to use in color palettes in OOo
To modify a color:
1) Select the color to modify from the list or the color table.
2) Enter the new values that define the color. If necessary, change
the settings from RGB (Red, Green, Blue) to CMYK (Cyan,
Magenta, Yellow, Black) or vice versa. The changed color appears
in the lower of the two color preview boxes at the top.
3) Modify the Name as required.
4) Click the Modify button. The newly defined color is now listed in
the Color table.
Alternatively, click the Edit button to open the Color dialog, shown in
Figure 10. Here you can select a color from one of the color windows
in the upper area, or you can enter values in the lower area using yourchoice of RGB, CMYK, or HSB (Hue, Saturation and Brightness) values.
The upper right color window is linked directly with the color input
fields in the lower area; as you choose a color in the upper window, thenumbers change accordingly. The two color fields at the lower rightshow the value of the selected color on the left and the currently set
value from the color value fields on the right.
Modify the color components as required and click OK to exit the
dialog. The newly defined color now appears in the lower of the color
Choosing options that affect all of OOo

13

preview boxes shown in Figure 9. Type a name for this color in theName box, then click the Add button. A small box showing the newcolor is added to the Color table.

Figure 10: Editing colors
Another way to define or alter colors is through the Colors page of the
Area dialog, where you can also save and load palettes, a feature thatis not possible here. In Writer, draw a temporary draw object and use
the context menu of this object to open the Area dialog.

Font options
You can define replacements for any fonts that might appear in yourdocuments. If you receive from someone else a document containing
fonts that you do not have on your system, OOo will substitute fonts for
those it does not find. You might prefer to specify a different font fromthe one the program chooses.
On the OpenOffice.org – Fonts page (Figure 11):
1) Select Apply Replacement Table option.
2) Select or type the name of the font to be replaced in the Font box.
(If you do not have this font on your system, it will not appear in
the drop-down list in this box, so you need to type it in.)3) In the Replace With box, select a suitable font from the dropdown list of fonts installed on your computer.

14

Setting up Writer4) The check mark to the right of the Replace with box turns green.
Click on this check mark. A row of information now appears in thelarger box below the input boxes. Select the boxes under Always
and Screen.
5) In the bottom section of the page, you can change the typeface
and size of the font used to display source code such as HTMLand Basic (in macros).

Figure 11: Defining a font to be substituted for another fontSecurity options
Use the OpenOffice.org – Security page (Figure 12) to choose security
options for saving documents and for opening documents that containmacros.
Security Options and warnings
If you record changes, save multiple versions, or include hidden
information or notes in your documents, and you do not want someof the recipients to see that information, you can set warnings toremind you to remove it, or you can have OOo remove some of it
automatically. Note that (unless removed) much of this informationis retained in a file whether the file is in OpenOffice.org’s default
OpenDocument format, or has been saved to other formats,including PDF.

Choosing options that affect all of OOo

15

Figure 12: Choosing security options for opening andsaving documents
Click the Options button to open a separate dialog with specificchoices (Figure 13).
Remove personal information on saving. Select this option toalways remove user data from the file properties when saving thefile. To manually remove personal information from specificdocuments, deselect this option and then use the Delete button
under File > Properties > General.

Figure 13: Security options and warnings dialog box
16

Setting up WriterCtrl-click required to follow hyperlinks. In older versions of
OOo, clicking on a hyperlink in a document opened the linked
document. Now you can choose whether to keep this behavior (byunchecking this box). Many people find creation and editing of
documents easier when accidental clicks on links do not activate thelinks.
The other options on this dialog should be self-explanatory.
Macro security
Click the Macro Security button to open the Macro Security dialog,
where you can adjust the security level for executing macros andspecify trusted sources.
File sharing options for this document
Select the Open this document in read-only mode option to
restrict this document to be opened in read-only mode only. This
option protects the document against accidental changes. It is still
possible to edit a copy of the document and save that copy with thesame name as the original.
Select the Record changes option to enable recording changes.
This is the same as Edit > Changes > Record. To allow other usersof this document to apply changes, but prevent them from disablingchange recording, click the Protect button and enter a password.

Appearance options
Writing, editing, and (especially) page layout are often easier when you
can see the page margins (text boundaries), the boundaries of tables
and sections, grid lines, and other features. In addition, you might
prefer to use colors that are different from OOo’s defaults for suchitems as note indicators or field shadings.
On the OpenOffice.org – Appearance page (Figure 14), you can specify
which items are visible and the colors used to display various items.
• To show or hide items such as text boundaries, select or deselectthem.
• To change the default colors for items, click the down-arrow in
the Color setting column by the name of the item and select acolor from the pop-up box.
• To save your color changes as a color scheme, type a name in the
Scheme box and click Save.

Choosing options that affect all of OOo

17

Figure 14: Showing or hiding text, object, and tableboundaries

Choosing options for loading and saving
documents
You can set the Load/Save options to suit the way you work.
If the Options dialog is not already open, click Tools > Options. Clickthe + sign to the left of Load/Save.

Figure 15: Load/Save options

General Load/Save options
Most of the choices on the Load/Save – General page (Figure 16) are
familiar to users of other office suites. Some items of interest aredescribed below.

18

Setting up WriterFigure 16: Choosing Load and Save options
Load user-specific settings with the document
When you save a document, certain settings are saved with it. Somesettings (printer name, data source linked to the document) arealways loaded with a document, whether or not this option is
selected. If you select this option, these document settings areoverruled by the user-specific settings of the person who opens it. If
you deselect this option, the user’s personal settings do not overrule
the settings in the document. For example, your choice (in theoptions for OOo Writer) of how to update links is affected by the
Load user-specific settings option.
Load printer settings with the document
If this option is not selected, the printer settings that are storedwith the document are ignored when you print it using the Print
File Directly icon. The default printer in your system is usedinstead.
Edit document properties before saving
If this option is selected, the Document Properties dialog pops up to
prompt you to enter relevant information the first time you save a
new document (or whenever you use Save As).
Save AutoRecovery information every __ Minutes
Choose whether to enable AutoRecovery and how often to save theinformation used by the AutoRecovery process.
AutoRecovery in OpenOffice.org overwrites the original file. If you
also choose Always create backup copy, the original file thenoverwrites the backup copy. If you have this option set, recovering

Choosing options for loading and saving documents

19

your document after a system crash will be easier; but recovering an
earlier version of the document may be harder.
Save URLs relative to file system / internet
Relative addressing to a file system is only possible if the source
document and the referenced document are both on the same drive.
A relative address always starts from the directory in which thecurrent document is located. It is recommended to save relatively if
you want to create a directory structure on an Internet server.
Default file format and ODF settings
ODF format version. OpenOffice.org by default saves documents inOpen Document Format (ODF) version 1.2. While this allows for
improved functionality, there may be backwards compatibility
issues. When a file saved in ODF 1.2 is opened in an earlier version
of OpenOffice.org (using ODF 1.0/1.1), some of the advanced
features may be lost. Two notable examples are cross-references toheadings and the formatting of numbered lists. If you plan to share
documents with people who are still using older versions of
OpenOffice.org, save the document using ODF version 1.0/1.1.
Size optimization for ODF format. OpenOffice.org documents are
XML files. When you select this option, OOo writes the XML data
without indents and line breaks. If you want to be able to read the
XML files in a text editor in a structured form, deselect this option.
Document type. If you routinely share documents with users ofMicrosoft Word, you might want to change the Always save as
attribute for text documents to one of the Word formats.
Note

Although Writer can open files in the .docx format produced by
Word 2007, it cannot save in .docx format. This capability isplanned for a future release.

VBA Properties Load/Save options
On the Load/Save – VBA Properties page (Figure 17), you can choose
whether to keep any macros in Microsoft Office documents that are
opened in OpenOffice.org. These macros are disabled in OOo.
If you choose Load Basic code, you can edit the macros in OOo. Thechanged code is saved in an OOo document but is not retained if you
save into a Microsoft Office format.
If you choose Save original Basic code, the macros are retained
unchanged if you save the file into Microsoft Office format.
20

Setting up WriterSave original Basic code takes precedence over Load Basic code. Ifboth options are seleted and you edit the disabled code in OOo, theoriginal Microsoft Basic code will be saved when saving in a Microsoft
Office format.
To remove any possible macro viruses from the Microsoft Office
document, deselect Save original Basic code. The document will besaved without the Microsoft Basic code.

Figure 17: Choosing
Load/Save VBA Properties

Microsoft Office Load/Save options
On the Load/Save – Microsoft Office page (Figure 18), you can choose
what to do when importing and exporting Microsoft Office OLE objects(linked or embedded objects or documents such as spreadsheets orequations).
Select the [L] check boxes to convert Microsoft OLE objects into thecorresponding OpenOffice.org OLE objects when a Microsoft document
is loaded into OOo (mnemonic: “L” for “load”).
Select the [S] check boxes to convert OpenOffice.org OLE objects into
the corresponding Microsoft OLE objects when a document is saved ina Microsoft format (mnemonic: “S” for “save”).

Figure 18: Choosing Load/Save Microsoft Office options

Choosing options for loading and saving documents

21

HTML compatibility Load/Save options
Choices made on the Load/Save – HTML Compatibility page affectHTML pages imported into OpenOffice.org and those exported from
OOo. See HTML documents; importing/exporting in the Help for more
information.

Figure 19: Choosing HTML compatibility options
Font sizes
Use these fields to define the respective font sizes for the HTML
<font size=1> to <font size=7> tags, if they are used in the HTMLpages. (Many pages no longer use these tags.)
Import - Use 'English (USA)' locale for numbers
When importing numbers from an HTML page, the decimal andthousands separator characters differ according to the locale of theHTML page. The clipboard, however, contains no information about
the locale. If this option is not selected, numbers will be interpreted
according to the Language - Locale setting in Tools > Options >Language Settings > Languages (see page 34). If this option is
selected, numbers will be interpreted as for the English (USA)locale.
Import - Import unknown HTML tags as fields
Select this option if you want tags that are not recognized by OOo to
be imported as fields. For an opening tag, an HTML_ON field will becreated with the value of the tag name. For a closing tag, an
HTML_OFF will be created. These fields will be converted to tags inthe HTML export.

22

Setting up WriterImport - Ignore font settings
Select this option to have OOo ignore all font settings whenimporting. The fonts that were defined in the HTML Page Style will
be used.
ExportTo optimize the HTML export, select a browser or HTML standard
from the Export box. If OpenOffice.org Writer is selected, specific
OpenOffice.org Writer instructions are exported.
Export - OpenOffice.org Basic
Select this option to include OOo Basic macros (scripts) whenexporting to HTML format. You must activate this option before you
create the OpenOffice.org Basic macro; otherwise the script will not
be inserted. OpenOffice.org Basic macros must be located in theheader of the HTML document. Once you have created the macro in
the OpenOffice.org Basic IDE, it appears in the source text of theHTML document in the header.
If you want the macro to run automatically when the HTML
document is opened, choose Tools > Customize > Events. See
Chapter 13 (Getting Started with Macros) in the Getting Started
guide for more information.
Export - Display warning
When the OpenOffice.org Basic option (see above) is not selected,
the Display warning option becomes available. If the Display
warning option is selected, then when exporting to HTML awarning is shown that OpenOffice.org Basic macros will be lost.
Export - Print layout
Select this option to export the print layout of the current document
as well.
The HTML filter supports CSS2 (Cascading Style Sheets Level 2) for
printing documents. These capabilities are only effective if printlayout export is activated.
Export - Copy local graphics to Internet
Select this option to automatically upload the embedded pictures tothe Internet server when uploading using FTP.
Export - Character set
Select the appropriate character set for the export.

Choosing options for loading and saving documents

23

Choosing options for Writer
Settings chosen on the pages in the OpenOffice.org Writer section of
the Options dialog box determine how your Writer documents look andbehave while you are working on them.
If the Options dialog box is not already open, click Tools > Options.
Click the + sign by OpenOffice.org Writer on the left-hand side of the
Options – OpenOffice.org dialog box. A list of pages drops down.

Figure 20: OpenOffice.org Writer options

General options
The choices on the OpenOffice.org Writer – General page affect the
updating of links and fields, the units used for rulers and othermeasurements, and the default tab stop positions.

Figure 21: Choosing general options for WriterUpdate links when loading
Depending on your work patterns, you may not want links to be
updated when you load a document. For example, if your file links toother files on a network, you won’t want those links to update when
you are not connected to the network.
24

Setting up WriterUpdate fields and charts automatically
You may not want fields or charts to update automatically when you
are working, because that slows down performance.
Settings – Tab stops
The Tab stops setting specifies the distance the cursor travels foreach press of the Tab key. This setting is also used for the indent
distance applied by the Increase Indent and Decrease Indent
buttons on the Formatting Bar, which affect the indentation ofentire paragraphs.
Using the default tab stops to space out or indent material on a pageis not recommended. If you use the default tab interval and thensend the document to someone who uses a different default tab
interval, then your tabbed material will be displayed using the otherperson’s default tab settings. In addition, any changes to the default
tab stops will change the existing default tab stops in any document
you open afterward, as well as tab stops you insert after making thechange.
To avoid these unwanted changes, define your own tabs inparagraph styles or individual paragraphs (see “Defining your own
tab stops and indents” in Chapter 3).

View options
Two pages of options set the defaults for viewing Writer documents:
View (described here) and Formatting Aids (described below).
If the items on the OpenOffice.org Writer - View page are not selfexplanatory, you can easily test their effects in a blank document.
This is a good page to check if, for example, you cannot see graphics
on the screen or you see field codes instead of the text or numbers you
are expecting.

Figure 22: Choosing View options for Writer
Choosing options for Writer25

Formatting Aids options
The display of symbols such as paragraph ends and tabs help you whenwriting, editing, and doing page layout. For example, you might wantto know if any blank paragraphs or tabs are included or if any tables orgraphics are too wide and intrude into the margins of the page.
On the OpenOffice.org Writer – Formatting Aids page, select therequired options.

Figure 23: Choosing Formatting Aids options

Note

Direct cursor lets you enter text, images, tables, frames, andother objects in any blank area in your document. Writer inserts
blank paragraphs and tabs to position the text or objects.
This feature is incompatible with rigorous use of styles and canlead to many formatting oddities, so it should be avoided byprofessional writers.

Grid options
Specifying “snap to grid” can be very helpful when you are trying toalign several objects such as graphics or tables.
On the OpenOffice.org Writer – Grid page, you can choose whether toenable this feature and what grid intervals to use. If the grid intervals(subdivisions) are too large, you may find that you do not have enoughcontrol in placing the objects.

26

Setting up WriterFigure 24: Choosing Grid options

Default fonts
The default fonts specified on the OpenOffice.org Writer – Basic Fonts(Western) page apply to both Writer documents and HTML (Web)documents.

Figure 25: Choosing default fonts• If you want to change the defaults, do so on this page. You can, ofcourse, choose other fonts for use in specific documents, either byapplying direct formatting or by defining and applying styles inthose documents.
• When choosing fonts on this page you are not limited to single
fonts or to the ones shown in the drop-down list. You can specify a“font family”as a comma-separated set of fonts that includes those
suitable for Windows, Macintosh, Linux, and other operating
systems. These choices are particularly important in HTML
documents.
• If the document is viewed on a system that does not have the first
font specified, it will use one of the other fonts if that one is
Choosing options for Writer27

available. Otherwise, it will substitute a font that is available on
the system.
• Type the list of fonts, separated by commas, in the boxes. If you
want these defaults to apply to the current document only, selectthat option. The Default button resets the values on this page tothe defaults installed with OpenOffice.org.

Print options
On the OpenOffice.org Writer – Print page (Figure 26), you can choose
which items are printed with the document by default. These options
are in addition to those on the OpenOffice.org – Print page (Figure 7).

Figure 26: Choosing Print options for Writer
Some considerations:• When you are working on drafts and you want to save printer ink
or toner, you might want to deselect some of the items in theContents section.
• The Print black selection causes color text (but not graphics) toprint as black on a color printer; on a black-and-white printer, thisoption causes color text to print as solid black instead of shadesof grey (dithered).
• The Print black option has a different effect to the Convert
colors to greyscale on the Options – OpenOffice.org – Print page
(Figure 7), which prints all graphics as greyscale on color
printers. (On black-and-white printers, color in graphics normallyprints as greyscale.)
28

Setting up Writer• If you are printing double-sided on a non-duplexing printer, you

might choose to print only left or right pages, then turn the stackover and print the other pages.
• Depending on how your printer ejects pages (face up or facedown), you might need to print the pages in reverse order so they
stack in the correct order as they are printed.

Tip

You can override any of these defaults when printing a
document. Click File > Print, then click the Options buttonon the Print dialog box. The Printer Options dialog box thatappears is similar to the one shown in Figure 26.

Default table options
On the OpenOffice.org Writer – Table page, you can specify the default
behavior of tables.

Figure 27: Choosing default Table options
Some considerations:• If most of your tables will require borders or headings, selectthose options. If most of your tables are used for page layout,deselect borders and headings.
• Number recognition can be very useful if most of your tables
contain numerical data; Writer will recognize dates or currency,
for example, and format the numbers appropriately. However, if
you want the numbers to remain as ordinary text, this feature canbe quite irritating, so you will want to deselect it.

Choosing options for Writer29• The Keyboard handling section specifies the distances that cells

move when you use keyboard shortcuts to move them and the sizeof rows and columns inserted using keyboard shortcuts.
• The choices in the Behavior of rows/columns section determine
the effects that changes to rows or columns have on adjacentrows or columns and the entire table. You might need to test
these selections to fully understand the effects.

Change tracking options
If you plan to use the change-tracking feature of Writer, use the
OpenOffice.org Writer – Changes page to choose the way inserted anddeleted material is marked, whether and how attribute changes aremarked, and whether and how change bars are marked in the margins.

Figure 28: Choosing options for tracking changes

Compatibility options
Do you need to import Microsoft Word documents into OOo Writer? If
so, you might want to select some or all of the settings on the
OpenOffice.org Writer – Compatibility page. If you are not sure about
the effects of these settings, leave them as the defaults provided by
OOo. For information about the settings not described below, see the
Help.

30

Setting up WriterFigure 29: Choosing compatibility options
Use printer metrics for document formatting
If this option is selected, the printer specified for the document
determines how the document is formatted for viewing on screen.
The line breaks and paragraph breaks you see on screen match
those that apply when the document is printed on that printer.
This setting can be useful when several people are reviewing a
document that will eventually be printed on a specific printer orwhen the document is exported to PDF (a process that uses “Adobe
PDF” as the printer).
If this option is not selected, a printer-independent layout will be
used for screen display and printing.
Add spacing between paragraphs and tables (in current
document)
In OpenOffice.org Writer, paragraph spacing is defined differently
than it is in MS Word documents. If you have defined spacing
between two paragraphs or tables, spacing is also added in thecorresponding MS Word documents.
If this option is selected, MS Word-compatible spacing is added
between paragraphs and tables in OpenOffice.org Writer documents.
Add paragraph and table spacing at tops of pages (in current
document)
You can define paragraphs to have space appear before (above)
them. If this option is selected, any space above a paragraph will
also appear if the paragraph is at the beginning of a page or column,
Choosing options for Writer31

if the paragraph is positioned on the first page of the document, or
after a manual page break.
If you import an MS Word document, the spaces are automatically
added during the conversion.
Add paragraph and table spacing at bottom of table cells
Specifies that the bottom spacing is added to a paragraph, evenwhen it is the last paragraph in a table cell.
Use as Default
Click this button to use the current settings on this page as thedefault in OpenOffice.org.

AutoCaption options
Do you want OOo to automatically insert captions for tables, pictures,
frames, and OLE objects that have been inserted in a Writer
document?

Note

You may not always want captions for every table, for example,
if you use tables for layout as well as for tables of data. You
can always add captions to individual tables, graphics, or otherobjects (right-click > Caption).

If you do want automatic captions on one or more object types:
1) Choose OpenOffice.org Writer > AutoCaption on the Options
dialog box.
2) On the OpenOffice.org Writer – AutoCaption page (Figure 30),
select the check box next to an object you want to be
automatically captioned (Picture in the example shown).
3) With the item highlighted, specify the characteristics of thecaption. The supplied categories for captions are Drawing,
Illustration, Table, and Text. However, you are not limited to the
supplied categories. If you want to use another name (forexample, Figure) for the caption label, type the required term in
the box. In the example shown, I have added the category“Figure” to the list.
Additional information about numbering captions by chapter, characterstyles, frame styles, and other items on the AutoCaption page, is given
in later chapters in the Writer Guide.

32

Setting up WriterFigure 30: Setting up a new category for automatic
captions on graphics

Mail Merge E-mail options
You can produce form letters using Writer and then use the mail merge
function to personalize those letters and send them to a number ofaddresses taken from a data source, such as an address book. Mailmerged documents can be printed and mailed, or sent by e-mail.
Use the OpenOffice.org Writer – Mail Merge E-mail page to set up theuser and server information for sending form letters by e-mail. If you
are not sure what information to put in any of the fields, consult youre-mail program or your Internet service provider.

Figure 31: Specifying settings for use when e-mailingmail-merged form letters
Choosing options for Writer

33

Choosing options for HTML documents
You can configure OpenOffice.org to treat HTML documents in Writerdifferently than regular documents.
1) If the Options dialog box is not already open, click Tools >Options.
2) Click the + sign by OpenOffice.org Writer/Web on the left-handside of the Options – OpenOffice.org dialog box. A list of pages
drops down.
Here you can customize settings related to printing, formatting aids,
view options, table defaults, the grid, and a default background forHTML documents you're working with in Writer.

Note

Many of the options available under Options – OpenOffice.org
Writer/Web are identical to the settings under Options –OpenOffice.org Writer but will only affect HTML documents
opened in Writer. The previous sections contain detailed
discussion on these options.

Choosing language settings
You may need to do several things to set the language settings to what
you want:• Install the required dictionaries• Change some locale and language settings• Choose spelling options

Install the required dictionaries
OOo3 automatically installs several dictionaries with the program. To
add other dictionaries, be sure you are connected to the Internet, andthen use Tools > Language > More Dictionaries Online. OOo will
open your default web browser to a page containing links to additional
dictionaries that you can install. Follow the prompts to select andinstall the ones you want.

Change some locale and language settings
You can change some details of the locale and language settings thatOOo uses for all documents or for specific documents.

34

Setting up WriterIn the Options dialog box, click Language Settings > Languages.

Figure 32: OpenOffice.org language options
On the right-hand side of the Language Settings – Languages page
(Figure 33), change the User interface, Locale setting, Default
currency, and Default languages for documents as required. In theexample, English (UK) has been chosen for all the appropriate settings.
If you want the language (dictionary) setting to apply to the current
document only, instead of being the default for all new documents,
select For the current document only.
If necessary, select the options to enable support for Asian languages(Chinese, Japanese, Korean) and support for CTL (complex text layout)
languages such as Hindi, Thai, Hebrew, and Arabic. If you choose
either of these options, the next time you open this page, you will seesome extra pages under Language Settings, as shown in Figure 34.
These pages (Searching in Japanese, Asian Layout, and Complex Text
Layout) are not discussed here.

Figure 33: Choosing language options

Choosing language settings

35

Figure 34: Extra pages available when enhanced language
support options are selected

Choose spelling options
To choose the options for checking spelling, choose Language
Settings > Writing Aids. In the Options section of the page, choose
the settings that are useful for you.

Figure 35: Choosing languages, dictionaries, andoptions for checking spellingSome considerations:• If you do not want spelling checked while you type, deselectCheck spelling as you type.
• If you use a custom dictionary that includes words in all
uppercase and words with numbers (for example, AS/400), selectCheck uppercase words and Check words with numbers.
• Check special regions includes headers, footers, frames, andtables when checking spelling.
36

Setting up WriterHere you can also check which of the user-defined (custom)
dictionaries are active, or you can add or remove dictionaries byclicking the New or Delete buttons.

Note

OpenOffice.org does not have a grammar checker, but you can
install a grammar checker extension such as Language Tooland access that tool from Tools > Spelling and Grammar.
See Chapter 14 for more about installing extensions.

Controlling Writer’s AutoCorrect functions
Some people find some or all of the items in Writer’s AutoCorrectfeature annoying because Writer changes what you type when you do
not want it changed. Many people find some of the AutoCorrectfunctions quite helpful; if you do, then select the relevant options. But
if you find unexplained changes appearing in your document, this is agood place to look to find the cause.
To open the AutoCorrect dialog box, choose Tools > AutoCorrect
Options. (You need to have a document open for this menu item toappear.) In Writer, this dialog box has five tabs. Many of the options
are described in Chapter 3 (Working with Text) in this book.

Figure 36: The AutoCorrect dialog box in Writer, showing
the five tabs and some of the choices on the Options tab

Controlling Writer’s AutoCorrect functions

37