Writer Guide 7.3

Chapter 21,
User Interface Variants

CopyrightThis document is Copyright © 2022 by the LibreOffice Documentation Team. Contributors arelisted below. You may distribute it and/or modify it under the terms of either the GNU General
Public License (https://www.gnu.org/licenses/gpl.html), version 3 or later, or the CreativeCommons Attribution License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), version 4.0 or later.
All trademarks within this guide belong to their legitimate owners.

Contributors
To this edition
Jean Hollis WeberTo previous editions
Jean Hollis WeberFeedback
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Publication date and software version
Published March 2022. Based on LibreOffice 7.3.

Using LibreOffice on macOS
Some keystrokes and menu items are different on macOS from those used in Windows andLinux. The table below gives some common substitutions for the instructions in this document.
For a detailed list, see the application Help.
Windows or LinuxmacOS equivalent

EffectTools > Options
menu selection

LibreOffice > Preferences

Access setup options

Right-click

Control+click or right-click
depending on computer setup

Open a context menu

Ctrl (Control)⌘ (Command)

Used with other keys

Alt

⌥ (Option) or Alt, depending on
keyboard

Used with other keys

F11

⌘+T

Open Styles deck in Sidebar

Documentation for LibreOffice is available at https://documentation.libreoffice.org/en/Contents
Copyright............................................................................................................................2Contributors.............................................................................................................................. 2Feedback.................................................................................................................................. 2Publication date and software version.......................................................................................2
Using LibreOffice on macOS.....................................................................................................2Introduction........................................................................................................................4
Selecting the user interface.............................................................................................4
Standard interfaces...........................................................................................................4
Tabbed interface................................................................................................................5
Icon bar..................................................................................................................................... 5
Quick menu............................................................................................................................... 6
Fixed tabs................................................................................................................................. 6File tab................................................................................................................................. 6Home tab.............................................................................................................................. 7
Insert tab.............................................................................................................................. 8
Layout tab............................................................................................................................ 9
References tab................................................................................................................... 10
Review tab.......................................................................................................................... 11
View tab............................................................................................................................. 12
Extension tab..................................................................................................................... 12
Tools tab............................................................................................................................. 13
Additional tabs........................................................................................................................ 13
Draw tab............................................................................................................................. 13
Image tab........................................................................................................................... 14
Media tab........................................................................................................................... 15
Object tab........................................................................................................................... 16
Table tab............................................................................................................................. 16

Tabbed Compact interface..............................................................................................17Groupedbar Compact interface.....................................................................................17
Contextual Single interface............................................................................................18Chapter 21, User Interface Variants | 3

Introduction
By default, LibreOffice Writer’s commands are grouped in cascading menus and in toolbars filledwith icons—the standard user interface described in Chapter 1. These menus and toolbars aredescribed in the chapters that discuss the related tasks and functions.
In addition, Writer provides other user interface variants, displaying contextual groups ofcommands and contents. This chapter describes these user interface variants and provides aquick reference to the location of the tools and functions when using each of the variants.

Selecting the user interface
When you set up Writer, you can choose one of these user interfaces, and you can switch
between them and the standard interface at any time.
1) Choose View > User Interface on the Menu bar.
2) On the Select Your Preferred User Interface dialog (Figure 1), choose one of the variantson the left. An example of the variant is shown in the Preview box on the right, along witha short description.
3) Choose the relevant button to apply your selection to all components of LibreOffice, oronly to Writer. The Writer window changes to match your selection.
4) Click Close to close the dialog.

Figure 1: Selecting a user interface
If you have activated experimental features (Tools > Options > Advanced), several morechoices appear on the left-hand side. These choices are not described here.

Standard interfaces
Three of the user interface choices in Figure 1 are described in Chapter 1, Introducing Writer.
Standard toolbarClassic mode with two visible toolbars: standard and formatting. The sidebar shows only itstabs.
Single toolbar
Only one toolbar with frequently used features. The sidebar shows only its Hide button.
Sidebar
The sidebar is fully opened and only one toolbar (Formatting) is showing.
4 | Chapter 21, User Interface Variants

The elements on each of the standard user interfaces can be modified using the View menu on
the Menu bar.

Tabbed interface
The Tabbed interface (Figure 2) provides a familiar interface for users coming from proprietary
office suites such as Microsoft Office. It includes a Menu bar, an Icon bar, a Tab bar, icons for theactive tab, one or more tab-specific menus, and a Quick Menu. On Windows and Linux, theMenu bar can be hidden or displayed by clicking on the Menu Bar icon in the Icon bar (Figure 4).

1 Icon bar

2 Active tab

3 Icons on active tab

4 Tabs

5 Tab menus

6 Quick menu

Figure 2: Tabbed Interface with Menu bar hidden
In Writer, this user interface variant includes nine fixed tabs and five additional tabs. Each tab
displays a set of icons grouped by context. The context can change depending on the location ofthe cursor or the item selected. Each tab also includes one or more tab-specific drop-downmenus at the right-hand end. The Quick Menu is the same for all tabs.
The Tabbed interface can be customized using the Notebookbar tab of the Customize dialog toshow and hide the individual icons on the various tabs. See Chapter 20, Customizing Writer, formore information.
If the icons on a tab do not fit into the width of the Writer window, >> appears at the end of therow. Click it to display the other commands (Figure 3).

Figure 3: Displaying more commands on a tab

Icon bar
The icon bar (Figure 4) is located at the top left of the tabs.

Figure 4: Tabs – Icon box
1 Menu bar – Show / Hide the menu bar.
2 Open (Ctrl+O) – Open a file browser, where you can select the file to be opened.
3 Save (Ctrl+S) – Save the open file.
4 Undo (Ctrl+Z) – Undo the last action performed.
5 Redo (Ctrl+Y) – Redo the last undone action.
6 Print (Ctrl+P) – Open the Print dialog.

Tabbed interface | 5

Quick menu
At the right-hand end of the tab bar is a Quick menu (Figure 5) containing some commonly usedcommands and links. Some of the Quick menu items have submenus, indicated by arrows on theright.

Figure 5: Quick menu

Fixed tabs
The fixed tabs in Writer are File, Home, Insert, Layout, References, Review, View, Extension,and Tools. The tabs are described on the following pages. The illustrations show the left andright ends of the tabs separately so they are large enough to more easily see the commands.

File tab
The File tab (Figure 6) includes commands to create new documents; open, save, print, andclose documents; manage templates; export to PDF and EPUB; display document properties;
add a digital signature; and sign an existing PDF.

Figure 6: Tabbed Interface – File tab

6 | Chapter 21, User Interface Variants

The File tab has two menus (Figure 7): File and Help. The File menu contains the samecommands as the icons on the tab. The Help menu provides links to a variety of resources.

Figure 7: File tab menus

Home tab
The Home tab (Figure 8) includes commands to cut, copy, paste, and format text; insert commonitems (image, table, special characters, and page break); apply, update, and edit styles; andothers.

Figure 8: Tabbed Interface – Home tab

Tabbed interface | 7

The Home tab menu (Figure 9) provides additional commands that are not on the tab.

Figure 9: Home tab menu

Insert tab
The Insert tab (Figure 10) includes commands to insert many commonly used items.

Figure 10: Tabbed Interface – Insert tab8 | Chapter 21, User Interface Variants

The Insert tab menu (Figure 11) provides some of the same commands.

Figure 11: Insert tab menu

Layout tab
The Layout tab (Figure 12) provides commands for working on page layout.

Figure 12: Tabbed Interface – Layout tab

Tabbed interface | 9

The Layout tab menu (Figure 13) provides commands for a few of the same items.

Figure 13: Layout tab menu

References tab
The References tab (Figure 14) provides commands for working with tables of contents,indexes, footnotes and endnotes, cross-references, bibliographies, and fields.

Figure 14: Tabbed Interface – References tab
The References tab menu (Figure 15) provides many of the same commands.

Figure 15: References tab menu

10 | Chapter 21, User Interface Variants

Review tab
The Review tab (Figure 16) assists in editing. It provides quick access to recording, showing,hiding, and managing changes.

Figure 16: Tabbed Interface – Review tab
The Review tab menu (Figure 17) provides many of the same commands.

Figure 17: Review tab menu

Tabbed interface | 11

View tab
The View tab (Figure 18) provides commands related to the display of a document on screen.

Figure 18: Tabbed Interface – View tab
The View tab menu (Figure 19) provides many of the same commands.

Figure 19: View tab menu

Extension tab
The Extension tab (Figure 20) contains only the menu for accessing the Extension Manager.

Figure 20: Tabbed Interface – Extension tab

12 | Chapter 21, User Interface VariantsTools tab
The Tools tab (Figure 21) provides several tools for macros, mail merge, and form creation.

Figure 21: Tabbed Interface – Tools tab
The Tools tab menu (Figure 22) provides some of the same commands.

Figure 22: Tools tab menu

Additional tabs
Additional tabs appear when an item is selected; they are displayed between the View andExtension tabs. The additional tabs in Writer are Draw, Image, Media, Object, and Table.

Draw tab
The Draw tab (Figure 23) is displayed when a drawing object is selected. It provides commands
for captioning and modifying the drawing object and for inserting and modifying Fontwork objects.

Tabbed interface | 13

Figure 23: Tabbed Interface – Draw tab
The Draw tab menu (Figure 24) provides a subset of commands, which vary depending on thedrawing object.

Figure 24: Draw tab menu examples

Image tab
The Image tab (Figure 25) provides commands for working with images, including captions,cropping, borders and area styles and colors, anchors, wrapping, positioning, and filtering.

Figure 25: Tabbed Interface – Image tab

14 | Chapter 21, User Interface Variants

The Image tab menu (Figure 26) provides links to dialogs for working with images.

Figure 26: Image tab menu

Media tab
The Media tab (Figure 27) provides commands for positioning and running an audio or video file.

Figure 27: Tabbed Interface – Media tab
The Media tab menu (Figure 28) provides some of the same commands

Figure 28: Media tab menu

Tabbed interface | 15

Object tab
The Object tab (Figure 29) provides commands to position, resize, link, choose colors andborders for the selected object. The illustration shows the tab when a frame is selected.

Figure 29: Tabbed Interface – Object tab
The Object tab menu (Figure 30) provides a few of the same commands. The illustration shows
the menu when a frame is selected.

Figure 30: Object tab menu

Table tab
The Table tab (Figure 31) is opened when the cursor is in a table.

Figure 31: Tabbed Interface – Table tab

16 | Chapter 21, User Interface Variants

The Table tab menu (Figure 32) includes some commands not shown on the tab.

Figure 32: Table tab menu

Tabbed Compact interface
The Tabbed Compact interface has the same tabs as the Tabbed interface, but the commands oneach tab are arranged in a single row of icons, many with drop-down menus of choices.

Figure 33: Tabbed Compact interface example: Insert tabGroupedbar Compact interface
The Groupedbar Compact interface (Figure 34) is divided into groups that contain commands
organized as sets of icons and menus.

Figure 34: Groupedbar Compact interface example

Groupedbar Compact interface | 17

The Groupedbar menu (Figure 35) provides a subset of commands, including a convenient way
to change the user interface.

Figure 35: Groupedbar menu

Contextual Single interface
The Contextual Single interface displays a standard Menu bar and a single toolbar with contextdependent content.

18 | Chapter 21, User Interface Variants