Writer Guide 7.2

PrefaceCopyrightThis document is Copyright © 2021 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 Creative
Commons 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 Weber

Kees Kriek

To previous editions
Jean Hollis Weber
Bruce Byfield

Rafael Lima
Gillian Polack

Kees Kriek

Feedback
Please direct any comments or suggestions about this document to the Documentation Team’s
mailing list: documentation@global.libreoffice.org

Note
Everything you send to a mailing list, including your email address and any otherpersonal information that is written in the message, is publicly archived and cannot
be deleted.

Publication date and software version
Published August 2021. Based on LibreOffice 7.2 Community.
Other versions of LibreOffice may differ in appearance and functionality.

Documentation for LibreOffice is available at https://documentation.libreoffice.org/en/Contents
Copyright............................................................................................................................2
Contributors.............................................................................................................................. 2
Feedback.................................................................................................................................. 2
Publication date and software version.......................................................................................2

Who is this book for?........................................................................................................4
What’s in this book?..........................................................................................................4
Minimum requirements for using LibreOffice................................................................4
How to get LibreOffice......................................................................................................4
Installing LibreOffice.........................................................................................................4
Setting up and customizing LibreOffice.........................................................................4
Extensions and add-ons...................................................................................................5
Where to get more help.....................................................................................................5
Help system.............................................................................................................................. 5
Other free online support.......................................................................................................... 6
Paid support and training.......................................................................................................... 6

What you see may be different........................................................................................7
Illustrations................................................................................................................................ 7
Icons......................................................................................................................................... 7

Using LibreOffice on macOS............................................................................................7
Frequently asked questions.............................................................................................8
What’s new in this user guide?........................................................................................8

Preface | 3

Who is this book for?
LibreOffice is a feature-rich, free, and open source office suite. It includes several powerfulapplications for word processing, spreadsheets, presentations, graphics, databases, and formula
editing. Writer is the word-processing application. It is compatible with a wide range of document
formats including Microsoft Word (.doc, .docx), and you can export your work in several formats
including PDF.
Anyone who wants to get up to speed quickly with Writer will find this book valuable. You may be
new to word processing software, or you may be familiar with another office suite.

What’s in this book?
This book introduces the main features of Writer, the word processor component of LibreOffice,and provides instructions for their use.

Minimum requirements for using LibreOffice
For a detailed list of requirements and operating systems supported, see the LibreOffice website,
https://www.libreoffice.org/get-help/system-requirements/.

How to get LibreOffice
Versions of LibreOffice Community for Windows, Linux, and macOS are freely available and canbe downloaded from https://www.libreoffice.org/download. Linux users will also find a version of
LibreOffice included by default in the majority of Linux distributions. Portable and other versionsof LibreOffice are listed on the download page. Linux, Enterprise, Online, and other versions may
differ in appearance and functionality from the descriptions in this book.

Installing LibreOfficeInformation on installing and setting up LibreOffice on the various supported operating systems isgiven here: https://www.libreoffice.org/get-help/install-howto/.

Setting up and customizing LibreOffice
You can change the default settings (options) in LibreOffice to suit your preferences. To change
settings, go to Tools > Options on the Menu bar (LibreOffice > Preferences on macOS).
Settings are described in the Help and in Chapter 2, Setting up LibreOffice, in the Getting Started
Guide. Some settings of particular interest to users of Writer are covered in Chapter 20, Setting
up Writer, in this book.

Tip
Many settings are intended for power users and programmers. If you do notunderstand what an option does, we recommend leaving it on the default setting
unless instructions in this book recommend changing the setting.
You can customize menus, toolbars, and keyboard shortcuts in LibreOffice, add new menus andtoolbars, and assign macros to events. See Chapter 20, Customizing Writer, for details.

4 | Preface

Extensions and add-ons
You can add functionality to LibreOffice with extensions and add-ons. Several extensions are
installed with the program and you can get others from the official extensions repository,
https://extensions.libreoffice.org/ and from other sources. See Chapter 20, Customizing Writer,
for more information on installing extensions and add-ons.

Where to get more help
This book, the other LibreOffice user guides, the Help system, and user support systems assume
that you are familiar with your computer and basic functions such as starting a program, opening
and saving files.

Help system
LibreOffice comes with an extensive online Help system. This is your first line of support.
Windows and Linux users can choose to download and install the offline Help for use when notconnected to the Internet; the offline Help is installed with the program on macOS.
To display the Help system, press F1 or select Help > LibreOffice Help on the Menu bar. If you
do not have the offline help installed on your computer and you are connected to the Internet,
your default browser will open the online Help pages on the LibreOffice website.
The Help menu includes links to other LibreOffice information and support resources. Notice that
options marked with a ‡ sign are only accessible if your computer is connected to the Internet.
•

What's This? For quick tips when a toolbar is visible, place the mouse pointer over any of
the icons to see a small box (“tooltip”) with a brief explanation of the icon’s function. For a
more detailed explanation, select Help > What's This? and hold the pointer over theicon. In addition, you can choose whether to activate Extended Tips using Tools >Options > LibreOffice > General.

•

User Guides ‡ Opens your default browser at the Documentation page of the LibreOfficewebsite https://documentation.libreoffice.org/en/. There you will find user guides (todownload as free PDFs or buy as printed copies) and other useful information.

•Show Tip of the Day Opens a small window with a random tip on how to use LibreOffice.

•Search Commands Opens a window where you can type a few letters or the name of a
Menu bar command, to quickly find where the command is located. Clicking on acommand in the resulting list may open a relevant dialog or have other effects.

•

Get Help Online ‡ Opens your default browser at the Ask LibreOffice forum of questions
and answers from the LibreOffice community https://ask.libreoffice.org/en/questions/.

•

Send Feedback ‡ Opens your default browser at the Feedback page of the LibreOfficewebsite https://www.libreoffice.org/get-help/feedback/. From there you can report bugs,
suggest new features and communicate with others in the LibreOffice community.

•

Restart in Safe Mode Opens a dialog where you can restart LibreOffice and reset thesoftware to its default settings.

•

Get Involved ‡ Opens your default browser at the Get Involved page of the LibreOfficewebsite, https://www.libreoffice.org/community/get-involved/. There you can choose a
topic of interest to help improve the program.

•

Donate to LibreOffice ‡ Opens your default browser at the Donation page of the
LibreOffice website https://donate.libreoffice.org/.

•

License Information Outlines the licenses under which LibreOffice is made available.

Where to get more help | 5

•Check for Updates ‡ Opens a dialog and checks the LibreOffice website for updates toyour version of the software.

•

About LibreOffice Opens a dialog and displays information about the version of
LibreOffice and the operating system you are using. This information will often be
requested if you ask the community for help or assistance with the software. (On macOS,
this option is found under LibreOffice on the Menu bar.)

Other free online support
The LibreOffice community not only develops software, but provides free, volunteer-based
support. See Table 1 and this web page: https://www.libreoffice.org/get-help/.
For comprehensive online support from the community, look at mailing lists and the Ask
LibreOffice website, https://ask.libreoffice.org/en/questions/. Other websites run by users alsooffer free tips and tutorials.
Table 1: Free support for LibreOffice users
Free LibreOffice support
FAQs

Answers to frequently asked questions
https://wiki.documentfoundation.org/Faq

Mailing lists

Free community support is provided by a network ofexperienced users
https://www.libreoffice.org/get-help/mailing-lists/

Questions &Answers andKnowledge BaseFree community assistance is provided in a question & answer
format. Search similar topics or ask a new question inhttps://ask.libreoffice.org/en/questions
The service is available in several other languages; just replace/en/ with de, es, fr, ja, ko, nl, pt, tr, and many others in the web
address above.

Native language
supportThe LibreOffice website in various languages
https://www.libreoffice.org/community/nlc/
Mailing lists for native languages
https://wiki.documentfoundation.org/Local_Mailing_Lists
Information about social networking
https://wiki.documentfoundation.org/Website/Web_Sites_servic
esAccessibility options

Information about available accessibility options.
https://www.libreoffice.org/get-help/accessibility/

Paid support and training
You can also pay for support through service contracts from a vendor or consulting firm
specializing in LibreOffice. For information about certified professional support, see The
Document Foundation’s website: https://www.documentfoundation.org/gethelp/support/.
For schools, educational and research institutions, and large organizations, see
https://www.libreoffice.org/download/libreoffice-in-business/.

6 | Preface

What you see may be different
Illustrations
LibreOffice runs on Windows, Linux, and macOS operating systems, each of which has several
versions and can be customized by users (fonts, colors, themes, window managers). The
illustrations in this guide were taken from a variety of computers and operating systems.
Therefore, some illustrations will not look exactly like what you see on your computer display.
Also, some of the dialogs may be different because of the settings selected in LibreOffice. You
can either use dialogs from your computer’s operating system or from LibreOffice. The
differences affect mainly Open, Save, and Print dialogs. To change which dialogs are used, go toTools > Options > LibreOffice > General and select or deselect the option Use LibreOfficedialogs.

Icons
The LibreOffice community has created icons for several icon sets: Breeze, Colibre, Elementary,
Karasa Jaga, Sifr, and Sukapura; some are also available in a dark version. As a user, you cancan select your preferred set. The icons in this guide have been taken from a variety of
LibreOffice installations that use different sets of icons. The icons for some of the many tools
available in LibreOffice may differ from the ones used in this guide.
To change the icon set used, go to Tools > Options > LibreOffice > View. In the Icon Stylesection, choose from the drop-down list.

Notes
Some Linux distributions include LibreOffice as part of the installation and may notinclude all the icon sets mentioned above. You should be able to download othericon sets from the software repository for your Linux distribution.
The Galaxy, Oxygen, and Tango icon sets are no longer included as part of thestandard installation package for Windows, macOS, or Linux. You can download andinstall them as extensions from https://extensions.libreoffice.org/en/extensions/.
In addition, some of the previously included gallery sets are now available only as
extensions; see https://extensions.libreoffice.org/?Tags%5B%5D=49 or search for
specific ones. For example, the People Gallery is available fromhttps://extensions.libreoffice.org/en/extensions/show/people-gallery

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 chapter. Fora more detailed list, see the application Help.
Windows or LinuxmacOS equivalent

EffectTools > Options
menu selection

LibreOffice > Preferences

Access setup options

Right-click

Control+click and/or right-click
depending on computer setup

Opens a context menu

Ctrl (Control)⌘ (Command)

Used with other keys

F11

⌘+T

Open the sidebar Styles deck

Using LibreOffice on macOS | 7

Frequently asked questions
How is LibreOffice licensed?
LibreOffice is distributed under the Open Source Initiative (OSI) approved Mozilla Public
License (MPL). See https://www.libreoffice.org/about-us/licenses/
It is based on code from Apache OpenOffice made available under the Apache License 2.0
but also includes software that differs from version to version under a variety of other Open
Source licenses. New code is available under LGPL 3.0 and MPL 2.0.
May I distribute LibreOffice to anyone? May I sell it? May I use it in my business?
Yes.
How many computers may I install it on?
As many as you like.
Why do I need Java to run LibreOffice? Is it written in Java?
LibreOffice is not written in Java; it is written in the C++ language. Java is one of several
languages that can be used to extend the software. The Java JDK/JRE is only required forsome features. The most notable one is the HSQLDB relational database engine.
Java is available at no cost. More information and download links to the appropriate edition
for your operating system can be found at: https://java.com/en/download/manual.jsp

Note
If you want to use LibreOffice features that require Java, it is important that thecorrect 32-bit or 64-bit edition matches the installed version of LibreOffice. See theAdvanced Options in Chapter 2 of this guide. If you do not want to use Java, you canstill use nearly all of the LibreOffice features.
How can I contribute to LibreOffice?
You can help with the development and user support of LibreOffice in many ways, and you
do not need to be a programmer. To start, check out this web page:https://www.libreoffice.org/community/get-involved/.
May I distribute the PDF of this book, or print and sell copies?
Yes, as long as you meet the requirements of one of the licenses in the copyright statement
at the beginning of this book. You do not have to request special permission. We requestthat you share with the project some of the profits you make from sales of books, inconsideration of all the work we have put into producing them. Visit
https://www.libreoffice.org/donate/ for instructions on how to donate to LibreOffice.

What’s new in this user guide?
LibreOffice 7.2 Community includes many changes not visible in the user interface. Thesechanges include improved interoperability with Microsoft’s proprietary file formats andperformance improvements in handling large files, opening certain .docx and .xlsx files,
managing font caching, and opening presentations and drawings that contain large images.
More information is in the announcement:
https://blog.documentfoundation.org/blog/2021/08/19/libreoffice-7-2-community/.
Release Notes are here: https://wiki.documentfoundation.org/ReleaseNotes/7.2.
This user guide has been updated from Writer Guide 7.1. It covers changes that are visible in theuser interface, including:•

Added a note about icon sets and Gallery sets in this Preface.

•

Added details about the Insert > Formatting Mark submenu (Chapter 2).

8 | Preface•Updated list terminology and changed screenshots in Chapters 4, 8, 9, 11, and anywhere
else lists are mentioned.

•

Added new gutter margins and choices for page background fills (Chapters 5, 6, and 9).

•

Updated details about some options on tabs of the PDF Options dialog (Chapter 7).

•

Added new, advanced features of the Style Inspector (Chapter 9)•Updated details about Templates dialog (Chapter 10).

•Added “no registered database” error message in Mail Merge Wizard (Chapter 14).

•

Added information on classifying document contents (Chapter 17).

•

Added Basic Fonts options and custom dictionaries (Chapter 20).

•

New Chapter 21 on user interface variants.

•

Minor rewording, updates to terminology, and replacement figures in many chapters.

What’s new in this user guide? | 9