Introduction

Undoubtedly, many users modern computers know that Microsoft Office, like Windows, are paid products, for which you need to pay a lot of money. However, domestic users still rarely think about the fact that the software that comes with their PC costs more than the PC itself. However, this does not apply to enterprises, because if it is discovered that they are using unlicensed software, they can be sued. So you either have to pay quite a lot of money for legal software, or use a free alternative.

Until relatively recently, if chosen last option I had to look for an application whose capabilities would be sufficient to perform certain tasks. However, it is not always convenient to use one from one developer and a spreadsheet from another. Sometimes it is necessary to integrate part of the functions of the latter into a text document (which, for example, in Microsoft Word done by inserting an Excel table into a document). Moreover, in comparison with the same Microsoft Office, such alternatives often do not satisfy many requirements.

However, everything changed with the release of OpenOffice. This set of applications has its origins in a development known as StarOffice. StarOffice is an alternative to Microsoft Office package, created by Sun Microsystems. From the very beginning it was free, then a paid version was released with some additional functions. After this, it was decided to separate free version into an independent project, which was called OpenOffice.

The first version of OpenOffice was a very good alternative to Microsoft Office. However, it had a fairly large number of flaws, as well as rather limited functionality compared to the solution from Microsoft. In this regard, it did not receive distribution corresponding to its possibilities. However, development continued further, and around the time of the release of version 1.1, an alpha version of OpenOffice Second Edition, or 2.0, became available.

OpenOffice 2.0 appealed to a much larger number of users. It offered much broader functionality and high stability, as well as compatibility with other formats (in particular, Microsoft Office documents are supported very well). This is exactly what this article will be about. Next we will look at the installation process and initial setup OpenOffice 2.0 package, and in the next article we will look in more detail at the most popular applications for working with text documents and spreadsheets.

Composition of OpenOffice

As you can understand from the above text, OpenOffice, by analogy with Microsoft Office, consists of several programs that make up the package. However, while Microsoft's product comes in many flavors (Standard, Professional, Enterprise, etc.), OpenOffice is only available in one version. The first is a paid solution, and not all users need all the features it offers. For this reason, such a division was made so that the user could choose for himself which functions he agrees to pay for.

The most famous Microsoft applications Office are the following:

• Word ( text editor);
• Excel (spreadsheets);
• Access (database);
• PowerPoint (electronic presentations);
• Outlook (mail client, organizer).

They are exactly what is duplicated in OpenOffice. Naturally, their names have been changed:

• Writer(text);
• Calc (spreadsheets);
• Base (database);
• Impress (electronic presentations).

As you can see, only Outlook has no analogue in OpenOffice. Along with the software package in question, applications called Draw and Math are supplied. From their names it is not difficult to guess that the purpose of the first is to create images (extremely simple, by the way), and the second is to create various formulas. By and large, Draw contains all those functions that are evenly distributed in other OpenOffice components. For example, here you can draw some simple objects using vector graphics tools, as well as make diagrams.

As for Math, a similar tool from Microsoft Office is called Microsoft Equation. We will briefly look at its functionality later in the second article along with a review of Writer (Math will be most useful as an application to a text editor). Now let's move on to describing the OpenOffice installation process.

Installation

The main advantage of OpenOffice over Microsoft Office is its cross-platform nature. This package works on all popular platforms, in particular Windows, Linux and MacOS. Some may argue that Microsoft's product is also available for MacOS, to which we will answer that Office is being developed separately for PC and Mac. This proves at least that the latest version of Microsoft Office for Apple's OS bears the index 2004, while the modification for Windows is “one” less: 2003.

This flexibility of OpenOffice was achieved through the use of the cross-platform Qt library. However, this leads to one rather serious drawback of this solution: some “slowness” of its interface, as well as its rather solid “weight” in random access memory computer while working.

Before you start installing OpenOffice, you need to download it from the official project website: www.openoffice.org. There you can find not only the original English version, but also a large number of localized ones. In addition, it also contains special modules for checking in other languages ​​(the number of which, by the way, is several dozen) - we will return to them a little later. As for this article, the most recent modification of the Russian version was chosen for the description, which by the time the material was prepared had reached index 2.0.2.

It is worth noting that to use absolutely all OpenOffice functions you will need to install the Java Runtime Environment on your system. Recently, the software package in question comes with an integrated Java environment. There is also a version without it, which takes up about 15 MB of space less.

The installation process itself is incredibly simple and even simpler than that of Microsoft Office.

When you click the button, a window will appear asking you to read and accept the LGPL license agreement.

The next step will be to enter user data, as well as select access rights: for all users of the computer or only for those who are in this moment performs the installation.

Selecting the installation type

In the fourth step, you will need to specify the installation type: full or custom. We'll focus on the second one to take a closer look at all the components that come with OpenOffice.

If you compare the variety of packages supplied with OpenOffice and Microsoft Office, the comparison will be in favor of the latter. This, however, is quite predictable. However, looking ahead, we note that in most cases there will be no shortage of OpenOffice functionality.

In the penultimate step, you will be asked to select the Microsoft Office file formats that you would like to be opened in OpenOffice. By default, none are selected. If you just want to “see” what a free “office” is, then we recommend leaving everything here without any changes. After that, click “Next” and go directly to the installation itself.

Before moving on to the settings, we need to mention the need to re-accept license agreement. You will be asked to do this the first time you launch any application included with OpenOffice.

OpenOffice welcome message when you first launch it

All settings are grouped in the now fashionable “tree” structure, which is located on the left. Let's dwell only on the most important settings from our point of view.

Memory usage settings can be adjusted in the item of the same name on the left. You can leave the cache settings unchanged, but sometimes it makes sense to disable the “Start OpenOffice.org during system boot” checkbox. As we mentioned above, the OpenOffice interface is written using the Qt library, which is quite slow due to its versatility. Therefore the change this parameter can reduce system RAM consumption by several megabytes or, conversely, speed up the initial launch of OpenOffice programs several times.

On the “View” tab, perhaps the most interesting group of checkboxes is “3D Image”. Yes, OpenOffice uses OpenGL to render some objects. This graphics library can be used when drawing or when constructing diagrams.

Setting up font auto-replacement

A very interesting feature of OpenOffice is the automatic replacement of fonts that are missing in the system. This may be most relevant to users of Linux operating systems, where there can usually be some issues with fonts in terms of availability.

Security Settings

All documents created in OpenOffice can be password protected. Naturally, a similar function is found in Microsoft Office. However, it is worth noting that there are a large number of programs designed to hack documents in MS Office format. As for the software package in question, saving it in one native format can serve as good protection, since OpenOffice is not installed everywhere.

In the “Load/Save” group, the sections “VBA and Microsoft Office Properties” are of greatest interest. They are responsible for compatibility with Microsoft Office documents. The first item is used to configure the conversion parameters of macros written in Visual Basic(in total, OpenOffice supports four languages ​​for creating macros: OpenOffice Basic, Python, BeanShell and JavaScript), and the second is designed to set automatic conversion parameters, which is one of the workflow automation functions. In particular, for example, you can set to save all MS Word documents in the Writer format, or vice versa - convert from Writer to the Word format.

Setting up spell checking

The “Linguistics” item from the “Language Settings” group is responsible for checking spelling. Here you can specify which languages ​​to check, as well as which ones to use. In addition, given the specifics of documents typed by Russian-speaking users, it would be a good idea to check the “Check in all languages” checkbox. In this case, if the text contains, for example, Russian (main text) and English (some inserts) words, then they will all be checked separately in accordance with the language in which they are printed, and not recognized as monolingual text.

It is worth noting that along with the Russian version of OpenOffice, a corresponding module for checking Russian spelling is supplied. However, if you need support for another language, or if you suddenly decide to install the English version, you will have to add the verification language manually. This is not as easy to do as in Microsoft Office.

First, you need to download the language module from the appropriate page on the Internet.

Then you need to find the location of the dictionary.lst file. By default it is located in /share/dict/ooo. It must be opened in any text editor like standard notepad. Next, you need to enter two lines with the following content at the end of the file:

HYPH ru RU hyph_ru_RU
DICT ru RU ru_RU_ie

The first is used to indicate a dictionary of synonyms, and the second is used to check spelling. It is worth noting that hyph_ru_RU and ru_RU_ie are real file names, listed here without an extension and located in the folder along with the dictionary.lst file. So unpack the downloaded language module into /share/dict/ooo.

Setting up a proxy server

Before finishing the story about the basic settings of OpenOffice, it is worth mentioning the section responsible for connecting to the Internet. It can be useful if you need to access any program from the package on the World Wide Web. If you access it through a proxy server, you can set its parameters for OpenOffice in the “Internet” group.

We briefly described the main components of the OpenOffice package, and also went over the most important global settings. We can only note that among the latter there are several interesting parameters that are not available in Microsoft Office, but because of them there is no need to change it to a free alternative.

OO Writer and MS Word

Now let's get down to business, and we'll start with what lies on the surface - the interface of the Writer main window.

If you download the OO Writer and MS Word programs, several differences immediately catch your eye. Firstly, there is no additional panel (called the “Task Pane” in the Russian version of Word) where you can get fast access to various functions.

Secondly, in Writer, conventional lines show the page layout (can be removed via the “View->Text Borders” menu). Well, thirdly, the toolbar and status bar are different. It is noteworthy that the number of menu items is absolutely the same and even their order is almost identical.

Window for opening a document in OO Writer

Window for opening a document in MS Word

The functionality of the document opening windows in Writer and Word is almost completely identical, with the only exception that for latest program it is slightly expanded. In particular, there is an additional menu “Service”, which allows you to connect network drive, view the properties of the selected folder or file, and so on.

Much more significant differences can be found by expanding the drop-down list with supported file types. If with MS Word everything is more or less clear (it is possible to open documents created in Word, WordPerfect, as well as HTML pages), then the OpenOffice developers took a different path.

You can immediately notice that the number of supported formats is very large. This, however, is not surprising - to the already familiar “docs” (.doc), its own formats are added, as well as support for StarOffice files, from which, let us recall, OpenOffice grew. In addition, there is support for documents from more exotic programs, which in our area are not very often found on a regular office or home computer.

If you scroll down this huge list, then text formats will be followed by spreadsheets, presentations, and so on. This is one of the fundamental differences between MS Office and OpenOffice: the ability to create and open any documents from any application in the package.

Creating a new document in OpenOffice

Creating a new document in MS Word

Indeed, if you open the “File->New” menu in OpenOffice, the selection will not be limited to documents, for example, of only one Writer. If you select a spreadsheet, Calc will load, if you select a presentation, Impress will load, and so on.

When working with text great importance have styles. The corresponding item is located in the “Format” menu (as, indeed, in MS Word). The window for editing styles looks extremely simple: at the top there is a small toolbar (you can select styles for a paragraph, for characters, for a page, frames and lists of various types), then there is a list of available styles, and at the very bottom there is a drop-down list that groups styles according to some characteristic.

In the case of MS Word, everything is generally identical, with the only exception that there is no such obvious division of styles for paragraphs, pages, and so on. In addition, the panel immediately shows what text formatting will happen when you select a style, whereas in OpenOffice you have to apply it first.

Creating and editing styles in OpenOffice and MS Office follows slightly different principles. If in the first case all settings are proposed to be made in a window with a large number of tabs, then in the second case all parameters are accessed from one window.

By the way, it is worth noting that if you change the settings of the main styles in OO Writer, they will still not be written to the default template. So that when creating a new document, the necessary design is immediately available to you, you need to do the following: first, set the parameters that you want to apply when creating a new file, that is, you just need to specify the font, its size, indentation from the edges, background color, text and so on. But at the same time, you should not print anything in the document, since the typed text will be loaded along with the rest of the settings.

The next step is to set the created template as the default for all documents. In the window from the menu “File->Templates->Manage” in the list on the left, expand the “My templates” folder, select yours and right-click to bring up the context menu where the item you need is located, which will allow you to select the created default template.

Now it remains to consider the implementation of basic functions, such as creating tables, inserting various objects, a print window, spell checking and others.

It must be said that working with tables in OpenOffice is generally more convenient than in MS Word. There are four ways to insert a table into a page: through the Insert menu, through the Table menu, using a keyboard shortcut, and through the toolbar. The last point is worth noting separately.

As you can see from the screenshots, for Word, when creating a table through the toolbar, there is a limit on the number of rows and columns. In Writer, this number is limited by the resolution of your screen - as you move your mouse cursor to the right and down, the area will increase.

Inserting a table through the menu opens a corresponding window where you can set the number of rows and columns, as well as the display of the header (the “Header” checkbox). The last parameter means that a special style will be applied to the first row of the table, making it stand out from the rest. In addition, you can set the title to repeat on each page if the table does not fit on one. You can also set a name for the table so that you can later make a link to it.

There are also standard table design templates:

Splitting a cell into parts in OO Writer

The possibilities for editing tables in OO Writer are also wider than in MS Word. In particular, in the first program you can very simply insert a row or column, practically without disturbing the formatting of everything else, just as there is a more flexible system for splitting cells into parts. Although, on the other hand, inserting a table from Calc (spreadsheets) into Writer, as is possible in Word (inserting an Excel table), occurs somewhat differently.

First you need to select the desired range of cells in Calc, then copy it to the clipboard and paste it into Writer.

After that, by double-clicking it, editing it will become possible as if you were in Calc.

Inserting a mathematical formula into an OO Writer document also requires less manipulation. You just need to go to the “Insert->Object” menu and select “Formula”, whereas in Word you have to insert a Microsoft Equation program object into the page, which can be a little confusing for a beginner.

As for the editor itself, it is more convenient in the Microsoft product, as it is more visual. In OpenOffice, a separate field appears at the bottom, where one or another mathematical operation is conventionally designated.

Drawing panel in OO Writer Until relatively recently, if you chose the latter option, you had to search on the Internet for some application whose capabilities would be sufficient to perform certain tasks. However, it is not always convenient to use a text editor from one developer and a spreadsheet from another. Sometimes it is necessary to integrate part of the latter’s functions into a text document (which, for example, in Microsoft Word is done by inserting an Excel table into the document). Moreover, in comparison with the same Microsoft Office, such alternatives often do not satisfy many requirements.

Drawing in Writer also follows a slightly different principle. If in Word a special area is created where some drawings are placed, then in an open editor the entire document serves as the “canvas”. The drawn object can be tied to either a paragraph or a character, or even made “free”.

Spell checking in OO Writer

Spell checking in MS Word

It's worth saying a few words about checking grammar. If you configured it correctly, the program will only be able to check spelling. You will have to monitor the punctuation personally. In addition, if any word is underlined as incorrect, then if you need to add it to the dictionary, you will be asked to choose one of three. Why this was done is not entirely clear. You can add to any - the word will no longer be underlined.

Preview also not much different from the “Word” version.

Print window in OO Writer

Print window in MS Word

But the possibilities for setting up printing in MS Word are wider than in Writer. Thus, the latter does not have the function of scaling several pages on one, and you cannot set two-sided printing.

Find and Replace in MS Word

On the other hand, searching and replacing a string in a document is not implemented as conveniently as in Word. Although the capabilities are the same in both, in Writer they are all grouped in one window, and in the Microsoft editor they are organized into tabs. In addition, in Word it is more convenient to set special search parameters, such as “search only bold text.”

By and large, we have reviewed the main functions of the Writer program from the OpenOffice package. We can only mention some unique features, such as support for exporting a document to PDF format (which in some cases can be very useful), as well as comparing two documents:

Comparing two documents in OO Writer

In addition, I would like to note that there is no review function in Writer. And although if you open a MS Word document with a review, the changes will be visible, but it is not displayed as conveniently as in the original editor:

Reviewed MS Word document opened in OO Writer

Reviewed document opened in MS Word

Overall, however, Writer's compatibility with MS Word documents is excellent. Of course, very complex formatting will be too much for him, but the vast majority of files will be displayed correctly. In addition, it is very pleasant to note that this statement is also true for the opposite: Writer perfectly saves to MS Word format. Documents look almost the same in both editors.

And we move on to considering a program for working with spreadsheets OpenOffice Calc.

OO Calc and MS Excel

As in the case of Writer, we will begin the description of Calc with the interface of the main window.

We believe that we will surprise few people with the statement that the interfaces of Calc and Excel are very similar in many ways. At the top of the window there is a menu, below it there are toolbars, in the center there are the tables themselves, and at the bottom there is a similar status bar with sheet tabs. Excel just added a “Task Pane”, like any other MS Office application.

However, if you go deeper, the differences become more noticeable. Let's take the same styles for example. Editing and creating them in Calc is done in much the same way as in Writer, while in Excel these operations are performed completely differently.

Cell properties in OO Calc

Cell properties in MS Excel

Inserting a function in OO Calc

Inserting a function in MS Excel

One of the most important tasks of spreadsheets is calculating values ​​using some formulas and functions. Inserting a function in Calc is almost the same as in Excel. However, it is worth noting one very important point: the functions in the first program are named English language in any localized version, whereas in a product from Microsoft - in Russian in the Russian-language version and in English in the English-language version.

We tend to believe that the Calc developers' choice is preferable. Think for yourself, if suddenly for some reason you have to change Russian Excel version into English, then there will be a need to re-learn some functions, or rather, search for their analogues in another language. Agree, this is very inconvenient.

The implementation of the autofilter function in Calc is practically no different from that in Excel, however, the latter has the ability to select all empty and filled cells. In addition, there are some differences in creating a filter condition:

As you can see, in spreadsheets from OpenOffice you can set three conditions for the filter, as well as specify parameters such as case sensitivity, input regular expression, search without repetitions (grouping).

Working with diagrams is implemented in a very interesting way. First, despite excellent compatibility with many MS Office documents, Calc does not display charts and graphs created in Excel correctly. Here good example:

MS Excel charts opened in OO Calc

Charts opened in MS Excel

As for the native charting functions, they have both unique properties and do not offer some often needed capabilities. The process of creating a diagram begins by selecting the appropriate item from the Insert menu or button on the toolbar. You immediately have to set the size of the chart yourself, while Excel by default sets the standard width and height.

First step of building a chart in OO Calc (selecting a range of cells with data)

The first step of creating a chart in MS Excel (selecting a chart type)

The order in which the chart itself is constructed differs quite significantly between Calc and Excel. In the first case, you are first asked to specify the exact range, as well as some other parameters, and in the second, you are asked to select the chart type.

Second step of building a chart in OO Calc (choosing a chart type)

Selecting a chart option

The second step of building a chart in MS Excel (selecting a range of cells with data)

In the second step, it’s the other way around – Calc offers to select the type of chart (and then immediately one of its available subtypes or options), and Excel – the range of cells from which the data will be taken.

Setting chart display options in OO Calc

MS Excel Chart

As a result, the result is approximately the same, even the default colors are the same. However, some editing options are not available. This particularly applies to filling. For the chart stripes themselves, you can set the filling with a solid color, a gradient, shading, or some kind of pattern. But what’s surprising is that the gradient can only be selected from those provided by the developers, and for some reason it’s not possible to set the colors yourself:

It must be said that this is a rather serious flaw that can quite significantly limit the use of Calc. And, the strangest thing is, the OpenOffice developers are not even planning improvements in this regard. In any case, editing diagrams has remained unchanged since the first alpha versions of OpenOffice 2.0. But, on the other hand, you can turn on transparency and shadows for graphs. In addition, you can create three-dimensional charts, where you can set any angle of inclination and even calculate the lighting for each strip of the graph:

3D chart in OO Calc

Rotate a 3D chart

If Excel saves to CSV files as best it can, Calc offers to set the encoding in which the file, field separator, and text separator will be written.

What's especially noteworthy is the ability to set special parameters for opening CSV files, which is done in case Calc does not recognize the data correctly. Again, you can select the field and text separator, as well as the encoding. A preview of the table will be shown below. Excel just opens without asking anything.

Perhaps this is where we will finish the story about OpenOffice Calc. Some of its functions were announced in the section about Writer (for example, preview, print window, spell check), but some do not deserve such close attention. Therefore, we now move directly to the conclusions regarding the considered package.

conclusions

Although we've only looked at two of the main OpenOffice programs, they are the most popular of them all. So, Writer. This application, in our opinion, is a very good alternative to Microsoft Word. They are offered almost no less functionality(basic ones, anyway), and Writer, like all of OpenOffice, is absolutely free. And although some things are not implemented as conveniently (and some, on the contrary, are more convenient), in general, this program is more than enough to perform the vast majority of tasks.

As for OpenOffice Calc, it is, in fact, a rather unique product on the market. While there are many alternative text editors, there are far fewer spreadsheets. And Calc showed itself to be very worthy in this regard. In general, if you compare it with Excel, the latter is more convenient and faster to work with, but if you remember that Calc is free, then most of the complaints should disappear. Although the described shortcomings in the design of diagrams, we believe, would need to be corrected.

By the way, it would not be out of place to note some “slowness” of OpenOffice programs when saving large documents. Our attempts to understand this led to the following conclusion: the culprit is the file format of this package. All of them are saved as XML, packed in a ZIP archive (!). It’s the transformation and packaging that take quite a long time. Try to open any file from any OpenOffice application with some file manager or archiver yourself and verify the reliability of these statements.

As a result, we can draw the following conclusion: it makes sense to try OpenOffice if you have the time (even a little) and desire (even a little). You may like it, and you won’t have to go back to Microsoft Office (or any other package).

Leave your comment!

Anton Ionov, Yuri Konovalov, Alexey Novodvorsky, Daniil Smirnov, Ilya Trunin, Anatoly Yakushin

General information about the OpenOffice.org office suite

OpenOffice.org is a free suite of office programs that includes the following components:

OpenWriter( word processor and HTML editor);

OpenCalc (spreadsheets);

OpenDraw( graphics editor);

OpenImpress (presentation system);

OpenMatch formula editor;

data access module.

OpenOffice.org is a full-fledged free office suite, not inferior in its capabilities to such popular proprietary programs as Microsoft Office. It contains components for working with text, spreadsheets, works with databases, processes graphics, creates complex documents Internet publications.

The developers of OpenOffice.org, introducing advanced document processing technologies, tried to make the work of ordinary users as easy as possible. Therefore, when you first meet, you find yourself in a familiar environment, familiar from MS applications, and can immediately start working. There is no need to relearn - Microsoft Office skills are quite enough. If you have books on Microsoft Office, then they are also suitable for your first acquaintance with OpenOffice.org - the basic working techniques are extremely similar.

Once you start using OpenOffice.org, you can continue to work with all the files that you previously prepared in the Microsoft Office environment, and easily exchange documents with users of other programs.

OpenOffice.org reads and saves documents in most popular formats. These include Word files, Excel, PowerPoint, RTF, html, xhtml, DocBook, simple text files in various encodings. In addition, OpenOffice.org allows you to export complex documents with illustrations and graphs in pdf format. The OpenImpress presentation system allows you to export presentations to Macromedia Flash (.swf) format.

OpenOffice.org contains everything necessary components to create complex systems. It supports templates, can work with databases, contains its own OOBasic programming language, much like MS Visual Basic for Application, and runs programs written in the Java programming language.

OpenOffice.org runs on several platforms: Microsoft Windows, Linux, FreeBSD, Solaris, Mac OS X and many others. At the same time, the appearance of the applications and the format of the files used remain unchanged, which allows users of a variety of operating systems to collaborate on documents.

IN this manual the programs from the OpenOffice.org package version 1.1 are described. However, at the moment a new, still unstable version of the package has already been released - 2.0. In version 2.0, some fundamental changes have been made: in particular, document formats have been changed; the Open Document standard is now used, file extensions have changed. Version 2.0 is currently available along with 1.1 in a separate package; they can be installed in parallel.

Launch of OpenOffice.org

OpenOffice.org can be launched both from the main menu (where it appears in the “Office” section) and by command ooffice - key . You can view available launch keys using the key -help. When launched without a key, the main OpenOffice.org window starts. For each application from the kit there is also a separate command of the form oo application , For example oowriter .

Table 1. Basic keys for launching OpenOffice.org

Using command line options, it's easy to create icons to launch OpenOffice.org applications.

In file managers that support MIME file types (for example, Konqueror), you can establish an association between a file with a specific extension and one of the OpenOffice.org applications: in this case, when opening the file in file manager the desired application will automatically launch.

OpenOffice.org 1.1 accepts the following file extensions:

OpenWriter text editor

Appearance

The main window of the OpenWriter text editor after launch looks something like what is shown in Figure 1, “Appearance of the OpenWriter text editor”. Currently, active work is underway on a new translation of the OpenOffice.org interface, so some Russian names of interface elements may differ from those given in this manual.

Figure 1. Appearance of the OpenWriter text editor

You can change the appearance of OpenWriter using the View menu, or by right-clicking on the desired element. This way you can add or remove an element from the screen or change the set of standard buttons. The most complex interface settings can be made through the menu Service → Settings.

The user can choose one of three options for displaying the document - standard, full screen and web layout mode. Switching modes is done in the menu View → Full screen or View → Web page mode. In addition, you can switch between standard and full screen modes using a keyboard shortcut Ctrl -Shift -j .

Figure 2. OpenWriter Full Screen Mode

The scale of the displayed text is indicated in the document status bar. You can change the scale in different ways:

select the menu item View → Scale;

double-click with the left mouse button over the scale size in the status bar to open a dialog box;

If you have a mouse with a scroll wheel, press the key Ctrl and, holding it, rotate the scroll wheel.

Entering text

When entering text, you don't have to worry about breaking the end of the line; OpenWriter will do it automatically. The enter key should only be pressed when a new paragraph begins.

The most convenient way of working is to first enter the text in full, then correct typos, and only then format the text.

After a while of filling a document with text, OpenWriter begins to suggest options for continuing long words. One of the most convenient features of OpenOffice.org - autocomplete - has started working. To agree with the proposed option, just click Enter; If the suggested word continuation option does not suit you, just continue typing. This feature is very helpful when entering long terms or words in another language, especially for those who have not yet learned to type quickly.

If there are several words in the text that begin with the same combination of letters, then using key combinations Ctrl -Tab or Shift -Ctrl -Tab, you can select the words you need from the list of words that OpenWriter has remembered.

To configure auto-fill, select Tools → from the menu. AutoCorrect/AutoFormat → Completing a word. In the same section of the menu, by entering the Replace item, you can set up automatic correction of the most common typos. Now, even if you type a word incorrectly, OpenWriter will change it without waiting for the spell check. In the Exceptions item, you can assign abbreviations after which the sentence does not automatically begin with a capital letter.

Figure 3. Dialog box AutoCorrect/AutoFormat

Move through text

You can use the cursor keys in conjunction with the Ctrl- in this case, the left and right arrow keys move the cursor one word (before the space or punctuation marks) to the left or right, and the PageUp And PageDown- to the beginning or end of the document.

When working with large documents, problems often arise with orientation in the text and rapid movement through it. To make it easier to work with multi-page texts in OpenWriter, there is a special tool - “”. It can be called by the function key F5, the "" button on the function bar or double-clicking on the page number in the status bar.

Figure 4. Navigator

The navigator is an interactive table of contents of a document, in which all the elements that make up the document are presented in a hierarchical form.

In the Navigator window, there is a function panel at the top, possible document objects are listed in the center, and a drop-down list at the bottom contains a list of all open documents.

To quickly move between document objects, it is convenient to use the “Navigation” window, which can be called up with a button from the Navigator function bar or a button located at the bottom right of the vertical scroll bar.

Figure 5. Window "Navigation"

By selecting in this window necessary element document, for example "Page" or " Graphic object", you can click on the "up" or "down" arrows to move between the selected elements. To move to desired page enter the number of this page in the window on the Navigator function panel and click Enter .

The central window of the Navigator lists all possible text elements. The objects used in this document are presented as a drop-down list. By double-clicking on it with the left mouse button, you can see the structure of objects and their hierarchy, and using the group of tools in the right corner of the function panel you can change the levels of these objects and move them.

Working with text fragments

There are several options for highlighting text in OpenWriter. alternative ways. You can select text character by character by holding down the key Shift and moving the cursor using the keys. Holding Ctrl -Shift, you can select text not character by character, but word by word. Key combination Shift -PageUp highlights the text up the page, and Shift -PageDown- down the page. Key combination Ctrl -A Highlights all document text. You can also select all text through the menu item Edit → Select all.

You can also select text character by character by holding left button mouse and moving the cursor. Double-clicking the left mouse button selects a word, and triple-clicking a line of text. When a key is pressed Shift left-clicking will highlight the text from the text cursor position to the mouse cursor position.

You can select several pieces of text in different places in the document by pressing and holding the key Ctrl, left mouse button to select the necessary text fragments. This function is called " Group text selection».

You can change the selection mode by clicking on the status bar above the STANDARD label. You can also switch between STANDARD and ADD modes by pressing F8. The following abbreviations are used in this line for the different modes:

Selected text can be moved by holding the left mouse button and dragging the selected fragment to the desired location; you can also copy it to the clipboard, paste it from the clipboard, or delete it (cut it from the text and place it in the clipboard). There are several ways to do this:

via the Edit menu;

through a pop-up menu accessible by right-clicking;

key combination: copy - Ctrl -c, insert - Ctrl -v, cut - Ctrl -x .

Document exchange: import and export

You can save the document using the menu File → Save, the “Save" button on the function bar or the hot key Ctrl -s. If the document has already been saved, the button on the toolbar will be inactive. When you save a document for the first time, a dialog will open where you need to enter a file name and, possibly, specify the document type (if you are not satisfied with the default document type).

Figure 6. Save Document Dialog Box

The file name is entered in the “File name” field; it can be entered indicating a relative or absolute path. To go to another directory, double-click on the directory name in the list. To make it more convenient to navigate through the catalogs, you can sort the list by clicking on one of the column headings. For example, to sort by file type it is obviously "Type"; Clicking the same heading again means sorting in reverse order (indicated by an arrow).

The up level button is used to go to the parent directory; If you hold it for more than one second, a menu will appear that allows you to go up several levels at once.

The next button is used to create a new directory (in the current directory): you will need to enter the name of the new directory and confirm its creation.

The rightmost button is used to navigate to the directory where all documents will be saved by default. You can change this directory in the dialog: Tools → Options → OpenOffice.org → Paths → My Documents.

Option " Automatic file name expansion" is used to set the extension according to the " File type " field. Option " Save with password» allows you to save a file that can only be opened by entering a password (at least 5 characters).

In addition to saving in its own format, OpenWriter allows you to export and import documents in formats such as:

Microsoft Word various versions;

Rich Text Format (rtf);

StarOffice format versions 3–5;

text file;

• Portable Document Format (PDF);

  into formats for handheld computers with PalmOS and PocketPC operating systems.

To export to a simple text file, you must select the file type " Coded text", specify the file name and click the "Save" button. In the window " ASCII Filter Options» you can select the required encoding. To open a plain text file with an encoding other than Latin-1, you must specify the file type " Coded text» and select the required file encoding in the dialog box.

Figure 7. Selecting encoding when saving a text file

Portable Document Format (PDF) is a universal format for the electronic presentation of documents developed by Adobe, including typography, layout and graphics. By creating a document like this, you can be sure that anyone will be able to see and print it exactly as it was originally intended. The appearance of the document does not depend on which operating system you are viewing the document on; viewing and printing do not require any additional fonts or other components - everything necessary for display is already included in the document.

In order to convert the created document into pdf file, click the “Export to PDF” button on the function bar and specify the file name in the dialog box. To set the parameters created file, select the menu item File → Export to PDF, specify the file name in the dialog box and click the “ Export” button. will appear dialog window, where you can select the area of ​​the document to export and optimization options.

In the operating room Linux system documents received in PDF format can be viewed using xpdf, GhostView or KghostView.

Printing a document

OpenOffice.org provides a special command for printing and utilities for setting up the printer. Printers are configured through the File menu → Printing options, where you can select the printer and set its properties.

The fastest and easiest way to send a document for printing is by clicking the button with a stylized image of a printer on the function panel - immediately after clicking, the entire document will be printed.

Sometimes you need to set special printing options. To do this, use the menu item File → Print or the keyboard shortcut Ctrl -p; in the dialog that opens, select the printer to which you will print and, by clicking on the “Properties” button, set its properties.

Perhaps, before printing, you would like to see on the screen how the document will look on paper. To do this, you can use the menu item File →. Tools for setting viewing properties will appear in the toolbar, but you cannot edit the document in this mode. Button " Close preview" on the toolbar serves to return the editor to normal operation.

Figure 8. Dialog " Page Preview»

The button for full-screen viewing of a document hides menus, toolbars, scroll bars and leaves only the preview panel. The next two buttons allow you to print the document and set viewing options accordingly.

In Preview mode, you can display multiple pages at a time. In addition, from the window " Page Preview» You can print the text in such a way that on one standard sheet there are several reduced copies of the pages of the document. To do this, set the required number of document pages per sheet by clicking the button Page settings → several pages on the lower context panel, and then click the “Print” button with an image of a printer and two sheets on the same context panel.

Spell check

In OpenWriter, spell checking can be done automatically as you type, or you can call it manually. To automatically check you need to press the button " Automatic spell check» on the left on the main toolbar or through the Tools menu → Spellchecking → Automatic spell check. In this case, words that OpenWriter could not find in its dictionary will be underlined with a wavy red line. If you right-click on a highlighted word, you will be offered options for correction, opening a spell check dialog, adding the word to the dictionary, skipping the word throughout the document, and automatically replacing the word with one of the options selected in the submenu.

To check spelling manually, click on the " Spellchecking» on the left on the toolbar, or through the Tools menu → Spellchecking→ Check or key F7; the check starts from the current cursor position. The icon behind the “Word” field shows its status.

Figure 9. Dialogue for working with a specific word

A certain word can be skipped if it is spelled correctly. Alternatively, you can set the option " Always skip”, if this word appears more than once in the document.

If a word is spelled incorrectly, you can either enter the correct spelling in the “Word” field, or select the appropriate one from the list of options. To replace a word only in this case, click the “Replace” button; to replace it in all similar cases (in the entire document) - “Replace always”.

The Thesaurus button is used to add synonyms to the dictionary; this dialog can also be opened using the Tools → Thesaurus menu or a keyboard shortcut Ctrl -F7. It requires you to enter a word to replace. Please note that not all languages ​​are currently supported.

The "Options" button is used to set parameters and dictionaries that are used to check spelling and hyphenate. The same parameters are set in the settings dialog Tools → Options → Language settings → Linguistics.

If a word is spelled correctly, but it is not in the dictionary, then it can be added to the dictionary. To do this, select the required item in the “Dictionary” field and click on the “Add” button. In this case, all added words that appear later and in other documents will be considered correctly written.

It is possible to check spelling only in part of the text - to do this, before checking, you will need to select a fragment of the text that needs to be checked.

Sometimes words that are known to be correctly spelled are highlighted as incorrectly spelled. This may occur due to the wrong document language being selected. To change the language, you need to select the word, right-click, select Font from the drop-down menu and specify the required language of the word in the Font tab. The same dialog is available through the menu Format → Font.

Figure 10. Language selection dialog

There are no words with the letter e in the standard dictionary, so all words with this letter will be considered incorrect. In order to check texts with the letter ё, you need to install an additional dictionary.

Processing of Cyrillic documents

When working with files containing Cyrillic alphabet, some problems may arise. One of the most common is the incorrect conversion of files created in Microsoft Office 95 to the OpenOffice.org format.

To display such a file correctly, open it in OpenWriter or OpenCalc and select the entire file. Then open the Macro dialog from the menu bar Tools → Macros → Macro. Select the Tools section in the list of macros, and in this section the macro for text and for spreadsheets. Run the macro for execution using the “Run” button.

For the convenience of working with Cyrillic documents, Vladimir Bukhal and Alexey Kryukov developed the CyrillicTools package - a collection of various macros on OpenOffice.org Basic, designed for working with Cyrillic text in the OpenOffice.org 1.1 and higher environment. This package can be downloaded from the website openoffice.ru. In addition to correcting the encoding of Microsoft Office 95 files, the package allows you to enter the amount in words and correct Cyrillic text incorrectly entered in English letters.

Formatting

After the text has been typed and checked, it is advisable to give it an appearance that makes it easier to perceive what has been written. To do this, it is customary to highlight different semantic parts of a document using different typefaces (for example, serif and sans-serif) or different styles (italic, bold), indents, additional line spacing (spaces) and other methods.

For example, it is advisable to type the title of the document in larger size and place it in the center of the page, captions to pictures should be in italics, and page numbers should be placed in the lower right corner of each page. Assigning design parameters to certain parts of a document is called formatting.

Formatting can be tough or soft. At hard formatting each specific part of the document - a character, word, paragraph or page - is given certain display parameters. At the same time, formatting is in no way connected with the logical structure of the document and objects that logically belong to the same type may turn out (and almost always turn out to be, as practice shows) designed differently. For example, one of the figure captions will not be in italics, unlike the others.

At soft formatting describes the appearance not of a specific fragment of text, but of the logical part of the document - headings, body text, footnotes, footers, and for each specific part of the document only its role in the document is specified: for example, “ caption for the picture" The description of the design for a certain logical part of a document is usually called a style.

When using styles, it is necessary to logically mark up the document, i.e., indicate its structure. It is noted what in the document is the heading, what is the main text, and what is other elements. In this case, each element will take on the appearance in accordance with the style that is defined for it.

Using logical document layout and soft formatting makes it easier to work with large and complex documents and allows you to automate many stages of working with text - automatically create tables of contents, easily navigate through large documents, quickly change the design, and much more.

Working with styles

When you create a new document, a set of styles from a standard template is automatically loaded. When typing text in a new document, the default style is normal. In the window of used styles, which is located on the left of the context panel, other styles are not displayed.

For logical (soft) document markup, you need to launch the “” function key F11, button on the function bar or from the menu item Format →.

Figure 11. Style Wizard

In the Style Wizard window, the toolbar at the top left contains five buttons for the following style groups: paragraph, character, frame, page, and list. On the right there are three buttons: style fill, create a style from a selection, and update a style based on a sample. The window displays the styles of the current group according to the parameter specified in the list at the bottom of the window. If you set this list to “Automatic”, the Style Wizard will try to select a suitable set of styles for the document you are editing.

To assign a style, you need to place the cursor in the desired paragraph or on the desired page, select the appropriate style in the Style Wizard, and click Enter or double-click with the left mouse button - it will be assigned a new style. To assign a style to a symbol or group of symbols, they must be selected in a standard way.

Let's show how to work with styles using an example. We've already looked at page numbering. However, you can notice that after the numbering is arranged, the number is also on the first page. This is inconvenient in many cases. To remove the number from the first page, you need to assign it the First Page style. To do this, call the Style Wizard, go to the Page Styles section, select the First Page style and click Enter .

The standard template contains a large number of styles, and among them you can almost always choose the most suitable one. However, there are times when the standard set is not enough and you need to change the existing style or create a new one.

The easiest way to create a new style is to use the Style Wizard feature Create style from selection. To do this, give the paragraph, character, or page required format using hard formatting, select this fragment and click the " Create style from selection» on the Style Wizard toolbar. In the window, enter a new name for the style and click OK. A new style has been created. You can now assign a new style to document sections.

Figure 12. Creating a style from a selection

You can make changes to any style in a similar way. Select the required fragment of text and set the fragment to the style to which you plan to make changes. Then give it the format you want using hard formatting and in the Style Wizard, click the button Update style based on sample" The style will take the form you want.

For fine-tuning, open the style editing window. You can call it from the menu Format → Styles → Catalog → Edit or right-click on the desired style and select Edit.

Figure 13. Edit style dialog box

A set of styles created while working on a document can be reused. You can import styles from another document or save them in a template.

To import styles from another document, select Format → Styles → Load from the menu and click the “From File” button. Then select the required document. The downloaded styles will be added to the Style Wizard. However, for reusing styles, it is more convenient to use templates.

Templates

A template is usually understood as a file that contains document formatting elements, but does not contain the text itself. When you create a new document from a template, the document inherits styles, page settings (size and orientation), built-in macros, margins, and other values. At the same time, the template itself is protected from accidental changes. Templates are convenient to use when creating documents of the same type - letters, memos, reports, etc.

To create a template, select the required document, remove unnecessary text from it, check the styles and remove unnecessary ones. Please note that styles that are loaded by default cannot be deleted. To make it easier to find and manage a template, give it a name by opening the menu item File → Properties → Description → Title. Then save the new template by selecting File → Templates → Save from the menu. In the dialog box that opens, specify the desired directory and save the new template in it. To create a new directory, click the “Manage” button. In this dialog box, you can create new directories for templates and move templates between directories.

Figure 14. Saving a new template

Now the saved template can be used to create a new document. To do this, use the menu item File → New → Templates and documents and select required template.

Users are often unhappy with the default settings that OpenWriter loads. They can be changed by loading a different template by default. To do this, open the dialog box " Template management", select the template you want, right-click and select " Set as default template" Now, when creating a new document, the necessary parameters will be loaded.

Figure 15. Defining a default template

Hard formatting

Page formatting

To format a page, you need to call the menu item Format → Page. In the Page Style dialog box, you can set its orientation (portrait or landscape), paper size, presence or absence of headers and footers, and other parameters.

Figure 16. Page Style dialog box

Page numbering in OpenWriter causes some difficulties for novice users. The fact is that, unlike other editors, in OpenWriter the page numbering is part of the footer.

A footer is a reference line above or below the main text of a page. In addition to numbering, this line can display other reference information, such as the title of a section or the entire document.

To arrange page numbers, include a header or footer. This can be done using the Insert menu → Page header or Insert → footer, as well as through the Page Style dialog box.

Once the footer is enabled; Select Insert → Fields → Page Number from the menu and page numbers will be automatically placed in the document. If header and footer support is not enabled, the page number will appear at the current cursor position.

Paragraph formatting

A paragraph (from the German absetzen - to move aside) is usually understood as a structural part of the text, which consists of one or several sentences containing a complete micro-topic. When typing, one paragraph is separated from another by a carriage return character, which is entered by pressing a key Enter .

Before formatting paragraphs, it is advisable to remove all unnecessary characters, such as extra spaces at the beginning of lines. In order to make such symbols visual, click the " Non-printing characters» on the vertical main toolbar.

Figure 17. Display of non-printing characters

To format a paragraph, there is no need to select it; just place the cursor anywhere in the paragraph and select the menu item Format → Paragraph, or the Paragraph item in the right-click drop-down menu. In the dialog box that appears, you can configure all paragraph formatting parameters: line spacing, indentation for the first line ( paragraph indentation) and for the entire paragraph, tabs, as well as paragraph borders and backgrounds. Buttons for paragraph alignment are placed on the context panel by default.

Figure 18. Paragraph dialog box

The button for changing the tab mode is located to the left of the horizontal ruler. Consistently clicking on it with the left mouse button changes the tab type:

Left

The text will be limited to the left and typed from this position to the right.

On right

Text is constrained to the right and flows to the left from that position.

Centered

Text appears evenly to the left and right of the tab stop.

Decimal

Text printed before the delimiter character (the "Mark" field) will appear to the left of the tab stop, and text after it will appear to the right. This type is primarily needed to align columns of numbers with an unequal number of digits before and after the decimal point. When using it, all commas in such numbers will be exactly one above the other. However, if you change the value of the Sign field, you can use this type of alignment for other purposes.

Hyphenation

Using paragraph alignment in many cases increases the distance between words in the text, which is especially noticeable when there are long words. In this case, it is advisable to use hyphens.

In order for OpenWriter to be able to hyphenate text, you need to set the language properties to Russian (menu Tools → Options → Language settings → Languages, field “Western”).

Hyphenation can be done automatically or manually. Automatic hyphenation is set in the paragraph properties - in the “Paragraph” dialog on the On page tab in the section Hyphenation you need to enable the “Automatic” option.

You have the opportunity to manually designate the location for the desired transfer: to do this, you need to place a so-called soft transfer. Place the cursor at the position in the word where you can hyphenate, and insert a soft hyphen using a key combination Ctrl -- . You can search for all words that can be hyphenated using the function Hyphenation in the Service menu.

Figure 19. Dialog box " Hyphenation»

The = sign indicates the location of possible transfer; - indicates the place where it will definitely be produced. To set up a transfer, click the “Transfer" button; To stop hyphenation, use the “Cancel” button. You can move to the next word without hyphenating the current one by clicking on the “Next” button. A previously installed transfer can be canceled using the “Remove" button.

To ensure that a word is never hyphenated, you need to add it to the dictionary with an = sign at the end.

Formatting Lists

OpenWriter has extensive list formatting capabilities. Numbered and unnumbered lists with great nesting depth are supported. To format the list, place the cursor on the paragraph with which you intend to start the list and click the “Numbering" or "Bullets" button on the context panel, depending on what type of list you need. All paragraphs following the current one will be converted to a list.

When working with a list, the context panel will change its appearance. An arrow-shaped button will appear in the right corner, which opens or removes the contextual numbering panel. By calling this panel, you can adjust the nesting depth of lists, the appearance and methods of text marking.

Figure 20. Contextual numbering panel

The contextual numbering panel can also be accessed using the function key F12, and the dialog box Numbering/labeling right-click from the drop-down menu, or through the Format menu → Numbering/labeling.

Figure 21. Dialog box " Numbering/labeling»

Formatting a character or group of characters

To format a group of characters, you first need to select them. Then you can select the required font, its style and size, design effects, position of the group of characters relative to the line in the menu Format → Font.

Figure 22. Symbol formatting dialog

Some sections of this dialog box are placed on the context panel to speed up formatting. From the default context panel you can select the font name, its size, main styles and color. You can add or remove a button from the context panel by right-clicking over it and selecting Show Buttons from the drop-down menu.

Spreadsheets

OpenCalc main window

After loading OpenCalc, the main window appears on the screen. The main difference between this window and the similar one in OpenWriter is that an input line appears under the context menu. It is intended for entering values ​​and formulas into table cells.

Figure 23. OpenCalc main window

Sheet working area

The sheet field consists of cells. A cell is the smallest structural unit of a spreadsheet; it has an address determined by vertical and horizontal coordinates. The first is the column name (the first part of the address); it can have values ​​from A to IV. The second is the line number (the second part of the address) and has a value ranging from 1 to 32000.

To the right and top of the worksheet there are rulers with the names of the columns and rows. To select an entire column, click on the cell with its name in the top ruler; to select the entire row - by the cell with its name on the left ruler. The name of the selected row or column appears in bold font; If you select one cell, both parts of the address located on the rulers will be displayed in bold.

IN status bar information about the operating modes of the table is displayed.

Selecting a sheet for work is done by clicking the left button; if you right click on sheet navigator, a dialog box will open where the following operations will be available:

Insert - creates a new sheet.

Delete - used for unnecessary sheets.

Rename - allows you to assign a different name to the sheet.

Move/copy - allows you to make copies of sheets, transfer existing sheets to other documents, and change their order.

Select All - selects the entire sheet.

Data input

Data is entered into a specific cell: before you enter anything, you need to select the cell. The text you type will appear in the cell where you type and in the input line (above), which is especially useful since the cell may contain more characters than its current width allows for display.

If the adjacent cells to the right do not contain values, then the entered string will be displayed in full; otherwise, only part of the line will be displayed and a red arrow will appear in the cell.

To display the entire information, you must either stretch the cell width or allow line breaks.

Figure 24. Entering data into a cell

You can change the width (height) of a line in several ways:

Automatically

Double-click on the right-hand border bar of the column title and OpenCalc will adjust the width for the column, choosing the width needed to display the cell with the longest content. The same can be done through the menu: Format → Column → Optimal width

Manually

Left-click on the column title border strip and, without releasing it, move it to the desired width.

Exactly

Select any cell in the column whose width you want to change, and then select the menu Format → Column → Width; In the window that opens, enter the exact size.

To enable line breaks, click Ctrl -Enter, or right-click on the cell and select Format Cells, or select the menu item Format → Cell and then select the “Alignment” tab; Here check the box “Line break”.

Figure 25. Cell Attributes dialog box

In the same window, you can set the vertical and horizontal alignment of the text and the direction of writing (the angle of rotation of the text). Alignment allows you to determine the position of text in a cell (left, right, center, bottom, top). Writing direction allows you to write in cells at a given angle.

It should be noted that if text begins with an = sign, it will not appear in the cell because OpenCalc considers such text to be a formula. If you need to print text starting with the = sign, then you need to put the sign as the very first character single quote. If you need to start a line with a quotation mark, you must enter the quotation mark twice.

Entering formulas

One of the purposes of spreadsheets is calculations, so we will now look at the basic rules for typing formulas.

As already noted, entering a formula begins with an equal sign, then the formula itself is written. For example: =4+16. By writing this formula and clicking Enter, we will see the number 20 in the cell. Of course, formulas without variables usually don’t make much sense, so now let’s see how to use variables, which are cell addresses in OpenCalc. For example, if we wrote the number 20 in A1, then if we write the formula =A1^2 in B1 and press Enter the number 400 appears in cell B1.

Basic arithmetic operations available to OpenCalc:

In addition to these operations, OpenCalc offers a wide range of functions in the following categories:

working with databases;

time and date processing;

financial;

informational;

brain teaser;

mathematical;

working with arrays;

statistical;

text;

additional.

For the convenience of writing formulas in OpenCalc, "". To call it, click the "" button to the left of the input line.

In the Wizard window, you can enter functions and check that they are entered correctly; The list of available functions depends on which category you select. In addition to the categories listed above, for convenience, “All” and “ Recently Used».

Figure 26. Function Wizard

The “Formula” edit field displays the current formula, which can be directly edited, or you can, by placing the cursor in the required position, double-click on the function name from the list, and the selected function will be inserted into the input window. All that remains is to either enter the argument from the keyboard, or press the button with the cell image and select the cell whose value will be the argument.

In the “Structure” tab, the typed formula is expanded into a tree, which is very helpful when editing formulas, allowing you to track the order in which the formula is calculated.

For the case when the formula is quite simple (contains the signs +, -, *, /, ^), but consists of a relatively large number of variables, consider the following example:

Let it be necessary to calculate A1+C5*B4 ; for this:

Press = , then use the cursor arrows to select cell A1 (the first time you press the cursor key, a red rectangle cursor will appear). Then press + and select C5, press * and finally select B4. In this way, you can quickly create formulas using the keyboard (cells can also be selected with the mouse pointer).

After entering = followed by a letter, OpenCalc automatically displays the name of the function starting with that letter. This feature allows you to type not the entire formula, but only its first letters, and then, if the proposed function is exactly the one you need, all you have to do is press Enter .

It happens that when entering formulas, you need to pass not a cell address, but an entire area as their arguments - for example, you need to sum all the values ​​in column A, starting from address A2 to address A11. Of course, you can write =A2+A3+...+A10+A11 - but it is much easier and in any case more correct to write =Su, then use the hint (Sum) and click Enter, enter the range A2:A11 in brackets.

The worksheet area is specified by indicating the address of the upper left cell, followed by a colon and indicating the lower right cell. The area can also be specified using the mouse.

Autocomplete

Sometimes you need to perform similar calculations for a large amount of similar data. The spreadsheet allows you to enter the formula only once - when you copy it to another cell, the parameters will be automatically replaced with new values.

Let the task be to calculate cos(x), where x is given in degrees. To solve it, we perform the following steps:

Enter the text “Angle” in cell A1, the number “0” in cell A2, and “1” in cell A3. Select cell A2 and, without releasing the mouse button, also select cell A3. Cell selection can also be done using the cursor keys: select A2, then press Shift -arrow to down .

Next, move the mouse over the lower right corner of the selected area; the cursor will take the form of a cross. By clicking and holding the left mouse button, select an area of ​​360 cells with a red rectangle, that is, the last cell selected should be cell A361. In this case, the number 360 will appear in the yellow tooltip rectangle.

An example of auto-completion has just been discussed. OpenCalc automatically increases cell values ​​by one when the red selection area expands. In principle, it would be enough to just enter "1" and simply multiply the cell, since OpenCalc by default multiplies cells by arithmetic progression in increments of "1". If you hold Ctrl, then the cell values ​​will be multiplied by simple copying.

Now we can just as easily calculate the values ​​of the cosines of all angles; first you need to return to the top of the page using Ctrl -Home(return to the beginning of the sheet) or Ctrl -up arrow (go to the top field of the block).

Enter “cos(angle)” in B1, and “=c” in B2 in Latin and press Enter; further, switching to Russian, “r”; Enter, left arrow and Enter. So, with just a few clicks, the formula “=COS(RADIANS(A2))” was entered. Now, by clicking the cross-shaped cursor on the lower right edge of the cell, you can apply the formula to all angle values. The result is the values ​​of the cosines of all angles.

Cell Format

OpenCalc, like any modern spreadsheet, supports various data formats in cells, which determine their display in the table. For example, the text 3/4/01 will be assigned the format Date. If we change the cell format to a number, we get 36954.

To change the cell format, right-click on the cell and select Cell Format in the context menu and the “Numbers” tab in the window that opens.

In our cosine example, change the number of decimal places displayed (parameter value fraction) by 7 . Our format will automatically be listed in the Number and User Defined categories.

Links

Let's return to the example of calculating cosine. Suppose now we need to calculate the function “cos(angle+phase)”. Let's say the phase is a constant and should be stored in cell C2. Then change the formula in B2 from “=cos(radians(A2))” to “=cos(radians(A2+C2))” and multiply by all 360 values. There will be practically no effect: the fact is that we did not say that our phase is constant, that is, the formula “=cos(radians(A3+C3))” was written in cell B3. There is no data in C3, so OpenCalc thinks that "0" is written in C3. To prohibit changing a variable by column or row, you need to enter a $ sign in front of the coordinate. Now let’s prohibit changing the row coordinate by changing C2 to C$2 in our formula.

To quickly insert $ into an edited address, it is convenient to use the keyboard shortcut Shift -F4. If you press this combination once, a $ sign will be added to the column coordinate and row coordinate; twice - only to the row coordinate, three - to the column coordinate. The fourth press is equivalent to the first.

Since an OpenCalc document contains multiple sheets, addressing between sheets is also possible. Up to this point, we have considered local addressing, which operates within a single leaf; The full cell address looks like this:

<Название листа>.<Локальный адрес ячейки>.

Diagrams

Now all that remains is to insert the diagram of our calculation. This is done very simply: Select two columns A and B. Select Insert → Diagram from the menu

Figure 27. Chart auto format

In our case, the first line is the x-axis label, so leave the “ First line as signature" The range of values ​​written in the “Area” field was determined automatically; as expected, it is equal to “$Sheet1.$A$1:$B$361”.

Our diagram can be placed either on one of the existing sheets or on a new sheet. If you place a diagram on a new sheet, it will occupy the entire sheet, which is very convenient for printing diagrams on a whole sheet. In our example, Sheet1 is selected to place the chart.

After filling out each dialog box, you need to click the “Next" button and select the chart type in the next window:

2D charts

Lines; with regions; bar chart; ruled; circular; XY chart; mesh; stock exchange

3D charts

3M schedule; with 3M areas; histogram 3M; ruled 3M; circular 3M.

Since in our case the diagram is built using two columns, we will choose an XY diagram. Data series are specified in columns.

Figure 28. XY chart selection

Then we will refine the diagram version. We indicate the name of the diagram; Since there is only one dependency on it, we uncheck the legend box. Enter the labels of the X and Y axes. Then you need to click the “Finish” button.

Figure 29. Diagram constructed

Using OpenDraw

With OpenDraw, you can add high-quality illustrations to any OpenOffice.org document—whether it's a text document, spreadsheet, or presentation. In addition, it is possible to export the drawing to other applications using widely used graphic formats.

Image Types

OpenDraw allows you to create both vector and raster drawings. Raster pictures consist of a limited number of dots and the image in such pictures is formed by a combination of dots of different colors. As a result, raster-type drawings do not scale; more precisely, they look unimportant after resizing. At the same time, raster images are easily transferred from one program to another, since they are essentially reduced to a simple array of dots.

Vector designs are those that consist of objects (lines, rectangles, circles, gradients, etc.) and do not have a fixed resolution; however, they can also include raster images as objects. Vector graphics perfectly scalable and can be converted to raster form at any given resolution at any time. Thanks to this property, vector drawings are preferable when creating illustrations for documents; at the same time, when exporting a document to any format external to OpenOffice.org, vector drawings cannot always be used and in such cases are converted to raster images.

OpenDraw is primarily designed for creating vector drawings; There are applications such as gimp for working with raster images.

The remainder of this tutorial will primarily discuss vector drawings; raster images will be considered only from the point of view of their use as part of a vector image, and also in the context of converting vector images to raster images.

Principles of working with the program

Figure 30. General view of the OpenDraw main window

At the top of the main window there is a menu area; below - panels of functions, hyperlinks, objects; On the left there is a vertical toolbar, a little to the right - a ruler, even lower - a panel of symbols, colors, and finally, at the very bottom of the main window - a status bar. Any of the listed panels can be turned on or off through the menu View → Character Panels.

In the central part of the main program window there is a drawing worksheet. The display scale of the worksheet is set via the menu View → Scale or using the “Scale" tool on the toolbar.

Graphic primitives

Under graphic primitives minimum graphic objects, which make up a vector drawing. Graphic primitives in OpenDraw include: lines and arrows; rectangles; circles, ellipses, arcs, segments and sectors; curves; connecting lines; three-dimensional objects (cube, ball, cylinder, etc.); text. More complex objects can be composed from graphic primitives using the combination function and logical operations over forms; this will be discussed later.

To create a primitive of one of the listed types, click and hold the button for the corresponding group of primitives on the toolbar. Then, having selected the desired primitive from the drop-down list of icons, release the button. As a result, the primitive creation mode is activated, in which you need to specify the location of the key points and distances of the primitive using the mouse. Different primitives have different numbers of parameters: for example, a simple line has only two parameters, while a curve has an unlimited number. Below we will talk about the features of creating various primitives.

Lines and arrows

To create a line, specify the starting and ending points of the line on the drawing sheet: the starting point of the line is set with the left mouse button; then, without releasing the button, place the cursor on the end point of the line and release the button - the line is created.

Connecting line

This object is created in exactly the same way as a regular line. A special feature of a connecting line is its ability to snap to objects, so when creating a connecting line, instead of the start or end point of the line, you can specify an object - the program itself will select the best point for attaching the line to it.

Rectangles

Here you need to indicate the position of two opposite vertices of the rectangle: select the first one by clicking the left mouse button; then, without releasing it, move the cursor to the second point and fix the figure by releasing the button.

Circles, ellipses, arcs, segments and sectors

To create a circle or ellipse, it is enough to indicate the size of the primitive with two points: specify the first point by pressing the left mouse button without releasing it, move the cursor to the required distance to the second point and release the mouse button. The circle or ellipse will be inscribed in the rectangle defined by the start and end points. To get an arc, segment or sector, you need to specify two more points on the contour of the circle or ellipse, also by pressing and releasing the left mouse button.

3D objects

To set three-dimensional object, you must specify it maximum size in one of two dimensions. A three-dimensional object is created in fixed proportions, which can be changed after its creation.

Text

A text object is created by simply clicking the left mouse button in the desired place on the sheet: a typing frame with a text cursor will appear.

When creating text inscribed in a frame, first define the frame with two points: right-click at the first point, move the cursor and release the button at the second point. The font size will be automatically adjusted so that the text occupies the entire area of ​​the specified frame.

Legend

A legend is a box with an arrow that is usually used to explain some part of a drawing. It is asked as regular frame, two points using the right mouse button. You can then insert text inside the legend frame by double-clicking the left mouse button on the frame. As you enter text, the legend frame automatically resizes.

Bezier curves

Based on trigonometric equations, the French mathematician and engineer Pierre Bézier created a special way to simply and at the same time flexibly describe complex contours for metal-cutting machines used in the automotive industry; this method was called Bezier curves and, due to its simplicity and flexibility, subsequently became one of the most important computer graphics methods.

Bezier curves are built using several points and guide lines. The points along which the curve is constructed are called reference points; each of them is characterized by two segments located on the tangent to the Bezier curve at the reference point (they are called guides). The length of each of them sets the steepness of the next or previous segment of the curve, and the angle of the tangent sets the direction in both directions from the reference point.

When creating a curve in OpenDraw, its anchor points are sequentially indicated using the left mouse button. If, after pressing the button to create a reference point, you do not release the button, you can set the angle and length of the guides; if you do not hold the button, then the length of the guides will be zero, and such a point will be a corner one. The guide of the first anchor point must be specified, otherwise the operation is cancelled. Double-clicking the left mouse button finishes drawing the curve.

Important

Note that when creating a curve, the length of the guides in both directions is the same. You can change the lengths of guides individually after creating the curve using the point editing tool.

Comment

Hold the button Shift when creating a curve, it allows you to specify angles that are multiples of 45 degrees; you can use the button to close the curve Alt .

When working in the X Window System, the button Alt may be used by the window manager, which will prevent this operation from being performed. For example, KDE defaults to Alt combined with left-click to move the window. However, you can close the line by pressing Alt after the right button. The line will be closed, but the last anchor point will become a corner point. This can be easily fixed using the point editing tool. You can also change the window manager settings by giving it a different modifier instead of Alt .

hand drawn line

To create a drawn line, you need to press and hold the left mouse button and draw the desired curve by hand. The drawn line is also a Bezier curve, only the number of control points, the values ​​and angles of the guides are determined automatically by the program.

Polygons

Creating polygons consists of specifying all the vertices of the polygon. The first vertex is indicated by pressing the left mouse button; to specify the second one, release the mouse button, otherwise the operation will be cancelled; the remaining vertices are indicated by a regular left-click, and the last vertex by a double click. Just like when creating a curve, you can use Alt to close the polygon and Shift for drawing with angles that are multiples of 45 degrees, respectively.

Properties of graphic objects

Each object - already modified, combined, transformed, or simply a graphic primitive - has a certain set of characteristics, such as size, color, rotation angle, font family and size, etc. Moreover, from the point of view of modification, objects can be divided into three groups:

graphic objects characterized by an area (most objects);

graphic objects characterized by private properties (lines, connecting lines, legend);

text objects (plain text).

To change the parameters of objects, first select the object by clicking on any part of it. The program will confirm the selection by highlighting the area where the object is placed with square dots. In this case, primitives that are characterized by an area, as well as text objects, are highlighted by a field of eight square green dots, the rest are highlighted by turquoise dots, which indicate the key points of the object.

You can select several objects at once using the left mouse button while the button is pressed Shift- in this case, the selected objects will be highlighted with one field of eight dots and all further operations will affect all selected objects.

The selection area of ​​an object can be stretched, moved, rotated, etc. Stretching a plain text area does not change the size of the text; in all other cases, changing the size of the selection area results in scaling the object.

Resize and move

The vertex points of a rectangular area of ​​an object are used to resize the object in two dimensions simultaneously, while the points on the sides are used in only one. To perform these actions, “grab” the desired point with the mouse, stretch the area and release the button.

For objects of the second type, when changing the size, control points are used - approximately the same as when changing the size of an area, however, in this case, resizing occurs according to the rules of the object itself: for example, for a Legend, lengthening the index arrow does not lead to a change in the explanation area.

The text object area frame specifies the typing field and line width; changing its size does not change the font size. On the contrary, the text inscribed in the frame depends on the size of the specified area, in this case the text is scaled automatically so that all the text fits in the specified area.

To move an object, left-click on any part of the object, move the object without releasing the button, and releasing it, commit the change.

Text inside objects

Almost all objects (except three-dimensional ones) can contain text in one form or another. For text objects this is, of course, the main function; for others - additional.

If you double-click the left mouse button on an object, a cursor will appear that allows you to enter or correct text inside the object. Its properties can be changed in the same way as for text objects - using the tools of the object panel, the Format menu, or using the context menu.

Effects

For other operations on objects, such as rotation, mirroring and others, the effects panel is used.

By selecting the rotate tool in the effects panel, you will see that the object's selection points will take on a circular shape. Depending on the type of object selected, each point gives access to different functions. When you hover the mouse over the desired point, the cursor changes appearance, indicating a possible operation; In addition, when an operation is performed, the name and detailed data on the current operation appear in the status bar. If the function corresponding to the control point is not applicable for the selected object, the cursor changes to a crossed out circle.

The vertices of the rectangle that bounds the object's selection area can be used to rotate the object in the plane of the sheet. Moreover, the rotation will occur relative to the center, shown as a small circle with a crosshair. By default, the center of rotation is set exactly in the center of the object's selection area, but you can move it with the mouse to any point on the page. For 3D objects, points at the vertices of the selection area allow them to be rotated in the paper plane.

Points on the sides of an object's selection area are used to distort the object in the appropriate direction. For 3D objects, these points allow them to be rotated in a plane that is perpendicular to the paper plane and parallel to the side of the rectangular selection containing the selected control point.

The “Effects” panel allows you to perform other useful operations on objects, such as deformations, mirror reflections at any angle, constructing an object by rotating a flat prototype, and adjusting transparency.

Using the Point Editor

The point editing mode can be called through the Edit Points tool on the objects (or options) panel, the contextual drop-down menu (Edit Points item) or from the keyboard with the button F8 .

This mode is available for objects built from Bezier curves. If you want to change the shape of another type of object using the point editing mechanism, you will need to first convert the object to Bezier curves using the Convert contextual drop-down menu item (this applies to most objects).

In point editing mode, you can change the point type, close a curve, add and delete points using the point editor tools that appear in the object panel after enabling point editing mode. Select the desired point with the right mouse button - you will be able to change the angle and size of the guide lines of the selected reference point. In this way, you can change the degree of bending of the line on different sides of this point.

The anchor points themselves can be moved, deleted, added, and changed their type. In addition, the Edit Points panel has tools for closing or opening a curve and converting a line to a Bezier curve.

For convenience, OpenDraw distinguishes three types of anchor points:

Symmetrical transition

A reference point with guide segments of equal length. When you change the length of one symmetrical transition guide, the second one also changes its length.

Smooth transition

This is a regular reference point with guides of different lengths and separately adjustable.

Corner point

This is the reference point at which the curve seems to break. The guide segments of the corner point may not lie on the same line and may have different lengths.

Having selected the desired anchor point, you can easily change its type using the tools in the “Edit Points” panel.

Area Properties

The area of ​​an object, if it exists, can be very flexibly configured through the tools of the object panel (menu Format → Area or context menu Area). It can have different contents, cast a shadow and be transparent. The filling can be a color fill, a gradient fill, hatching, or a raster texture. Shadow and transparency also have their own settings, which can be found on the corresponding tabs of the area properties window.

Line Properties

Every OpenDraw object contains lines - even if it is a text object and its border is not shown by default. A dialog box that allows you to customize the appearance of these lines can be called up through the tools of the object panel, menu Format → Line or through the context menu Line. In this case, you can change the color, thickness, set transparency and provide the ends of the line with arrows of various types.

Text properties

For text and text-containing objects, it is possible to change the appearance and properties of the text through the tools in the object panel, the Format menu, or the context menu.

Text properties are called up using the tools of the object panel, menu Format → Text or context menu Text. Here it is determined whether the text will fit into the frame or vice versa - the text will determine the size of the frame, as well as whether various creeping effects will be applied when displaying the text on the screen.

To change the properties of characters and paragraphs, use other menu items Character and Paragraph of the context menu or the same items of the Format menu.

Naming objects

To simplify working with drawings of complex structures, OpenDraw has the ability to assign names to certain types of objects, which then appear in the status bar every time you select an object. In addition, named objects are displayed by the Navigator as separate elements of the drawing structure.

You can only assign a name:

group of objects;

inserted objects: raster image, OLE object, formula, etc.

Graphic styles

Like a text document, a drawing can contain styles, but only one type - graphic. Graphic style is a comprehensive set of attribute values ​​for a wide variety of graphical objects. When applied to an object, a style overrides the existing values. of this object attributes, replacing them with the values ​​specified for this style.

Graphic styles are especially useful for creating complex designs with repeating elements; they are indispensable for drawings, various diagrams, diagrams, etc. To create, modify, apply and delete them, it is most convenient to use the Style Wizard, which can be called up from the Format menu → button F11 or instrument (" On off. Style Master") in the function bar.

By selecting an object or several objects using the Style Wizard, it is easy to apply any style: just double-click on the desired item in the Style Wizard window.

To change a style, just click on it and select Edit from the drop-down menu. Changes to the style will affect all graphic objects to which it was applied.

Converting Objects

Any object in OpenDraw can be converted into one form or another depending on its type; possible options are contained in the Transform context menu, which displays a list of valid transformations for the selected object. So, for example, for three-dimensional objects there are only two options, but for a rectangle there are already seven. By transforming objects, you can obtain new objects with completely different properties than the original object, as well as different in appearance.

Positioning objects

OpenDraw has powerful tools for positioning objects. Often there is a need to align objects relative to each other, page or line; To perform these actions, use the tools on the “Arrangement” and “Alignment” panels, as well as the Distribution item of the context menu or the Actions menu. The tools on the options panel help you accurately place objects.

Alignment

Any object can be aligned relative to the page margins using the appropriate tools in the Alignment tear-off panel.

There are separate tools for horizontal and vertical alignment - in the center and along the edges of the sheet. If you select several objects at once (while holding down the Shift), then using the same tools you can align objects relative to the edges or center of the selection area.

Location

Depending on the order of creation, an object may overlap part of another object(s) or be occluded by other object(s). To control the location of objects in depth, use the tools of the “Arrangement” tear-off panel.

The panel contains tools for moving an object directly to the foreground or background, sequentially changing its position (behind or in front of an object), changing its position relative to a specific object. It is also possible to swap places (in depth) of two objects.

Distribution

This feature makes it possible to align multiple objects relative to each other so that the distances between objects relative to the outlines or centers of the objects are equal. In this case, the outermost objects in the chain do not move.

To use this feature, you must first select three or more objects, and then select Distribute from the context menu or from the Actions menu.

Accurate object placement

The OpenDraw Options Bar has a number of convenient tools to make it easier to accurately position objects relative to each other or to the sheet. Precise positioning is achieved by creating special marks or markers in the form of dots or lines on the drawing field, which can subsequently be used to facilitate the alignment of objects. Such marks are called bindings.

OpenDraw supports several types of snaps:

net

A grid is superimposed on the page margin. When this snap is enabled, objects can be moved or scaled strictly along the grid nodes.

guide line

Can be horizontal or vertical. To create this snap, you need to left-click on the vertical or horizontal ruler and drag the line to the desired location on the sheet.

custom binding

The user has the ability to set a reference in the form of a line or point anywhere on the sheet with an accuracy of millimeter. This binding is created using the Insert menu → Line/Anchor point

To perform actions on several objects at once, it is convenient to use the grouping function. To create a group, you must first mark several objects by holding the button Shift, and then select Group from the context menu (or Actions menu) or use the hot button Ctrl -Shift -G .

Comment

If you are using Ctrl -Shift as a keyboard switch and noticed that similar combinations are used in many applications, try setting up language switching by Caps Lock (in this case, register fixation is switched according to Shift -Caps Lock), it's more productive.

The created group behaves like a persistent selection of multiple objects. The advantage of a group over the usual selection of several objects is that it eliminates the possibility of forgetting to select an object before the operation.

A group can always be split using the item Ungroup context menu or Actions menu, or using a button combination Alt -Ctrl -Shift -G .

To edit objects included in a group, there is no need to split the group - the operations of entering and leaving the group are intended for this. You can use the Entry to group (Exit group) items of the context menu or the Actions menu, or the hot button F3 (Ctrl -F3 ).

You can leave the group by double-clicking the left mouse button outside the group area, and enter, respectively, by double-clicking on the area of ​​any object included in the group.

After you have entered a group, objects not included in this group are displayed more faded. This is done to make it easier to distinguish objects included in this group from others, as well as to indicate the mode of being in the group.

Combining objects

Unlike grouping, which is necessary mainly to perform a series of identical operations on a large number of objects, when combining selected objects, a new object with new properties is created. The resulting combination inherits the properties of the object created first, or more precisely, the one that is behind all other objects selected for the combination. You can only combine objects that can be converted to Bezier curves.

Creating a combination is as easy as grouping objects. To create a combination, you must first mark several objects (by holding down the button Shift), and then select the Combine item from the context menu (or Actions menu) or use the hot button Ctrl -Shift -K .

Transparent holes appear at the intersections of objects in the combination; this property is a payment for the opportunity to break a combination. This method can also be used as a temporary union of objects before performing logical operations on them.

The resulting combination can always be disconnected using the item Disconnect combination context menu (or Actions menu) or using a button combination Alt -Ctrl -Shift -K .

When you combine some types of objects, there is an (irreversible) transformation of the object into Bezier curves, so although the combination can always be unlinked, the combining operation is not completely reversible.

Logical operations on objects

OpenDraw allows you to logically add, subtract, and intersect objects. To perform logical operations, you must select multiple objects (while holding down the Shift), then using the Merge, Subtraction or Intersection items of the Forms context menu or the Actions → Forms menu, perform the desired operation. As a result, a new object is formed that inherits the properties of the oldest one (or, more precisely, the one located deeper than all the other selected ones).

Logical operations are irreversible, so if you want to undo an operation, then the only way is to use the OpenDraw undo function, which is available through the Edit → Undo menu or the hot button Ctrl -Z .

The next time you boot, check the box " Don't show this dialog again" If you want to have an idea of ​​what the presentation will look like, leave a checkmark in the “ Preview” box.

You can move to the next window by clicking the “Next” button. In the second step you will need to set the slide style and " Presentation Presenter" In the third window, you can select options for switching between presentation frames.

Next, click the “Finish” button. A window with a slide creation dialog will open. Here enter the name of the new slide, decide on the layout (view) of the slide and the options “show background" and " show objects in the background».

To add a new slide, right-click in an empty space and select Slide → Insert Slide from the context menu or through the Insert → Slide menu - the slide creation dialog will open.

OpenImpress allows you to make a copy of a specific slide and paste it as a new slide: select Insert → from the menu Duplicate slide.

Presentation modes

On the right side of the control panel, on the scroll bar, there are six tools for controlling the mode of working with the presentation.

The top button “Drawing mode" is used to view and edit slides individually. When you select this operating mode, tabs with slide names will be visible at the bottom left of the horizontal scroll bar - to go to the one you need, just click on the tab with its name.

The next tool allows you to switch to viewing mode for the slide structure, which is presented as a hierarchical list; The first level of the hierarchy is slides (their titles are displayed). To go to a slide, you need to select any element related to it; You can also edit the title here. To add a slide, just enter text and make it the first level of the hierarchy (use the keys to change the level Shift -Tab , Tab or toolbar).

The next tool, Slide Mode, controls the order of the slides. To change the order, simply drag the slide from one place to another.

Tool " Notes mode» allows you to enter text that will only be visible in Notes mode.

“Abstract mode” allows you to place slides on one page and enter their descriptions.

In the lower left corner there is a toolbar that allows you to add a background to your slides; You can switch between slide mode and background mode (the first two buttons do this).

In " background mode" You can add a background that will be visible on all slides, but it cannot be edited. You can add, for example, a text message or a picture. To make the background visible or invisible on a specific slide, right-click on the slide and in the context menu select Slide → Slide Style and then style the slide with or without a background. In the same dialog, you can select one of the possible styles by clicking on the “Load” button, and, having selected the one you need, confirm your choice.

Working with a slide

To work with a slide, you can use the tools located on the main tools panel (on the left):

The arrow tool is used to select objects. The next tool in the form of a sheet of paper with a magnifying glass is used to change the scale of the document; its menu has several buttons that allow you to select the optimal document scale.

The next group of tools is used to insert various objects onto a slide - text, rectangular shapes, ellipses and circles, three-dimensional objects, curves, lines and arrows, connecting lines.

To change the position of an object, use next group tools. For example, to rotate an object, you can select the object, click the rotation button and, using the mouse to “grab” the red markers around the object, rotate the object in different directions. To align an object on the page (both horizontally and vertically), use the following tool. The Arrangement tool allows you to change the order of overlapping (“layering”) objects.

A group of elements that change the effects of objects can make a presentation more attractive; it “hides” behind the “Effects” button. Effect selection buttons allow you to select the object to which they will be applied. The first allows you to select options for the appearance of the slide, the second - only text effects.

Below, in the drop-down list, the category of effects is specified, from which the required one is ultimately selected; the speed of its execution is also set. To evaluate the consequences, click on the button " Preview Window" To apply an effect to an object, use the Assign button.

After clicking on the “Order” button, a list of the order in which objects appear in the presentation slide appears; you can change it by simply dragging the selected object to the desired position.

The next button on the left toolbar is “ Interaction", which allows you to determine what action should be performed when you click on an object. This could be moving to a slide, executing a program, and much more.

The penultimate tool allows you to apply 3D effects to an object. The last tool provides a presentation view mode.

Once you create a slide, you can always edit it. The title of the created slide can be changed by clicking on the object labeled “ Add a title with a mouse click" The name of the created slide is displayed on the tab next to the scroll bar. If you right-click on it, you can rename the slide, delete it, insert a new one, or change the slide layout. Text properties can be changed by selecting one of the items in the drop-down context menu.

The Text item allows you to set the properties of the text and the creeping line effect. On the “Text” tab, set the properties of the frame: size and position of the text. On the “Crawling line” tab, you can set effects for text animation.

To add a picture, click on the icon with the house and select the picture in the dialog that opens. Right-clicking gives access to the following properties of the picture:

Text

Text effects overlaid on an image. (Text can be superimposed on the image by double-clicking the left mouse button.)

Position and size

Sets the position, size, rotation, tilt of the image.

Original size

Sets the initial image size.

Color resolution

Allows you to set the tonal depth of the image, that is, the number of bits allocated to encode the color of each pixel. Greater depth means large quantity displayed shades.

Location

Determines the level of an object in the “stack”.

Alignment

Sets the position of the object on the slide (left, center, right, top, middle, bottom).

Reflect

Allows you to flip the image vertically or horizontally.

Convert

Makes it possible to convert an image into a polygon, contour, three-dimensional object, body of rotation, raster image. These properties are not always available.

Give an object a name

Allows you to name objects for convenience.

Effect

Allows you to apply one of the available effects to an object.

In addition to the ability to arrange objects on a slide, you can specify the background of the slide. To do this, right-click on an empty space on the slide and select Slide → from the context menu. Page settings. In the dialog that opens, open the “

Slide transition effects

Transition effects between slides can be set in the second step of the Presentation Wizard. If this has not been done, correction is needed or you need to make different transitions between slides - use the menu item Demonstration → Slide Transition: a dialog for setting the transition effect to this slide will open.

This dialog is similar to the transition effects settings dialog, but has an addition - a time control button. With its help, you can set the time between changing slides, which, in turn, can be automatic, semi-automatic or manual. The first option specifies the time after which the transition to the next slide will take place.

You can view the created presentation using the button from the Demonstration → Demonstration menu or a keyboard shortcut Ctrl -F2 .

Working with databases in OpenOffice.org

Now it's time to talk about how OpenOffice.org works with data. Indeed, for any modern office suite, working with data is an essential necessity. After all, one of the main tasks when using computers in everyday life is precisely the processing of large amounts of data.

It is assumed that the reader has some understanding of how database management systems, or DBMS for short, work.

It is usually customary to include your own DBMS and tools for working with it in an office package. However, this doesn't make much sense. A DBMS is a complex system that requires significant resources, care, systematic archiving of data and special knowledge for such manipulations. The creators of OpenOffice.org took a different path - they included in their package a mechanism for accessing data from any application, be it OpenWriter or OpenCalc, leaving data storage to other programs.

Let's get acquainted with this data access mechanism in practice. Launch OpenWriter and create a new document or open an existing one. Press function key F4 or select in the main toolbar " Data sources" A data access panel will open at the top of the window. So far it contains only one source, entitled “Bibliography”. This is the test base included with OpenOffice.org.

Let's work with data in practice to better understand how access options are implemented. Let's create a small database for accounting books in the school library.

Quit OpenOffice.org and create a directory on disk where you will store the data, for example Documents. Return to the OpenWriter document. Right-click in the field where data sources are listed and select “” or select Tools → from the menu Data sources.

Figure 32. Managing data sources

The "" window will open. Click the button New data source" Give the new source a name - let it be Library. Now let's see what databases we can work with. The list is quite impressive - this includes the good old Dbase, access using ODBC and JDBC drivers, text files, spreadsheet documents, as well as ADO for accessing databases created in MS Access. We currently don't have any databases connected using ODBC, so we'll select Dbase. This is an old and very popular format; those who have been working with computers for a long time can remember many programs that use it, and they probably store data in this format on their hard drive. It is perfect for our task. Select “Database type” - Dbase and indicate the path to the directory that we created for the data. Open the “Dbase” tab and select “Encoding”.

It should be said right away that if you plan to use the files created by Dbase not only when working with OpenOffice.org but also in other programs, to maintain compatibility with them you should select the old encoding " Cyrillic DOS/OS2-866/Russian" and name fields only in uppercase Latin characters no longer than 8 characters per field name. For us now this does not matter, so for simplicity we will choose the “From system” encoding.

Let’s open our Library project and select “Tables”, “Labels” and “Queries” we don’t need. There are no tables, the folder is empty. And that’s right, the table needs to be created.

Right-click and the “Table Project” will open. We need fields for the serial number, author, title of the book, subject to which this book relates. Let's also add the status of the book and a field for notes where the librarian will enter official information.

It is advisable to choose the length of the fields according to the principle of reasonable sufficiency - for an author with a last name, first name and patronymic, probably 80–90 characters will be enough, for a title it is better to make 255 (this is the maximum value for a text field).

The type of fields depends on their function - for the number it is DECIMAL, let it be an integer, we do not need numbers after the comma, for the remaining fields it is CHAR (character), for notes it is VARCHAR (character variable length). Let's create the fields as shown in the figure and save the table, for example under the name book . We close the “Table Project” and see it in our data source. The table structure appears on the right and you can already enter data into it. Let's introduce some books for training. For convenience, the width of the columns can be adjusted as we did in OpenCalc

Our form is good for everyone, but the field names are presented as they are created in the database (that is, in Latin and abbreviated). Let's fix the field names. In the main toolbar, find the item " Form controls" A floating form editing window will open. Turn on editing mode by clicking on the finger button.

Now highlight the field to edit. Right-click and select Group to ungroup the field and text label. Select the text label. Now select " Control element" A control window will open - here you can change the title to the Russian name. Those of you who have worked with Microsoft Office's Visual Basic for Application will find many familiar values ​​in these menus.

Figure 35. Work to improve the appearance of the form

Now change all the text labels and the form is finally ready. Examine all the control elements and try adding new ones to the created form.

For example, for the “item” and “condition” fields, you can try replacing the simple field with a combo box so that you don’t have to enter the same values ​​for the names of items and the condition of the books each time. This way you can create many simple but useful applications.

In conclusion, I would like to advise what to do if you really need a full-fledged database server. Among the free products there are quite powerful DBMSs that are in no way inferior to their commercial counterparts. These are MySQL, ADABAS, Postgres, FireBird and other very worthy products.

[email protected]> and many others.

The authors express their gratitude to everyone who has worked and is working to improve OpenOffice.org.

Free office suite OpenOffice

Many have heard about Open Office , but still don’t know what it is. It just so happens that this software package is little known among a wide range of users. In my opinion it is undeserved.

We all know what Microsoft Office is and in most cases we use it. But, as you know, MS Office is a paid office suite. Unlike Microsoft Office, Open Office is free and allows you to perform a huge number of ordinary tasks related to the creation of text documents, tables, presentations and databases.

First, I’ll tell you where to download and how to install Open Office to your computer.

Office suite Open Office can be downloaded from the official website OpenOffice.org, here is a direct link to the download page.

When we go to the download page we will see the following. We are asked to indicate our operating system, language and version. Usually there is no need to change anything, since the site automatically detects the operating system and language. The version of the office suite is the latest at the moment. I downloaded version 4.1.3.

Next, click “ Download full installation ”after which we are redirected to the site SourceForge.net, where the download will start automatically. Before downloading, a message will appear on the page indicating that the download will begin soon.

Once the download is complete, the site page will refresh and display a message about the number of downloads for this package and a button to download again, if necessary.

After we have downloaded the installation file Open Office you need to start the installation. The file itself is usually located in the “ Downloads ”, where your browser usually downloads everything from the Internet. This is what the file itself looks like. Weighs about 132 MB.

Double click and installation will begin. In this case, the system window will most likely pop up. Windows security and will ask if you really want to run this file. Feel free to press the “ Yes" The installation wizard will launch.

A window for selecting the installation folder will appear. But in fact, here we are asked to select not the program installation folder, but the directory into which the installation files will be extracted. Default is worker Windows table. The installation wizard will create a folder and unpack the necessary files into it. Then the installation itself will begin. After you install Open Office You can safely delete the folder with unpacked files on your desktop on your computer.

So let's continue.

After we press the button “ Install ” the following window will appear. This is the start window for the installation itself. Click “ Further”.

The next step will ask you to enter user information. This information was supplied automatically for me.

Also in this window you can select who will have access to this program. If several people (users) use the computer, then you can limit access to the program. In my case, only I use the computer and therefore left the default settings “ for all computer users (all users) " Have you decided? Then click next.

The next stage of installation is more interesting. As you know, the same Microsoft Office includes several programs, such as MS Word, MS Excel, MS PowerPoint and others. It's the same here. In the window " type of instalation ”We will be offered regular and custom installation. I always choose “ Selective ” because I'm wondering what applications and program components the wizard installs. So, choose “ Selective ” and click on the button “ Further”.

A window will appear in front of us with a list of all installed programs and components.

To be honest, for most users 3-4 basic programs are enough. I'll tell you about them later. I chose everything, because I am interested in this office package and I want to have all the programs at hand. So that if something happens you don’t have to install something separately.

So, the office suite consists of 6 programs:

• OpenOffice Writer (I call him “Scribbler” because Writer translated as writer). This is nothing more than an analogue Microsoft Word. Text editor with lots of bells and whistles;
• OpenOffice Calc . Same as spreadsheets Microsoft Excel.
• OpenOffice Draw . Graphic editor for working with vector graphics. An analogue is Microsoft Visio.
• OpenOffice Impress . Designed for creating presentations. Similar Microsoft PowerPoint.
• OpenOffice Base . A program for creating and editing databases. Microsoft has it MS Access.
• and finally OpenOffice Math - a program for working with formulas. Similar Microsoft Equation.

As the main ones for myself, I identified three programs that are similar MS Word, MS Excel And MS PowerPoint, and are most in demand in organizations, schools, and educational institutions. This is a text editor OpenOffice Writer, spreadsheets OpenOffice Calc and presentation software OpenOffice Impress.

What should you choose? You can install the entire package. It takes up a little space on your hard drive, but I'll tell you how to disable installation of what you don't need.

In the selection window opposite each of the components there is an icon with a drop-down menu. When you click on it, a menu appears with the item “ This component will not be available " Let's choose it. After this, the icon next to the component name will change to a red cross. This means that this component will not be installed. Here's an example of what it would look like.

This is how you can exclude the installation of, for example, programs such as OpenOffice Base And OpenOffice Math.

Using the “ Change... ” you can specify the program installation folder if you are not satisfied with the default installation folder ( C:\Program Files (x86)\OpenOffice 4\ ). This is the window that will appear if you click the button.

And using the “ Space ” you can see which partition the program is installed on and how long free space available on this partition/disk.

If you do not need to change the installation location of the program and there is certainly enough space to install the program, then after selecting the program components, click the “ button Further”.

On the “ File types ” we will be asked if we want to open files in Open Office, if they were created using an office suite Microsoft Office. If we want to Open Office opened documents created in Microsoft Office, then we must indicate exactly what documents these will be: documents MS Word, tables MS Excel and/or presentations MS PowerPoint.

In my opinion, this is very respectful of the user. Usually, when installing a program, they designate themselves as the default application, which leads to the fact that any files that the newly installed program can work with will be opened in it. Sometimes this is not convenient and you have to reassign the program in the file properties.

Here, the installer himself warns that you can decide for yourself whether you need it or not.

Since files created in Microsoft Office do not always open correctly in Open Office, I recommend leaving all the boxes unchecked. Simple documents open without problems, but documents with complex markup, formatting and additional elements will obviously open with errors.

The fact is that Microsoft does not provide complete information about the structure of the formats MS Office. Therefore, developers OpenOffice It is not possible to make the formats fully compatible. After all, this is an element of competition, otherwise OpenOffice would have supplanted the king of office suites long ago - Microsoft Office.

In the next step, the installer will ask us whether it is necessary to create a shortcut on the desktop. Select and then click “ Install ”.

The installation process looks like this.

At the last step the installer will notify us about the successful installation OpenOffice to your computer.

After installation, a folder will appear in the list of programs Open Office. Click to open the entire list installed programs. You can launch programs from here or make shortcuts to the Windows Desktop for greater convenience.

If during installation you selected “ Create a shortcut on the desktop ”, then you will find this label on it.

Double click to open the start window Open Office, where you can select which document you want to create.

Office suite start window OpenOffice.

Although OpenOffice provides a powerful open source alternative to the Microsoft Office productivity suite, OpenOffice does not special program processing Email, similar to Outlook. However, you can use your default Windows email client to send current documents as attachments from OpenOffice programs. There is nothing to configure in OpenOffice to use the default email application (such as Windows Mail in Windows 8 unless you change it), but to use other clients you will need to override the default email application in Windows.

OpenOffice is a free alternative to Microsoft Office provided by the Apache Software Foundation. (see Resources 1) credit: merznatalia/iStock/Getty Images

Step 1

Set the default email settings for your desired program. Open Control Panel on your desktop and click Default Programs. Click "Associate a file type or protocol with a program", scroll down the list and click "MAILTO". From the drop-down menu, select the program to communicate with MAILTO. Check your chosen program's documentation for support for the MAPI protocol - a system that allows different applications to exchange email - which is required for use with OpenOffice.

Step 2

Open the document in OpenOffice that you want to email. Click "File" in the menu bar, then "Submit" from the drop-down menu. Select the email format option that best suits your needs.

Step 3

Your email address and add any additional notes or text. Send email, as usual, and your OpenOffice document will be included as an attachment in the format of your choice.

It is rightfully considered one of the best of its kind:

1. A complete set of office programs.
2. In terms of power and functionality, it is practically not inferior to commercial analogues.
3. Absolutely free for both home use, and for any business purpose.

4. Classic, intuitive interface.
5. Availability great tool to check the spelling of almost all languages ​​of the world.
6. Cross-platform: works on both Windows and Mac OS. IN Lately A version of OpenOffice has also appeared for Android. By the way, mobile version almost no different from the desktop one.

In some countries of the world, OpenOffice is designated by government decree for use in government agencies and services. By the way, OpenOffice has a brother - LibreOffice. They look alike, like brothers. Only some elements and options differ. For example, the statistics interface is implemented differently. Therefore, when talking about OpenOffice, we are also talking about LibreOffice. The question of choice is a matter of taste or professional goals.

Since OpenOffice is developed by a community of free developers, updates occur quite often, and if something is missing today, it is quite possible that some programmer is already working on fixing the problem. Besides, source The programs are distributed freely and freely. And this means that, if desired and necessary, the user can independently make the assembly he needs.

What's included in OpenOffice:

1. A text document is an analogue of MS Word.
2. Spreadsheet is a program for creating and editing spreadsheets, charts and their analysis. Analogous to MS Excel.
3. Drawing – graphic editor. The interface is very similar to Corel Draw.
4. Presentation is a program for creating presentations. Analogous to MS PowerPoint.
5. Database – database editor.
6. Formula – formula editor.

Almost all the functions and options are the same as in MS Office. All OpenOffice programs are compatible with most popular file formats. The main thing here is not to forget to save your work in the required format. Otherwise, you come to work, turn on the computer, and Word does not read the native OpenOffice ODT format. To avoid getting into trouble, it is better to go through the settings in advance and set the desired default format - DOC or RTF.

OpenOffice interface

Unlike MS Office, whose developers are constantly experimenting with the UI, OpenOffice has had the same classic old-style user interface for years. Microsoft versions Office. It is difficult to say how to explain such traditionalism. On the other hand, there is no need to turn on your brain every now and then and spend extra time on dealing with innovations appearance and control systems. All buttons and menus always remain in place. The color scheme is kept in restrained tones and creates a comfortable mood for work and creativity.

Spellchecking

The spelling tool can hardly be called very convenient and productive. To add words to dictionaries you have to do a lot of unnecessary movements and this is very annoying when you work for money. The characters themselves in the spelling interface are too small and illegible. For people with poor eyesight it is simply torment. In addition, the spell check tool often misses errors, and the document has to be checked two or three times. This is unacceptable for professional work.

OpenOffice Writer

A text editor for taking quick notes, but powerful enough to create entire books with table of contents, diagrams, indexes, and more.

OpenOffice Calc

Powerful and convenient, multifunctional spreadsheet editor. One of the best components of the OpenOffice suite. In some ways it even surpasses the notorious Excel. There is an extensive set of formulas for calculations and templates for generating charts from databases. Flexible system for user reconfiguration.

A tool for creating effective multimedia presentations.

OpenOffice Draw

There is not much good to say about the drawing program. To put it bluntly, it is a weak and very inconvenient graphic editor. The set of drawing tools is small, the transitions between views are unclear. This is hardly suitable for creating a professional product for sale.

OpenOffice Base

A good tool for working with databases. There are wizards for setting up tables and forms. Everything is convenient and appropriate. The work is simple and pleasant. Can be recommended for use.

Math

Component for creation and editing mathematical formulas. It is usually used as a formula editor in text documents, but can also be used with other document types or standalone.

Alternative free office suites

There are quite a lot of free office suites of different composition and functionality in the world:

1. SSuite Office - Excalibur and other assemblies. Product from South Africa. The interface is completely unique and extremely convenient. However, point-blank he doesn’t understand the Cyrillic encoding - if you copy and paste, some gibberish appears instead of letters. Well, there is no Russian spelling check.
2. SoftMaker. There is everything, even a good Russian spelling tool. Problem: everything is somehow inconvenient, awkward, illegible. In short, usability is at half past six.
3. Lotus Office. Everything seems to be wonderful and everything is available and even more. However, this Lotus is so slow that working with it is very reminiscent of setting the sun manually.
4. KingSoft Office. When you first look at this miracle, the question involuntarily arises - who are the developers? Germans or British? Chinese! The interface and options are very similar to latest versions MS Office. However, there are a couple of serious problems that prevent you from working with this wonderful King: it is free for non-commercial use only. There is no Russian spelling. However, let’s hope that our friends from the Middle Kingdom will soon remember about the endless Russian market.

Conclusion

The conclusion is simple and logical - if you need an excellent office suite for home or educational purposes, feel free to download OpenOffice. The money saved on purchasing MS Office can be used for more enjoyable purposes and tasks.

On the other hand, if you are going to make money working with documents, OpenOffice will constantly create obstacles and obstacles for you. You will spend too much time, effort and nerves on intermediate actions. Whatever you say, for speedy and productive work it is always better to fork out a little and purchase a real professional tool that will save you time and thereby generate additional money.