Changing the Default Size of your Document [OpenOffice Writer]

On April 26, 2010, in Beginners, OpenOffice.org Writer, Templates, by stephanie
0

Living outside of the US means that I use A4 paper. OpenOffice Writer documents usually default to Letter sized paper.

To change the size of your paper to A4, use the steps below. If you want to change the default paper size, then perform the steps below and keep reading further.

Changing the page size of your document

First, open a new Writer document.

Then from the Format menu, select ‘Page’.

Then from the Paper Format section, change the letter to A4 as per the following.

Select OK, and your page will be resized!

Easy! But who wants to do this every time they open a new document?

Change the default page size of your documents

From the previous section, you should now have a document that is A4-sized.

Modify any other settings that you want saved in your default template as well. For example, I like Arial font as the default instead of Times New Roman, so I have changed that.

Now, from the File menu, choose Templates -> Save.

You will then see the Templates box. Give your template a name, and select a category (like My Templates).

Now choose File -> Templates -> Organize

In the Categories list, double-click on the ‘My Templates’ folder.

Right-click on the template you want to use and choose Set as Default Template from the menu.

Click the Close button.

Tagged with: • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •
 

Stylin’ in OpenOffice [Formatting for Calc and Writer]

On February 21, 2010, in Easy, OpenOffice.org Calc, OpenOffice.org Writer, by stephanie
0

A lot of people think that most word-processing applications like Writer and its competition, are just like typewriters, with basic formatting like bold and underlining. This is OK for starting the document, but if it’s something that may require a format change in the future, then it could be a long and painful process.

Fortunately, over at World Label, they’ve put together some basic information on formatting using Styles – for both Calc and Writer.

Check it out at:

OpenOffice.org: The Need for Style

Tagged with: • • • • • •
 

Forcing Line Breaks in Table of Contents

On November 1, 2009, in Beginners, Easy, OpenOffice.org, OpenOffice.org Writer, by stephanie
1

I recently saw a question regarding line breaks in the table of contents – OpenOffice does not allow you to edit a table of contents except through styles. Sometimes the way that long headings are formatted might not be what you desire.

One thing to note about the TOC is that the line breaks that you insert in the heading itself will be reflected in the TOC.

Example:
Putting in a manual line break (Shift + Enter) in this heading:

manual_line_break

will result in a line break appearing in the Table of Contents:

manual_line_break_toc

Tagged with: • • • • •
 

FAQ: Is there a Format Painter in OpenOffice?

On October 19, 2007, in Beginners, FAQ, by stephanie
0

Yes there is and it can be applied in most of the OpenOffice applications. I am demonstrating it in Writer below, however the same steps are applied to cells in Calc.

1. Highlight the area from which you wish to copy the format from.

Highlight text

2. Click on the format painter icon in the toolbar.

Format Painter

3. When the mouse looks like a paint bucket, highlight the text to which you want to apply the format.

Highlight target text

4. Let the mouse button go and the format will be applied to that section of text.

Apply format

Tagged with: • • •
 

Good Documentation and Instructions

On July 14, 2007, in General, OpenOffice.org, Useful Tools, by stephanie
0

There are a number of good how-to guides out there which detail explicit instructions and information on how to create different projects in OpenOffice.

I include a list of some of them here:

Tagged with: • • • • •