OpenOffice.org Training, Tips, and Ideas

Open Source Resources

The site http://www.bytepowered.org , Cheap Computer Solutions owned by Lyle Cochran, has many free resources. See also www.bytepowered.org/articles,  www.bytepowered.org/openoffice_news.php, and www.bytepowered.org/openoffice.php.

BytePowered Articles is a database of articles, guides and reviews of everything Computer, Internet or Communications Technology related.  The articles site is very young with only about 250 articles at this writing, but growing very fast; the owner is getting over 100 hundred articles a week.  He's looking for more articles on open source software.  (No remuneration is offered.)

Open invitation from Lyle:
"Please feel free to submit articles and invite all of your friends and colleges to
help promote OpenOffice.org by submitting articles to Bytepowered Articles
(http://bytepowered.org/articles). Well written articles will also be posted
to the Bytepowered Articles Blog."

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New OpenOffice Base Database Workbook

I've finished my Base workbook!

Click here to see the TOC.

For the rest of the year it's at a Special Introductory Price of just $15. Feel free to provide suggestions or corrections for what to add to it. I'm not a DBA so would appreciate information on what additional tasks would be most useful with the tools in Base.

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A Design Contest! Enhancing the OpenOffice.org Template Coffers

The deadline is October 31st! Still plenty of time to enter!

It's another contest! Anyone with OpenOffice.org and a dream (that's all of us, potentially) can enter.

It's the Worldlabel-sponsored OpenOffice.org Design Competition.

" The OpenOffice.org documentation project has announced a Template & Clipart Contest.

The total prize money is to the tune of $5000 sponsored by WorldLabel, which has long been a strong champion of OpenOffice.org.

The goal is to increase the trove of templates and clipart. The current collection of template samples leaves a huge gap that needs to be filled. Step up and fill that gap. Winners will also have the option of including their winning entries in the OpenOffice.org installation sets available from the site.

If you are interested, visit the Documentation Project for more information. Everyone is eligible and everyone is encouraged to participate. The contest officially starts this week and ends 31
October 2006. Winning entries will be judged by a panel of three and winners will be announced."

Enter! I'm definitely going to do it. It's fun, plus with more templates, OpenOffice.org will be even more appealing for those still with Microsoft Office.

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How to Get the "Do You Want to Print a Form Letter?" Message Back for OpenOffice Mail Merges

If you've done mail merges before, you've seen this message.

 

What you should do, every time, is to click Yes and leave everything else alone. Then the mail merge will print with the contents of your data source.

What would make sense is to mark the Do Not Show Warning Again checkbox and click Yes, thinking that every time thereafter you'll be able to print the mailmerge correctly, with the contents of your data source, just like you did this time, but without that pesky message popping up.

You'd be logical, but you'd also be wrong because of the wacky design of the program. If you mark the checkmark, then from that day forward you will print, instead of a mail merge, a list of fields like <Firstname> and <Lastname>.

So:
How do you get that dialog box to come back so you can print a mail merge correctly?

Answer: Here's how it's supposed to work. People say this works. I can't find a file with the relevant flag in it on my machine but if it works for you, great. It should work.

<< Reader David Beroff offers some fine suggestions after his successful implementation, which I have updated the instructions with.>>

1. Close OpenOffice.org.

2. Find the Writer.xcu file. It's in one of these locations.

~/.ooo-2.0-pre/user/registry/data/org/openoffice/Office/Writer.xcu

Documents and Settings\[users]\Application Data\OpenOffice.org2\  user\registry\data\org\openoffice\Office\Writer.xcu

3. Make a backup copy of it. Just copy the file in your file manager and paste it somewhere else.

4. Open it with an Ascii editor (i.e Notepad or 1stPage or some such program.)

5. Look for <prop oor:name="AskForMerge">  and set the value to true. To do this, look for "AskForMerge=False"  and type "True" where it says "False."

6. Save the file.

Now you'll get the message popping up again when you print a mail merge. Leave the checkbox alone and click Yes, and you're golden.

 

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Installing OpenOffice.org 2.0.4 Isn't Going So Well

I'm researching what the problem is, but I just wanted to share that installing OOo 2.0.4 on Windows is just not working on either my desktop or laptop. If you're having problems, you're not alone!

 

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Another Mystery Solved: Getting Data Into an OpenOffice.org Base Database

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Vote for adding a wizard to import data into Base
http://qa.openoffice.org/issues/show_bug.cgi?id=51904

Utility to export CSV from Base
http://wiki.services.openoffice.org/wiki/CSV_export
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I swear, my shift and matching pumps are getting a little worn out with all this detective work.

I've written an article for TechTarget about how to get data out of one database, such as Access, into an OpenOffice database table. Not exactly obvious, but easy.  You just need to know what to do. (And I'm pleased to say that my mantra, "When in doubt, right-click," does apply here.  ;>  )

(You can of course just type from scratch but when you've got 50,000 records of census data, for instance, that's kind of impractical.)

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Custom OpenOffice Draw Shapes -- Visio Users, This Is For You!

Mark Lautmann has a great site full of custom OpenOffice.org shapes in Draw.

http://www.lautman.net/mark/coo/tutorial.html

From his site:

"You love OpenOffice, but you still use Visio to make drawings. Why? Because none of the shapes you need are easily available. Until now. Custom OO Shapes is a repository of custom shapes you can use with OpenOffice Draw."

Mark has  many categories. One is basic network shapes such as a tape drive, multiplexer, bridge, hub, modem, printer, comm link, server tower, server blade, desktop PC, radio tower, cell phone, router, rack-mount unit, IP phone, laptop, and wireless access point.

Browse and enjoy!

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OpenOffice.org DIY training Portal

 

Free OpenOffice online training!

Click here to see the announcement about Resolvo Systems on ZDnet.
http://www.zdnetasia.com/news/software/0,39044164,61954494,00.htm

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Using the Detective Feature in OpenOffice Calc

I do enjoy having software do work for me.

And a feature that will do that, but which I rarely hear anyone talking about, is the Detective under the Tools menu.

The Detective has many features; I'll go over them in a few different posts. Here's how to get started: tracing the precedents (the ingredients that go into a cell) and the dependents (the cells that look back to a cell as the basis for the calculations).

The Sample Spreadsheet
In this spreadsheet, the expenses for the spring and summer are totaled, and the fall and winter are totaled. We also have a total for the whole year. So the spring and summer depend on the original numbers in the columns, as do the fall and winter totals, and of course the totals at the bottom of the columns.

In addition, there are two calculations that figure out the percentage, which go back two levels.

Click the following picture to see a bigger version; this is definitely too small to see reasonably.

Precedents
I want to see what cells are involved in the calculation for the Spring and Summer percentage. So I click on that cell, and choose Tools > Detective > Trace Precedents. The blue arrows show me the two cells that are referenced in the cell.

Dependents
Let's say I'm thinking of changing the total for the Fall and Winter Expenses but I don't want to screw up other calculations. I can see a cell's dependents by selecting the cell and choosing Tools > Detective > Trace Dependents.

Those are two of the most useful basics for the Detective. I'll talk more about the other features in future blogs.

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In Praise of Outline Numbering for OpenOffice Writer Documents

You don't really even need to know what this feature is to benefit from it.

For every document, be sure Outline Numbering is set up correctly. You'll get a lot of very cool automatic formatting and content for free.

Outline Numbering is the specification of the structure of your document.  It just means telling OpenOffice which paragraph styles you're using for headings.

Why bother with outline numbering? Because when you have outline numbering set up, you get so much cool stuff for free.

How do you do it and what are these fabulous free things?

Read on.

Step 1: Apply styles to all headings (but you already were, right?)

You must, and should, use paragraph styles with each heading to indicate what type of content, and what level, it is.

Just select your heading text and click in the style dropdown list...

Or choose Format > Styles and Formatting, click the Paragraph Styles icon (far left at the top), then double-click the style name.

Now the selected paragraph style is applied to the text in the selected heading.

It's easy and simple to use the paragraph styles Heading1 through Heading10 for your headings.

If you don't like how the styles look, modify them. Right-click on the style name in the Styles and Formatting window and choose Modify.

Step 2: Check that Outline Numbering is correct (it should be already)

The default structure is Heading1 down through Heading10. Choose Tools > Outline Numbering; it should look like this.

If it doesn't look like this or if you applied different paragraph styles to your headings, then just apply the correct styles to each level.  Select a level on the left, select the appropriate heading style in the dropdown list, and so on.

If you want numbering that is like this, then assign the appropriate numbering at each level.

1. Bread

[content]

1.1 Rye

[content]

Then change the Show Sublevels field; if you want a heading to show 1.1, for instance, you want to show two sublevels.

Then click OK.

Step 3:  Benefits: You get automatic tables of contents, and easy, automatically updated running headers and footers

Now, tables of contents work automatically. Choose Insert > Indexes and Tables > Indexes and Tables. Click OK. TOCs are set up by default based on your outline numbering, assuming it's Heading1 through Heading10.

So with no additional effort at all I get this TOC from the sample I showed earlier. The gray just means that the fields are generated automatically. When you change anything in the document, right-click on the TOC and choose Update.

You also get easy running headers and footers.  Click in a header or footer, Insert > Fields > Other, and click the Document tab. Select Chapter as the Type, Chapter Name as the Format, and the level you want. Layer 1 is the current top level heading text that you used the Heading1 paragraph style on; Layer 2 is the current second-level heading text that you used the Heading2 paragraph styel  and so on.

I inserted Layer 1 on the left and Layer 2 on the right of this footer. Click to see a larger version.  In a few pages when I've got different headings, these footers will change automatically.

See? Outline numbering, and using easy styles for all your headings, gives you a lot of great automatic stuff for  very little effort. And we love getting a lot for a little.

 

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Just a Quick Post: Send Document as Email Is On the Toolbar

I noticed while training in Largo that one of my favorite features, File > Send > Document as Email, has an icon on the toolbar, as well. Click the image below to see it bigger.

This feature, of course, all in one shot:

• Starts your email program (set it up in your operating system defaults, in your control panel)
• Creates a new empty email document
• Attaches the current document to that email document

All you need to do is address the email and send. I used this feature in class when I had student write up quick reference guides. Each wrote up a guide to the key steps in a few of the procedures they'd learned that day, then they used this Send feature to send their guide quickly to everyone else in class.

It's been there for a while -- now with an icon, so even more convenient for the icon folks.

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Looking Forward, Now That I'm Back

There's no place like home.

It's almost like I clicked my airport-friendly slipon black shoes together and said it three times.

I've got my cats, NPR is on all the time (Colorado has amazing NPR, we get it all except Selected Shorts), and it feels good.

I'm glad to be home because I've been all over the place. Home to care for my mom, of course, plus lots of wonderful training gigs with great clients. I've been training on Bainbridge Island and then, for two weeks, the City of Largo. Both beautiful places, and may I just say that the Bellview Biltmore hotel in Clearwater is amazing. If you are traveling to the Tampa area, by all means stay at that hotel. I got a good deal as a business traveler, through Orbitz, but I don't know of any reason not to contact the hotel directly.

One new class in Largo was a one-day databases class, covering the topics I've written about in various TechTarget articles. My new Databases workbook  covering tools in OpenOffice Base for queries, views, reports, joins, etc. is the basis for the class. Don't buy it just now -- I need to update it with a few cool new things I learned while teaching it. I'll announce when it's updated, should be by the end of the week.

While in Largo in the evenings, sitting by the gorgeous Belleview Biltmore pool and looking at the palm trees, I pondered and concluded and planned about various things. Here's what I came up with.

1. I'm going to start selling my workbooks via PDF--once I figure out the best way to do it.
The price of course will be lower, though of course there might be some printing costs for each customer. I'm in the process of figuring out how best to do this; candidates are www.lulu.com and simply setting up some PDF security, possibly a password, and sending them directly.

Question: How annoying would it be for you to have to type in a password every time you open a PDF? It would be something reasonably obvious to you, not au7781fflk or anything like that.

If you want to see lulu.com, you can see my Gift-Giving Guide for Guys there. It's a $10 PDF of my self-published guide to good gift ideas for men who would like some help coming up with the ideas. You can see an excerpt on the page with the book, covering not just good ideas but how to come up with others based on what your sweetie is generally interested in.

2: I'm going to be promoting the idea of a site license for the workbooks.

If you're looking at OpenOffice.org for your organization, and you need workbooks, please contact me about a site license for the workbooks you'll need to train users. This applies if you're going to be doing the training yourself or bringing me in to train some or all users. It's economical and convenient; you can put the PDFs on your internal web site (without a password) and let any internal users access them.

3: I'm going to be giving a particularly good deal on site licenses to schools (K-12).

I haven't figured out the details yet, but for a limited time I'm going to be putting the training materials "on sale" to promote the use of OpenOffice.org in schools. Stay tuned!

4: I want to hear about more projects that you're having trouble with, so I can write about how to do them.

For instance, I approached the idea of a tri-fold brochure for the City of Largo. (More on that in an article for TechTarget.) If there are other tasks, rather than specific features, that you'd like information and/or templates for doing, let me know.

5: I'm open for business, to help convert your problem documents.

A lot of documents open up in OpenOffice.org with no or few problems. But for the stubborn ones, it can be most efficient to just farm out the conversion. If your manual on policies nad procedures started out in WordPerfect in 1985, and has been touched by at least 30 people since then, some of whom aren't highly skilled desktop publishers, it's not just a simple case of File > Open. Contact me for a quote, if you'd like me to help convert those.

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That's my plan, or at least key elements of it, going forward. I'll also be back to blogging as normal, and writing articles for TechTarget.com.

Regards,

Solveig

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