OpenOffice.org Training, Tips, and Ideas

Installing Fonts so They'll Show Up in OpenOffice.org

I've gotten a few questions about this lately, so wanted to post briefly. I'm not a fonts expert, but I just copy fonts files into the Fonts folder on my computer such as Windows\Fonts  and it works. Sometimes I need to restart OpenOffice.org or, if that doesn't work, restart the computer. But OpenOffice.org does pick up the fonts you have on your operating system.

If the font shows up in the list but doesn't look right or print, choose Tools > Options > OpenOffice.org > Fonts and check to see whether a font substitution has been set up.

Free clip art, templates, and fonts

I've updated my sidebars and have added a new list on the left for several places you can get free OpenOffice.org and Microsoft Office templates. Also I've listed places to get free fonts and clip art. I fond them all just by googling, free templates, free fonts, and free clip art, so please feel free to go out there looking yourself if these sites don't give you everything you need.

Templates -- Keep in mind that most templates in MS Office will open up fine in OpenOffice.org. Start OpenOffice.org, choose File > Open, open the template. Then choose File > Templates > Save, give the template a name, click OK, and it's now an OpenOffice.org template. To use it, just choose File > New > Templates and Documents. (And if it was a Powerpoint template, it will show up when you choose File > New > Presentation.)

To convert a bunch of MS templates to OOo format, just choose File > Wizards > Document Converter and follow the wizard through. Then choose Tools > Options > OpenOffice.org > Paths and, for the Templates line, just add the location of the converted copies that the wizard made.

With Powerpoint templates you do need to do an extra step because of an annoying naming thing that MS does.

Here's some more supplementary info on templates.

Clip art -- If you're associated with a school, company, etc. then centralize the effort. Just get one person (a student with a period free or an intern, ideally) to download the clip art, organize it, and add it to the gallery.

Fonts -- Lots of new fonts are a good way to help smooth the way for apprehensive new users. Plus, they're just fun. Download the ones you want for your operating system and copy them to the appropriate directory, such as C:\WINDOWS\FONTS. They'll then show up in OpenOffice.org.

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Free Fonts!

Check out a few free fonts, as well as fonts you can buy.

http://www.bvfonts.com/tou.php

It has Mac Truetype and Postscript, Windows Truetype, and Opentype.

For Windows, download the Windows font zip file, unzip it, and copy the contents (except the readme file) to your Windows\Fonts directory.  For other OSes, it varies but a google will tell you pretty quickly.

Then they'll be available in OpenOffice.org. (FYI, in this shot I'm using OOo on Windows but with Ubuntu icons.)

While I'm at it, here's where to get Microsoft's Truetype core fonts that you can install on Linux, as well as how to install them.

Also, ironically almost exactly a year ago, I posted this  blog on the font import wizard.

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Importing Fonts Into OpenOffice.org 2.1

OpenOffice.org will just pick up whatever fonts you've got on your system. As someone who's worked with a lot of desktop publishing projects and who's mostly on Windows, I have a lot of fonts.

But let's say you don't have a lot of fonts, and you want more fonts for OpenOffice.

OpenOffice is there for you. In 2.1 there's a link from the Wizards to an installation site.

Choose File > Wizards > Install Fonts From Web.

Just follow the wizard through. Here are the windows.

Click on English and here's the text you see.

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FontOOo

Version 1.6.1

FontOOo is a wizard allowing free fonts installation.

 

FontOOo is a wizard to simplify the downloading and installation of selected, high-quality fonts available on the internet.  License restrictions prevent these fonts from being directly shipped as part of OpenOffice.org but do allow end-user installation and use for no cost.   Please carefully read and follow the license for each of the fonts you install.

 

Click the button to start the wizard

Notes:

You will have to restart OpenOffice.org and the quickstarter to see your new fonts.

FontOOo only works at OpenOffice.org level and no font is installed at operating system level

 

This wizard is licensed under the terms of the LGPL, available here:
http://www.opensource.org/licenses/lgpl-license.php

Author: Laurent Godard – © 2004–2006 – LaurentGodard@openoffice.org

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Select available fonts. If they're dimmed, click Next and select any that are available.

I selected all these and installed them.

Selectwhat you want installed and click Next. The process will run. Restart OpenOffice.org and the quickstarter when you're done.

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