Hi,
I've added a Search This Blog field to both sides of my blog. Apologies for the years of lame or no search functionality!
Cite This Blog
Train Your Organization
September 02, 2009
January 13, 2009
Quick Guide to Creating Automatic Tables of Contents
I've got this post with a PDF from my workbooks on how to create tables of contents. However, I wanted to also make one that's just here in the web site, and with fewer details.
This is a table of contents in Writer. Never, ever create one from scratch. It is so much easier to create one automatically.
Note:
- The gray part doesn't print; it's just there to indicate that there's something automatic happening.
- You can change how each level looks just by modifying certain styles; more on that later.
- If you make changes to the document, then right-click on the TOC and choose Update, the TOC will automatically reflect the changes in the document. Page numbers will be correct, etc.
Creating a Table of Contents: Step 1, Select and Apply Paragraph Styles
Writer knows what to put in the TOC based on what paragraph styles you tell it to look at. Paragraph styles like Heading1 etc. should be applied to the headings in the document. So plan and apply the paragraph styles that set up the structure of the document.
Paragraph styles are here; choose Format > Styles and Formatting. You can use existing ones such as Heading1 through Heading10 (recommended) or create your own. 
For instance, in this document I decided that the first heading (chapter) would have Heading1 paragraph style applied; the second level down would have Heading2 paragraph style applied, and so on. So in this illustration, the heading Types of Bread has the Heading2 style applied.
So that's what you do.
- Decide what paragraph styles you'll use on the top-level headings, the second-level headings, and so on.
- Apply those styles to the headings.
To apply a style:
- Click in the heading
- And either double-click the style name in the Styles and Formatting window, or if it's there, select it in the dropdown list on the left.
Do that to every heading in your document. This is of course less of a pain if you do it as you write the document rather than all at once afterwards.
Note: If you apply Heading1, Heading2 etc. and don't like how they look, right-click on a heading with the style applied and choose Edit Paragraph Style.
In the window that appears, just make your changes and click OK.
Creating a Table of Contents: Step 2, Set Up the Table of Contents
Click in your document before any of the content. Then choose Insert > Indexes and Tables > Indexes and Tables. This window will appear.
First, check the number of levels you want to include. If you don't want all of them, change the Evaluate Up To Level setting.
Then be sure that the Outline checkbox is marked. Click the ... icon next to it.
In this window, specify the paragraph styles you selected and applied in the previous major step, then click OK. If you used Heading1 through Heading10 it should already be set up correctly.
Then click OK in the main tab and your TOC will appear.
Creating a Table of Contents: Step 3, Modifying the Table of Contents
If you don't like how the TOC looks, modify the styles used to format the TOC. Right-click on a line in the TOC that you don't like and choose Edit Paragraph Style. 
In the window that appears, change the settings, then click OK.
The TOC will reflect those changes.
To update, edit, or delete the TOC, right-click on it.
Is That All There Is?
Definitely not. See this blog for more info including how to make the TOC hotlinked. But you're well on your way.
December 15, 2008
How to take a spreadsheet that has firstname, lastname, and initial all in the same column, and turn it into two columns
Sometimes your data isn't as broken down, as granular, as you'd like.
| Name |
| Hanson,John B |
| Herman,Jill |
| Jenson,Jim J |
What you typically want, for the most power over your data, is this.
| Lastname | Firstname |
| Hanson | John B |
| Herman | Jill |
| Jenson | Jim J |
Here's how to split it automatically, not manually.
First, you need to take out that space between the comma and the first name. Select all the cells in that name column.
Choose Edit > Find and Replace. Type a comma immediately followed by a space in the Search For field and just type a comma in the Replace With field. Click More and select Current Selection Only.
Then click Replace All.
And you'll see the data looks like this.
Now you're ready to split it at the comma. First, be sure that you have an empty column to the right of the Name column, to put the first name and initial into. Then click on the column header to select the whole column.
Choose Data > Text to Columns.
Select the comma, but nothing else. You'll see a preview of how it will be split.
Then click OK and you'll see the actual data split.
December 11, 2008
How to specify fieldname Not Equal To fieldname in an OpenOffice.org Base query
Let's say that you have a whole bunch of data. You're the head of HR and you have thousands of employees. You want to figure out which ones you need to talk to about new benefits because they've changed their health insurance plan from one year to another. You just need to figure out which are the ones who changed. How do you do that?
You create a query that says "find me all the people for whom Plan08 field does not equal Plan09".
OK, good. But what's the syntax?
Design View
<> is how you say not equal
and then you just put square brackets around the fieldname.
so in the field for Plan08 you just put <>[Plan09]
Here's some example data. You need to have the fields set up so they have the value for each employee's choice for health plan for 08, and then again for what they're switching to for 09.
The data needs to be in or connected to a database file, an ODB file.
Then you open your database .odb file containing that data, and you click the Queries icon at the side.
You have to create the query in design view or in SQL view, you can't use the wizard.
In design view it's as I showed before, and in SQL it's just "Plan08" <> "Plan09".
Here's how it looks in design view.
and here's the results when you click the green-checkmark Run Query icon.
December 10, 2008
December 08, 2008
How to generate an email address from firstname and lastname
Let's say that you work at one of those companies that has a nice leftover-from-the-8-character-file-name-limit-days email format. Solveig Haugland becomes shauglan, Bob Nelson becomes bnelson, and so on.
And let's also say, as long as we're dreaming up situations, that you've got a spreadsheet full of first and last names but you don't have their emails.
You could type in all the email addresses but even an intern who's paid well by the hour is going to balk at that.
The faster way is to use CONCATENATE and LEFT.
You've got this.
| Firstname | Lastname | |
| Shelly | Nelson | |
| Bill | Mizrahi | |
| Steve | Santos |
You want this.
| Firstname | Lastname | |
| Shelly | Nelson | snelson@company.com |
| Bill | Mizrahi | bmizrahi@company.com |
| Steve | Santos | ssantos@company.com |
Here's how to get it.
Syntax
=CONCATENATE(LEFT(cell_with_firstname;1);LEFT(cell_with_lastname;7);"@yourdomain")
Example
November 20, 2008
Making a Specific Template Come Up When You Create Any New Document, in OpenOffice.org Writer, Calc, Impress, or Draw (repost)
This is a very useful feature, I think, so I'm reposting it.
Anytime you can help people do something without actually have them do anything is great for them and great for you.
Templates are a great way to save time. Set up templates with the styles, graphics, etc. that people need, and they don't need to re-create them. (Or create them in the first place.)
However, getting users to use the templates is another step. For them, choosing File > New > Templates and Documents might not be something some will want to do or remember to do every time.
What if one of the templates you've created is one that many or all users use all the time as the basis for new documents? You can make it come up when users just choose File > New > [type of document] by setting it as the default template. I.e. the user uses the template but doesn't even need to select it.
First, create a new document and make it how you want it: create styles, apply styles, include canned text, whatever.
Choose File > Templates > Save. Select a category and name the template. Click OK.
Choose File > Templates > Organize.
Open the category your template is in, in the left side.
Right-click on the template and choose Set as Default Template.
Click Close. You're done! Choose File > New > [type of document] and you'll see the effect.
To switch back to the normal original boring blank document, repeat the steps but this time choose Reset Default Template > [type of document]
November 10, 2008
The most straightforward wizardless way to create an envelope in OpenOffice.org Writer (and then reuse it as a template)
Envelopes can be problematic. Yes. This is primarily because envelopes are not Letter or Legal. Each printer has its own approach to printing, and you'll need to do a little experimenting.
But you can do it. The Envelopes category and the Mail Merge catogory of my blog each has various approaches.
But with this new entry I've tried to clarify what I think is the best and most straightforward approach to making envelopes. The thing is, creating the first doc is a little work, and figuring out how to print is a little work. But once you do it, you don't have to create the envelope document again. You don't have to figure out which way the printers go in. You know. So the second time and all other times, you just open the old doc, whether you made it into a template or just saved it in
C:\myreusabledocs\envelope.odt
and retype the info. Then you print, and you now know how to print.
Just do the hard work once. Then re-use.
THE PART YOU ONLY HAVE TO DO ONCE: CREATING THE ENVELOPE THE FIRST TIME AND FIGURING OUT HOW TO PRINT
A) Make the envelope document once
B) Print
C) Save it as a template so you never have to make it again
THEN ONCE YOU'RE SET UP PRINTING ADDITIONAL ENVELOPES IS MUCH SIMPLER
D) Open the template, retype or paste, and print
Here we go.
THE PART YOU ONLY HAVE TO DO ONCE: CREATING THE ENVELOPE THE FIRST TIME AND FIGURING OUT HOW TO PRINT
A) Make the envelope document once
1. Create a new empty document. This will be your envelope.
2. Now make it look like an envelope. Choose Format > Page, Page tab. Make your window match the settings in this window, then click OK.
3. This is what it should look like.
4. Type the return address if you want (skip it if you've got that already on your envelopes.)
After typing, you want to take the cursor, the entry place where you type, down and over. Click after the return address and press Enter a few times til the cursor is about as high as you'd want it to be for the regular address.
5. See the top item circled on the ruler? Click and hold down on the bottom triangle and drag it about halfway over.
6. And now the cursor is where you need it to be to type the address.
7. Type the To address.
8. And now you can format it of course any way you want.
9. If you don't like where the To text is, click above the text and press Enter a few times to lower it or press Backspace a few times to raise it. Just the same way you'd do it in a normal doc.
10. And to move it left or right, select at least part of the To text and drag that bottom triangle left or right. Same way you did it before.
B) Print
Take out some cheap envelopes. You're going to need to experiment a little potentially.
1. Choose File > Print. In the Print window, click Options and in the window (this varies by printer), find the paper size and choose Envelope 10. This is the most important part of printing. You must do this or it won't work.
Click OK in the settings window, then specify your print options and click OK to print.
Now, it's up to you to fiddle with which way to insert the envelope, up or down or one end first or the other. That's allllll your printer.
If you end up getting the address printed 90 degrees off, then make this change to the print setup in your print window too. Print it landscape. How it looks in your printer will vary.
Click OK in the settings window, then click OK to print.
At this point it should work.
Once you've got it working, write down all the settings you did that work.
Note: You can also choose File > Printer Settings in your document and make the same paper size and landscape/vertical settings there. And theoretically those settings are saved so you don't have to do it again each time you print. If it works for you, great. However, I've found this slightly less reliable.
C) Save it as a template so you never have to make it again!
Had enough formatting? Then just save it as a template so you never have to create it again. You can make it into a template by choosing File > Templates > Save, selecting the My Templates category, naming it, and clicking OK.
Then use the template. When you want another envelope, choose File > New > Templates and Documents, click the Templates icon in the window that appears, and open the My Templates category.
Inside the category, find your envelope. Double-click it. And you'll get a new untitled envelope document just like the one you made.
Then just type or paste new info.
THEN ONCE YOU'RE SET UP PRINTING ADDITIONAL ENVELOPES IS MUCH SIMPLER
D) Open the template, retype or paste, and print
This is all you have to do once you've done all this stuff.
- When you want to print an envelope, open up that template. (Or skip the whole template-making thing and just open the old document, wherever you saved it.)
- Type or paste in new information.
- Print, being sure that the printer is set for Envelope 10 and, if necessary, Landscape.
That's all.
October 06, 2008
Doing an email mail merge without most of the overhead of the OpenOffice Mail Merge wizard
I'm afraid the Tools > Mail Merge Wizard has never been one of my favorites. Too complicated.
I always train people to just "roll their own" when making a mail merge document.
http://openoffice.blogs.com/openoffice/2007/01/mail_merge_in_o.html
Everything you can do in the mail merge wizard, you can pretty much do in the roll-your-own approach, especially since you can now print all documents to a single file and then open that and customize it as you like, before printing on paper.
Printing
and viewing/editing the file output. (Click to see the bigger version; you'll see different values in the two letters.)
BUT
One thing you can't do in the roll-your-own approach is do an email mail merge.
Do you really want to go through the complexity and muscle aches of using the Mail Merge Wizard? No. And you don't have to. You're going to mix and match.
Step 1. Create your email the way you want it with the roll-your-own approach.
http://openoffice.blogs.com/openoffice/2007/01/mail_merge_in_o.html
Save it. Keep it open.
Step 2: Set up email configuration. In Writer, choose Tools > Options > OpenOffice.org Writer > Email. This setup worked for me. Key settings are smtp.comcast.net and port 587. You just need to do this once. If you have security on your email, like requiring a password to send, you'll have to click the Server Authentication button and enter additional information.
Step 3: Choose Tools > Mail Merge Wizard. Choose Current Document, or else browse to your document, and click Next.
Choose Email and click Next.
Select the database you're using and the table. Click OK and click Next.
Keep clicking next til you're here. Fill it in by selecting the field from the database that has the emails in it, and anything else you want. Click Send Documents.
You'll see the progress window (in this test I only sent two emails).
And you're done!
The received email looks like this. Note that I sent it in email format, but with the extra carriage returns I put between the lines in Writer, it looks a little spacey here. You'll want to experiment with and adjust how you format the original Writer documents and what format you send in.
October 02, 2008
Sorting mixed 5- and 9-digit zip codes in OpenOffice.org Calc or Microsoft Excel
Every advance leads to benefits and to problems.
The 9-digit zip code is great for delivery accuracy. But they aren't required. So you have mixed 5-digits and 9-digits.
Now just try sorting your address info by zip code when there's mixed 5s and 9s. Here's what you get when you sort a standard address list by zip code. It's like cattle and sheep, they don't mix.
What do you do?
There are three things you can do:
1 - Enforce a 9-digit zip. Everyone without four digits gets -0000 whether they want it or not.
2 - Put a ' in front of every zip code. It doesn't print but it forces the zip code to think of itself as text. (This also helps with not losing leading zeroes.)
3 - Split the column into two, so you have the zip in one column and the four-digit extension in the other. This is kind of like the forcing-9-digit solution.
The explanations follow but if you want to root around in an example spreadsheet, here's a spreadsheet with options 2 and 3.
Solution 1
Solution 1 is self-explanatory.
Solution 2
Just type a ' a regular apostrophe on the keyboard, to the left of the first character of every zip code. It doesn't show but it forces text format.
See? The ' is there in the entry field but it doesn't show in the spreadsheet cell.
Typing ' into thousands of cells takes a while. So you can search and replace. There might be a better way to do this but this at least doesn't suck.
Click in the Zip Code heading in your spreadsheet, then choose Edit > Find and Replace. Click More Options and fill out the window as shown, searching for ^0, caret zero, and replacing with '0, apostrophe zero.
You'll need to do this once for 0, then for 1, then for 2, and so on. (I've tried to figure out a faster way, plus submit any suggestions.)
Either replace one at a time if you're cautious, or go nuts and replace all. You might want to select the whole column of zip codes, too, and select the Current Selection Only checkbox.
When you're done, and when you sort that data, the zip codes sort correctly.
Solution 3
You can split your data into two cells with the LEFT and RIGHT functions. I'm throwing in IF too because sometimes you'll want the right-hand four digits (the extension) and sometimes you'll want 0000. (Or just leave it blank, whatever you want to do.)
This is what I want to achieve.
And this is how I get it. The formula for the first column, where I extract the first five digits, is simple.
The right-hand side is a little more complicated since you're dealing with variable-length zip codes. But basically you're saying if the zip code is just five digits, then create a new 4-digit extension, "-0000" (or just "0000" depending on how you want to deal with the dash). And then if it isn't just five digits, then you want to see the right-hand five digits of the zip code (including the dash) or the right-hand four digits (if you want to leave out the dash and put it in manually somehow).
Then you just drag down those formulas to all the zip code cells.
If you want to turn those columns into normal text, just copy them, choose Edit > Paste Special, choose to NOT paste formulas, and click OK.
The pasted results are nothing but numbers.
Now when you sort, you just need to be sure to do it by two levels, first by the main zip code, then by the extension. BE SURE that you set the Ascending or Descending the same for both.
And you get your results, sorted correctly.
Here's a spreadsheet with options 2 and 3.
September 22, 2008
How to create a series, or just repeat a cell, in OpenOffice Calc spreadsheets
Never retype when you can do it quicker!
In OpenOffice.org Calc spreadsheets, as in Excel, you can click on a cell, find the little black handle in the lower right corner, and drag it up, left, right, or down, to get additional content.
If it's a number when you drag you'll increment by 1. If it's a value like the days of the week or names of months, it will increment as in January February March.
If it's a formula where you've just typed it normally without absolute references, then drag it down through a column or row, it will repeat the formula as shown. Here's the first cell with the formula:
Drag down and you get similar formulas referencing the next-door cell, not the original cell.
If it's anything else it will just repeat.
If it's a number or day/week/month (not a formula) that usually increments, and you just want it to repeat, you can:
- Select the cell containing the number, as well as all the cells that you want it to repeat into, and choose Edit > Fill > down or right or whatever fits the cells you've selected
- Or you can hold down Ctrl when you drag and it'll do the same thing: repeat instead of incrementing. This works for incrementing months/days etc and numbers.
Note: for formulas, if you want them to not adjust as you drag, you use absolute references as in Excel. $A$4 instead of A4 for instance.
September 18, 2008
September 01, 2008
When in doubt, right-click.
When in doubt, right-click.
The right-click context menu gives a very nice list of many of the operations you can do with the selected item. Not everything, of course, but it's a good place to start. (Click to see a bigger version.)
August 29, 2008
Expanded List of Tips for Tweaking Word Documents or WP Documents That Don't Look Perfect in OpenOffice Writer
I realized that I don't really have all the tips for compatibility between OpenOffice.org Writer and Microsoft Word in one spot. Here we go. These aren't all of the things you could ever try but they're my classics.
- Before converting the document, see what you can do about creating it well in a way that will convert well. If you create documents well, they'll convert well.
- If people are having problems with your document, find out if they really need to edit the document at all. If they just need to print it or have it on hand, then use File > Send > Document as PDF and all formatting problems are moot. Ditto if the problem is on your end -- if you don't need to edit the document you've received, then ask for a PDF version.
- Don't overlook the idea, with legacy documents, of A) keeping a couple licenses of Word around so you don't have to bother converting 0r B) contracting out the conversion work.
- Check the page formatting. Choose Format > Page and adjust the page size, margins, and page orientation. Make the page margins smaller if you're having trouble fitting everything onto the right number of pages.
- If text formatting is decidedly odd, select and choose Format > Default to remove formatting and start over.
- Change the font and/or font size. Select the text and choose a different font and font size from the dropdown lists at the top left of the toolbar.
- If graphics are behaving oddly, right-click on each and choose Anchor > To Page. Then reposition the graphic. You might also want to slightly shrink the graphic so it will fit better, or increase the size.
- For lists, select the list and click the numbering or list icon to turn off all numbering or bullets. Then reapply the list or bullets by clicking the same icon again.
- Adjust the default tabs. Choose Tools > Options > OpenOffice.org Writer > General. Set the tabs slightly smaller or slightly larger and check the effect.
- Adjust the default fonts. Choose Tools > Options > OpenOffice.org Writer > Basic Fonts (Western). Specify the fonts and font sizes that fit best in your documents.
- Check the fonts that are used with your printer and operating system. You might want to set up font substitution. Choose Tools > Options > General > Fonts, and use the online help to apply the replacement table. Replace fonts you can’t use with fonts you can.
- Choose Tools > Options > OpenOffice.org Writer > Compatibility. If the printer metrics option at the top isn’t on, select it. Try changing the other settings in the window and see if those items help.
If you find that you have a set of formatting changes that works well going to Word and back again, make that your default template. Then every time you create a new Writer document, it will have those attributes.
- Create a document with the correct formatting attributes.
- Choose File > Templates > Save.
- Save the template in My Templates and call it Conversion.
- Click OK.
- Choose File > Templates > Organizer.
- In the left-hand pane, expand My Templates and select the Conversion template.
- Right-click on that template and choose Default Template.
- If you want to go back to the normal default template later, open the Organizer again, right click, and choose Reset Default Template > Text Document.
August 25, 2008
August 07, 2008
Checking for broken links when you're using Edit > Paste Special, Link, in OpenOffice
Paste Special is a great feature. Copy something, then go to a different spreadsheet sheet, or a different OpenOffice.org, and choose Edit > Paste Special. (Or Ctrl Shift V.) You get these options.
If you're pasting a spreadsheet to a spreadsheet
If you're pasting a spreadsheet to a text doc
If you're pasting a text doc to a text doc, or a text doc to a spreadsheet
If you select the Link option in spreadsheet-to-spreadsheet, or the DDE Link option when pasting any other time, you get a connection between the pasted from doc and the pasted into doc. When what you originally copied changes, then the pasted version of it changes, too.
This continues to work unless somebody deletes, renames, or otherwise messes with the original file you copied.
Unfortunately, if this happens, there's no big red flag waving to tell you. The data is still there; the link is just lost.
Here's how to check to see if the link is still working. Choose Edit > Links.
If you see links listed there, they're working and nobody has messed up the name or location of the original file.
If the the Links option is dimmed, or if a link to the file you're checking on isn't listed, then the link is broken and you need to do Paste Special, Link again to make the pasted data update when the original data does.
July 07, 2008
Distorting Shapes to Make the Objects You Need: Using the OpenOffice Draw Distortion Tools
I like to fiddle around with Draw. In the 2.0 release I need to do it less because of all the great prefab shapes. However, sometimes you just need to create your own shapes. Make a shape vaguely like a Hershey's kiss, or just make something totally unusual.
You have the tools to do this with the Mode toolbar. Choose View > Toolbars > Mode.
The far right tool on the upper row and the first two on the lower row are the fun ones.
Here's how it works. Just draw a normal shape. Select it, then click on the icon you want. You'll see a message like this; click Yes.
So let's take a look at what happens to perfectly innocent shapes when you use the distortion and set-in-circle tools. Here are the perfectly innocent shapes I'll work with, but you can use any polygon shape include the smiley face shown at the top.
I'll show the effects of this tool first.
I select the blue shape then click the Set in Circle tool. When I move my mouse over the shape and drag a corner, I get something like this.
Here's the effect of some random distortion of the three original shapes.
Next, let's look at the Set to Circle (slightly different) icon.
Here's what it looks like when you start fiddling with a shape. It doesn't show here but your mouse pointer will look like a little crown when you move it over a corner.
Here are the three original shapes, just showing what I happened to do with them. Your results will vary.
And here's the last of the three icons, Distort.
Here's how I chose to distort the objects.
The Set in Circle item is the most fun, I think, and that's what I used to create the purple shape at the top. However, they're all quite useful depending on what kind of shape you need to create.
And don't overlook distorting a shape, then making it 3D. Select the distorted shape, right click, and choose Convert > To 3D. (NOT 3D rotation object.)
June 30, 2008
Video tutorial for creating cross-references
It takes a while to load, but should run fine once it gets going. (Optimization is one of the things I'm working on as I create more of these.)
It's about how to create cross-references in Writer, and what they are.
Note: The video uses the Navigator (press F5) to get around more easily to various headings being referenced. The Navigator shows you the structure of your document and the objects in it. By "structure" I mean that it shows all the text to which you have applied the paragraph styles Heading1, Heading2, and so on. More specifically, it shows whatever you have set up as the paragraph styles defining your documentBy structure under Tools > Outline Numbering. That's a whole nother topic, though a very useful one. To learn more about outline numbering and the Navigator, see these blog entries.
http://openoffice.blogs.com/openoffice/2006/10/in_praise_of_ou.html
http://openoffice.blogs.com/openoffice/2007/06/using_the_navig.html
http://openoffice.blogs.com/openoffice/2007/06/going_to_a_spec.html
http://openoffice.blogs.com/openoffice/2007/06/leaving_a_trail.html
June 26, 2008
TechTarget Article: Just Say No to Unnecessary Tabs and Carriage Returns (and Say Yes to Better Interoperability
I've written an article for TechTarget that's not really about using OpenOffice.org per se. It's more about good document construction and formatting.
The thing is, though, when you do the formatting correctly, lots of nice things happen. The document looks more professional, it's far easier to update, and goes between Microsoft Office and OpenOffice.org more easily with fewer formatting snafus. And it's not just between those two office suites--better-formatted documents transfer better between different versions of the same office suite, different platforms, and different computers.
It's all about letting the software do a bit of the work, based on what makes sense for it and its environment, rather than laying down the law yourself with manual things like tabs and carriage returns. Instead, you want to just use the formatting capabilities in the program, typically under Format > Paragraph. Doing this, as well as giving your document some wiggle-room and not cramming content into each page, will make a bi-office-suite life go more smoothly.
Separation of format and content. It's not just for XML anymore.
Note: This isn't wildly revolutionary stuff, at least not in the world of publishing and techwriting that I started in 15 years ago. (We had a templates guardian who would threaten to break our knees if we even created an unauthorized style, much less did manual formatting like the stuff described in the article.) But in the--oh, let's say "real world"--where you just sit down at your desk and try to churn out reports for that crazy boss of yours, or when you come from a programming background where vi was your text editor, this could be new and useful info.
The article is based on my experience, as well as what makes sense logically. I've seen a lot of documents that have the manual formatting mentioned in the article, when I go out to train and consult. The first thing I do when I'm looking at a problem document for a client is to choose View > Nonprinting Characters and something manual almost always turns up. There'll be extra tabs, unexpected soft returns, spaces instead of indenting, etc.
I also encounter fewer conversion issues with documents I create, than people in the world at large seem to. I was puzzled by this before I started training, but then realized that it was probably my techwriter/desktop publishing background making the difference.
So--this is just an explanation and an implied caveat. I don't double-dog guarantee that your conversion problems between MS and OpenOffice.org will dribble away to nothing if you format your documents as I recommend. But my experience is that it should help, much of the time.
June 23, 2008
Creating your own order to sort with: leaving alphanumeric in the dust
I've been blogging about sorting for a while:
There's just one more thing to mention: creating your own custom sort order.
Existing sort orders are things like Monday Tuesday Wednesday (the right order, which is not alphabetical). But let's say you've got things you want in a certain logical but non-alphabetical order that aren't already set up in OpenOffice.org: titles of books or people, procedures done in a certain order, or your own abbreviations for the days of the week. You can create sort orders for those very easily so you can sort by them.
Let's say you've got this data.
This is the right order. If you had them out of order, though, and wanted to sort them, all you'd have the option for is alphabetic. Which isn't right. So you create an order to sort them by.
Select just the content of the sort order, nothing else. Be sure it's in the order you want it.
Choose Tools > Options > OpenOffice.org Calc > Sort Lists.
Now just click Copy.
The list will appear. Click OK.
Now just sort the way you would with a custom sort order. You'll see your new sort order in the sort window.
Sort orders are nice for quick data entry, too. If you type the first word for a sort order, then find the small black handle in the lower right corner of the cell and drag, you'll be able to easily fill the cells with the rest of the content in the sort order.
Type the first word
Find the black handle and drag (magnified to show the handle)
The data will fill in each cell you drag through, in the order set up in the sort list.
June 16, 2008
User-defined motion paths in OpenOffice Impress 2.3 and higher
Back in the good old days of 1.x, you could draw a line, then draw an object, and make the object move along whatever line that was. It was great.
Then the lovely redesign of Impress came, and that user-defined motion path feature got lost along the way. It was a sad time.
However, now in 2.3 it's back! It works slightly differently, but it's great. In addition, you can edit the existing motion paths like the stars, etc. Here's how it works.
Draw an object, then under Custom Animation’s Motion Paths tab, select any one of the first three effects.
Your
cursor will change so that it will draw the kind of line you
selected. Draw the path that you want the object to follow. Then run
the presentation to see the effect.
To
edit existing motion paths, just apply a standard motion path like
Eight-Point Star or Diamond. The path will appear in the slide.
Click on the path and expand it; you’ll get another path (there’ll
be two diamonds, for instance). Delete the old path, and you’re
good.
June 12, 2008
OpenOffice Writer Styles Article on TechTarget.com
I've written a big "what, why, and how" article on styles for TechTarget.com. http://searchopensource.techtarget.com/tip/0,289483,sid39_gci1230137,00.html It starts with just how useful styles are in daily life and why they make life great, then goes into just how to apply, create, and update them.
June 05, 2008
TechTarget Article: Numbered and Bulleted Lists in OpenOffice Writer
I've written a fairly comprehensive article for techtarget on lists.
See also this post on how to do numbering with fields. Fields are a more reliable but more complex approach.
June 02, 2008
TechTarget Article: Using Master Documents in OpenOffice Writer
I've written an article for TechTarget.com about using master documents in OpenOffice.org Writer.
http://searchopensource.techtarget.com/tip/0,289483,sid39_gci1230368,00.html
Master documents are used to combine lots of other Writer documents. They're similar to Word master files or Frame book files in that they organize your subdocuments, let you create a unified table of contents, etc. They're a bit picky but once you've got them set up, they work quite reliably.
I've also written an article for TechTarget.com about how to bring spreadsheets into master documents,
too. You link the spreadsheet to a Writer document, then bring that
"dummy" writer document into your master document. It's a hack but a
practical hack since big publications often need to combine different
document types. There's an approach (even hackier, but useful) for
bringing in presentation content, too.
May 22, 2008
May 19, 2008
How to lay out a page using tables and two or more columns
I've created some quick-reference sheets. The layout looks like this. Click the image to see it bigger. It's tables that repeat in three columns on each page. I needed columns so that I could keep the procedure name, in the left column of each table, together with the content in the right side of each table, the steps for the procedure. I also needed a heading at the top that spanned the columns.
I fiddled with a few ways to do it but here's what I ended up with.
- I set the top margin of the first page as 1.5 inches or so from the top, then inserted a frame the width of the page, to hold the heading content. (Insert > Frame.)
- I set up the page layout with three columns. (Format > Page, Columns tab.)
- Then I just put in the tables. I made sure that the tables were allowed to break over page and column breaks, and I used the Break options when I needed to have the columns start at the top of various columns and pages.
I set the table width to the total width of the column. Then I set the proportions of the columns within the table. I did both using the table properties window. (Table > Table Properties, Table tab and Columns tab.)
I fiddled a bit with column sections but the page layout approach was simpler.
May 15, 2008
Table and table-text flow control features for OpenOffice Writer
I've been doing some table-based layout recently, in my quick-reference cards. I got to know the table flow options real well. Here are some good solid table control features.
Text Flow tab
Get to know this one. Click in the table and choose Table > Table Properties. Click the Text Flow tab.
Break: If you want a cell to start at the top of a new page or column click in that cell, and then in this window select Break and Column or Page. Conversely, if you've got a table that starts at the top of a page or column and don't want it to, unmark the Break option.
Allow Table to Split Across Pages and Columns: You're going to have some weird layout with your longer tables if you don't let the table at least split across columns.
Allow Row to Split Across Pages and Columns: However, I think it looks a little weird, at least in some circumstances, to let the row split. So I don't mark that.
Repeat Heading: Here's how you get the first, or first and second, and so on, rows of a table to repeat on each additional page. Helps readers to know what each column of information is about.
Putting a Carriage Return Above a Table at the Top of a Page
If you've got a table at the top of a page and you want a blank line above it, just click in the upper left cell of that table and press Return.
Getting Rid of a Carriage Return Above a Table at the Top of a Page or Between Tables
Click on the line where the carriage return is and press Delete.
Bam, the two are consecutive. Not the same table, but consecutive.
Split/Merge Options on the Table menu
Let's say you've got a long table, and you want to split it into two. Just click in the line where you want the 2nd table to being, and choose Table > Split Table.
If you've got two tables and you want them to be one, then click in the top line of the second table and choose Table > Merge Table.
If there's just one to choose from, the merging will just happen with the table above it. If there's a table above and below, you'll get this window. Make the choice you want and click OK.
May 05, 2008
How to make sure that your graphics are embedded (not linked) in your documents, especially for templates
When you add a graphic to a document, you can either plop it straight in so it's stored in the document, or you can link the graphic so that the document just points to where the graphic is stored.
It looks the same either way, but here's the thing. When you email your document to someone, or post your template in a network directory, what happens to that link pointing to the graphic?
The link points back to your directory at home\documentdrafts\2008\graphics\teamphoto.gif or whatever the path is. And your cousin in Phoenix or the other people on your team can't get to that graphic.
So what you want to do, typically, when you're sending documents or templates to other people that those people need to work with, is to make sure that your graphics are embedded in your document.
NOTE: If you're doing large books or other documents where there are significant benefits to just linking to graphics, or if you have really big graphics of a few hundred KB or more, think hard before doing only embedded graphics. You'll have some issues, including really really big documents. Consider working with the documents only on the network so that the graphics are there on the network too and you don't have path issues. You might want to link as you work with the document, then if necessary break the links (see the last section here) or even better, make a PDF, before distributing the document.
How to Insert Graphics in Documents so They're Not Linked
When you drag a graphic from the Gallery (Tools > Gallery) into your document, it's automatically embedded. But when you choose Insert > Picture > From File, then you can choose to link or to not. If you want the graphic embedded, then don't select Link.
How to Add Graphics to the Background of Headers, Footers, or Pages So They're Not Linked
You can just click in a header or footer and choose Insert > Picture > From File. But you can also set up headers, footers, and pages with a graphic in the background.
Choose Format > Page.
Click the Header, Footer, or Background tab.
For Headers or Footers click the More.
Then you'll see this window. Select Graphic then click Browse. Find the graphic. Again, just be sure you don't click the Link checkbox which in this case is next to the Browse button.
How to Un-Link (Embed) Graphics When They're Already In Your Document
Let's say you've got a document chock full of linked documents and you reallllly don't want to re-insert them. It's easy to fix; just break the link and the graphics will be embedded.
Under the Edit menu, look at Links. If it's dimmed as shown, then you don't have any linked graphics and you're good.
If it's not dimmed, then choose Edit > Links. In the Edit Links window, just select the graphics listed and choose Break Link. The graphics stay, but now they're embedded and you can mail the document wherever you want or store it in another location.
(You could also select a graphic link and choose Modify to change where it's pointing to.)
May 02, 2008
My article on transitioning to OpenOffice.org from Microsoft Office
I really thought that I had posted this article, but I have not seen it in a quick page through.
It is a big, big article with most of what I recommend about setting up and switching, with the primary focus on individual users. But it applies to transitioning groups, as well.
See also this blog post, which has some really specific info about how to distribute clip art to many users on a network.
April 14, 2008
Attaching a Document (Including Templates) to an OpenOffice Menu Item or Toolbar
This is huge. Thanks to TerryJ on the users@openoffice.org alias for pointing the way.
So you're an IT director. You want to make things easy for your users (and thus easy for your team so they need to answer fewer questions). One way to make things very easy and simple for your users is to create templates.
- Create a template that has no page number on the first page and a page number, starting at 1 or 2, on the 2nd page. (A user could create this but it involves understanding styles and is just way more difficult than it needs to be.)
- Create a template that has a watermark background like Confidential.
- Create a template that has whatever characteristics are needed for a department's tasks.
Now, you could create a template and just set it as the default template so that users get that template when they choose File > New. But if you have multiple documents they need to make, you probably don't want to do that. Or you can do that, but you have more than one template you want to offer.
You could just put your templates in a nice centralized location for your users. However, some users don't view it as all that convenient or obvious to choose File > New > Templates and Documents, the pick the right category and the right template.
Here's how to make it easy, and thus likely, for users to use the templates you provide for them, and thus for them to not even enounter problems, or encounter tasks that are harder than they need to be.
Make a menu and attach templates to menu items on that menu.
Now, this means more up-front work for you, but then it's done.
A) Make your templates and put them in a central network location. Be sure they're in template format, not document format.
B. Create a new menu.
Choose Tools > Customize, click the Menu tab, click New, then name it and click OK.
C. Now you just need to add menu items that point to the templates.
First, create the macro.
1. Choose Tools > Macros > Organize Macros > OpenOffice.org Basic.
2. This window will appear. The macro I already created is listed there. In this example I'll create another one that does the same thing.
3. In the Macro Name field, type the macro name like OpenTemplate.
4. Click New.
5. What you now see in the macro editing area will depend on what was there last. I'm not incredibly familiar with the macro window but I know that what I did worked ;> so you should be able to follow these directions successfully.
Regardless of what else is in there, you want to have the following. Find the part that says
Sub macroname
End sub
and put your macro in the middle. Leave all the other macros that are there.
6. Now you want to write the following macro. There are variations here but this is what I did that worked.
I show an example first, then syntax.
Example
Sub OpenTemplate
Dim sUrl as String
sUrl = "file:///C:/openofficemacros/sampletemplate.ott" ' note you must use url format
If NOT FileExists( sUrl ) Then : Msgbox( "No file named " & sUrl ) : Exit sub : End If
StarDesktop.loadComponentFromURL( sUrl, "_blank", 0, Array() )
End Sub
Now the syntax
Sub name of macro
Dim sUrl as String
sUrl = "file:///path to file you want to open"' ' note you must use url format
If NOT FileExists( sUrl ) Then : Msgbox( "No file named " & sUrl ) : Exit sub : End If
StarDesktop.loadComponentFromURL( sUrl, "_blank", 0, Array() )
End Sub
7. Click the Save icon and close the macro.
8. If you choose Tools > Macros > Organize Macros > OpenOffice.org Basic again, you'll see the macro name. Here the original one I wrote and the one I added for this example are both shown.
9. From here, you can either:
Select the macro to use and click Assign
OR
Close the window, then choose Tools > Customize, and in the Menus tab, select the menu you created.
10. Click Add next to the empty list for menu items
11. In the window that appears, expand the Macros category at the bottom, and select the macro you wrote.
12. Click Add.
13. Close the window.
14. Select the item, click and hold down on Modify.
15. In the window that appears, rename the item however you like and click OK.
16. Click OK in the Customize window.
17. Now choose the menu and the menu item.
18. The document you created appears. If you created it in template format, then it will be an untitled copy of the document.
D. Copy the configuration to other computers.
1. Copy the macro to the same location on other computers.
2. Copy the configuration file where the menu and menu items are stored to the same location on other computers. It's called menubar.xml; there are several depending on what the menu is for. Here's where it is on Windows for a Writer menu; for Calc it would be scalc\menubar\menubar.xml, and so on.
<openofficeinstalldir>\soffice.cfg\modules\swriter\menubar\menubar.xml
Here's what the content looks like in the menubar.xml file.
<menu:menu menu:id="vnd.openoffice.org:CustomMenu1" menu:label="Use These Templates">
<menu:menupopup>
<menu:menuitem menu:id="vnd.sun.star.script:Standard.Module1.OpenTemplate?language=Basic&location=application" menu:helpid="vnd.sun.star.script:Standard.Module1.OpenTemplate?language=Basic&location=application" menu:label="Use this for meeting minutes"/>
</menu:menupopup>
</menu:menu>
See this link for the original explanation.
January 15, 2008
Grammar checker addon for OpenOffice Writer
There isn't a built-in grammar checker. If you want to add one, here's a grammar checker extension, one of the many on the extensions page for OpenOffice.org.
Once you download it, choose Tools > Extension Manager to install it.
January 10, 2008
Sharing OpenOffice Impress (and Powerpoint) Presentations Online
If you find yourself emailing versions of a presentation around to collaborators, consider one or more of these instead. They're online sites that let you share your presentations.
http://www.kuanhoong.com/2008/01/08/5-ways-to-upload-store-share-or-present-your-powerpoint-files/
Getting OpenOffice files into Google Web Apps, and getting your files back out of Google Web Apps
OpenOffice formats are supported by Google docs. (Thanks, Google!)
Getting Data From OpenOffice.org Into Google Docs
You can copy and paste into a new blank document, of course.
You can click the Upload tab and get this window.
And there's a nice little extension for OpenOffice.org that when installed will give you a menu for uploading your docs to your Google account.
Getting the Data Out Into OpenOffice.org Format
When you're editing a document, there's this option.
In the main window, there's this option.
Getting Other Google Contents Out, to OpenOffice or Other Formats
This blog shows how to get your Google content for Google docs as well as other Google web apps like AdSense.
http://www.webomatica.com/wordpress/2008/01/09/how-to-get-your-data-out-of-google-web-apps/
December 17, 2007
Undocking the Gallery
READ THE WHOLE POST BEFORE YOU DO THIS.
The Gallery is a nice tool for easy access to clip art or any graphics. Here are a couple blogs on it.
http://openoffice.blogs.com/openoffice/2007/09/getting-a-pictu.html
http://openoffice.blogs.com/openoffice/2007/04/adding_graphics.html
Here's a tip from Dave Richards -- you can make the gallery float, so that you can position it in a more convenient place in your work area.
What the Gallery Generally Looks Like
Choose Tools > Gallery, and you get the clip art and categories on your system. (You can click on each of these images to see a bigger version.)
Adjusting the Amount of Space for the Gallery
You can make the gallery take up less, or more, room, by moving your mouse over the small dotted portion of the border, as shown. When you mouse turns into a double-ended arrow, drag up or down.
Then the Gallery portion is smaller or larger, depending on your adjustments.
Floating the Gallery
However, if you'd like your Gallery to be a floating pane like some of the other windows in OpenOffice.org, you can do that. Click and hold down on the gray part at the top, and drag down into the middle of the document.
When you see a rectangle with a gray dashed border, release. The Gallery will be a floating pane.
You can resize and move the pane as you would normally for any floating pane.
Redocking the Gallery
Now, here's the question -- how do you get the Gallery back to where it was, docked at the top?
Not easily. ;>
You can drag the Gallery easily to the left, right, or bottom, and redock it there. Just drag toward the border and when you see the gray dashed border again, release and the Gallery will be docked. (To turn off the Gallery, just choose Tools > Gallery again.)
You can redock the Gallery at the top, it's just really tricky. There is a very small area where you can position the Gallery floating pane and the gray dashed border will appear. Here's the area where it is. Drag the Gallery through it slowly; dragging down usually works better for me than dragging up.
December 06, 2007
Fun with OpenOffice Draw: Creating Text Boxes, Converting Text to 3D, and Formatting 3D Text
It's been a while since I sat down with some big sheets of paper and my crayons, and just colored. (I had that 64-color set of crayons with the extra-glamorous sharpener on the back....got it for Christmas my sixth birthday, I think, and I LOVED it. Sky Blue was my favorite.)
What I do these days, though, although the old set of crayons is actually on my shelf of cute collectibles along with my Star Trek popup book and a picture my parents the day they met, is to waste many fun hours with Draw.
One of the hidden but dramatic and fun features in Draw is the ability to create and twiddle around and format text in 3D.
Creating the text box
Find the text tool on the Drawing toolbar.
Click it, then move your mouse to the work area and draw a text box.
Immediately type in the text box
Converting the text box to 3D
Click on the text box where the border is, so that you get the green handles as shown. Then right-click on the border between or on the green handles and choose Convert to 3D.
The text will be converted.
Apply a lighter color if it's black so that you can see it better.
Modify the text by dragging one of its handles, so that the proportions are better.
To rotate the text in 3D, click in the middle of the text once; you'll see round red handles as shown and the mouse will change when you position it over a handle.
Drag a handle to move the text in 3D.
Click off the text, then once on again if you want to get the green handles back so that you can resize or re-proportion the text.
Applying standard fills
You can apply colors, but also gradients, hatchings, and bitmaps to the text. Think of it as a shape now, not text (you can't retype it at this point).
Here's a gradient.
Here's a bitmap.
Applying official 3D formatting
To apply 3D formatting, generally you should have a plain color applied, though there's no real cut-and-dried rule. Right-click on the text and choose 3D Effects.
Select from the many options, then click the green Apply checkmark to apply effects.
To export your text so you can make it into a GIF or similar graphic, see this post.
December 03, 2007
Issues with Insert External Data
Some people are having problems inserting data from a CSV or TXT file into a spreadheet, using Insert > Link to External Data.
http://www.openoffice.org/issues/show_bug.cgi?id=1834
If this doesn't work for you, try Insert > Sheet From File instead.
November 30, 2007
Help Digg the Great Story about OpenOffice.org 2.3!
There's a great story about OpenOffice 2.3 in EWeek. Give it a read, and Digg it to help draw attention!
November 26, 2007
Using regular expressions in OpenOffice Calc filters -- phrases like "contains" rather than equals, less than, etc.
Life just isn't cut and dried. Sometimes when you're filtering you don't want to just say "give me all the people whose last name is Hanson." You want Hanson, Hansen, and Hansengaaardennn (those Dutch really go for the jawbreaker names).
You'd like to filter out everyone except those whose names contain "Hans".
Here's how to do that. Select the item in the Comparison Field from the dropdown list in the standard filter, then type what you want in the other field. Click More, and select Regular Expressions, then click OK.
|
Example of what you want |
What to enter in the Condition field |
Syntax for what to enter in the Value field |
Example of what to enter in the Value field |
|
Begins with Hans |
= |
^x.* |
^Hans.* (you can also skip the ^, I've found) |
|
Does not begin with Hans |
<> |
^x.* |
^Hans.* |
|
Ends with Hans |
= |
.*x$ |
.*Hans$ |
|
Contains Hans |
= |
.*x.* |
.*Hans.* |
|
Does not contain Hans |
<> |
.*x.* |
.*Hans.* |
Here are some examples. Let's say you want all names that start with Hans, but not all names that simply contain Hans.
Here's the data.
Select all the data, or just click in the headings, and choose Data > Filter > Standard Filter. Make the window look like this.
Click OK and you get this; Bob Montrahans is not included. (It's not because of the case.)
Here's a different example. I want names that DON'T CONTAIN the series of letters Hans.
Data
The window with the restrictions:
And the results.
Here's some information from the OOo wiki about regular expressions.
November 19, 2007
Using the Advanced Filter
In the Standard Filter you only have three slots for info.
That's a bit limiting. So the Advanced Filter lets you enter up to 8 criteria.
Using the Advanced Filter
Here's your data. Click the image to see it larger.
Now, here's how you enter your critera. Copy your headings and paste them somewhere else in the spreadsheet. Then type the values you want. Click this image to see it larger. I've entered Fargo for the city, ND for the state, and =>5 for the Years of Service. Note that they are all on the same row. This means they are ANDed together.
Click in the data (not the criteria but the main data) and choose Data > Filter > Advanced Filter. In the window, click in the right-hand field and draw a box around the area where you typed the criteria. Click OK.
You'll see the results. Click the image to see it larger. ( Simon being the first name for both is just a coincidence.)
Now, if you want OR logic, just enter the values in your critera section on different rows, like this. Click to see a larger version of the image.
These are the corresponding results. Because of the OR, you get a lot more results. Click the image to see a bigger version.
Removing the Filter
To turn off the filter, it's the same as with the standard filter. Click in the filter results, and choose Data > Filter > Remove Filter.
November 15, 2007
Using the Standard Filter
The Autofilter is a quick way to restrict what you're looking for. If you need some more flexibility, though, you need to move on to the Standard filter or the Advanced filter.
Maybe you have people from 12 states and you want to see the ones from Ohio OR Montana OR New Jersey. Or you want to see people with five or more years of service. Or you want to see anyone with more than three overdue library books who is also from Denver, because you're traveling to Denver and you want to drop by their houses and scare the heck out of them in person.
These are a challenge for the AutoFilter, so you move on.
Here's how to use the Standard Filter. Let's say you've got this data.
Click somewhere in the data and choose Data > Filter > Standard Filter.
In the window, enter your data. Note that any ORs will open up the results more than you might expect. Here's a filter. Either from MT or OR, and with 5 or more years of service.
Here are the corresponding results. Note the person from MT with only 1 year of service, but there's no one from OR with fewer than 5 years of service. The logic is
"anyone from Montana"
or
"anyone from Oregon who also has 5 or more years of service."
As with the AutoFilter, you need to click in the filter results to take away the filter. If you don't click in the filter results, as shown, the Remove Filter option is dimmed.
Click in the filter results, as shown, and choose Data > Filter > Remove Filter to get rid of the standard filter.
November 12, 2007
Using the AutoFilter: A useful if slightly twitchy tool
Sooner or later, you're going to get a huge spreadsheet with way too much data to scan visually.
How do you, ahem, filter out what you don't want to see?
One way is to use the AutoFilter.
AutoFilter Basics
Let's say you've got this spreadsheet of employees.
You'd like to just take a look at those from Montana, or those with a particular number of years of service. Something like that.
Click somewhere in the data, and choose Data > Filter > AutoFilter.
You see arrows by all the headings.
Click on one of the arrows, and choose to view all records containing one of the values, or all records containing the top 10, i.e. the ten most frequently occurring values in that column.
Here are the results for selecting one value for one column.
If you choose another value in another column, then you get rows that have the selected value for BOTH columns.
Here, I get rows for people who are in Montana, AND in Kalispell. Which works out fine since Kalispell is a city in Montana.
However, if I choose to view records for people from Montana, and from Portland (a city in Maine and in Oregon but NOT in Montana), I get nothing.
To go back to viewing all the values, select All from the list.
Then you get to view all the records again, once you've selected All for any columns you restricted.
When you're done and want to get rid of the little arrows, click somewhere in the data, and choose Data > Filter > AutoFilter again. There'll be a checkmark and when you select AutoFilter, it will go away.
There's the data the way it was before you started.
Issues With AutoFilter
Here's where things get a little twitchy. What if you try to turn off the AutoFilter and you have not selected a cell somewhere within the AutoFilter results?
You get this.
When you get this, click OK and click somewhere in the data.
Then choose Data > Filter > AutoFilter again. You won't see the checkmark, but that's OK.
Then choose Data > Filter > AutoFilter yet again. This time you'll see the checkmark.
And then the arrows will disappear and you're back to normal.
I also recommend liberal use of the Undo feature, Ctrl Z or click the Undo icon. You can undo at least 20 and possibly more depending on how your system is set up.
Can You Delete Rows When in the AutoFilter Without Deleting the Intervening Data?
I'm glad you asked. Yes, you can. Here's a demo. Look at the range from row 15, Dan Montbatten, to row 20, Beth Jerlin. They're both from Montana. In between you've got Jon, Marcus, and Kyle.
I'm going to view only people from Montana, which includes Dan and Beth but excludes the three rows between.
Now I'm going to delete Dan and Beth.
And they go away. However, Jon, Marcus, and Kyle are still there.
November 09, 2007
Things that don't work when you save Writer documents in Word's .doc format
OpenOffice.org has a feature that lets you automatically save documents in Microsoft Office format. Save Writer as Word, save Calc as Excel, etc. This lets your users send out documents to the outside world without having to remember to save in MS format first.
Choose Tools > Options > OpenOffice.org > Load/Save and use the lists in the bottom half of the window.
Likewise, you can save an OOo document in MS format by choosing File > Save As, or by choosing File > Send > Document as [microsoft format for that document type].
However. There's a but. It's not a huge but, but it's significant.
In some versions of OpenOffice.org, the following features don't work when you save a Writer document in Word format. It's not just the automatic saving, it's saving in Word format through File > Save As, as well. So the only way to get around it is to save as PDF (click the PDF icon on the toolbar or choose File > Export as PDF).
This isn't a complete list; please add your own through comments. I just tested all of these on the standard 2.3 release.
Mail merge prints field names, not content. If you save your mail merge document in Word format, then print, all you'll get is the names of the fields, like Firstname, rather than the data, like Bob.
Background graphics disappear. If you choose to put a graphic in the background of a header footer or page, under Format > Page, the graphics will disappear when you save in Word format.
Custom frame, page, and list styles get screwed up This one is an issue because page styles are the basis for doing so much really good, powerful stuff. (I hope this is on the list of things to fix, and/or not a problem in other builds.) I just tested, in 2.3, a file I'd created with custom page styles to automatically switch from a page style with no page number on the first page footer to a page number on subsequent page footers.
If you insert page breaks between page styles with Insert >
Manual Break, and the Break With feature in the Text Flow tab of a paragraph style, do preserve more formatting
than the Next Style feature in the Organizer tab, which preserves
nothing. The headers and footers are preserved in the first two
approaches, as are page borders and jumps from page 2 to page 66.
Landscape versus portrait is also preserved.
However, no background formatting is preserved, and the page style names
are changed to Default for the first one, Convert1 for the second, and
so on.
If these are issues for you, please vote to have the following bugs prioritized as things to work on. (I'm actually having trouble bringing up the OOo issue tracker right now; I think these are correct but I will check them later.)
http://www.openoffice.org/issues/show_bug.cgi?id=78723
http://www.openoffice.org/issues/show_bug.cgi?id=73533
http://www.openoffice.org/issues/show_bug.cgi?id=11522
http://www.openoffice.org/issues/show_bug.cgi?id=22635
November 07, 2007
Fixing problem OpenOffice files by unzipping, mixing, and matching
One of the great things about OpenOffice.org is that you can open corrupted Word files with it. Or Word files that are just too big to open in Word, open fine in OpenOffice Writer.
However, every so often you will get a rogue OpenOffice file that just won't behave. It crashes constantly, or behaves in other ways that just don't make sense.
In that case, the best approach is surgery.
OpenOffice file formats can be unzipped to reveal their components. Once you see their components, you can take copy different components from a different uncorrupted file and replace the corrupted ones in your problem file. Zip it all up together again, and whammo, your file works.
I'll show an example in Writer but the same principles apply to Calc, Draw, and Impress.
So you have your file. Let's say this is the file you're having problems with. It's got a couple styles, a picture, and of course content.
I like to make a copy of the problem file, just to make sure I can always get back to the original version. So I create a copy, give it a different name, and change the extension to .zip. (Or gzip, or whatever works for you on your operating system.)
Then unzip the .zip file, and you'll get a directory of component files and directories.
Here's what's inside that new directory.
I'm not going to go into painful detail about all of the content. But content.xml contains the content, styles.xml contains the style definitions, Pictures contains the graphics, and so on.
Here's a snap of part of the content.xml.
And of the styles.xml.
And the Pictures directory. Note that the file name is different than the inserted picture.
So here's what I do. If I have content but don't care about the styles, pictures, whatever else in the problem document, I:
- create a new totally empty OpenOffice document of the same type (Writer, Calc, etc.)
- change the extension to .zip and unzip it
- copy the content.xml file from the problem doc directory into the new empty doc directory, replacing the empty doc's content.xml file
- zip up the new empty doc directory
- change the .zip extension to .odt, .ods, or whatever
- and open it up again, using this as the new version of the problem document
If you have pictures and styles in the problem document that you need, then just copy the Pictures and Thumbnails directories, and the content.xml and styles.xml files, into the new empty doc directory, replacing the corresponding directories and files.
It's a techy but quite effective way to redo a document.
Would it be better to just copy and paste the content of the problem document to another new empty document? Not always--nasties have a nasty way of accompanying the content. But sure, try that first, and if that doesn't work, then do this.
November 05, 2007
Google Docs Extension for OpenOffice
There's a nice little extension for OpenOffice.org that lets you quickly upload your document to your googledocs account. Click here to get it.
Installing the extension gives you this toolbar, as well as a Google Docs menu.
Click it to get this window; just enter the appropriate information.
Your document will be automatically uploaded to your account in Google. It works pretty nicely.
Installation
Installing extensions is pretty easy. Download the extension. Then choose Tools > Extension Manager. Select My Extensions and click Add.
Find the extension file you downloaded, an installation process runs, and you’ll see Enabled next to the extension. For some extensions, you’ll need to restart. Look for a new menu, new menu items, new toolbars, or all three.
November 01, 2007
Another way to tweak labels, and save the format
In this entry I talked about a fairly straightforward but manual way of giving your labels a little room to breathe.
In this entry, I'll go through how to use the Format tab to tweak a particular layout, then save it for re-use.
When you create labels, you of course choose File > New > Labels. You select your type and layout here, then add your content, and then click New Document.
You get something that looks like this.
Now, what if you then print and everything is too high, too low, too much to the left, etc.?
Well, you just adjust it, then save that adjustment as a specific format you can select next time.
When you're in the Labels window, click the Format tab.
Here's what all the measurements mean. I suggest starting by changing the left and top margin, then get into changing the pitch if necessary.
Horizontal pitch
The distance from the left of one label to the left of the label to the right of it. If you want to actually increase the distance between columns of labels, i.e. if labels get increasingly (or decreasingly) cut off as you go across the sheet, change this.
The distance from the top of one label to the top of the label below it. If you want to actually increase the distance between rows of labels, i.e. if labels get increasingly (or decreasingly) cut off as you go down the sheet, change this.
Width
Just the width of the actual space for the label content.
Height
Just the height of the actual space for the label content.
Left margin
The distance from the left side of your sheet of labels to where content begins. If all your labels are getting cut off on the left, adjust this.
Upper margin
The distance from the top of your sheet of labels to where content begins. If all your labels are getting cut off on the top adjust this.
Columns
The number of columns. You don't need to adjust this.
Rows
The number of rows. You don't need to adjust this.
Examples
Here's a normal sheet, next to one where I increased just the top margin. Click the image to see it larger.
Here's an example where I increased the vertical pitch by a half inch. You wouldn't want to increase it that much, but I made it big to make sure you could see the effect. Click the image to see it bigger. Note that on the right, you only are at the 5th row while at the same place on the left, you're at the 7th row.
Once you've got the label adjustments where you want them, click Save in the Format tab. Name the label in the window that appears, and click OK.
Then when you create labels again, that saved format will be in the list.
October 29, 2007
Sun Report Builder Extension
Anyone who's worked with the OpenOffice.org Base report writer knows that it's....a first generation product. It works but it doesn't have huge features. So I’m particularly glad to see some work being done with reports, in the new Report Builder extension from Sun.
http://extensions.services.openoffice.org/ for all extensions
http://extensions.services.openoffice.org/project/reportdesign for the Sun Report Builder
The Report Builder extension looks like it has a lot of powerful features, though not exactly easy to see how to use. I’ve spent a few hours with it and one thing that bugs me a bit is that the tab for selecting the data source for the report disappears if you click on something else first. Ease of use aside, though, it does have quite a feature set, including grouped records, sorting of records, different alignment of text fields, and calculations.
I'm going to have to spend a lot more time with this to really figure it out and give some procedures, but here's a short tour of the basics.
To use the Sun Report Writer extension, download and install it first. (Tools > Extension Manager). Then
open the .odb database file for the database you want to create a
report for. Choose Insert > Report, and you’ll see the report
writer interface.
This is the tab that disappears too quickly. Select Table or
another type of data, then select the actual source. Once you make
that selection, the Add Field palette appears; use it to drag fields
onto the appropriate section of the report.
Click the Sorting and Grouping icon on the toolbar to get this
window where you have a lot of control over how the fields and the
report behave.
When you’ve dragged fields onto the report, set options,
inserted page numbers, and done other formatting, save the report.
The report will show up in the Reports area of the main editing
windows of the .odb database file.
October 25, 2007
Things that control how content is displayed in OpenOffice.org Calc spreadsheets
If you spend all day in spreadsheets, sooner or later you want something to help you spot what's important or different. The motion study expert Frank Gilbreth told factories to paint parts different colors to help factory workers spot the right pieces more quickly; Calc has roughly equivalent features to help point out the different types of data you're working with.
Many of the settings are controlled here. Choose Tools > Options > OpenOffice.org Calc > General. Click the image to see it bigger.
Here's a sample spreadsheet, shown the usual way.
Here's what it looks like when, in the Display section of the Options window, you mark the Formulas option.
Here's what it looks like when you mark Shown References in Color. It means if you double-click a formula, the referenced cells are shown color coded.
And if you mark the Value Highlighting option, then formulas are shown in a different color than formulas.
And in the same options window on the left side, you can change the color of the borders between the cells from light gray to whatever you want. Here's what they look like in magenta.
There are also some options that help you see the relationships among your data; the Tools > Detective menu item.
Tracing precedents means, for the selected cell or cells, show other cells that are a step up in the calculation. For instance, the tax rate is used in the selected cell to figure out after tax monthly income, so it's a precedent.
Tracing dependents is the same, but the other way around. Monthly Income depends on the selected cell, total income.
And, if you've got some errors, the Trace Errors feature will show what other cells are involved in the error cell.
October 23, 2007
Summary of new features in OpenOffice.org 2.3
Here’s a summary of the features from the 2.3 new features list that I considered the most useful or important to write about. This page http://wiki.services.openoffice.org/wiki/New_Features_2.3 about the new features is an excellent guide, as well.
General
This is convenient for anyone who prints to multiple printers, all over the world. You can load or ignore the printer settings for your documents. This means you don’t end up accidentally printing to the printer in building 4 which is on the opposite side of the country, just because you were on a business trip there last week and that’s where you last printed your document.
If your document isn’t wider than the OpenOffice.org window, then it will be centered in the window, not left-aligned.
Lots of locale information was added, for locations such as Tagalog, Frisian, and Hausa.
Writer and Web
The HTML editor now has a preview feature. Choose File > Preview in Web Browser and the document opens in the default browser.
I love this feature. You know how when you get a hyperlink but then want to retype it or reformat it, but clicking on it takes you to the target of the link? No more. You can select hyperlinked text all you want; you now have to Ctrl Click to open a link. This is very nice.
The notes say that there is a new compatibility option on Tools > Options > OpenOffice.org Writer > Compatibility: Do Not Justify Alignment in Lines Ending With Manual Line Break. However, I’m mentioning this because I couldn’t see it. The illustration shows the compatibility options that are there.
When you open the Styles and Formatting window (Format > Styles and Formatting), you can set what kinds of styles you wanted to see: Applied, Custom, Automatic, etc. Previously, you had to reset this every time you opened a new document or re-opened OpenOffice.org. Now, thankfully, that category will stick. The setting is saved per application. However, the choice you make for Paragraph, Character, Frame, List, or Page doesn’t stick.
When you right-click on text, you used to see Default as one of the options. Now you see Default Formatting, which is clearer. (Default Formatting is a great way to just clear out any extraneous formatting and apply the default style to the selected item.) This is a very nice feature regardless of the text; for one thing, it’s the best way to remove the hotlink from a URL.
A new export filter lets you export to MediaWiki format. Choose File > Export and select MediaWiki in the file format list.
Calc
This is a very, very smart change. By default, the print options for Calc are now set to Print Only Selected Sheets and Suppress Output of Empty Pages. If the Print Only Selected Sheets option is enabled, the Calc page preview shows only the displayed sheet and the message “There is nothing to print.” To change these options, choose Tools > Options > OpenOffice.org Calc > Print, or choose File > Print and click the Options button.
Here’s another very smart change that will screw up all my documentation. :) The SUM icon on the main Calc toolbar has changed. Now you can select the range of numbers to add, click the SUM icon, and get the total in the first cell below the selected range. Phew. But if you liked it the old way, it still works that way, too.
Graphics can be linked to macros. This should help with Excel compatibility.
The Excel export filter now handles the cotangent functions COT, ACOT, COTH, and ACOTH.
Calc now supports inline matrix/array constants in formulas. An inline array is surrounded by curly braces '{' and '}'. Elements can be each a number (including negatives), a logical constant (TRUE, FALSE) or a literal string. See this link for more detail. http://sc.openoffice.org/servlets/ReadMsg?list=features&msgNo=230
You can now use dynamic ranges, rather than absolute ranges defined with $, in lists in Data Validity. Choose Data > Validity, and under the Criteria tab select Cell Range from the list.
The GETPIVOTDATA function returns a result value from a DataPilot table, so it can be used in a cell formula.
Mail Merge, Databases, and Forms
The infamous checkbox on the print message when you print a mail merge document, Do Not Show Warning Again, is gone. Phew! See this blog http://openoffice.blogs.com/openoffice/2006/10/how_to_get_the_.html for why that caused problems.
This is nice. When you choose File > Print with a mail merge document, in the Mail Merge window, you can choose to save the document as separate documents or as one document.
Unfortunately, in Base there is still no File > Export or File > Import feature. File > Export does appear, but it’s dimmed.
October 18, 2007
Welcome back, user-defined motion paths in OpenOffice Impress 2.3
Back in the good old days of 1.x, you could draw a line, then draw an object, and make the object move along whatever line that was. It was great.
Then the lovely redesign of Impress came, and that user-defined motion path feature got lost along the way. It was a sad time.
However, now in 2.3 it's back! It works slightly differently, but it's great. In addition, you can edit the existing motion paths like the stars, etc. Here's how it works.
Draw an object, then under Custom Animation’s Motion Paths tab, select any one of the first three effects.
Your
cursor will change so that it will draw the kind of line you
selected. Draw the path that you want the object to follow. Then run
the presentation to see the effect.
To
edit existing motion paths, just apply a standard motion path like
Eight-Point Star or Diamond. The path will appear in the slide.
Click on the path and expand it; you’ll get another path (there’ll
be two diamonds, for instance). Delete the old path, and you’re
good.
OpenOffice.org 2 Guidebook
GetOpenOffice Consulting
Categories
- Administration and Installation
- April Fool's
- Calc
- Calc: 2008
- Calc: 2009
- Certification
- Charts
- Charts: 2008
- Clip art
- Clip Art: 2009
- Compatibility and Conversion
- Compatibility and Conversion: 2008
- Configuration and Setup
- Configuration and Setup: 2008
- Databases
- Databases: 2009
- Diagrams
- Draw
- Draw 2008
- Draw: 2009
- Education
- Envelopes
- Equations (math)
- Extensions
- Fonts
- Forms
- Free software
- General
- Grammar
- Graphics
- Graphics: 2008
- Graphics: 2009
- IBM
- Impress
- Impress: 2008
- Impress: 2009
- Labels
- Labels: 2008
- Libraries
- Linux
- Linux: 2008
- Macros
- Mail merge
- Mail Merge: 2008
- Mail Merge: 2009
- Memory
- Microsoft Office
- Microsoft Office users
- Microsoft Office: 2008
- Numbering: Headings
- Numbering: Lists
- Numbering: Page
- Open source
- Opendocument format
- OpenOffice
- OpenOffice books
- OpenOffice training
- OpenOffice.org
- OpenOffice.org 3.0
- OpenOffice.org 3.2
- OpenOffice.org: 2009
- Podcasts
- PowerPoint: 2008
- Presentations: 2008
- Printing
- Printing: 2008
- Products and Services
- Reader input
- Reports
- Reviews
- Spreadsheets
- StarOffice
- Styles
- Sun
- Switching to OpenOffice
- Tables
- TechTarget articles
- Templates
- Templates: 2008
- Thunderbird and Firefox
- Tips
- Training:free seminars and online training
- Ubuntu
- Web
- Web software
- Windows
- Writer
- Writer: 2005
- Writer: 2006
- Writer: 2008
- Writer: 2009
- Writing
