OpenOffice.org Training, Tips, and Ideas

A Huge Printable PDF Article on Advanced OpenOffice.org Report Techniques, Including SQL-Based Calculated Fields on Reports and Using the Next Record field (Repost)

I decided to repost this since it's got lots of really fun powerful NOT obvious technical stuff for reports.

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Here's the TOC.

A Quick Review of the Report Writer Tool

What You Can Do in the Query Design Tool and SQL View

What You Can Do With Report-Specific Fields

Quick-and-Dirty Reports

Creating Your Own Reports Using the Next Record Field

Powerful Reports Can Be Fun....If You Enjoy Getting Your Hands Dirty

 

Here's the link. It's a big PDF.

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Podcasts?

I'm exploring a few ideas for multimedia, including video recordings and audio-0nly podcasts. Are there any audio-only podcast ideas you'd like to suggest, or do you think pretty much just the video would be best?

I've inserted a sample file just to get started as I work my way through learning the podcast process on Typepad.com.  There are a few squeaks in the audio; something else to work on.     Download pocastintro2.mp3  

I've also just recorded a three-part test podcast of how to create a simple mail merge, so I'll be posting that soon as well.

Thanks,
Solveig

Another Book?

Hi,

I really enjoy writing books, and the OpenOffice.org 2 Guidebook is doing a pretty brisk business. So after chatting with my friend and former co-author Floyd, I thought -- well, clearly, another book is an option.

The question is, what topic?

I've got a few ideas. Some are technical/professional, some social. Here are the technical/professional ones.

OpenOffice.org Databases. I would have to do a fair amount of work on this and it would NOT teach about the individual databases like mySQL. It would just be a focused book on everything you can do in OpenOffice.org that's related to databases. It would likely cover the syntax for connecting to various databases like mySQL, but it's not a book you go to to understand outer joins, optimization, proper table construction, etc. It'd only be about the OpenOffice.org tools.

A focused OpenOffice.org book on another topic?

A Linux for Regular People book. I think my chief competition/model for this would be the No Starch Press Ubuntu book. Basically, how does someone who does NOT want to understand Linux, but wants an inexpensive non-monopolistic computer, switch to Linux? The idea would be very very minimal installation, some coverage of how to find files, organize, general operating system stuff; a few tips on peripherals like printers and cameras; minimal basics on Internet, and then 5-20 pages on 20-30 or so of the most important applications. I would basically recommend hardware and OSes that are likely to Just Work Without Fiddling in the Guts, so that users/readers could focus on using the computer and finding out about all the cool applications that are out there for free.

New: Something like "Replacing Publisher With Writer and Draw" that would concentrate on fancy layout and also have a lot of templates for postcards, cute brochures, clipart and instructions for adding it to the gallery, etc?

A totally non-OpenOffice.org book  about plain old good writing. Business writing and good basic grammar and punctuation. It would be along the lines of this blog, in the same general casual style. Maybe 200 pages. It would also cover good basics on how to organize and write  an email or white paper.

http://openoffice.blogs.com/openoffice/2006/04/top_ten_importa.html

Ideally, the perfect book to give every new employee who has to do any writing on the job. Nothin' fancy.

Any votes? I of course want to write something for a large audience.

Thanks,
Solveig

PS  As soon as I catch my breath in March, I'll be contacting you folks who wrote to me about transition stories.

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Looking for Linux/OpenOffice.org Transition Stories

I've been writing articles on OpenOffice.org for TechTarget.com, and now I'm going to go in a new direction: writing articles about actual transitions from Windows to Linux, Microsoft Office to OpenOffice.org, etc.

That means I need to talk to people who have done this! I'd like to document how you accomplished it, lessons learned, and of course to tell your story so that others can benefit and make a successful transition, as well. If you're in the middle of a transition, also, I'd like to talk to you.

Contact me at [email protected], or just post a comment here, if you'd like your organization to be featured in a transition story. You can be anonymous in the article, as long as you can provide enough information about your transition.

Thanks!

Solveig

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What the Heck Is Up With Solveig's OpenOffice 2.0 Book?

Hi all,

I'm getting tense about the book delay so thought I'd just share what the poop is.

The problem is that this is yet ANOTHER delay. Circa 2003, I was going to do a 1.x book and that got posted on Amazon. Then we decided against it, but Amazon wouldn't take it off their page no matter how many times I wrote to them. So my apologies to those of you who ordered the book three years ago.

Now, what's up with the 2.0 book?  I am proud to say I am done with my part except for the index, which is not in any way critical path. It's my publisher who needs to get the book on the schedule to be proofed and put through the production process, and hasn't done so yet. Apparently there's the perception that OpenOffice.org books don't sell that well, and so my book is getting pushed down the schedule after other books from the same publisher. 

We of course know it's going to ROCKET off the shelves. ;>   (Fingers crossed, at least.)

I've also sent my editor many title possibilities, based on your suggestions, and the Open Road/Route 66 theme. He's working on that.

So--that's the deal. I'm badgering my editor frequently but that it's kind of out of my hands.

On the bright side, there is some progress on making PDFs of the book available for purchase--$5 here, $10 there, etc. I'll announce that as soon as it's available, but I don't want to give a date. It'll probably be before the paper book.

If you want to post a comment about how you and 384 of your closest friends and family members will be buying several copies each of the paper book, then of course feel free. ;> I'll see if that will make the 'powers that be" budge on the proofing/production schedule. But I'm not making this post to try to manufacture a public horde of checkbook-wielding supporters, though; really just wanted to explain.

Two More OpenOffice 2.0 Book Chapters: Calculations and Master Pages

Hi all,

I've had a little more time due to publisher-related stuff, so I'm still refining the book chapters. Here are two, one from Calc and one from Impress. Feel free to read them, use them, or comment on them. As always, when you download  the chapters you agree to not republish it under your own name, not to reuse the content in another context, to credit the book/site if you link to it, not to use the pages in a bizarre sculpture for your MFA final project, etc. ;>

• The Calc calculations chapter
• The Impress master pages chapter

Notes:

The book itself will be out "soon", I promise, from Amazon and other fine booksellers.
I started slow and easy with the calculations chapter, based on what I've seen in some classes. Anyone who already knows how to write a calculation can skip that section.

I'm also looking for a few additional cool formulas to teach in the chapter.  I've got some ideas from www.openofficetips.com but would like input, as well.

Regarding master pages, they're being kind of twitchy in the current release. I have found them to be more reliable in the 2.0 version and am hoping for a return to reliability in 2.0.3.

If you have any feedback or suggestions for other topics, please feel free to post.

Thanks!

Two More OpenOffice 2.0 Book Chapters: Creating Good Spreadsheets and Good Presentations

Hi all,

I've had a little more time due to publisher-related stuff, so I'm still refining the book chapters. I've posted a couple today that I'd like additional input on: how to do good spreadsheets, and good presentations.

• Good spreadsheets
• Good presentations

These aren't really OpenOffice.org-specific of course, but I think it's a good idea. Their cohort, the Good Text Document chapter, definitely brings out some things that make text document creation much easier.

So if you have time this week or into the next, let me know if you have additional tips for how to make good spreadsheets and good presentations. I'd like to lean toward the technical side, things specifically related to what you do in the software, but if it's important, let me know regardless.

As always, when you read  the chapters you agree to not republish it under your own name, not to reuse the content in another presentation, to credit the book/site if you distribute it, not to use the pages in your MFA final project, etc. ;>

Thanks!

Let's Name the Book!

Hi all,

My editor and I admitted to each other last Thursday that "Resource Kit" just wasn't doing it for us. The title, that is.

The cover is bland too so we're going to update that, as well.

Now, here's my question. What should we name the book? I've got a couple ideas but I want to elicit other thoughts. Feel free to suggest any cover design ideas, as well.

If you come up with the title that we use you get acknowledgements, of course. I'll also write a procedure that uses your picture, web site, or something else of your choice as the sample data.

The title can have a main title and a subtitle, like "OpenOffice.org 2 and the Prisoner of Microsoft: Breaking Free From Evil Wizards."

The book is 650 pages, and it doesn't cover everything. So themes like "complete reference," "bible," etc. are out.

What it covers is--well, the important and most commonly used stuff. I cover basics that everyone needs, I might skip advanced features that aren't useful or crucial, but I go to town on advanced features like styles and mail merge.

I also want to emphasize that the reader is going to kick ass with the information. If at all possible I want the title to emphasize that rather than attributes of the book.

Let me know any ideas! Humor is appreciated, as well. ;>

For those interested, here's some more information on what I'm covering.

• I cover features that are important and useful. The workhorse stuff: Writer page setup and text formatting. tables, graphics, charts. Calc formulas, referencing other cells, cell formats for currency and dates. Master pages for presentations, templates, effects. Creating drawings, exporting them to GIF and EPS, making your own colors and fills.
• I explain how things work rather than just how to do them. Not everything, but certainly styles, mail merge, etc.
• I do talk about copying and pasting, selecting text before applying the formatting, moving objects in front and in back, and other basics that--well, frankly, you don't learn about in books that concentrate on how to use an office suite.  So where do you learn them? What if you never did? They're essential so I made sure that they're in there.
• I give solid  coverage to features you should use that will be very helpful: templates, PDF, Microsoft interoperability, styles, autoformats, autotext, setup hints.
• I give somewhat short shrift to features that people rarely use. I give more weight to things like Styles than to less crucial things like the Gallery.
• I don't cover advanced Calc topics like scenarios or the Detective, though I'll mention what they are and how to get started in an appendix. Ditto with advanced Writer features like master documents; for one thing, those really haven't changed since 1.0 so my old book still applies.
• I cover a lot of information on envelopes, labels, mail merge, databases, and just a bit on queries since that's a huge help for getting the information you want. It's advanced, but it's really useful. Whereas the advanced features in Calc that I've left out like scenarios--OK, that's cool, but fewer people need to use them on a day-to-day basis. (I've never actually taught them in class.)
• I talk about good document design: aspects of design that look professional, will make you more efficient, and help with Microsoft interoperability.

Draft Chapters for my OpenOffice 2 Book

It's time to report in on how the OpenOffice 2.o book is doing! I'm glad to report that I've got pretty much 90% of it done. I'm going to let it sit for a bit, do some other projects, then come back to it and finish up. I think "spring" will still apply since June 21st is the first day of summer. ;'>

First, thanks again to all who gave me great tips on items to include in the OpenOffice 2 book. I have incorporated the suggestions that I have room for (it's primarily a beginner/intermediate book). I'm hammering home styles, I'm trying to make it very easy for people to integrate templates, I'm talking about graphics and frames, lots of stuff on tables, autotext and shortcuts are definitely in, and I'm enhancing the chapter on working with MS Office. And of course I'm doing lots of mail merge tools, with tips on creating a separate Envelopes printer, as well as using the Secret Mail Merge Louis told me about. I'm also going to add Ross's excellent suggestion to try nested frames.
http://openoffice.blogs.com/openoffice/2006/03/i_want_to_know_.html

Some topics are covered fully, some are going to be covered briefly either in the appropriate chapter or in a "How to get started on the top 20 things I didn't have room to include in this book" appendix. ;>

I'm now posting a couple sample chapters, in their DRAFT state. I'd like feedback, and I'd like to just send them out there for anyone to use, for those who ordered two years ago because Amazon posted the book WAY too early. ;>

Here are the caveats and review guidelines.

CAVEATS:

• This is DRAFT material. I've been back through it but it hasn't been edited or proofed.
• I haven't completed the chapter on working with Microsoft Office users. I need to research more specific problems and solutions, though I think the tips in the chapter will take people a long way.
• You can use  these chapters yourself but of course not reprint them, publish them under your own name, etc.

Feel free to just download and read. If in addition you'd like to comment, please follow these guidelines.

• It's too early for typos, so you don't need to worry about those.
• Tell me other things you'd like to know about.
• Tell me anything that's wrong.
  
• I'd love to hear about solutions you've come up with or tips you'd like to contribute.

Here are the chapters.

• Working with Microsoft Office
• Lists

Thanks! I appreciate all input. I'll most likely post additional chapters before it's published.

 

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