K12 Open Technologies

Using a new product requires some re-learning. That’s unavoidable. But you rarely have to learn an entirely new set of skills—it’s just that the new stuff sticks out as us. This article is to emphasize the similarities between OpenOffice.org and Microsoft Office; the things you don’t have to re-learn. I hope that not only will this show some of the similarities but will show you some shortcuts you might not have known about in either program.

Basics in Word and Writer

1. Selecting a font or font size: just select text and click in the font or font size dropdown list.

   

2. Applying basic text formatting: just select text and click the icon you want for bold, italic, or underline.
3. Applying alignment: just select text and click the icon you want for left, centered, right, or justified alignment.



4. Apply color formatting: just select text and click the text or highlighting icon.



5. Indent or “outdent” text: just select text and click the icon.



6. Start the spellcheck window by clicking the blue checkmark icon.



7. Apply a numbered or bulleted list: just select text and click the numbering or bulleted list.



8. Copy the formatting from one piece of text to another with the paintbrush icon: copy the text with the formatting, click the paintbrush icon, and select the text that you want to format.



9. Open and save documents with the Open and Save icons.



10. Print documents with the Print icon.

Mid-Level Tasks in Word and Writer

1. Indent subitems in a list: either select the items and on the lists toolbar click the Demote icon, or click to the left of the item and press Tab.



2. Restart numbering in a list by right-clicking on an item and choosing Restart Numbering.



3. Preview a document in a Web browser: choose File > Preview as Web Page or Preview in Web Browser.
4. Insert a Table by choosing Table > Insert > Table, or clicking on the Table icon and choosing the number of rows and columns.



5. Apply the placement of borders using the table border placement icon.



6. Select non-consecutive pieces of text by selecting the first piece, then holding down Ctrl and selecting the next.



7. Double-click to select a word. Ctrl A to select the entire document.
8. Choose Format > Paragraph to apply additional formatting for an entire paragraph or more, such as indenting and text flow.
9. Choose Format > Styles and Formatting to create and apply styles.
10. Choose Insert > Fields to add a page number or other field.



Advanced Tasks in Word and Writer

11. Apply a hyperlink by clicking the Hyperlink icon.



12. Add a caption by right-clicking on a picture and choosing Caption.



13. Format or apply autoformats (preserved table formatting) by choosing Table > AutoFormats.



14. Set default configurations by choosing Tools > Options.



15. Modify menus by choosing Tools > Customize.
16. Set default autoformat options by choosing Tools > AutoCorrect.



17. View in Print or Web layout by choosing Print or Web Layout from the View menu.



18. Check word count by choosing Tools > Word Count.
19. Set and view document properties by choosing Tools > Properties.
20. Send the document by emailing just by choosing File > Send.

About the Author Solveig Haugland is an author, instructor, and consultant near Denver, Colorado. She has been working with OpenOffice.org and StarOffice since 1999 and loves to show people how to make OpenOffice.org do what they need it to. She blogs at http://openoffice.blogs.com and her business web site is http://www.getopenoffice.org Her latest book is the OpenOffice.org 2 Guidebook.