Open Office Writer – First Time User L1

Writer is the word processing feature in OpenOffice. This tutorial explains how to use the “Tips” feature, open the text document and more basic things..

So let’s get started on to OPEN OFFICE WRITER – FIRST TIME USER L1

Activate The “Tips” Feature

When the Tips feature is activated and the pointer is placed over an Icon, the name of the icon will appear on the screen.

1. Click Tools > Options. If there is a + before the “OpenOffice.org”, click on the +. (A menu appears directly below the words “OpenOffice.org.) Click General. (The “Options – OpenOffice.org – General” window appears.) Do either 2 or 3 below.
2. IF there is no check mark before the word “Tips”, click on the word Tips to place a check mark before the word “Tips”. Click the OKbutton (The window closes and the pointer goes back to the document. The “Tips” feature is activated.)
3. IF there is a check mark before the word “Tips”, click the OK button. (The window closes and the pointer goes back to the document. The “Tips” feature is activated.)

Open A New Text Document

1. IF on the desktop, click  > All Programs > OpenOffice.org 2.3 > OpenOffice.org Writer.
2. IF you are in OpenOffice.org Writer, click File > New > Text Document.
3. In either case, A text document appears on your screen. (The name of the text document appears at the top of the screen
4. The next line down that starts with the word File is called the Menu Bar. (Clicking on a word in the Menu Bar shows a list of things that you can choose to do in Writer. This list is called a Menu.)
5. The third line down is the Standard Toolbar. (Clicking on a small picture will make available a specific function that can be done in Writer.)

6. The fourth line down is the Formatting Toolbar. (Additional specific functions that can be done in Writer are on this line.)

7. The fifth line down is the Ruler which appears on the top and the left side of the page. (Click “View”. If there is a check mark by Ruler, a ruler will appear at the top and the left side of your page on the screen.) The Horizontal Ruler is below.

8. The numbers on the Ruler on the left side of the page indicate where the text is located on the page from the top of the page. The numbers at the top of the page indicate the location of the text from the left or right sides of the page.)

9. Right-click on the Ruler to see the choices for the settings which are Millimeter, Centimeter, Inch, Point, and Pica.
10. The Horizontal Scroll bar (by clicking and holding the pointer, you can navigate a document left and right) is located at the bottom of the page above the Status Bar which is the line at the bottom of the screen that starts with Page 1/1. (This line gives you information about the document you are presently using.)

11. The Vertical Scroll Bar (by clicking and holding the pointer, you can navigate up and down) is located on the right side of your screen.

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