1. Open Office - Writer Menu & Tool Bars Roger Holliday Thornbury U3A 1 st October 2010

2. Open Office Writer – Screen View

3. Comparison with MS Word 2000 The Toolbars Additional Icons in OO Writer Edit File Export as PDF Auto Spell Check Find & Replace Navigator Gallery Data Sources Non-printing Characters Background Colour The Menu Bars are the same Icons Missing from OO Writer Tables & Borders Insert Excel Columns Drawing Document Map Outside Borders Conclusion Negligible real difference as these functions are mainly available via the menus

4. Compatibility between MS Word & OO Writer - 1 Opening MS Word E-mail Attachments in OO Writer: 1.Click on attachment file name 2.See: “Do you want to open this file” 3.Click on “Open” 4.See: “File does not have program associated with it….” 5.Click on “OK” 6.Right click on file name 7.Click on “Save as” 8.Select folder & click on “Save” 9.Right click on file name 10.Click on “Open with” 11.Click on “swriter” or Open Office icon Opening a Saved MS Word File in OO Writer Perform actions 9 to 11 above

5. Compatibility between MS Word & OO Writer - 2 Opening OO Writer E-mail Attachment in MS Word No easy way found to do this Therefore free download Open Office NB This machine tries to open OO Writer files with MS Works WP

6. Comparison of FILE Menus Notes Labels accessed via New Margins can only be altered by using the mouse Export as PDF might be useful but seems complicated

7. Comparison of EDIT Menus Note AutoText is system for comp- leting words frequently used. Not as extensive as MS Word (under Insert)

8. Comparison of VIEW Menus Notes Text Boundaries seems helpful Non-printing Characters puts printers’ symbols (I believe) in various places – not sure about the purpose Data Sources is for references in formal documents Navigator is for finding one’s way around a lengthy document

9. Comparison of INSERT Menus Notes For date, page number, etc to go in Headers and Footers it is necessary Select Fields in the Insert menu Frame looks to be the equivalent to MS Word’s Borders & Shading Envelope not as user friendly as MS Word: no preset envelope sizes It seems not possible to insert Text Boxes When inserting a picture in OO Writer altering the size using the diagonal corner arrows does not maintain the aspect ratio unless the shift key is kept pressed. It is also possible to select Format, Picture, Crop to change the size

10. Comparison of FORMAT Menus Notes Character is the equivalent of MS Word’s Font but without the Text Effects option Styles and Formatting looks at Paragraphs, Characters, Frames, Pages,and Lists Wrap enables text to be wrapped around inserted pictures, objects, etc Page enables various effects and utilities to be defined including the selection of page orientation Ms Word’s Frames is not the same as OO Writer’s

11. Comparison of TABLE Menus Note The Table menu is similar to MS Word’s but inserting a table brings up a useful toolbar

12. Comparison of TOOLS Menus Notes The Bibliography Database includes Open Office references but looks to enable one’s own reference documents to be added Outline Numbering gives the ability to pre-set a paragraph numbering system: useful for formal reports Gallery is a source of differing options for Backgrounds, Bullets, Homepage, My Theme, Rulers and Sounds Extension Manager enables the selection of program extensions that include additional dictionaries, more professional looking presentations, minimizing file size, etc

13. Comparison of WINDOW Menus Note No meaningful difference

14. Comparison of HELP Menus Notes No Office Assistant thank goodness What’s This? gives fuller definitions of Toolbar icons I liked the Help facility If the Help facility is not adequate try Open Office (then your query) in Google