Unit 2 Office Tools: Structure

UNIT 2 OFFICE TOOLS
Structure
2.0 Learning Outcomes
2.1 Introduction
2.2 LibreOffice Basics
2.3 LibreOffice Writer
2.3.1 Getting Started with Writer
2.3.2 Working with Documents
2.3.3 Editing a Document
2.3.4 Styles and Formatting Documents
2.3.5 Working with Tables
2.3.6 Working with Mail Merge
2.4 Calc - Electronic Spreadsheets
2.4.1 Getting Started With Calc
2.4.2 Working with a Spreadsheet
2.4.3 Modifying a Spreadsheet
2.4.4 Creating Formulas using Functions
2.4.5 Creating a Chart
2.5 Impress : Basics of Presentations
2.5.1 Getting Started with Impress
2.5.2 Creating a Presentation
2.5.3 Formatting a Presentation
2.5.4 Selecting Slide Layout
2.5.5 Adding Pictures, Tables, Charts, Media and Animation
2.5.6 Creating an Animation
2.5.7 Slide Masters
2.5.8 Putting Together a Slide Show
2.5.9 Modifying the Slide Show
2.5.10 Running Slide Show
2.6 LibreOffice Applications in Libraries
2.7 Summary
2.8 Answers to Self Check Exercises
2.9 Keywords
2.10 References and Further Reading
2.0 LEARNING OUTCOMES

After reading this Unit, you will be able to:
 identify that LibreOffice is a freely available, open source, fully-featured office
productivity suite supported on multiple platforms including Windows, Linux and
Mac OS X.;
 describe that productivity suite refers to office suite, office software suite, or
application suite as a collection of application software of related functionality,
often sharing a more-or-less common user interface;
36
 highlight how to use LibreOffice applications such as Writer (word processor or Office Tools
text editor), Calc (spreadsheet) and Impress (presentation);
 describe how different applications wizards in the office tools help you in handling
tasks for its various applications; and
 discuss that how everyday office and library-related works are simplified using
various applications of LibreOffice software.
2.1 INTRODUCTION
While we all recognise that Microsoft Office is indeed an industry standard in office
tools such as word processing, spreadsheets, presentations, database management
and desktop publishing, however it is important to note that office tools are also available
as free and open source software such as Apache OpenOffice, LibreOffice, NeoOffice,
GoogleDocs and KOffice. Choosing free software over proprietary software doesn’t
mean you will compromise on features and support. Today’s open source office tools
are as feature-rich as Microsoft tools. They also provide ample online documentation
and large communities of users and developers. These office tools are generally referred
to as office suite, productivity suite, applications tools because they come as a collection
of applications mainly consisting of word processor, spreadsheet and presentation
bundled together and quite often sharing a common user interface. Free and open
source office tools have become viable alternatives to Microsoft Office. In this Unit you
will be introduced to the LibreOffice applications Writer, Calc and Impress. This Unit
is developed as a summary of ‘Getting Started Guide 4.0’ - the official
documentation issued by The Document Foundation, the body responsible for
developing and launching LibreOffice suite of productivity tools and hence much
of the content in this Unit is a copy of ‘Getting Started Guide 4.0’. (The work is
under Creative Commons Attribution License).
2.2 LIBREOFFICE BASICS

LibreOffice - formerly known as OpenOffice.org – is a freely available suite of office
applications that you can download and install for free without any copyright infringement.
OpenOffice.org has been taken over by Oracle and is no longer open source software.
LibreOffice suite was developed in 2010 by The Document Foundation – a non-profit
organisation that promotes open-source document handling software. LibreOffice suite
is a fork of OpenOffice, meaning the underlying source code is the same, but the software
has gone in a different development direction. LibreOffice is a comprehensive,
professional-quality office tool available in more than 114 languages and for all major
operating systems, including Microsoft Windows, FreeBSD, Mac OSX and Linux
(Debian, Ubuntu, Fedora, Mandriva, Suse, ...). LibreOffice is user-friendly. It offers a
simple-to-use yet powerful interface that is easy to personalise. Its native file format is
Open Document Format (ODF), an open standard format. Since it stores data in an
international open standard format, it is therefore compatible with all major file formats.
You can easily import files from Microsoft Word, Excel and PowerPoint and many
other formats and can easily open and save documents to Microsoft Office and in many
other formats when needed.
LibreOffice Components
LibreOffice suite components include word process, spreadsheet, presentation graphics
and database, drawing and math tools.
37
Digital Literacy  Writer: It is a word processor and a text editor, similar to Microsoft Word or
WordPerfect. Usually a file created by Writer is saved as ODT (Open Document
File Text Document) with an .ODT file format. Writer can also read and edit files
from other word processors with .DOC, .DOCX, .RTF, etc. file formats.
 Calc: It is a spreadsheet application, similar to Microsoft Excel or Lotus 1-2-3. It
is a tool for creating and editing datasheets. Based on data series, it can also
generate different charts. Usually a file created by Calc is saved as ODS (Open
Document File Spreadsheet Document) with an .ODS file format. Calc can also
read and edit files from other spreadsheet applications with .XLS, .XLSX, .XLT,
etc. file formats.
 Impress: It is a presentation application, similar to Microsoft PowerPoint or Apple
Keynote. Usually a file created by Impress is saved as ODP (Open Document
File Presentation Document) with an .ODP file format. Impress can also read and
edit files from other presentation applications with .PPT, .PPTX, .PPS, etc. file
formats.
 Base: It is a database management application, similar to Microsoft Access or
FoxPro.
 Draw: It is a drawing editor, similar to Microsoft Paint or CorelDraw.
 Math. It is a tool for creating and editing mathematical formulae.
Starting LibreOffice
You can launch LibreOffice by using the system menu. On Microsft Windows it is
called the Start Menu. On Ubuntu Unity, it is called the Application Menu. On Mac OS
X, it is the Application Menu. On clicking LibreOffice icon it will open up a screen as
given in Figure 2.1. You need to select a program for your application. For example, if
you want to create a text document, you click on Text Document on the screen.
Similarly, if you want to create a spreadsheet, you click on Spreadsheet on the screen.
Fig. 2.1: Start Center in LibreOffice 4.0.1

Source: http://www.libreoffice.org/features/
LibreOffice Advantages – As per The Documentation Foundation LibreOffice suite
38 offers several advantages over other office suites. These are as follows:
 No licensing fees: LibreOffice is free for anyone to use and distribute at no cost. Office Tools
Many add-in features that come at extra in other office suites (like PDF export)
are free with LibreOffice. There are no hidden charges now or in the future.
 Open source: You can distribute, copy and modify the software as much as you
wish, in accordance with the LibreOffice Open Source licenses.
 Cross-platform: LibreOffice runs on several hardware architectures and under
multiple operating systems, such as Microsoft Windows, Mac OS X and Linux.
 Extensive language support: The LibreOffice user interface is available in over
40 languages and the LibreOffice project provides spelling, hyphenation and
thesaurus dictionaries in over 70 languages and dialects. LibreOffice also provides
support for both Complex Text Layout (CTL) and Right to Left (RTL) layout
languages (such as Urdu, Hebrew and Arabic).
 Consistent user interface: All the components have a similar “look and feel,”
making them easy to use and master.
 Integration: All the components of LibreOffice are well integrated with one another.
– All the components share a common spelling checker and other tools, used
consistently across the suite. For example, the drawing tools available in
Writer are also found in Calc, with similar but enhanced versions in Impress
and Draw.
– You do not need to know which application was used to create a particular
file. For example, you can open a Draw file from Writer.
 Granularity: Usually, if you change an option, it affects all components. However,
LibreOffice options can be set at the component level or even at the document
level.
 File compatibility: In addition to its native OpenDocument formats, LibreOffice
includes PDF and Flash export capabilities, as well as support for opening and
saving files in many common formats including Microsoft Office, HTML, XML,
WordPerfect and Lotus 1-2-3 formats. An extension (included) provides the ability
to import and edit some PDF files.
 No vendor lock-in: LibreOffice uses OpenDocument, an XML (eXtensible
Markup Language) file format developed as an industry standard by OASIS
(Organisation for the Advancement of Structured Information Standards). These
files can easily be unzipped and read by any text editor and their framework is
open and published.
 You have a voice: Enhancements, software fixes and release dates are community
driven. You can join the community and affect the course.
2.3 LIBREOFFICE WRITER

Writer is a LibreOffice word processor similar to Microsoft Word that you can use to
create letters, books, reports, newsletters, brochures and other documents. It offers
the usual features of any word processor such as spelling check, thesaurus, hyphenation,
autocorrect, find and replace, automatic generation of tables of contents and indexes,
mail merge and others. LibreOffice Writer in addition provides few other important
features:
39
Digital Literacy  Templates and styles
 Page layout methods, including frames, columns and tables
 Embedding or linking of graphics, spreadsheets and other objects
 Built-in drawing tools
 Master documents—to group a collection of documents into a single document
 Change tracking during revisions
 Database integration, including a bibliography database
 Export to PDF, including bookmarks
 And many more
Features wise, Writer is also powerful enough to tackle desktop publishing tasks such
as creating multi-column newsletters and brochures. You can use Writer to display
multiple pages while you edit - ideal for complex documents or if you have a large
display (or multiple monitors). Its styles features can help you to easily make your
document presentation look consistent.
Writer offers several different format options to save your document such as doc, docx,
rtf, txt, html. You can also save your documents in OpenDocument format, the new
international standard for text documents. You can open this XML-based format file in
any OpenDocument-compliant software such as MS Word. This means that you can
export odt files to HTML, XHTML, XML, Adobe Portable Document Format (PDF)
and to any of the several versions of Microsoft Word files.
2.3.1 Getting Started with Writer

Before you get started with Writer, there are a few concepts with which you need to be
familiar like what are the parts of the main window of the Writer. The main Writer
interface has several parts (Figure 2.2) – title bare, menu bar, standard bar, formatting
bar and status bar and in addition it has work area.
Fig. 2.2: LibreOffice Writer Interface

Source: https://wiki.documentfoundation.org/images/3/35/WG40-writerGuideLO.pdf
Title Bar: The Title bar is located at the top of the Writer window and shows the file
name of the current document. When the document is newly created, the document
name will appear as Untitled X, where X is a number.
40
Menu Bar: The Menu bar is located just below the Title bar. When you choose one Office Tools
of the menus listed below, a submenu drops down to show commands.
 File contains commands that apply to the entire document such as Open, Save,
Print and Export as PDF.
 Edit contains commands for editing the document such as Undo: xxx (where xxx
is the command to undo) and Find & Replace. It also contains commands to
Cut, Copy and Paste selected parts of your document.
 View contains commands for controlling the display of the document such as
Zoom and Web Layout.
 Insert contains commands for inserting elements into your document such as
headers, footers and pictures.
 Format contains commands, such as Styles and Formatting, Paragraph and
Bullets and Numbering, for formatting the layout of your document.
 Table shows all commands to insert and edit a table in a text document.
 Tools contains functions such as Spelling and Grammar, Customise and
Options.
 Window contains commands for the display window.
 Help contains links to the LibreOffice Help file, What’s This? and information
about the program.
Toolbars: Writer has several types of toolbars: docked (fixed in place), floating and
tear-off. Docked toolbars can be moved to different locations or made to float and
floating toolbars can be docked.
The top toolbar, just under the Menu bar, is called the Standard toolbar. It is consistent
across the LibreOffice applications (Writer, Calc, Draw and Impress). The second
toolbar at the top is the Formatting bar. It is context-sensitive; that is, it shows the
tools relevant to the cursor’s current position or selection. For example, when the
cursor is on a graphic, the Formatting bar provides tools for formatting graphics; when
the cursor is in text, the tools are for formatting text.
To display or hide toolbars, choose View ’! Toolbars, then click on the name of a
toolbar in the list. An active toolbar shows a check mark beside its name. Tear-off
toolbars are not listed in the View menu.
Status Bar: The Writer status bar is located at the bottom of the workspace. It provides
information about the document and convenient ways to quickly change some document
features.
Fig. 2.3: LibreOffice Status Bar

Source: https://wiki.documentfoundation.org/images/3/35/WG40-WriterGuideLO.pdf
2.3.2 Working with Documents

Now you are ready to learn how to create a Writer document. This section will focus 41
Digital Literacy on how to start a new document, open existing documents, save a document, close a
document or navigate through a document. This section mainly focuses on these basic
concepts.
Starting a New Document: You can start a new, blank document in Writer in several
ways.
From the Start Center: When LibreOffice is open but no document is open (for
example, if you close all the open documents but leave the program running), the Start
Center is shown. Click one of the icons to open a new document of that type, or click
the Templates icon to start a new document using a template. If a document is already
open in LibreOffice, the new document opens in a new window. When LibreOffice
Writer is open, you can also start a new document in one of the following ways.
 Press the Control+N keys.
 Use File ’! New ’! Text Document.
 Click the New button on the main toolbar.
 Use File > Wizards on the main menu bar and select the type of document from
the context menu.
 If a document is already open in LibreOffice, click the New icon on the Standard
toolbar and a new document of the same type opens in a new window. For example,
if Calc is open, a new spreadsheet is opened. The New icon changes depending
on which component of LibreOffice is open.
Opening an Existing Document - You can also open an existing document in one of
the following ways. If a document is already open in LibreOffice, the second document
opens in a new window.
 Choose File ’! Open.
 Click the Open button on the main toolbar.
 Press Control+O on the keyboard.
 Use the Open Document or Recent Documents selections on the Quickstarter.
In each case, the Open dialog box appears. Select the file you want and then click
Open. If a document is already open in LibreOffice, the second document opens in a
new window.
In the Open dialog box, you can reduce the list of files by selecting the type of file you
are looking for. For example, if you choose Text documents as the file type, you will
only see documents Writer can open (including *.odt, *.doc, *.txt). This method opens
Word (*.doc) files as well as LibreOffice files and other formats. You can also open an
existing Writer document using the same methods you would use to open any document
in your operating system. If you have associated Microsoft Office file formats with
LibreOffice, you can also open these files by double-clicking on them.
Saving a Document
To save a new document in Writer, do one of the following:
 Press Control+S.
 Choose File → Save.
42
 Click the Save button on the main toolbar. Office Tools
When the Save As dialog box appears, enter the file name, verify the file type (if
applicable) and click Save.
To save an open document with the current file name, choose File ’! Save. This will
overwrite the last saved state of the file. You can choose to have Writer save your
document automatically at regular intervals. Automatic saving, like manual saving,
overwrites the last saved state of the file. To set up automatic file saving:
 Select Tools ’! Options ’! Load/Save ’! General.
 Click on Save AutoRecovery information every and set the time interval. The
default value is 15 minutes. Enter the value you want by typing it or by pressing the
up or down arrow keys.
To save a document as a Microsoft Word file do as follows:
 First save your document in the file format used by LibreOffice Writer, *.odt. If
you do not, any changes you made since the last time you saved will only appear
in the Microsoft Word version of the document.
 Then click File ’! Save As.
 On the Save As dialog box, in the File type (or Save as type) drop-down menu,
select the type of Word format you need.
 Click Save.
From this point on, all changes you make to the document will occur only in the Microsoft
Word document. You have changed the name and file type of your document. If you
want to go back to working with the *.odt version of your document, you must open it
again.
Closing a Document
To close a document, choose File ’! Close or click the Close icon on the document
window. The appearance and placement of this icon varies with your operating system,
but it typically looks like the X in the red box shown in Figure 2.4. If more than one
LibreOffice window is open, each window looks like the sample shown on the left in
Figure 2.4. Closing this window leaves the other LibreOffice windows open.
Fig. 2.4: LibreOffice Close Icons

If only one LibreOffice window is open, it looks like the sample shown on the right in
Figure 2.4. Notice the small black X below the larger X in the red box. Clicking the
small black X closes the document but leaves LibreOffice open. Clicking the larger X
closes LibreOffice completely. If the document has not been saved since the last change,
a message box is displayed. Choose whether to save or discard your changes.
 Save: The document is saved and then closed. 43
Digital Literacy  Discard: The document is closed and all modifications since the last save are lost.
 Cancel: Nothing happens and you return to the document.
Closing LibreOffice
To close LibreOffice completely, click File ’! Exit, or close the last open document as
described above. If all the documents have been saved, Writer closes immediately. If
any documents have been modified but not saved, a warning message appears. Follow
the procedure in “Closing a document” to save or discard your changes.
Navigating Through a Document
Writer provides many ways to move quickly through a document and find specific
items by using the many features of the Navigator, the Navigation toolbar and related
icons. The Navigator lists all of the headings, tables, text frames, graphics, bookmarks
and other objects contained in a document. To open the Navigator, click its icon
(Navigator On/Off) on the Standard toolbar, or press F5, or choose View ’! Navigator
on the menu bar, or double-click on the Page number field on the status bar. You can
also move through the document using the navigation features of the Status bar. You can
click on the small Navigation icon near the lower right-hand corner of the window
below the vertical scroll bar, as shown in Figure 2.5.
Fig. 2.5: LibreOffice Navigation Tool Bar

2.3.3 Editing a Document

Typing and Inserting Text
You can copy or move text within a document, or between documents, by dragging or
by using menu selections, icons, or keyboard shortcuts. To enter text, just start typing!
The text will appear where the blinking cursor is located. Move the cursor by using the
arrow buttons on the keyboard or positioning the mouse and clicking the left button.
Select, Copy and Paste Text
To change any attributes of text it must be highlighted first. Select the text by dragging
the mouse over the desired text while keeping the left mouse button depressed, or hold
down the SHIFT key on the keyboard while using the arrow buttons to highlight the
text. Deselect the text by clicking anywhere outside of the selection on the page or
press an arrow key on the keyboard.
You can copy text from other sources such as Web pages and paste it into a Writer
document. To move (drag and drop) selected text using the mouse, drag it to the new
location and release it. To copy selected text, hold down the Ctrl key while dragging.
The text retains the formatting it had before dragging. To move (cut and paste) selected
text, use Ctrl+X to cut the text, insert the cursor at the paste-in point and use Ctrl+V to
paste. Alternatively, use the icons on the Standard toolbar. When you paste text, the
44 result depends on the source of the text and how you paste it. If you click on the Paste
icon, any formatting the text has (such as bold or italics) is retained. Text pasted from Office Tools
Web sites and other sources may also be placed into frames or tables. If you do not like
the results, click the Undo icon or press Ctrl+Z. To make the pasted text take on the
formatting of the surrounding text where it is being pasted:
 Choose Edit > Paste Special, or
 Click the triangle to the right of the Paste icon, or
 Click the Paste icon without releasing the left mouse button.
Then select Unformatted text from the resulting menu. The range of choices on the
Paste Special menu varies depending on the origin and formatting of the text (or other
object) to be pasted.
2.3.4 Styles and Formatting Documents

When you type information into Writer, each time you press the Enter key Writer creates
a new paragraph. You can format paragraphs. For example, you can indent the first line
of a paragraph, you can set the amount of space that separates paragraphs and you can
align a paragraph left, right, center, or flush with both margins. Styles are a set of formats
you can quickly apply to a paragraph. For example, by applying a style, you can set the
font, set the font size and align a paragraph all at once. LibreOffice provides several
ways to select formats and styles to apply. This section focuses on how can format a
paragraph and apply styles.
 Click the Styles and Formatting icon located at the left-hand end of the formatting
toolbar, or click Format > Styles and Formatting, or press F11. The Styles and
Formatting window shows the types of styles available for the LibreOffice
component you are using. Figure 2.6 shows the window for Writer, with Page
Styles visible. You can move this window to a convenient position on the screen or
dock it to an edge (hold down the Ctrl key and drag it by the title bar to where
you want it docked).
 Click on one of the icons at the top left of the Styles and Formatting window to
display a list of styles in a particular category.
 To apply an existing style, position the insertion point in the paragraph, frame,
page or word and then double-click on the name of the style in one of these lists.
To apply a character style to more than one word, select the characters first.
Fig. 2.6: Styles and Formatting Tool Bar

Formatting Paragraphs
45
Digital Literacy You can apply many formats to paragraphs using the buttons on the Formatting toolbar.
Figure 2.7 shows the Formatting toolbar as a floating toolbar, customized to show only
the icons for paragraph formatting. The appearance of the icons may vary with your
operating system and the selection of icon size and style in Tools > Options >
LibreOffice > View.
Fig. 2.7: Formatting Toolbar, Showing Icons for Paragraph Formatting

1 Open Styles and 5 Align Right 10 Numbering On/Off
2 Apply Style 6 Justified ‘ 11 Bullets On/Off
3 Align Left 7 Line Spacing: 1 12 Decrease Indent
4 Centered 8 Line Spacing: 1.5 13 Increase Indent
9 Line Spacing: 2 14 Paragraph format dialog
Formatting Text and Characters
You can apply many formats to characters using the buttons on the Formatting toolbar.
Figure 2.7 shows the Formatting toolbar, customised to include only the icon for character
formatting. The appearance of the icons may vary with your operating system and the
selection of icon size and style in Tools > Options > LibreOffice > View.
1 Open Styles and 6 Italic 12 Font Color

7 Underline 13 Highlighting
2 Apply Style 8 Superscript 14 Background Color
3 Font Name 9 Subscript 15 Open Character Format Dialog
4 Font Size 10 Increase Font
5 Bold 11 Reduce Font
Fig. 2.8: Formatting Toolbar, Showing Characters for Text Formatting
To remove manual formatting, select the text and choose Format > Clear Direct
Formatting from the menu bar, or right-click and choose Clear Direct Formatting
from the context menu, or use Ctrl+M from the keyboard.
Creating Numbered or Bulleted Lists
There are several ways to create numbered or bulleted lists:
 Use autoformatting, as described above.
 Use the Numbering and Bullets icons on the paragraph formatting toolbar:
 Select the paragraphs in the list and then click the appropriate icon on the toolbar.
46 Note It is a matter of personal preference whether you type your information first, then
apply Numbering/Bullets, or apply them as you type. Office Tools
Using the Bullets and Numbering Toolbar

You can create nested lists (where one or more list items have a sub-list under it, as in
an outline) by using the buttons on the Bullets and Numbering toolbar. You can move
items up or down the list, or create sub-points and even change the style of bullets. Use
View > Toolbars >Bullets and Numbering to see the toolbar.
1 Bullets On/Off 6 Promote One Level with 10 Move Down
Subpoints
2 Numbering On/Off 7 Demote One Level with 11 Move Up with
Subpoints Subpoints
3 Numbering Off 8 Insert Unnumbered Entry 12 Move Down with
Subpoints
4 Promote One Level 9 Move Up 13 Restart Numbering
5 Demote One Level 14 Bullets and Numbering
Fig. 2.9: Bullets and Numbering Toolbar
2.3.5 Working with Tables

By using a table, you can organise your data into rows and columns. In this section you
will learn how to work with tables.
Insert a New Table
To insert a new table, position the cursor where you want the table to appear, then use
any of the following methods to open the Insert Table dialog box:
 From the main menu, choose Insert > Table.
 From the main menu, choose Table > Insert > Table.
 Press Ctrl+F12.
 On the Standard toolbar, click the Table icon
Fig. 2.10: Insert Table Dialog Box

Under Options, set up the initial table characteristics. Selecting the options in this section
of the dialog box produces the following results:
 Heading — Defines the first row(s) in the table as headings.
 Repeat heading — Repeats the heading row(s) of the table at the top of
subsequent pages if the table spans more than one page.
47
Digital Literacy  Don’t split table — Prevents the table from spanning more than one page.
 Border — Surrounds each cell of the table with a border. This border can be
modified or deleted later.
The AutoFormat button opens a dialog box from which you can select one of the
many predefined table layouts.
Covert Text to Table
You can create a table from plain text by using the Table > Convert > Text to Table
menu item. The text to be converted must contain characters to indicate column
separators. Paragraph marks indicate an end of a table row. To convert text to a table,
start by editing the text to ensure the column separator character is in place where you
want it. Select the text you want to convert and choose Table > Convert > Text to
Table to open the dialog box shown in Figure 2.11.
Fig. 2.11: Dialog Box to Configure the Text to Table Conversion

Example
In this example we will convert the following text into a table.
Row 1 Column 1; Row 1 Column 2; Row 1 Column 3
Row 2 Column 1; Row 2 Column 2; Row 2 Column 3
In this case, the separator between elements is a semicolon. By selecting the text and
applying the conversion, we obtain the following result.
Row 1 Column 1 Row 1 Column 2 Row 1 Column 3
Row 2 Column 1 Row 2 Column 2 Row 2 Column 3
Note that, unlike when creating a table with other mechanisms, the conversion from
text to table preserves the paragraph style and character style applied to the original
text. You can also use the Convert menu to perform the opposite operation; that is, to
transform a table into plain text. This may be useful when you want to export the table
contents into a different program. To transform a table into text, place the cursor anywhere
in the table, choose Table > Convert > Table to Text in the main menu, pick the
preferred row separator and click OK to finish.
48
2.3.6 Working with Mail Merge Office Tools
Using mail merge, you can create:

 A set of labels or envelopes : The return address is the same on all the labels or
envelopes, but the destination address is unique on each one.
 A set of form letters, e-mail messages, or faxes : The basic content is the
same in all the letters, messages, or faxes, but each contains information that is
specific to the individual recipient, such as name, address, or some other piece of
personal data.
Creating each letter, message, fax, label, or envelope individually would take hours.
That’s where mail merge comes in. Using mail merge, all you have to do is to create one
document that contains the information that is the same in each version. Then you just
add some placeholders for the information that is unique to each document. Writer
provides very useful features to create and print:
 Multiple copies of a document to send to a list of different recipients (form letters)
 Mailing labels
 Envelopes
All these facilities, though different in application, are based around the concept of a
registered data source, from which is derived the variable address information necessary
to their function. This chapter focuses on how to create and register a data source, how
to create and print form letters, mailing labels and envelopes and how to save the
output in an editable file instead of printing it directly.
Creating and Registering the Data Source
A data source is a database containing the name and address records (and optionally
other information) from which a mailing list may be derived. Although you can create
and print mailing labels and envelopes without using a data source, in most cases using
one is the best approach. This section assumes that you are using a data source.
LibreOffice can access a wide variety of sources of data, including spreadsheets, text
files and databases such as MySQL, Adabas and ODBC. If the information to be used
in the mail merge is currently in a format that LibreOffice cannot access directly, you
need to convert it, for example by exporting it to a comma-separated values (CSV)
file.
For the following example we start with a spreadsheet with the following column (field)
headers: Title, First name, Last name, Address, State/County, Country, Post Code,
Sex and Points. A sample of data is shown in Figure 2.12.
Fig. 2.12: Spreadsheet Data Example

Source: https://wiki.documentfoundation.org/images/3/35/WG40-WriterGuideLO.pdf 49
Digital Literacy After being created as described below, for a data source to be directly accessible
from within a Writer document, it must be registered. You only need to do this once;
after that, the data source is available to all components of LibreOffice.
1) From within any Writer document, or from the LibreOffice Start Center, choose
File >Wizards > Address Data Source.
2) The choices on the first page of the wizard vary with your operating system. Select
the appropriate type of external address book. In this example, it is other external
data source. Click Next.
Fig. 2.13: Select Type of External Address Book

3) On the next page of the Wizard, click the Settings button.
Fig. 2.14: Starting the Settings part of the Wizard

4) In the Data Source Properties page, select the Database type. In our example, it
is Spreadsheet. Click Next.
Fig. 2.15: Selecting the Database Type

5) In the next dialog box, click Browse and navigate to the spreadsheet that contains
50 the address information. Select the spreadsheet and click Open to return to this
dialog box. At this time you may wish to test that the connection has been correctly Office Tools
established by clicking on the Test Connection button (not shown in illustration).
Fig. 2.16: Selecting the Spreadsheet Document

6) Click Finish.
7) On the following page, click Next. Because this is a spreadsheet, do not click
Field Assignment.
Fig. 2.17: Because this is a Spreadsheet, do not click Field Assignment

8) A database file will be created. Name the file in the path in the Location field. The
default is Addresses.odb; but you may replace Addresses with another name if
you wish. You may also change the name in the “Address book name” field. The
name in this field is the registered name, which LibreOffice will display in data
source listings. In our example, the name “Points” was used for both.
Fig. 2.18: Name the .odb file and the Address Book
9) Click Finish. The data source is now registered.

Creating a Form Letter
Example: Sending a letter to your customer base
A mail order company organised a campaign to assign credit points to their customers
according to the quantity of goods they buy during one year. At the end of the year, they
want to send a letter to each customer to show the total of credit points collected. 51
Digital Literacy You can create a form letter manually, which is the simplest and most comprehensive
method and is described here.
1) Create a new text document: File > New > Text Document, or open a pre-
existing form letter with File > Open.
2) Display the registered data sources: View > Data sources (or press F4).
3) Find the data source that you wish to use for the form letter, in this case Points.
Expand the Points and Tables folders and select Sheet1. The address data file is
displayed (Figure 2.19).
Fig. 2.19: Selecting the Data Source

4) Now create or modify the form letter by typing in the text, punctuation, line breaks
and so on that will be present in all of the letters. To add the mail-merge fields
where needed (such as names and addresses), click in the field heading and drag
it to the appropriate point in the letter. Note that address lines should be in individual
paragraphs, not separated by line breaks as might seem preferable.
Fig. 2.20: Dragging Fields to the Body of the Form Letter

5) Continue until you have composed the entire document. At this time you may wish
to consider suppressing any blank lines that may appear in the resulting letters.
52
Office Tools
Fig. 2.21: The Completed Form Letter

6) To Suppress Blank Lines:
a) Click at the end of the first paragraph to be suppressed and then choose
Insert > Fields > Other to display the Fields dialog box.
b) Select the Functions tab and then click on Hidden Paragraph in the Type
column.
Fig. 2.22: Hidden Paragraph Insertion

c) Now click in the Condition box and enter the details of the condition that
defines a blank address field. It has the general form of:!
[Database.Table.Database field] where the ‘!’ (NOT) character indicates
the negative case and the square brackets indicate the condition. For example,
in our Points database the condition to test if the Last Name field is empty
would be: ![Points.Sheet1.Last Name] as illustrated in Figure 2.22. To test
for multiple conditions use the operators AND and/or OR between the
conditional statements, for example: ![Points.Sheet1.Title]AND![Points.
Sheet1.Last Name] 53
Digital Literacy d) Click Insert, but do not close the dialog box until you have amended all the
lines that should be suppressed.
7) The document is now ready to be printed.
a) Choose File > Print and respond with Yes in the message box.
Fig. 2.23: Mail Merge Confirmation Message

b) In the Mail Merge dialog box (Figure 2.24), you can choose to print all
records or selected records. To select records to be printed, use Ctrl+click
to select individual records. To select a block of records, select the first
record in the block, scroll to the last record in the block and Shift+click on
the last record.
c) Click OK to send the letters directly to the printer. Or, you can save the
letters to a file for further editing or formatting; see “Editing merged
documents” below.
d) If you have not saved the original, prototype form letter document (template)
previously, then you should do so now. Having a form letter template could
greatly simplify the creation of other form letters in the future and is highly
recommended.
Fig. 2.24: The Mail Merge Dialog Box

Editing Merged Documents
You may prefer to save the letters to a file, to allow for proofreading or some later
formatting. To do this:
1) In the Mail Merge dialog box (Figure 2.24), select File in the output section,
instead of using the default Printer selection.
54 2) This changes the dialog box to display the Save merged document section, where
Save as single document is preselected. You can choose to save each letter as Office Tools
an individual document instead.
3) Click OK. In the Save as dialog box, enter a file name for the saved letters and
choose a folder in which to save them. The letters will be saved consecutively as
separate pages in the single document, or numbered consecutively in individual
files if saved as single documents.
You can now open the letters and edit them individually as you would edit any other
document.
Self Check Exercise
Note: i) Write your answers in the space given below.
ii) Check your answers with the answers given at the end of this Unit.
1) Each statement below is either TRUE or FALSE. Identify and mark them
accordingly.
a) Writer is a Word Processor or Text Editor.
b) Calc is a database software.
c) In Writer when you press Tab key from the last cell of a table, a new column
is inserted.
d) In Writer when you press Tab key from the last cell of a table, a new row is
inserted.
e) In menu bar, drop-down program menus are available.
f) In taskbar, program commands are available through different graphical icons.
2) Multiple Choice Questions (Please select the best suitable option)
a) For moving highlighted text from one place to another place this shortcut key
is used:
i) Crtl+X
ii) Crtl+C
iii) Crtl+Z
iv) Crtl+Y
b) For copying highlighted text from one place to another place this shortcut
key is used:
i) Crtl+X
ii) Crtl+C
iii) Crtl+Z
iv) Crtl+Y
c) For undoing any action, this shortcut key is used:
i) Crtl+X
ii) Crtl+C
55
Digital Literacy iii) Crtl+Y
iv) Crtl+Z
d) For redoing last action, this shortcut key is used:
i) Crtl+
ii) Crtl+C
iii) Crtl+Y
iv) Crtl+Z
e) It is possible to add a column to a table that you have already created and
entered information into.
i) True
ii) False
f) You have created a table and you want to add 3 more rows to it. To add the
new rows to the table, you would.....
i) Delete the table and start over
ii) Left click and choose insert rows
iii) Right click and choose insert rows
iv) Choose the Insert tab and click on ADD
g) Which of the following features is used to arrange the records in a data source
before merging?
i) Filter
ii) Sort
iii) Auto Check for Errors
iv) Match Fields
h) How is the information in a data source organized?
i) Chart
ii) Matrix
iii) Table
iv) Paragraphs
2.4 CALC - ELECTRONIC SPREADSHEETS

Calc is the spreadsheet component of LibreOffice. You can use it to organise your data
into rows and columns. You can also use it to perform mathematical calculations quickly.
You can enter data (usually numerical) in a spreadsheet and then manipulate this data to
produce certain results. You can use data to create charts and graphs. Other features
provided by Calc include:
 Functions, which can be used to create formulas to perform complex calculations
on data.
56
 Database functions, to arrange, store and filter data. Office Tools
 Macros, for recording and executing repetitive tasks.

 Ability to open, edit and save Microsoft Excel spreadsheets.
 Import and export of spreadsheets in multiple formats, including HTML, CSV,
PDF and PostScript.
2.4.1 Getting Started With Calc

When Calc is started, the main window opens (Figure 2.25). You use this window to
interact with Calc. You need to know various parts of the Calc Window so that you
know how to move around the window and how to enter data. The various parts of this
dialog box are explained below:
Fig. 2.25: Calc Main Dialog Box

Source: https://wiki.documentfoundation.org/images/4/41/GS4005-GettingStartedWithCalc.pdf
The Spreadsheets
The Calc works with elements called spreadsheets. Spreadsheets consist of a number
of individual sheets, each sheet containing cells arranged in rows and columns. A particular
cell is identified by its row number and column letter. The columns are lettered A to Z
and then continuing with AA, AB, AC and so on; the rows are numbered 1 to 1,048,576.
The number of columns and rows you can have in a worksheet is limited by your
computer memory and your system resources. Cells hold the individual elements – text,
numbers, formulas and so on – that make up the data to display and manipulate. Each
spreadsheet can have several sheets and each sheet can have several individual cells. In
Calc, each sheet can have a maximum of 1,048,576 rows and a maximum of 1024
columns.
You enter your data into the cells on the worksheet. The combination of a column
coordinate and a row coordinate make up a cell address. For example, the cell located
in the upper-left corner of the worksheet is cell A1, meaning column A, row 1. Cell E10
is located under column E on row 10.
The Formula Bar
The Formula Bar is located at the top of the sheet in your Calc workspace. The Formula
Bar is permanently docked in this position and cannot be used as a floating toolbar. 57
Digital Literacy
Fig. 2.26: The Formula Bar

Going from left to right and referring to Figure 2.26, the Formula Bar consists of the
following:
– Name Box – gives the cell address of the current cell by using a combination of a
letter and number, for example A1. Usually a column is represented by alphabets
and row is represented by integer number. In A1, the letter A indicates the column
and the number 1 indicates the row of the selected cell.
– Function Wizard – opens a dialog from which you can search through a list of
available functions. This can be very useful because it also shows how the functions
are formatted.
– Sum – clicking on the Sum icon totals the numbers in the cells above the
selected cell and then places the total in the selected cell. If there are no numbers
above the selected cell, then the cells to the left are totaled.
– Function = – clicking on the Function icon inserts an equals (=) sign into the
selected cell and the Input line allowing a formula to be entered.
– Input line – displays the contents of the selected cell (data, formula, or function)
and allows you to edit the cell contents.
– You can also edit the contents of a cell directly in the cell itself by double clicking
on the cell. When you enter new data into a cell, the Sum and Function icons
change to Cancel and Accept icons .
The Status Bar
The Status bar appears at the very bottom of the Calc window (Figure 2.27) provides
information about the spreadsheet and convenient ways to quickly change some of its
features.
Fig. 2.27: Calc Status Bar

Other Parts of the Calc Window
The other parts of the Calc Window which include title bar, menu bar, standard tool bar
and formatting bar are no different from the corresponding bars in the Writer software
tool and hence require very little description.
2.4.2 Working with a Spreadsheet

Entering Numeric Data
Click in the cell and type in the number using the number keys on either the main
keyboard or the numeric keypad. To enter a negative number, either type a minus (–)
sign in front of it or enclose it in parentheses (brackets), like this: (1234). By default,
58 numbers are right-aligned and negative numbers have a leading minus symbol.
Entering Text Office Tools
Click in the cell and type the text. Text is left-aligned by default. If a number is entered
in the format 01481, Calc will drop the leading 0. To preserve the leading zero, for
example for telephone area codes, type an apostrophe before the number, like this:
‘01481. The data is now treated as text and displayed exactly as entered.
Using the Fill Tool on cells
At its simplest, the Fill tool is a way to duplicate existing content. Start by selecting the
cell to copy, then drag the mouse in any direction (or hold down the Shift key and click
in the last cell you want to fill) and then choose Edit > Fill and the direction in which
you want to copy: Up, Down, Left or Right. A more complex use of the Fill tool is to
add a fill series to a spreadsheet, select the cells to fill, choose Edit > Fill > Series.
Formatting Numbers
Several different number formats can be applied to cells by using icons on the Formatting
toolbar. Select the cell and then click the relevant icon. Some icons may not be visible
in a default setup; click the down-arrow at the end of the Formatting bar and select
other icons to display.
2.4.3 Modifying a Spreadsheet

Hiding and Showing Data
When elements are hidden, they are neither visible nor printed, but can still be selected
for copying if you select the elements around them. For example, if column B is hidden,
it is copied when you select columns A and C. When you need a hidden element again,
you can reverse the process and show the element. To hide or show sheets, rows and
columns, use the options on the Format menu or the right-click (context) menu. For
example, to hide a row, first select the row and then choose Format > Row > Hide (or
right-click and choose Hide). To hide or show selected cells, choose Format > Cells
from the menu bar (or right-click and choose Format Cells). On the Format Cells
dialog, go to the Cell Protection tab.
Sorting Records
Sorting rearranges the visible cells on the sheet. In Calc, you can sort by up to three
criteria, which are applied one after another. Highlight the cells to be sorted, then select
Data > Sort to open the Sort dialog or click the Sort Ascending or Sort Descending
toolbar buttons. Using the dialog, you can sort the selected cells using up to three
columns, in either ascending (A-Z, 1-9) or descending (Z-A, 9-1) order.
Finding and Replacing in Calc
Calc has two ways to find text within a document. You can hide or show the Find
toolbar using View >Toolbars > Find, or press Ctrl+F. Type a search term in the
Find box and then click the Find Next (down-arrow) or Find Previous (up-arrow)
button. To find other occurrences of the same term, continue clicking the button. To
display the Find & Replace dialog, select Edit > Find & Replace from the menu bar,
or select the Find & Replace icon from the Standard Toolbar.
Finding and Replacing Formulas or Values
You can use the Find & Replace dialog to search in formulas or in the displayed values
that result from a calculation.
 To open the Find & Replace dialog, select Edit > Find & Replace, or use the
correct shortcut key combination for the Calc release you are using
59
Digital Literacy  Click More Options to expand the dialog.
 Select Formulas or Values in the Search in drop-down list.
– Formulas find parts of the formulas.
– Values find the results of the calculations.
 Type the text you want to find in the Search for box.
 To replace the text with different text, type the new text in the Replace with box.
 When you have set up your search, click Find. To replace text, click Replace
instead.
2.4.4 Creating Formulas using Functions

Spreadsheet application is more useful as it has collection of commonly used
mathematical, statistical, logical and other commonly used functions. A function is an
expression in combination of formulas. A function is prefixed by an equal (=) sign in the
input line, then user writes a formula. Then s/he can include cell reference, in order to
perform that function. For example: Sum is a mathematical function, which can be
chosen using Function Wizard and will return in input line as =SUM (B2:B6).
Alternatively, this formula can be written as =SUM (B2; B3; B4; B5; B6). This
expression means a total of numbers stored at cells from B2 to B6. After entering the
mentioned expression, you press Enter key. It will return a number 51,900 at cell B7,
which is a summation of that range of numbers. Similarly, Average is frequently used
statistical function, which can be chosen using Function Wizard and will return in input
line as =AVERAGE (B2:B6). Alternatively, this formula can be written as = AVERAGE
(B2; B3; B4; B5; B6). When you press Enter key, it will return a number 13,380 at cell
B8, which is the average of that range of numbers.
You can enter formulas in two ways, either directly into the cell itself, or at the input line.
Either way, you need to start a formula with one of the following symbols: =, + or –.
Starting with anything else causes the formula to be treated as if it were text.
Operators in Formulas
Each cell on the worksheet can be used as a data holder or a place for data calculations.
With formulas, the equals sign indicates that the cell will be used for a calculation. You
can enter in many different ways as shown in Table 2.1.
Table 2.1: Common Ways to Enter Formulas
Formula Description
=A1+10 Displays the contents of cell A1 plus 10.
=A1*16% Displays 16% of the contents of A1.
=A1*A2 Displays the result of the multiplication of A1 and 2.
=ROUND(A1,1) Displays the contents of cell A1 rounded to one decimal
place.
=EFFECTIVE(5%,12) Calculates the effective interest for 5% annual nominal
interest with 12 payments a year.
=B8-SUM(B10:B14) Calculates B8 minus the sum of the cells B10 to B14.
=SUM(B8,SUM(B10:B14)) Calculates the sum of cells B10 to B14 and adds the value
to B8.
=SUM(B1:B1048576 ) Sums all numbers in column B.
=AVERAGE(Blood Sugar) Displays the average of a named range defined under the
name Blood Sugar.
=IF(C31>140, "HIGH", Displays the results of a conditional analysis of data from
"OK") two sources. If the contents of C31 is greater than 140,
then HIGH is displayed, otherwise OK is displayed.
60
Functions can be identified in Table 2.1 with a word, for example ROUND, followed Office Tools
by parentheses enclosing references or numbers. It is also possible to establish ranges
for inclusion by naming them using Insert > Names, for example Blood Sugar
representing a range such as B3:B10. Logical functions can also be performed as
represented by the IF statement which results in a conditional response based upon the
data in the identified cell, for example =IF(A2>=0,”Positive”,”Negative”) A value of 3
in cell A2 would return the result Positive, a value of –9 the result Negative.
2.4.5 Creating a Chart

Nowadays chart has become a useful tool for quantitative analysis and representation
of a data series in a performance report or a presentation. It is also visually appealing to
the laymen for understanding various data elements.
To create a chart, you will first highlight (select) the data to be included in the chart. The
selection does not need to be in a single block, as shown in Figure 2.28; you can also
choose individual cells or groups of cells (columns or rows).
Fig. 2.28: Selecting Data for Plotting

Next, open the Chart Wizard dialog using one of two methods.
 Choose Insert > Chart from the menu bar.
 Or, click the Chart icon on the main toolbar.
Fig. 2.29: Insert Chart from Main Toolbar

Either method inserts a sample chart on the worksheet, opens the Formatting toolbar
and opens the Chart Wizard, as shown in Figure 2.30.
61
Digital Literacy
Fig. 2.30: Chart Wizard, Step 1—Choose a Chart Type

Self Check Exercise
ii) Check your answers with the answers given at the end of this Unit.
3) Each statement below is either TRUE or FALSE. Identify and mark them
accordingly.
a) Calc helps in creating charts from numerical datasets.
b) Bar chart appears horizontally.
c) Calc function is preceded by = sign in the formula bar.
d) Calc aligns texts in right.
e) Calc aligns numbers in right.
f) In Calc A1 cell address means column number A row number 1.
a) $Sheet1.$A$1:$B$7 refers to:
i) Cells range A1 to B7 in Worksheet 2
ii) Cells range A1 to B7 in Worksheet 1
iii) Cells range A7 to B1 in Worksheet 2
iv) Cells range A7 to B1 in Worksheet 1
b) =SUM(B2; B3; B4; B5; B6) is same as:
i) =SUM (B2:B6)
ii) =B2+B3+B4+B5+B6
iii) =SUM (B3:B6)
iv) =B3+B4+B5+B6
62
c) Average is a: Office Tools
i) Mathematical function
ii) Statistical function
iii) Financial function
iv) Logical function
d) Pie chart:
i) Shows share of different items or percentage in a particular entity
ii) Appears horizontally
iii) Appears vertically
iv) Takes more than one data series
2.5 IMPRESS: BASICS OF PRESENTATIONS

People use slide presentation to deliver public lectures in classrooms or in meeting
rooms. In addition to texts and audio-visuals objects, presentation slides embed sound
and animation effects. Such presentation files are quite exciting and effective in delivering
the message across the target audience with impact. Office tools such as LibreOffice
Impress, Microsoft PowerPoint or similar other tools are used to create slide
presentations.
Impress is the presentation (slide show) software tool included in LibreOffice suite.
Impress is used to create exciting slide show presentations. Styles are frequently used
in Impress to determine and shape the appearance of the text, tables, pictures and
media in the slides.
2.5.1 Getting Started with Impress

The main Impress window (Figure 2.31) has three parts: the Slides pane, the Workspace
and the Tasks pane. Additionally, several toolbars can be displayed or hidden during
the creation of a presentation.
Fig. 2.31: Main Window of Impress; Ovals Indicate the Hide/Show Markers
Source: https://wiki.documentfoundation.org/images/e/e6/IG3400-ImpressGuideLO.pdf
63
Digital Literacy The Slides Pane
The Slides pane contains thumbnail pictures of the slides in your presentation; in the
order the slides will be shown. Clicking a slide in this pane selects it and places it in the
Workspace. When a slide is in the Workspace, you can make any changes you like.
You can also use it to:
 Add new slides to the presentation.
 Mark a slide as hidden so that it will not be shown as part of the presentation.
 Delete a slide from the presentation if it is no longer needed.
 Rename a slide.
 Duplicate a slide (copy and paste) or move it to a different position in the
presentation (cut and paste).
 Change the slide transition following the selected slide or after each slide in a
group of slides.
 Change the sequence of slides in the presentation.
 Change the slide design.
 Change slide layout for a group of slides simultaneously.
The Tasks Pane
The Tasks pane has five sections. To expand the section you wish to use, click on the
title bar of each section. Only one section at a time can be expanded.
Master Pages
Here you define the page (slide) style for your presentation. Impress includes several
designs of Master Pages (slide masters). One of them—Default—is blank and the rest
have background and styled text.
Layouts
The layouts included in Impress are shown here. You can choose the one you want and
use it as it is, or you can modify it to meet your own requirements. However, it is not
possible to save custom layouts.
The standard table styles are provided in this section. You can further modify the
appearance of a table with the options to show or hide specific rows and columns, or to
apply a banded appearance to the rows and columns.
Custom Animation
A variety of animations can be used to emphasise or enhance different elements of each
slide. The Custom Animation section provides an easy way to add, change, or remove
animations.
Slide Transition
The Slide Transition section provides access to a number of slide transition options.
The default is set to No Transition, in which the following slide simply replaces the
existing one. However, many additional transitions are available. You can also specify
the transition speed (slow, medium, fast), choose between an automatic or manual
transition and choose how long the selected slide should be shown (automatic transition
only).
64
The Workspace Office Tools
The Workspace (normally in the center) has five tabs: Normal, Outline, Notes,
Handout and Slide Sorter. These five tabs are called View buttons. The Workspace
below the View buttons changes depending on the chosen view.
The Toolbars
Many toolbars can be used during slide creation; they can be displayed or hidden by
clicking View > Toolbars and selecting from the menu. You can also select the icons
that you wish to appear on each toolbar.
The Status Bar
The status bar, located at the bottom of the Impress window, contains information that
you may find useful when working on a presentation. You can hide the Status Bar by
choosing View > Status Bar from the main menu.
2.5.2 Creating a Presentation

When you start Impress, the Presentation Wizard appears (Figure 2.32).
Fig. 2.32 Choosing from the Type of Presentation

1) Under Type, you will find three types of presentations to work with. Choose one
of the options:
 Empty presentation – it creates a blank presentation.
 From template – it uses a template design already created as the basis for a
new presentation. The wizard changes to show a list of available templates.
Choose the template you want.
 Open existing presentation – it continues work on a previously created
presentation. The wizard changes to show a list of existing presentations.
Choose the one you want.
2) Click Next to conclude step 1 and move to step 2
3) If you selected ‘Empty presentation’ in step 1, the Presentation Wizard in step 2
will show up a window (Figure 2.33).
65
Digital Literacy 4) If you selected ‘From template’, an example slide shows up in the Preview box
(Figure 2.33). Choose a design under Select a slide design.
Fig. 2.33: Selecting a Slide Design

 The slide design section gives you two main choices: Presentation
Backgrounds and Presentations. Each one has a list of choices for slide
designs. If you want to use one of these other than <Original> , click it to
select it.
 The types of Presentation Backgrounds are shown in Figure 2.33. Click an
item to show a preview of the slide design in the Preview window. Impress
contains three choices under Presentations: <Original>, Introducing a New
Product and Recommendation of a Strategy.
 <Original> is for a blank presentation slide design.
5) Click Next to move up to step 3.
6) The Presentation Wizard step 3 appears (Figure 2.34). In step 3 you will select
how the presentation will be used under Select an output medium. Most often,
presentations are created for computer screen display, so you would select Screen.
You can change the page format at any time.
Fig. 2.34: Selecting a Slide Transition Effect

66
 Choose the desired slide transition from the Effect drop-down menu. Office Tools
 Select the desired speed for the transition between the different slides in the
presentation from the Speed drop-down menu. Medium is a good choice
for now.
7) Click Create. A new presentation is created.
2.5.3 Formatting a Presentation

A new presentation contains only one empty slide. A new slide can be inserted into a
presentation as follows:
 Go to Insert on the main menu bar and select Slide.
 Or right-click on a slide in the Workspace, Slides Pane or Slide Sorter view and
select Slide > New Slide from the context menu.
 Or click the Slide icon in the Presentation toolbar. If the Presentation Toolbar
is not visible, go to View > Toolbars on the main menu bar and select Presentation
from the list.
A new slide is inserted after the selected slide in the presentation. To duplicate a slide:
 Select the slide you want to duplicate from the Slides Pane.
 Right-click on the slide in the Slides Pane or Workspace and select Duplicate
Slide from the context menu. Or, go to Slide Sorter view, right-click on a slide
and select Duplicate Slide from the context menu. Alternatively, go to Insert on
the main menu bar and select Duplicate Slide.
 A duplicate slide is inserted after the selected slide in the presentation.
2.5.4 Selecting Slide Layout

LibreOffice has a range of Layouts, from a blank slide to a slide with six contents
boxes and a title (Figure 2.35). The first slide in a presentation is normally a title slide.
You can use either a blank layout or one of the title layouts as your title slide. To create
a title, click on Click to add title and then type the title text. To add a subtitle or text
content, click on Click to add text and type your subtitle or text.
Fig. 2.35: Available Slide Layouts Fig. 2.36: Selecting Contents Type
Source: https://wiki.documentfoundation.org/images/e/e6/IG3400-ImpressGuideLO.pdf 67
Digital Literacy To select or change the layout of a slide, select the slide in the Slides Pane so that it
appears in the Workspace and select the desired layout from Layouts in the Tasks
Pane. Several layouts contain one or more content boxes. Each of these content boxes
can be configured to contain text, movies, pictures, charts or tables. You can choose
the type of contents by clicking on the corresponding icon that is displayed in the middle
of the contents box as shown in Figure 2.36. If you intend to use the contents box for
text, click on Click to add text.
2.5.5 Adding Pictures, Tables, Charts, Media and Animation

You can add pictures, tables, charts or media (audio video pictures) to presentation
slides. To insert a table, proceed as follows:
i) Select the slide which will contain the table and, if necessary, modify the slide
layout to create space for the table.
ii) Select Table Design in the task pane. If the task pane is not visible, select View
> Task pane.
iii) Select one of the predefined table styles and also select a color scheme similar to
the one you want. Selecting a style opens the Insert Table dialog (Figure 2.37)
where you can specify the number of rows and columns.
Fig. 2.37: Insert Table Dialog

The table is placed initially at the center of the slide, but you can move it by selecting it
and then dragging it to the new position.
You can also create a table directly by selecting Insert > Table from the main menu or
with the Insert Table icon in the Standard toolbar. This opens the Insert Table dialog
where you can specify the number of columns and rows.
Click on the small black triangle next to the Insert Table icon to open a graphic tool for
inserting a table (Figure 2.38). To use this tool, move the mouse to the right and down
in the grid until you have the required number of columns and rows and then click the
left mouse button to insert your table.
68
Office Tools
Fig. 2.38: Insert Table Graphic Tool

Inserting a Picture from a File
Inserting a picture from a file is quick and easy. First choose a slide layout.
 Go to Insert > Picture > From file on the menu bar or click on the Insert
Picture icon if you have inserted a slide and the Insert picture dialog opens.
 Navigate to the directory containing the desired picture and select the file.
LibreOffice recognises a large number of image types. If the Preview option is
selected, a thumbnail of the selected file will be displayed in the preview pane on
the right.
 Click Open to place the picture on the current (selected) slide. The picture is now
displayed on the slide with colored resizing handles around it.
2.5.6 Creating an Animation

You can create an animated object or objects using Custom Animation as follows:
 To open the Custom Animation section (Figure 2.39), click on its name in the
Tasks pane.
 To add or change an animation effect to a selected object on the slide, open the
Custom Animation dialog (Figure 2.40). The Custom Animation section can be
opened by going to Slide Show > Custom Animation or by using the Custom
Animation tool on the Drawing toolbar.
69
Digital Literacy
Fig. 2.39: Custom Animation Fig. 2.40: Custom Animation Dialog

Section on the Tasks Pane
2.5.7 Slide Masters

Impress comes with a collection of slide masters. These slide masters are shown in the
Master Pages section of the Tasks Pane and has three subsections: i) Used in This
Presentation, ii) Recently Used and iii) Available for Use. Click the + sign next to the
name of a subsection to expand it to show thumbnails of the slides, or click the – sign to
collapse the subsection to hide the thumbnails. Each of the slide masters shown in the
Available for Use list is from a template of the same name. If you have created your
own templates, or added templates from other sources, slide masters from those templates
will also appear in this list.
2.5.8 Putting Together a Slide Show
LibreOffice Impress gives you the tools to organise and display a slide show, including:
 Which slides to show and in what sequence
 Whether to run the show automatically or manually
 Transitions between slides
 Animations on individual slides
 Interactions: what happens when you click a button or link
Most tasks associated with putting together a slide show are best done in Slide Sorter
view. Choose View > Slide Sorter from the main menu or click the Slide Sorter tab at
the top of the Workspace pane. All of your slides appear in the workspace; you may
70 need to scroll to see them all.
Set basic settings for a slide show which include slide to start from, the way you advance Office Tools
the slides, the type of presentation and pointer options. Select Slide Show > Slide
Show Settings from the main menu to open the Slide Show dialog (Figure 2.41) to
change slide show settings.
Fig. 2.41: Selecting Slide Show Settings

2.5.9 Modifying the Slide Show

By default the slide show will display all the slides in the same order as they appear in
the slide sorter, using any transition between slides as specified in the Presentation
Wizard step 3. If one or more slides seem to be unnecessary, hide the slide or slides. To
hide a slide, right-click the slide in the Slides pane and select Hide Slide in the pop-up
menu. Do not delete a slide until it is necessary; otherwise you may have to create that
slide again. Use the Slide Show menu to change the order of the slides. To change the
slide transition, animate slides and make other enhancements, use the various selections
in the Task pane. Your first slide show will probably have the same slide transition for all
slides. If you want each slide to be shown for a specific amount of time, click
Automatically after and enter the number of seconds. Click Apply to all slides.
Transition choices are found under Slide Transition on the Tasks pane.
2.5.10 Running Slide Show

To run a slide show, do one of the following:
 Click Slide Show > Slide Show on the menu bar.
 Click the Slide Show icon on the Presentation toolbar..
 Press F5 on the keyboard.
Right-click anywhere on the screen to open a context menu where you can navigate
through the slides and set other options. To exit the slide show at any time including
when the slide show has ended, press the Esc key.
Self Check Exercise
ii) Check your answers with the answers given at the end of this Unit. 71
Digital Literacy 5) Each statement below is either TRUE or FALSE. Identify and mark them
accordingly.
a) Impress helps in embedding audio, picture and video files in the presentation.
b) Presentation created in Impress can include custom animation and slide
transition.
c) A particular slide transition effect cannot be applied to all slides.
d) A particular custom animation effect can be applied to a slide.
e) A particular custom animation effect can be applied to an element of a slide.
f) Slide sorter view helps in sorting of slides by drag-and-drop.
a) Impress template is saved with:
i) .ODP file extension
ii) .POT file extension
iii) .OTP file extension
iv) .PPS file extension
b) Shortcut key for Slide Show is:
i) F7
ii) F6
iii) F5
iv) F4
c) Slide Transition speed can be:
i) Slow
ii) Medium
iii) Fast
iv) All of the above
d) Custom Animation speed can be:
i) Slow, Medium, Fast, or Very Fast
ii) Medium, Fast or Very Fast
iii) Slow, Medium or Fast
iv) None of the above
2.6 LIBREOFFICE APPLICATIONS IN LIBRARIES

LibreOffice applications are very useful in any office environment including a library.
Some of the commonly used tasks that can be performed using LibreOffice applications
are listed below:
 Preparing library notices, letters to the stakeholders (e.g. users, book suppliers
and institutions), library memos, subject bibliographies, etc. using Writer.
72
 Preparing daily, weekly or monthly statistics of library usage such as number of Office Tools
visitors, number of users who accessed library portal, number of books issued
and returned, number of journal issued and returned, etc. using Calc.
 Preparing list of journals, their frequency and other details using Calc.
 Preparing a subject bibliography that contains bibliographic details of journal articles,
books, book chapters and conference papers using Calc.
 Preparing a presentation on library orientation for new members by using Impress.
 Many of the library administrative works require maintaining computer files for
future references and further processing of administrative documents. LibreOffice
applications have become very useful for all these purposes.
2.7 SUMMARY
The LibreOffice office application suite has become very popular worldwide for easy
availability and convenience in use. Nowadays, the library personnel and library users
also have become familiar with these excellent set of office tools. Writer is frequently
used as a word processor and text editor, where you can type and save any textual
document. Calc is frequently used as a spreadsheet application for easy calculations,
bookkeeping and preparing charts. Impress is popularly used as a presentation
application for preparing and presenting facts and figures in a presentation. In this Unit
you were introduced to these tools and the features these tools offer for running and
managing various library applications.
2.8 ANSWERS TO SELF CHECK EXERCISES

1) a) True
b) False
c) False
d) True
e) True
f) True
2) a) i
b) ii
c) iv
d) iii
3) a) True
b) False
c) True
d) False
e) True
f) True
73
Digital Literacy 4) a) ii
b) i and ii
c) iii
d) i
e) i
f) iii
g) ii
h) iii
5) a) True
b) True
c) False
d) False
e) True
f) True
2.9 KEYWORDS
Alignment : In page layout, the setting of text flow or image
placement relative to a page, or a column or a
table cell. In Writer, four types of alignments are
available - Left, Right, Centred and Justified.
Application : Computer software is designed to help the user
to perform specific tasks. Application is also
known as application software, or a software tool,
or an “app” containing a bundle of functions and
program commands.
Margin : The space that surrounds the content of a page.
By default Writer maintains 0.79 inch (2 cm) all
around margin.
Menu Bar : A series of drop-down program menus of a
software application for activating the different
program commands or functions of that software
application.
Navigation : Means moving curser quickly through the
document to a desired location.
Presentation : A presentation is a collection of data and
information that is to be delivered to a specific
audience.
Shortcut Key : A keyboard combination that activates a
program command directly, as an alternative to
74 activating the command through the program
menus. Office Tools
Style : A set of formatting options for different types of

elements such as characters, paragraphs, pages,
frames and lists.
Taskbar : A graphical user interface (GUI) that contains a
series of program icons for activating the program
commands of any particular software.
Template : A document model that you can use to create
other documents
User Interface : It refers to the parts of the programme that you
see and use, in contrast to the behind-the-scenes
code that actually makes it work.
Wizard : A user interface that presents a user with a
sequence of dialog boxes that lead the user
through a series of well-defined steps. Tasks that
are complex, infrequently performed, or
unfamiliar may be easier to perform using a
wizard or setup assistant.
2.10 REFERENCES AND FURTHER READING

Gupta, Vikas. Comdex Linux and Open Office Course Kit (with CD-Rom). New
Delhi: Dreamtech Press, 2010. Print.
Weber, Jean Hollis. LibreOffice Writer: The Free Alternative to Microsoft Word
(with CD-Rom). New Delhi: Shroff/ O’Reilly, 2004. Print.
Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia (2012). OpenOffice.org. Web. 15 April 2013. <http:/
/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/OpenOffice.org \>.
The Document Foundation. LibreOffice 4.0 Getting Started Guide. 2013. Web. 20
April 2013. <http://www.libreoffice.org/get-help/documentation/>.
75

Unit 2 Office Tools: Structure

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UNIT 2 OFFICE TOOLS

2.0 LEARNING OUTCOMES

2.2 LIBREOFFICE BASICS

Fig. 2.1: Start Center in LibreOffice 4.0.1

2.3 LIBREOFFICE WRITER

2.3.1 Getting Started with Writer

Fig. 2.2: LibreOffice Writer Interface

Fig. 2.3: LibreOffice Status Bar

2.3.2 Working with Documents

Fig. 2.4: LibreOffice Close Icons

Fig. 2.5: LibreOffice Navigation Tool Bar

2.3.3 Editing a Document

2.3.4 Styles and Formatting Documents

Fig. 2.6: Styles and Formatting Tool Bar

Fig. 2.7: Formatting Toolbar, Showing Icons for Paragraph Formatting

1 Open Styles and 6 Italic 12 Font Color

Using the Bullets and Numbering Toolbar

2.3.5 Working with Tables

Fig. 2.10: Insert Table Dialog Box

Fig. 2.11: Dialog Box to Configure the Text to Table Conversion

Using mail merge, you can create:

Fig. 2.12: Spreadsheet Data Example

Fig. 2.13: Select Type of External Address Book

Fig. 2.14: Starting the Settings part of the Wizard

Fig. 2.15: Selecting the Database Type

Fig. 2.16: Selecting the Spreadsheet Document

Fig. 2.17: Because this is a Spreadsheet, do not click Field Assignment

9) Click Finish. The data source is now registered.

Fig. 2.19: Selecting the Data Source

Fig. 2.20: Dragging Fields to the Body of the Form Letter

Fig. 2.21: The Completed Form Letter

Fig. 2.22: Hidden Paragraph Insertion

Fig. 2.23: Mail Merge Confirmation Message

Fig. 2.24: The Mail Merge Dialog Box

2.4 CALC - ELECTRONIC SPREADSHEETS

 Macros, for recording and executing repetitive tasks.

2.4.1 Getting Started With Calc

Fig. 2.25: Calc Main Dialog Box

Fig. 2.26: The Formula Bar

Fig. 2.27: Calc Status Bar

2.4.2 Working with a Spreadsheet

2.4.3 Modifying a Spreadsheet

2.4.4 Creating Formulas using Functions

2.4.5 Creating a Chart

Fig. 2.28: Selecting Data for Plotting

Fig. 2.29: Insert Chart from Main Toolbar

Fig. 2.30: Chart Wizard, Step 1—Choose a Chart Type

2.5 IMPRESS: BASICS OF PRESENTATIONS

2.5.1 Getting Started with Impress

2.5.2 Creating a Presentation

Fig. 2.32 Choosing from the Type of Presentation

Fig. 2.33: Selecting a Slide Design

Fig. 2.34: Selecting a Slide Transition Effect

2.5.3 Formatting a Presentation

2.5.4 Selecting Slide Layout

2.5.5 Adding Pictures, Tables, Charts, Media and Animation

Fig. 2.37: Insert Table Dialog

Fig. 2.38: Insert Table Graphic Tool

2.5.6 Creating an Animation

Fig. 2.39: Custom Animation Fig. 2.40: Custom Animation Dialog

2.5.7 Slide Masters

Fig. 2.41: Selecting Slide Show Settings

2.5.9 Modifying the Slide Show