Working with OpenOffice

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Working with OpenOffice
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The default office suite on your Freespire system is OpenOffice.

To start OpenOffice , click on "Launch"->"Run programs"->"Business and Finance"->"OpenOffice".

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Facing the Interface

Using the menus

The following menu items are standard across all the programs:

File: Provides functions for the file as a whole, including open, save, print, export, AutoPilot, and templates;

Edit: Provides editing functions, including cut, copy, paste, undo, redo, AutoText, and Find & Replace;

View: Provides functions for viewing your document, including zoom, the ruler, toolbars, and nonprinting characters;

Insert: Inserts such items as page breaks, special characters, hyperlinks, headers, footers, tables of contents, indexes, tables, and graphics;

Format: Formats characters, paragraphs, and pages; adds numbering or bullets; changes case (as in uppercase or lowercase); and specifies styles (collections of formatting instructions);

Tools: Provides Spellcheck, the thesaurus, hyphenation, AutoCorrect, the Gallery, data sources, mail merge, macros, and customization;

Window: Switches among open documents so that you can see what is in documents, copy data from one document to another, and so on;

Help: Get help!

The toolbars

Main toolbar - The Main toolbar resides along the left side of your screen and contains many often-used commands.

Object toolbar - In general, the Object toolbar has tools for formatting objects. In Writer, you usually see the Text Object toolbar, because you most often work with text in Writer. The purpose of the Text Object toolbar is to help you format text. Other Object toolbars have tools for formatting other types of objects, depending on the application that you are using and the object that you have selected.

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Using Writer — The Word Processor

Opening a Document

Writer files are called documents, because they document everything that you want to write. You can start with a new blank document, open a document that you have already created, or import a document.

Starting with a new blank document

When you open Writer, a new document awaits you automatically. To create a new document while you’re already in Writer, choose File->New->Text Document or click New on the Function toolbar.

Opening a document that you have already created

To open an existing document, choose File->Open to display the Open dialog box. In the Open dialog box, locate the file that you want and double-click it.

Importing documents

You can open documents from any other format that OpenOffice.org accepts. Choose File->Open. In the Open dialog box, choose the format of the document from the Files of Type drop-down list. Navigate to the file’s location. Double-click the file.

Setting paper size, margins and orientation

The paper size specifies the paper’s size and type, of course. The margins decide how much white space you have around the edges of your text. The orientation determines whether the narrow or the wide edge of your paper is on top. To change paper size, margins, and orientation, choose Format->Page to open the Page Style dialog box.

Creating headers and footers

You can create headers and footers for your pages. To create a header or footer go to Format->Page to open the Page Style dialog box. Select the Header or the Footer tab. To turn off a header or footer, deselect the check boxes. Specify the rest of the settings for the header or footer as follows:

Same content left/right - Inserts the same header or footer content on both even and odd pages.

Left margin - Sets the left margin between the page and the header or footer.

Right margin - Sets the right margin between the page and the header or footer.

Spacing - Sets the space between the top or bottom of the page text and the header or footer.

Use dynamic spacing - Allows the header or footer to expand toward the text, overriding the spacing setting.

Height - Sets the height of the header or footer.

AutoFit Height - Adjusts the height of the header or footer according to the amount of text that the header or footer contains.

Click OK to return to your document. You can now see the header or footer in your document. Click inside the header or footer, and enter the text that you want to place there.

Entering and Editing Text

Selecting text

When you start a new document, you can just start typing. All text appears at the vertical blinking cursor. As you type, you may notice that the text automatically wraps to the next line when you reach the right margin. You don’t need to press Enter unless you want to create a new paragraph. If you’re in a hurry and make some mistakes, you may also see OpenOffice.org automatically correct the mistakes. Without a doubt, before too long, you need to change something that you have typed. Editing is an integral part of the document-creation process. Before you can edit, you need to tell OpenOffice.org what to change; you do that by selecting the text. OpenOffice.org highlights the selected text. Once you select text, you can make many changes to it — all you have to do is choose. Although you see the vertical cursor where typing appears, notice that another cursor, the I-beam cursor, shows you your mouse location. Move the mouse and you see the I-beam cursor move accordingly. The basic technique for selecting text is to use the mouse: Click where you want to start selecting and drag across the text. The I-beam cursor shows you where to start and stop dragging. If you drag to the left or right, you select along the same line of text. If you drag up or down, you add additional lines of text to the selection. Stop dragging when all the text that you want to change is highlighted. To drag means to hold the mouse button down as you move the mouse. The mouse shortcuts can make short work of selecting:

Select a word - Double-click the word

Select a line of text - Triple-click the line

Select the entire document - Choose Edit->Select All

When you have selected the text, you are ready to move it, copy it, and format it.

Modifying text

To change some text, select it and type the new text. Whatever you type replaces selected text. To insert text, you can also place the I-beam cursor where you want to add text and type. By default, the new text that you type appears at the cursor, and existing text moves over to the right. If you make a mistake, whether while typing or editing, you can undo your last action. Click the Undo button on the Function toolbar or choose Edit->Undo. To redo an action you have undone, click the Redo button or choose Edit->Redo.

Moving and copying text

To move text, first select the text and choose Edit->Cut. To copy text, first choose Edit->Copy. To place the text, click at the desired location and choose Edit->Paste. You can also use the mouse. Right click on a selected text and choose the desired action - Cut, copy or paste.

Finding and replacing text

Sometimes you need to change a certain word in many places. For example, you may want to reuse a document that you created for one client for another client by replacing the new client’s name each time the name appears. Or, you may want to change a word but can’t easily locate it. The Find and Replace feature comes to the rescue! You can simply find a word or use the Replace feature to automate changing the word. Choose Edit-> Find & Replace to open the Find & Replace dialog box.

Enter the text that you want to find in the Search for list box. To just find the next instance of the text, click the Find button. To select all the instances of the text, click the Find All button. You can then click the scroll bar and scroll through the entire document — each instance of the text is highlighted.

To replace text, enter the new text that you want in the Replace with list box. The careful way to work is to move to the next instance using the Find button and then click the Replace button to replace just that instance. If you’re feeling sure of yourself, you can click the Replace All button to replace all instances of the text.

Correcting mistakes automatically

For some sophisticated editing, try the AutoCorrect feature, which lets you correct commonly misspelled words automatically. You can also use AutoCorrect to create typing shortcuts. Do you think I typed OpenOffice.org each time it appears in this article. Certainly not! Instead, we created an AutoCorrect entry so that when we typed ooo , Writer instantly inserted OpenOffice.org. We saved countless seconds that way! You need to save seconds, too, so read on.

To create an AutoCorrect entry, follow these steps:

1. Choose Tools->AutoCorrect/AutoFormat.

The AutoCorrect dialog box opens. You see two columns, Replace and With, including a long list of existing entries. Before adding an entry, check that it doesn’t already exist.

2.To add an entry, enter the spelling to replace in the Replace text box.

If you clicked an existing entry, you see it in the Replace and With text boxes. You can simply select this entry and type your new one — this action doesn’t delete the existing entry. Suppose that you often type dialog as dilaog. In this case, you would type dilaog in the Replace text box.

3.Enter the correct spelling in the With text box.

4.Click the New button.

5.When you’re done, click OK to close the dialog box.

Setting AutoCorrect options

Click the Options tab in the AutoCorrect dialog box to set a whole slew of options that change your text in one way or another.

Sailing with the keyboard

The keyboard offers a number of shortcuts for navigating through a document. These shortcuts are very useful and precise, and you don’t need to leave them for the occasional emergency when your mouse isn’t working. The shortcuts are as follows:

Left-/right-arrow key - Moves the cursor one character to the left or right.

Up-/down-arrow key - Moves the cursor one line up or down.

Home/End - Moves the cursor to the beginning/end of the line. Press Ctrl+Home/End to move to the beginning/end of the document.

Page Up/Page Down - Moves the cursor up or down one screen. The display changes only if necessary. Press Ctrl+Page Up or Ctrl+Page Down to move to the header or footer.

Zooming in and out

You can change the size of the display of your text. This feature is called zooming; you can zoom in to make text look bigger or zoom out to make it look smaller. The easiest way to change the zoom is to use the Zoom button on the status bar.

Viewing full-screen

To view your document full-screen (without menus or toolbars), choose View->Full screen

Saving a document

To save a document, choose File->Save or click the Save button on the Function toolbar. The first time you save, the Save As dialog box opens, because the document does not yet have a name or location. From the Save in drop-down list, navigate to the desired location. In the File Name list box, type a name for the document. Click the Save button. The OpenOffice.org format adds an .sxw extension to the filename.

If you save in OpenOffice.org’s native .sxw format, you can protect the document with a password. Select the Save with Password check box. In the Enter Password dialog box, enter the password twice and click OK.

Saving in other formats

To save your document in another format, choose File->Save As. In the Save As Type drop-down list, choose a file type. If you have already saved your document in OpenOffice.org format, you now have two copies of your document.

You can save in the following formats:

Microsoft Word 97/2000/XP (.doc)

OpenOffice.org Text Document (.sxw)

StarWriter 5.0 (.sdw)

Text (.txt)

Exporting to other formats

1.Choose File->Export to open the Export dialog box.

This dialog box looks just like the Save As dialog box.

2.In the Save as Type drop-down list, choose one of the following options

PDF - Portable Document Format (.pdf)

XHTML (.xhtml)

3.In the File Name text box, enter a filename.

4.Click the Save button.

Printing

Previewing your work

Before you commit to paper, preview the document to see what it will look like. You can avoid wasting paper this way. To preview a document, choose File->Page preview.

Printing is very simple. Choose File->Print

Using a template

A template contains formatting and perhaps text. You use a template as a basis for a new document. Unfortunately, OpenOffice.org doesn’t come with much of a supply of templates for Writer. You can find a few templates at http://ooextras.sourceforge.net/

To create a new document based on a template, follow these steps:

1.Choose File->New->Templates and Documents.

2.The Templates and Documents dialog box opens, with the Templates option selected.

You may see a list of folders or a list of templates, depending on what you displayed the last time you used this dialog box.

3.If you see a list of folders, double-click the Default folder to display the templates in that folder

4.Choose the template that you want to use.

5.To see a preview of the template, click the Preview button.

6.Click the Open button.

Choosing a font

You can choose a font before or after you type. To choose a font before you type, follow these steps:

1.Choose Format->Character

The Character dialog box opens.

2.Click the Font tab

3.From the Font list, choose a font.

You can immediately see what the font looks like in the Preview box at the bottom of the dialog box.

4.From the Typeface list, choose Regular, Italic, Bold, or Bold Italic.

5.From the Size list, choose a font size.

6.Click OK.

7.Start typing.

To apply a font to existing text, first select the text. Then follow the steps.

Adding character to your documents

If you think that the plain old fonts are boring, you can add some font effects to your text. To add font effects, use the various tabs of the Character dialog box - Font Effects, Position, Hyperlink, Background. When you’re done making your text look fancy, click OK.

Aligning paragraphs

You can set paragraph alignment before or after you type. To set the alignment after you type, select the text first. The easiest way to set paragraph alignment is to use the following buttons on the Object toolbar:

Align Left - Aligns the text along the left margin of the page.

Centered - Centers a line of a text on the page.

Align Right - Aligns the text along the right margin of the page.

Justified - Makes each line of text reach the left and the right margin of the page.

Creating a table

A table is a grid of rows and columns that creates cells where you can place text or numbers. Tables are an easy way to make complex data clear, and they are easy to create in OpenOffice.org Writer. To create a table, follow these steps:

1.Choose Insert->Table

The Insert Table dialog box opens.

2.In the Size panel, set the number of columns and rows in the Columns and Rows text boxes.

3.In the Options panel, set the basic options for the table, as follows:

Header - Creates a header row at the top of the table. The header text is centered, italic, and boldface.

Repeat Header - Repeats the header text on the next page if the table continues to the next page.

Don’t Split Table - Prevents the table from being split to more than one page.

Border - Creates a border around the table. (If you deselect this check box, the table is invisible, which makes it difficult to work with. You can always turn off the border when you’re finished.)

AutoFormat - Opens the AutoFormat dialog box, where you can choose one of the preset table formats. Click OK after you choose a format.

4.Click OK.

Using Borders and Frames

Boxing text

Boxing text is a great way to make it stand out. You can also place lines above and below the text — or on any side, for that matter. To add a box, use the border feature. Usually, you add a border to an entire paragraph. Follow these steps:

1.Select the paragraph.

2.Choose Format->Paragraph and click the Borders tab

3.In the Line Arrangement panel of the dialog box, click the border arrangement that you want from the small boxes near the top of the panel.

4.In the Style area of the Line panel, choose the width and style of the line.

5.From the Color drop-down list, choose a border line color.

6.Use the Shadow Style panel to create a shadow effect, if you want one.

7.In the Spacing to Contents panel, specify the distance between the border line and the text (or other contents).

8.Click OK.

You can click individual sides of the border in the User-Defined area and set different settings for each side. To give your box a colored background, click the Background tab of the Paragraph dialog box. Choose Color from the As drop-down list, and choose a color. To create a background of an image, choose Graphic from the As dropdown list and browse for the graphic file that you want to use.

Framing text

When you add a border to text, the text stays in the confines of the page’s alignment and column settings. But suppose that you want to move a box of text anywhere on your page? For example, if you create a two-column newsletter, you may want a box of text that straddles the middle of the page. This type of text is called a callout or a sidebar. You use frames to create a movable box of text. Framed text acts like a graphic — you can drag a frame anywhere, resize it, and so on.

To frame text, follow these steps:

1.Select the text that you want in the frame.

To create an empty frame, skip this step.

2.From the Main toolbar, long-click the Insert button and click the Insert Frame Manually button.

You see a preview of columns.

3.Choose the number of columns that you want for the framed text.

Using a frame is one way to specify columns for part of a document. The other way is to use sections. Using sections is explained in “Working with sections,” earlier in this chapter.

4.Click at one corner of the selected text, and drag to the diagonally opposite corner.

The text appears with a box and eight handles, which are small boxes that you can use to resize the frame. To create an empty frame, drag across an empty area of your page.

5.Click anywhere outside the frame to deselect the frame.

Inserting Graphics

Clipping art

To insert an image, follow these steps:

1.Click in your document where you want the graphic to appear.

2.Choose Insert->Graphics->From File. Or, long-click the Insert button on the Main toolbar and choose Insert Graphics.

3.In the Insert Graphics dialog box, locate and click the graphic file that you want.

4.Click the Open button.

Editing graphics

When you select a graphic, you can do the following things:

Move it: Point to the graphic so that you see a four-headed arrow cursor. Drag the graphic to a new location.

Resize it: Click one of the eight handles and drag inward (to make the graphic smaller) or outward (to make it bigger).

Delete it: Press Delete.

When you select a graphic, the Object toolbar changes to provide tools for editing the graphic.

Using the Gallery

The Gallery is a place to hold graphics for later use. OpenOffice.org comes with a selection of 3-D shapes, bullets, and other graphics, but no clip art. If you have clip art that you may want to reuse, you can add it to the Gallery.

To use the Gallery, follow these steps:

1.Choose Tools->Gallery.

2.Choose one of the themes in the Gallery.

3.Drag a graphic into your document.

Creating a hyperlink

Hyperlinks are easy to create. Follow these steps to create a hyperlink:

1.Select the text that you want to hyperlink.

2.Choose Insert->Hyperlink, or click the Hyperlink Dialog button on the Function toolbar.

3.In the left side of the dialog box, choose the type of link that you want to create — to the Internet, to an e-mail address or newsgroup, to a document, or to a new (as yet uncreated) document.

4.Specify the location of the Web page, document, or whatever you choose.

5.From the Form drop-down list, choose to add the hyperlink to the selected text or to create a cute little button next to the text.

7.Click the Apply button.

8.Click the Close button.

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Using Calc — The Spreadsheet

Getting the Basics Down

A spreadsheet is a grid of boxes. Each box is called a cell. Each cell is located in a particular row and column in the grid. Your spreadsheet’s ability to store numbers (and text) is enormous. The spreadsheet can contain 32,000 rows and 255 columns. Each cell is available to store data. You can store a single number in a cell or an entire book (although that is rare). Or, the cell can be empty. Whatever use you make of your cells is up to you. More than one cell is called a range of cells. You can select a range of cells and move them, copy them, format them, and so on as easily as a single cell. Usually you use spreadsheets to store a table or groups of tables. A table is a range of cells with related data. For example, a grocery list with quantities is a table. Your spreadsheet may have only one table in it, or it may have a hundred tables or more. Tables can be as small as two cells or as big as, well, a 40-story skyscraper. If you have more than one table that is related, such as a monthly budget, you can stack the tables into sheets. By using sheets, you have the ability to add or otherwise manipulate your data in three directions: vertically, horizontally, and by depth.

Inputting Your Data

To open your spreadsheet, choose File->New Spreadsheet. A grid of cells appears, with toolbars and a main menu. This is your spreadsheet. Notice that one cell has a dark frame around it. This is your active cell. When you type and enter data into your spreadsheet, Calc places the data in the active cell. The dark frame around the cell is called the active cell pointer. Calc assigns each cell an address, which is the column name of the cell, followed by the row name — for example, A1 or Z4026. You refer to a range of cells by using the cell names of the upper-left cell and the lower-right cell, separated by a colon — for example, A1:Z4026.

Entering your data

To enter data into a cell, just start typing. Your data appears within the active cell. When you press Enter, Calc moves the active cell pointer to the cell below. To enter your data in a different direction, press an arrow key instead of pressing Enter after entering your data. The active cell pointer relocates accordingly. Want to type a whole lot of text in a single cell? Calc handles text in clever ways. Don’t worry if your text is longer than the width of the cell. The text shows in the next cell, as long as that cell is empty. And, if that cell is not empty, you can always double-click the cell with your text, and your full line of text appears.

Editing your data

To edit the contents of the active cell, follow these steps:

1.Double-click the cell that you want to edit.

This transforms the cell into the active cell and causes a cursor to appear within the cell.

2.Move the cursor with the arrow keys to where you want to edit.

You can also click anywhere in your data, and the cursor repositions itself.

3.Type in your change.

4.Press Enter.

Deleting the contents of the active cell

To delete the contents of a cell, click the cell that you want to delete and press Delete. The entire contents of the cell are deleted.

Filling cells automatically

Calc has a nifty feature for automatically inputting values. If you want to enter numbers sequentially or in regular multiples (such as 2, 4, 6, 8, and so on) but you don’t want to type each one individually, that’s no problem. Put Calc to work for you.

To automatically input numbers sequentially into your spreadsheet, perform the following steps:

1.Type the number that you want to begin with in the active cell.

For example, if you want your numbers to read 5, 6, 7, 8, and so on, type 5.

2.Return the active cell to the cell that contains your number.

Your active cell moved when you typed your number. Just press the appropriate arrow key, or click the cell with the number that you just typed.

3.Click and drag the small square in the lower-right corner of the active cell pointer and drag either up, down, or across the cells.

Dragging up or to the left counts backward. Dragging down or to the right counts forward. Your range is outlined in red, and a box appears showing the value for the farthest cell. When you stop dragging, your numbers appear. Once you have a row or column of numbers, you can select the numbers by clicking in the top cell and dragging the mouse to the bottom cell. Selected cells appear shaded.

Your numbers can be in multiples instead of being sequential. To automatically input numbers in multiples, perform the following steps:

1.In two adjacent cells, type the multiple that you want to use.

For example, type 5 in cell A1 and 10 in cell A2.

2.Select cells A1 and A2 by clicking cell A1 and dragging the mouse to cell A2.

3.Click and drag the small square in the lower-right corner of the active cell pointer.

4.Drag the mouse down over the rows.

When you release the mouse button, the multiples are entered into your cells.

Let your fingers do the walking

Using your arrow keys to navigate through your document cell by cell gets you around your document easily. But if your document is large, you need more than just the arrow keys to reach your destination efficiently. Press the following keys or key combinations to quickly navigate through your document:

Page Up or Page Down - Pages through your document.

Home - Moves the active cell pointer to the first column of a row.

End - Moves the active cell pointer to the last column of a row.

Ctrl+Backspace - Finds the active cell.

Changing column widths and row heights

To change column widths and row heights using the mouse, perform the following steps:

1.Click the line that separates two column names or row names. Choose the line that is to the right of the column that you want to resize (or below the row that you want to resize).

For example, the line between columns D and E resizes column D, and the line between rows 3 and 4 resizes row 3. The mouse pointer changes to a double-headed arrow.

2.While holding down the mouse button, drag the line to the desired column width or row height.

We know a quick mouse method for changing column widths and row heights. Double-click the line separating the two column names or row names that is to the right of the column that you want to resize (or below the row that you want to resize). Calc optimizes the column width or row height according to the data that’s currently in that column or row.

To change column widths and row heights using the main menu, follow these steps:

1.Click a cell in the column or row that you want to resize.

2.Choose Format->Column->Width to open the Column Width dialog box. Or choose Format->Row->Height to open the Row Height dialog box. 3.Enter the desired size of your column or row.

4.Click OK.

Adding columns and rows

To add columns or rows in between other columns or rows, follow these steps:

1.Select a cell or a range of cells to the right of the column that you want to add, or below the row that you want to add.

Calc inserts one row or column for each row or column that you selected.

2.Choose Insert->Column, or choose Insert Row. You can also click the Insert Cells icon, which is the second icon from the top on the Main toolbar.

A pop-up menu of icons appears.

3.Choose the Insert Column icon or the Insert Row icon. If the Main toolbar is not visible, choose View->Toolbars->Main Toolbar to make it appear.

Calc renames all the columns or rows so that they are still in alphabetical or numerical order.

Deleting columns and rows

To delete columns or rows, follow these steps:

1.Select at least one cell in each column or row that you want to delete.

2.Choose Edit->Delete Cells to open the Delete Cells dialog box.

3.Select the Delete Entire Column(s) check box or the Delete Entire Row(s) check box.

4.Click OK.

Selecting a range of cells

Calc allows you to select cells in a variety of ways. To select a range of cells using the mouse, follow these steps:

1.Click one of the four corner cells of the range that you want to select.

2.Hold the mouse button down, and drag the mouse to the diagonal corner cell of the range.

The cells that are selected appear shaded.

To select a range of cells using the keyboard, follow these steps:

1.Position your active cell pointer at a corner of a range of cells that you want to select.

2.Press and hold Shift while moving the arrow keys in the directions of the cells that you want to select.

The selected cells appear shaded.

Selecting one row or column

To select a single row or column, click the row number or column name.

To select several rows or columns, follow these steps:

1.Click the first row or column that you want to select.

2.Press and hold Shift, and click the last row or column that you want to select.

To select the entire active sheet, choose Edit->Select All or press Ctrl+A. You can also click the square at the upper-left corner of your sheet, which is the junction of both the column names and row names.

Copying and pasting cells

To copy and paste a range of cells, follow these steps:

1.Select the range of cells that you want to copy.

2.If the Function toolbar is not visible, choose View->Toolbars->Function Bar to make it appear.

3.Choose Edit->Copy, press Ctrl+C, or click the Copy icon on the Function toolbar.

4.Click the cell that you want to paste the upper-left corner of your range into.

5.Choose Edit->Paste, press Ctrl+V, or click the Paste icon on the Function toolbar.

Cutting and pasting cells

To cut and paste a range of cells, follow these steps:

1.Select the range of cells that you want to copy.

2.Choose Edit->Cut, press Ctrl+X, or click the Cut icon on the Function toolbar. (If the Function toolbar is not visible, choose View->Toolbars->Function Bar to make it appear.)

3.Click the cell that you want to paste the upper-left corner of your range into.

4.Choose Edit->Paste, press Ctrl+V, or click the Paste icon on the Function toolbar.

Getting the right look for your money

Another great function of the Cell Attributes dialog box is its ability to change currency signs. Calc allows you to choose from a wide array of currencies and languages. Follow these steps:

1.Select the cell or range of cells that you want to format

2.Choose Format->Cells

3.In the Cell Attributes dialog box, click the Numbers tab.

4.Choose your language from the Language combo box.

5.Choose All from the Category list.

6.Scroll through the Format list, and choose your currency format.

The correct currency symbols automatically appear in the list.

How to turn off automatic capitalization

1.Choose Tools->AutoCorrect to open the AutoCorrect dialog box

2.Click the Options tab.

3.To change any option, select or deselect the appropriate check box.

4.Deselect the Capitalize first letter of every sentence check box.

Adding sheets

1.Click a sheet name that is located either before or after where you want to add new sheets.

Sheet names are located on tabs near the lower-left corner of the spreadsheet window.

2.Choose Insert->Sheet to open the Insert Sheet dialog box. You can also right-click the sheet name and choose Insert from the shortcut menu that appears.

3.Mark the box to position the new sheet(s) either before or after the active sheet.

4.Indicate how many sheets you want to add.

Scrolling through sheets

Once you have more than just three sheets in your workbook, some of the sheet name tabs may be out of view. To scroll through your tabs, click the arrow buttons that are to the left of the tabs. You can also display more tabs at once by moving the vertical bar between the sheet names and the active sheet scroll bar. Move the vertical bar to the right, making the scroll bar shorter.

Selecting sheets

Sheet names appear on tabs that are located near the lower-left corner of the spreadsheet. Selected sheet tabs appear white, and deselected sheet tabs are shaded.

Selecting all sheets

If you have lots of sheets and want to select them all, follow these steps:

1.Right-click any sheet name.

2.Choose Select All Sheets from the shortcut menu that appears.

Renaming sheets

1.Select the sheet that you want to rename.

2.Choose Format->Sheet->Rename

The Rename Sheet dialog box appears. You can also right-click any sheet name tab and choose Rename from the shortcut menu that appears.

3.In the Rename Sheet dialog box, type in the new name and click OK.

Deleting sheets

1.Select one or more sheets that you want to delete.

2.Choose Edit->Delete Sheet

A dialog box appears asking whether you are sure that you want to permanently delete the current sheet(s).

3.If you are sure that you want to delete those sheets that are selected, click the Yes button.

When deleting sheets, Calc deletes all the sheets that are selected. Double-check to make sure that only the sheets that you want to delete are selected. Selected sheet tabs appear white, and deselected sheet tabs appear shaded.

Adding background colors

1.Choose Format->Cells

2.Click the Background tab

3.Select your color

4.Click OK.

Importing your art

If levitating donuts and other items in the gallery are not your cup of tea, you can import your own art.

1.Choose Insert->Graphics->From File

2.Browse through your files and select a file, or type in the address of the graphic that you want to insert.

3.To specify a file type, click the File Type combo box and select a format.

4.Click the Open button, and your graphic appears in the spreadsheet.

Resizing your graphic