Customizing the user interface

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Customizing the menu font

If you want to change the menu font from that supplied by OOo to the system font for your operating system, do this:

  1. Choose Tools > Options > OpenOffice.org > View.
  2. Check Use system font for user interface and click OK.

Customizing menu content

You can customize menus in OpenOffice.org.

  1. Choose Tools > Customize.
  2. On the Customize dialog, pick the Menus page.
  3. In the Save In drop-down list, choose whether to save this changed menu for Impress or for a selected document.
  4. In OpenOffice.org Impress Menus, select the menu you want to customize in the Menu drop-down list.
  5. To customize the selected menu, click on the Menu or Modify buttons. You can also add commands to a menu by clicking on the Add button. These actions are described in the following sections. Use the up and down arrows next to the Entries list to move the selected menu item to a different position.
  6. When you are done customizing menus, click OK to save your changes.

The Menus page of the Customize dialog
The Menus page of the Customize dialog.

Creating a new menu

In the Customize dialog, click New to display the dialog shown below.

  1. Type a name for your new menu in the Menu name box.
  2. Use the up and down arrow buttons to move the new menu into the required position on the menu bar.
  3. Click OK to save.

The new menu now appears on the list of menus in the Customize dialog. (It will appear on the menu bar itself after you save your customizations.)

After creating a new menu, you need to add some commands to it, as described in Adding a command to a menu.

Adding a new menu

Modifying existing menus

To modify an existing menu, select it in the Menu list and click the Menu button to drop down a list of modifications: Move, Rename, Delete. Not all of these modifications can be applied to all the entries in the Menu list. For example, Rename and Delete are not available for the supplied menus.

To move a menu (such as File), choose Menu > Move. A dialog similar to the one shown above (but without the Menu name box) opens. Use the up and down arrow buttons to move the menu into the required position.

To move submenus (such as File | Send), select the main menu (File) in the Menu list and then, in the Menu Content section of the dialog, select the submenu (Send) in the Entries list and use the arrow keys to move it up or down in the sequence. Submenus are easily identified in the Entries list by a small black triangle on the right hand side of the name.

In addition to renaming, you can specify a keyboard shortcut that allows you to select a menu command when you press Alt+ an underlined letter in a menu command.

  1. Select a menu or menu entry.
  2. Click the Menu button and select Rename.
  3. Add a tilde (~) in front of the letter that you want to use as an accelerator. For example, to select the Save All command by pressing Alt+V, enter Sa~ve All.

Adding a command to a menu

You can add commands to the supplied menus and to menus you have created. On the Customize dialog, select the menu in the Menu list and click the Add button in the Menu Content section of the dialog.

On the Add Commands dialog, select a category and then the command, and click Add. The dialog remains open, so you can select several commands. When you have finished adding commands, click Close. Back on the Customize dialog, you can use the up and down arrow buttons to arrange the commands in your preferred sequence.

Adding a command to a menu

Modifying menu entries

In addition to changing the sequence of entries on a menu or submenu, you can add submenus, rename or delete the entries, and add group separators.

To begin, select the menu or submenu in the Menu list near the top of the Customize page, then select the entry in the Entries list under Menu Content. Click the Modify button and choose the required action from the drop-down list of actions.

Most of the actions should be self-explanatory. Begin a group adds a separator line after the highlighted entry.

Customizing toolbars

You can customize toolbars in several ways, including choosing which icons are visible and locking the position of a docked toolbar, as described in Chapter 1 (Introducing OpenOffice.org) of the Getting Started guide. This section describes how to create new toolbars and add other icons (commands) to the list of those available on a toolbar. To get to the toolbar customization dialog, do any of the following:

  • On the toolbar, click the arrow at the end of the toolbar and choose Customize Toolbar.
  • Choose View > Toolbars > Customize from the menu bar.
  • Choose Tools > Customize > Toolbars tab from the menu bar.

To customize toolbars:

  1. In the Save In drop-down list, choose whether to save this changed toolbar for Impress or for a selected document.
  2. In the OpenOffice.org Impress Toolbars section, select from the Toolbar drop-down list the toolbar that you want to customize.
  3. You can create a new toolbar by clicking on the New button, or customize existing toolbars by clicking on the Toolbar or Modify buttons, and add commands to a toolbar by clicking on the Add button. These actions are described below.
  4. When you are done customizing menus, click OK to save your changes.

The Toolbars page of the Customize window
The Toolbars page of the Customize window.

Creating a new toolbar

To create a new toolbar:

  1. Choose Tools > Customize > Toolbars from the menu bar.
  2. Click New. On the Name dialog, type the new toolbar's name and choose from the Save In drop-down list where to save this changed menu: for the application (for example, Writer) or for a selected document.

GS3-14-4a.png

The new toolbar now appears on the list of toolbars in the Customize dialog. After creating a new toolbar, you need to add some commands to it, as described below.

Adding a command to a toolbar

If the list of available buttons for a toolbar does not include all the commands you want on that toolbar, you can add commands. When you create a new toolbar, you need to add commands to it.

  1. On the Toolbars page of the Customize dialog, select the toolbar in the Toolbar list and click the Add button in the Toolbar Content section of the dialog.
  2. The Add Commands dialog is the same as for adding commands to menus. Select a category and then the command, and click Add. The dialog remains open, so you can select several commands. When you have finished adding commands, click Close. If you insert an item which does not have an associated icon, the toolbar will display the full name of the item: the next section describes how to choose an icon for a toolbar command.
  3. Back on the Customize dialog, you can use the up and down arrow buttons to arrange the commands in your preferred sequence.
  4. When you are done making changes, click OK to save.

Choosing icons for toolbar commands

Toolbar buttons usually have icons, not words, on them, but not all of the commands have associated icons.

To choose an icon for a command, select the command and click Modify > Change icon. On the Change Icon dialog, you can scroll through the available icons, select one, and click OK to assign it to the command.

Change Icon dialog

To use a custom icon, create it in a graphics program and import it into OOo by clicking the Import button on the Change Icon dialog. Custom icons must be 16 x 16 or 26 x 26 pixels in size and cannot contain more than 256 colors.

Customizing keyboard shortcuts

The Appendix to this book lists the default keyboard shortcuts supplied with Impress. You can change these defaults or add new shortcuts. You can assign shortcuts to standard Impress functions or your own macros and save them for use with Impress only, or with the entire OpenOffice.org suite.

Documentation caution.png Be careful when reassigning your operating system’s or OOo’s predefined shortcut keys. Many key assignments are universally understood shortcuts, such as F1 for Help, and are always expected to provide certain results. Although you can easily reset the shortcut key assignments to the OOo defaults, changing some common shortcut keys can cause confusion, frustration and possible data loss or corruption, especially if other users share your computer.

As an example, suppose you wish to assign a shortcut key to easily insert a duplicate slide in your presentation. You could assign the Insert key as a logical shortcut for this purpose, as described below:

  1. Choose Tools > Customize.
  2. On the Customize dialog, pick the Keyboard page.
  3. As the shortcut key assignment is only relevant with Impress, and not OpenOffice.org in general, select the Impress button (at the upper right corner of the Keyboard tab).
  4. Next select Insert in the Category list and Duplicate Slide in the Function list.
  5. Now select the shortcut key Insert in the Shortcut keys list and click the Modify button at the upper right.
  6. Click OK to accept the change. Now the Insert shortcut key will insert a duplicate slide immediately after the currently selected slide.

Customizing keyboard shortcuts
Customizing keyboard shortcuts.

Documentation note.png All existing shortcut keys for the currently selected Function are listed in the Keys selection box. Since there was no currently assigned shortcut for the Insert > Duplicate Slide function the Keys list was empty. If it had not been, and you wished to reassign a shortcut key combination that was already in use, you would first have had to Delete the existing Key.

Shortcut keys that are greyed-out in the listing on the Customize dialog, such as F1 and F10, are not available for reassignment.

Saving changes to a file

Changes to the shortcut key assignments (and other configurations) can be saved in a keyboard configuration file for use at a later time, thus permitting you to create and apply different configurations as the need arises. To save keyboard shortcuts to a file:

  1. After making your keyboard shortcut assignments, click the Save button near the bottom right of the Customize dialog.
  2. In the Save Keyboard Configuration dialog, select All files from the Save as Type list.
  3. Next enter a name for the keyboard configuration file in the File name box, or select an existing file from the list. If you need to, browse to find a file from another location.
  4. Click Save. A confirmation dialog will appear if you are about to overwrite an existing file, otherwise there will be no feedback and the file will be saved.

Loading a saved keyboard configuration

To load a saved keyboard configuration file and replace your existing configuration, click the Load button near the bottom right of the Customize dialog, and then select the configuration file from the Load Keyboard Configuration dialog.

Resetting the shortcut keys

To reset all of the keyboard shortcuts to their default values, click the Reset button near the bottom right of the Customize dialog. Use this feature with care as no confirmation dialog will be displayed; the defaults will be set without any further notice or user input.

Running macros from key combinations

You can also define shortcut key combinations that will run macros. These shortcut keys are strictly user-defined; none are built in. For information on macros, see Chapter 13 (Getting Started with Macros) in the Getting Started guide.


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