Parts of the Main window
- What is Apache OpenOffice?
- The advantages of Apache OpenOffice
- Minimum requirements
- How to get and install the software
- Extensions and Add-Ons
- Starting Apache OpenOffice
- Parts of the main window
- Starting a new document
- Opening an existing document
- Saving documents
- Password protection
- Using the Navigator
- Using the Open and Save As dialogs
- Undoing and redoing changes
- Reloading a document
- Closing a document
Parts of the Main window
The main window is similar in each component of Apache OpenOffice, although some details vary. See the chapters in this book about Writer, Calc, Draw, and Impress for descriptions of those details.
Common features include the menu bar, the standard toolbar, and the formatting toolbar at the top of the window and the status bar at the bottom.
Menu Bar
The Menu bar is located across the top of the Apache OpenOffice window, just below the Title bar. (On macOS it is at the top of the screen in the same location as the menu bar for other programs.) When you choose one of the menus listed below, a sub-menu drops to show commands.
- File contains commands that apply to the entire document such as Open, Save, 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 Header, Footer, and Picture.
- Format contains commands, such as Styles and Formatting and AutoCorrect, 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, Customize, and Options.
- Window contains commands for the display window.
- Help contains links to the OpenOffice Help file, What's This?, and information about the program.
Toolbars
Apache OpenOffice has several types of toolbars: docked, floating, and tear-off. Docked toolbars can be moved to different locations or made to float, and floating toolbars can be docked.
The top docked toolbar is called the Standard toolbar. The Standard toolbar is consistent across the OpenOffice applications.
The second toolbar at the top is the Formatting toolbar. It is a context-sensitive bar that shows the relevant tools in response 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.
Displaying or Hiding Toolbars
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.
Toolbar icons with a small triangle to the right will display submenus, tear-off toolbars, and other ways of selecting things, depending on the icon.
Figure below shows a tear-off toolbar from the Drawing toolbar.
The tear-off toolbars can be floating or docked along an edge of the screen or in one of the existing toolbar areas. To move a floating tear-off toolbar, drag it by the title bar. See “Moving Toolbars” below.
Floating Toolbars
Apache OpenOffice includes several additional context-sensitive toolbars, whose defaults appear as floating toolbars in response to the cursor's current position or selection. For example, when the cursor is in a table, a floating Table toolbar appears, and when the cursor is in a numbered or bullet list, the Bullets and Numbering toolbar appears. You can dock these toolbars to the top, bottom, or side of the window, if you wish (see “Moving Toolbars” below).
Moving Toolbars
To move a docked toolbar, place the mouse pointer over the toolbar handle (the small vertical bar to the left of the toolbar), hold down the left mouse button, drag the toolbar to the new location, and then release the mouse button (Figure 5). To move a floating toolbar, click on its title bar and drag it to a new location (Figure 6).
Docking Floating Windows and Toolbars
Toolbars and some windows, such as the Navigator and the Styles and Formatting window, are dock-able. You can move, resize, or dock them to an edge.
To dock a window or toolbar, hold down the Ctrl key and double-click on the frame of the floating window (or in a vacant area near the icons at the top of the floating window) to dock it in its last position.
To undock a window, hold down the Ctrl key and double-click on the frame (or a vacant area near the icons at the top) of the docked window.
Customizing Toolbars
You can customize toolbars in several ways, including choosing which icons are visible and locking the position of a docked toolbar. You can also add icons and create new toolbars, as described in Chapter 11.
To access a toolbar's customization options, use the down-arrow at the end of the toolbar or on its title bar.
To show or hide icons defined for the selected toolbar, choose Visible Buttons from the drop-down menu. Visible icons are indicated by an outline around the icon. Click on icons to hide or show them on the toolbar.
Right-Click (context) Menus
You can quickly access many menu functions by right-clicking on a paragraph, graphic, or other object. A context menu will pop up. Often the context menu is the fastest and an easier way to reach a function. If you are not sure where a function is located in the menus or toolbars, you can frequently find it by right-clicking.
Status Bar
The status bar is located at the bottom of the workspace. It provides information about the document and convenient ways to quickly change some features. It is similar in Writer, Calc, Impress, and Draw, although each component includes some component-specific items.
Common status bar items are described below.
Page, sheet, or slide number
Shows the current page, sheet, or slide number and the total number of pages, sheets, or slides in the document. Double-click on this field to open the Navigator. Other uses of this field depend on the component.
Page style or slide design
Shows the current page style or slide design. To edit the current page style or slide design, double-click on this field.
Unsaved changes
An asterisk (*) appears here if changes to the document have not been saved.
Digital signature
If the document has been digitally signed, an icon 
shows here. You can double-click the icon to view the certificate.
Object information
Displays information relevant to the cursor's position or the selected element of the document. Double-clicking in this area usually opens a relevant dialog.
Zoom slider and percent
To change the view magnification, drag the Zoom slider, or click on the + and — signs, or right-click on the zoom level percent to pop up a list of magnification values from which to choose. Double-clicking on the zoom level percent opens the Zoom & View Layout dialog.
Sidebar
The Sidebar (Figure 12) is located on the right side of the edit views of Writer, Calc, Impress, and Draw. It contains one or more decks, based on the current document context. Decks are organized into panels. A tab bar on the right side of the sidebar allows you to switch between different decks.
All four components contain the Properties, Styles, Gallery, and Navigator decks. Some components have additional decks, such as Master Pages, Custom Animation, and Slide Transition for Impress and Functions for Calc.
A panel is like a combination of a toolbar and a dialog. For example, you can freely mix working on the text in the main edit window and using the Styles panel in the sidebar to change text attributes.
Toolbars and Sidebar panels share many functions. For example, the buttons for making text bold or italic exist in both the Formatting toolbar and the Properties panel.
If the Sidebar is not visible, you can show it by using View → Sidebar on the Menu bar. To hide the Sidebar, click on the gray Hide button on the left. Click on the same button to show the Sidebar again.
To undock the Sidebar and make it floating, and to dock a floating Sidebar, use the Sidebar settings drop-down list at the top of the tab bar (see Figure 12). From the same list you can choose which items to show in the Sidebar.
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