What is OpenOffice?

Getting Started with Apache OpenOffice 4

Chapter 1: Introducing Apache OpenOffice

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• 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

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What Is Apache OpenOffice?

Apache OpenOffice is a freely available, full-featured office productivity suite. Its native file format is OpenDocument, an open standard format that is supported by several office suites but is not controlled by any one company and has been adopted by some governments (e.g., the United Kingdom) as a required file format for publishing and accepting documents. Apache OpenOffice can also open and save documents in many other formats, including those used by various versions of Microsoft Office.

Apache OpenOffice includes the following components.

Writer (word processor)

Writer is a feature-rich tool for creating letters, books, reports, newsletters, brochures, and other documents. You can insert graphics and objects from other components into Writer documents. Writer can export files to several versions of Microsoft Word files, Adobe's Portable Document Format (PDF), HTML and other formats.

Calc (spreadsheet)

Calc has all the advanced analysis, charting, and decision-making features expected from a high-end spreadsheet. It includes over 300 functions for financial, statistical, and mathematical operations, among others. The Scenario Manager provides "what if" analysis. Calc generates 2-D and 3-D charts, which can be integrated into other Apache OpenOffice documents. You can also open and work with Microsoft Excel workbooks and save them in some Excel formats. Calc can also export spreadsheets to PDF and HTML.

Impress (presentations)

Impress provides all the common multimedia presentation tools, such as special effects, animation, and drawing tools. It is integrated with the advanced graphics capabilities of Apache OpenOffice's Draw and Math components. Slide shows can be further enhanced with Fontwork's special effects text, as well as sound and video clips. Impress is compatible with Microsoft's PowerPoint file format and can also save your work in numerous graphics formats.

Draw (vector graphics)

Draw is a vector drawing tool that can produce everything from simple diagrams or flowcharts to 3-D artwork. Its Smart Connectors feature allows you to define your own connection points. You can use Draw to create drawings for use in any of Apache OpenOffice's other components, and you can create your own clip art and add it to the Gallery. Draw can import graphics from many common formats and save them in over 20 formats, including PNG, HTML, and PDF.

Base (database)

Base provides tools for day-to-day database work within a simple interface. It can create and edit forms, reports, queries, tables, views, and relations, so that managing a connected database is much the same as in other popular database applications. Base provides many features, such as the ability to analyze and edit relationships from a diagram view. In its default configuration, Base uses HSQLDB, which is included in Apache OpenOffice, as its database engine and stores the database tables in the Base document. It can also use dBASE, Microsoft Access, MySQL, Oracle, or any ODBC compliant or JDBC compliant database engine and connect to external tables.

Math (formula editor)

Math is Apache OpenOffice's formula or equation editor. You can use it to create complex equations that include symbols or characters not available in standard font sets. While it is most commonly used to create formulas in other documents, such as Writer and Impress files, Math can also work as a standalone tool. You can save formulas in the standard Mathematical Markup Language (MathML) format for inclusion in web pages and other documents not created by Apache OpenOffice.