The OpenOffice.Org 1.0 Resource Kit by Solveig Haugland

From Barnes & Noble

The Barnes & Noble Review
Let's face it, Microsoft Office is getting to be an expensive proposition. Maybe you're an individual or a small business with one copy of Office -- and three computers that need productivity software. Maybe you're a school or nonprofit with kids to teach and other priorities for your cash. Maybe you don't like Microsoft but need to exchange files with a world that does. Or maybe you're running Linux. (Short of WINE hacks, Microsoft Office isn't even an option for you.) If there were a free, compatible suite that did the stuff you'd like to do with Microsoft Office, you'd at least take a look, wouldn't you? That software is here, and it's called OpenOffice.org 1.0.

This is the open source sibling of Sun's StarOffice 6.0, stripped of proprietary software that can't be given away free. So, for example, there's no database component, and far fewer templates than are bundled with StarOffice. Oh, and while lots of people are contributing gallantly to the OpenOffice.org online documentation, it sure doesn't come with a manual.

But what's here is quite impressive. Sure, rough edges remain. But this is all the productivity software most folks will ever need. And you can get a manual -- a really good one. It's The OpenOffice.Org 1.0 Resource Kit, by Solveig Haugland and Floyd Jones.

Haugland and Jones, who've been in the middle of the StarOffice and OpenOffice.org communities for years now, have an extraordinary familiarity with the nooks and crannies of this software. More important, they know the easiest ways to get the best results with OpenOffice.org. In fact, Haugland and Jones answer hundreds of the questions that show up most often in OpenOffice.org forums -- including many of the questions you're most likely to ask, too.

The book contains in-depth coverage of all four primary OpenOffice.org applications: Writer/Web for producing text documents and web content; the Calc spreadsheet program; Impress, OpenOffice.org's PowerPoint clone; and Draw for both vector graphics and image editing. It also covers OpenOffice.org's mini-applications, such as its support for charting and equations, as well as its support for connecting to external databases -- for example, in building mail merges. (Unlike StarOffice 5.2, unfortunately, OpenOffice.org doesn't come with its own database or address book.)

You'll probably spend the most time in Writer, and that's where Haugland and Jones spend the most time. You'll find practical coverage of formatting, styles, and document templates, as well as a full chapter on adding graphics, tables, and other elements to your document. There are also simple explanations of Writer's long-document features, including page numbering, master documents, cross-referencing, indexes, and tables of contents, as well as "version control" for managing the revisions process.

Several chapters on Calc take you from the absolute basics (creating a new spreadsheet, entering data, and formatting your data) all the way to sophisticated features like Scenarios, which allow you to store multiple sets of data within the same cells, choosing amongst them to quickly assess the impact of different choices or events.

Haugland and Jones cover Impress and Draw in comparable depth, covering both the basics and such advanced features as slide transitions and handouts, creating HTML presentations to be published on the Web, and some surprisingly sophisticated image editing techniques.

There's thorough coverage of OpenOffice.org's extensive customization features -- everything from changing the default path where OpenOffice.org stores documents to improving security, controlling how many "Undo"s are kept in memory to turning off annoying features (another way in which OpenOffice.org resembles Microsoft Office). You'll also find a detailed chapter on printing -- including printing in Linux and Solaris operating environments, which may require a little twiddling on your part.

The accompanying CD-ROM not only contains the latest Open Office.org official distributions for Windows, Linux, and Solaris -- it also provides a library of automated macros plus the latest MacOS developer distribution, which is really coming along now. (Once they get the Quartz version stable they're going to work on the Aqua redesign, which should be spiffy.) Friendly and complete, OpenOffice.org 1.0 Resource Kit is a solid resource for every OpenOffice.org user. Bill Camarda

Bill Camarda is a consultant, writer, and web/multimedia content developer. His 15 books include Special Edition Using Word 2000 and Upgrading & Fixing Networks For Dummies®, Second Edition.

From the Publisher

Everything you need for OpenOffice.org, the best-selling StarOffice" Companion, adapted for OpenOffice.org

Includes the OpenOffice.org CD: OpenOffice.org official distribution, including great extras like macros and the Mac®OS beta distribution

For Windows, Linux, and Solaris platforms

Covers Writer, Web, Calc, Impress, Draw, databases and forms, and more

This practical, user-friendly insider's guide contains everything you need to install and learn OpenOffice.org today! With the OpenOffice.org Companion, you get the best-selling StarOffice"! Companion, adapted and updated for OpenOffice.org, plus the official OpenOffice.org CD, which includes software for all platforms and great extras!

Learn OpenOffice.org for the first time, or explore the great new features in this release. OpenOffice.org Companion also incorporates solutions to questions from hundreds of OpenOffice.org users, both beginners and pros, making this the most practical, task-based book available. It delivers clear, step-by-step instructions on what you need to do to get your job done.

You'll find comprehensive coverage of all this and more:

Great information across applications:

Conversion to and from Microsoft® and StarOffice 5.2 file formats

Installation and setup tips:

How toinstall for either single users or network installations, for all platforms, with detailed instructions and key trouble-shooting tips Migration tips for StarOffice 5.2 users

Power-user tips, including:

How to print spreadsheet headings on multiple pages, modify XML to edit the files or customize OpenOffice.org, and importing text files into spreadsheets

Quick Start tutorials:

Learn the key features of each application, plus procedures on customizing OpenOffice.org to make using it simple and productive

Comprehensive coverage of each application:

• Writer—Editing, formatting, mail merge, printing to postscript and PDF, long documents, version control, and comparing documents


• Web—Creating Web pages with AutoPilot, hotlinks, viewing and editing source- animated GIFs, and scrolling text marquees


• Calc—Formatting, data entry and calculations in spreadsheets (including the function AutoPilot), scenarios, Goal Seek, exporting to HTML, and inserting spreadsheets in other documents


• Impress—Creating, designing, and delivering presentations, including custom presentations and animation


• Drawing and image-editing features—Using the vast array of drawing tools including 3D, connector lines for technical diagrams, editing raster graphics like photos, and exporting to formats like GIF, EPS, and SVG


• Connecting to data sources—Setting up data-source connections to spreadsheets, Access, Oracle® and other databases via JDBC and other standard access methods. Plus creating mail merges documents and labels with the user-friendly AutoPilot

Want to learn how to get things done with OpenOffice.org? OpenOffice.org Companion is the practical, direct, expert guide you've been searching for, with all the software you need.

Product Details

• Table of Contents
• Forewords & Introductions

Table of Contents

Forewords & Introductions

It used to be that the saying "You get what you pay for" ranked up there with suchindisputable truths as, "What goes up must come down," "Water is wet," and "I had torestart Windows today." But since OpenOffice.org is free, "you get what you pay for" isnot only disputable, but down there with "the board of directors said the accountingpractices were OK" and "hey, let's form an Internet startup."

OpenOffice.org, the open source product of Sun Microsystems' StarOffice, is a full-featured,remarkably good office suite. It matches Microsoft Office program for program,and goes a giant step further with a great graphics program, Draw. You get applications forworking with documents, spreadsheets, slide presentations, web sites, graphics, anddatabases--anywhere from Oracle to a simple text file.

Want to do a holiday newsletter as a mail merge, printing out a copy for each of the 135people on your address list? It's really easy. Put together a book? You've got all the toolsyou need. Do complex statistical or mathematical calculations in a spreadsheet? Ditto.Create a Web site start-to-finish (along with graphics, animations, and image maps). Openyour old WordStar files from college and your Lotus 1-2-3 files from your first job. Scrapeyour jaw on the ground when you see how small the file sizes are.

This release of OpenOffice.org also has a bunch of enhancements over StarOffice 5.2.We're satisfied and impressed that the developers incorporated lots of good feedback.

What goes up must come down. Water is wet. OpenOffice.org is free.

(And yes, I really did have to restart Windows today.)

This is the only StarOffice orOpenOffice.org book you can currently get that has the CDalong with it. You get the software for every platform, plus a bunch of extras that theOpenOffice.org community has put together--templates, macros, examples, etc.

Plus you get the Mac OS X Developer version, an alpha build of the software that runs onthe love child of Steve Jobs and a UNIX kernel, the built-with-UNIX Mac operatingsystem.

For additional extras like templates, created by the authors, come to the authors' web site

OpenOffice.org is particularly strong in its ability to open Microsoft Office file formatsand save the documents back as Microsoft Office files. It even boasts an AutoPilot thatconverts directories of Word, Excel, and PowerPoint files to OpenOffice.org formats.

OpenOffice.org runs on Windows, Linux, Lindows, and Solaris. The OpenOffice.orggroup is working on versions for Mac OSX, FreeBSD, and other platforms.

This is a book that lets you find what you need quickly and get it done. This isn't a bookfor "dummies", with epic-length procedures for cutting and pasting. On the other hand, wedon't include extensive details on those sexy technical issues like mime types and LDAPWe wrote the book that we would want: all the important stuff, but nothing too basic ortechnically impractical for the intermediate user (and with a little humor along the way).We also talked to hundreds of new StarOffice and OpenOffice.org users, so we were ableto document what people really need to do.

If you're like most intermediate users, you already know enough to be dangerous, whichmeans you'll probably just dive in and try to do things in OpenOffice.org without anyhelp. Sometimes that strategy works, other times it doesn't. If it doesn't, read the relevantsections in this book.

For instance, one of the most frequently asked questions is "How do I print spreadsheetheadings on every page?" The answer has been in this book all along. Go read RepeatingSpreadsheet Headings (Rows or Columns) on Each Page on page 626.

We also indexed the living daylights out of this book, so use the Index, too.

You can get more info on OpenOffice.org in Chapter 1, Introduction to OpenOffice.org1.0, on page 3.

Go through Chapter 5, Setup and Tips, on page 95. It gives you an overview of the workenvironment and shows you lots of really useful tips that affect the whole program.

Use the Quick Start tutorials. We've included something for those of you who like toplunge in quickly and get your hands dirty.

Don't panic!