Book Description
From the Inside Flap
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.)
The CD You Get With This BookThis is the only StarOffice or OpenOffice.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.It even boasts an AutoPilot thatconverts directories of Word, Excel, and PowerPoint files to OpenOffice.org formats.
What It Runs OnOpenOffice.org runs on Windows, Linux, Lindows, and Solaris. The OpenOffice.orggroup is working on versions for Mac OSX, FreeBSD, and other platforms.
About This BookThis 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.
Reading Is FundamentalIf 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.
What Now?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!
From the Back Cover
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!
Imagine an office productivity suite that's powerful, easy to use, has great extras (like a drawing program and database connectivity), and is absolutely free! The OpenOffice.org Open Source Project's partnership with Sun Microsystems makes this a reality for millions of Linux®, Solaris®, and Windows® users.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 to install 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.
About the Author
Solveig Haugland has been writing, editing, and training for eleven years, helping newbies and techies alike learn about Java, accounting software, WebLogic, and of course StarOffice and OpenOffice.org. She's currently a technical trainer and author through getOpenOffice.org's web site (www.getopenoffice.org).
Floyd Jones has ten years of experience creating documentation and training materials for a wide range of software products including accounting software, golf course management, and WebLogic. He currently does project management and documentation for WebLogic and StarOffice.
Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.
Preface
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.)
The CD You Get With This Book
This is the only StarOffice or OpenOffice.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 sitehttp://www.getopenoffice.org
Microsoft Office Compatibility
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.
What It Runs On
OpenOffice.org runs on Windows, Linux, Lindows, and Solaris. The OpenOffice.orggroup is working on versions for Mac OSX, FreeBSD, and other platforms.
About This Book
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.
Reading Is Fundamental
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.
What Now?
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!
