Writer is OpenOffice.org's equivalent to Microsoft Word. Writer is the word processing application found in the free OpenOffice.org productivity suite. OpenOffice.org also includes presentation software, Impress, and software for working with spreadsheets, Calc.
Writer has the same look and feel of Word. Writer can create the same letters, memos, flyers and other documents commonly developed in Word. While Writer may not look as sophisticated as Word, many of the same toolbar and keyboard shortcuts are the same. Here is a listing of some of the keyboard shortcuts that work in Writer.
Many of the shortcuts in Writer are the same as in Word so the transition from one program to another should not be too overwhelming.
Basic Keyboard Shortcuts
- Ctrl + N will open a new document in the same program
- Ctrl + S saves the document
- Ctrl + P prints the document
- Ctrl + O opens an existing document
- Ctrl + W closes the window
- Ctrl + Z will undo last action performed
- Ctrl + Y will redo (or repeat) last action
- Ctrl + A selects all
- F1 opens Help
- Ctrl + X will cut (or move) selection
- Ctrl + C will copy selection
- Ctrl + V pastes selection into new location
- Ctrl + F opens the Find & Replace dialog
- F7 starts Spell Check
- Ctrl + Q will quit application
Basic Navigation Keyboard Shortcuts
- Page Up will move up one screen
- Page Down will move down one screen
- Home moves to the beginning of a line
- End moves to the end of a line
- Ctrl + Home moves to the beginning of a document
- Ctrl + End moves to the end of a document
- Shift with any arrow key will make text selection
- Ctrl + Click makes non-contiguous selection
- Alt + Click selects text vertically
Formatting Keyboard Shortcuts
- Ctrl + B will bold text selection
- Ctrl + I will italicize text selection
- Ctrl + U will underline text selection
- Ctrl + L will left align text selection
- Ctrl + E will center text selection
- Ctrl + R will right align text selection
- Ctrl + J will justify text selection
- Ctrl + Delete will delete entire word to right
- Ctrl + Backspace will delete entire word to left
Keyboard shortcuts are very helpful with user work flow. Time is not lost taking hands off the keyboard to use the mouse. By leaving hands on the keyboard, the word processing tasks flows more fluidly.
Power-users of keyboard shortcuts should not have to alter work habits too much as many of the same keyboard shortcuts found in Word also work in Writer. And the big plus with working in Writer is the price tag (or lack thereof). The entire OpenOffice.org productivity suite, including Writer, is free to download, use and share.
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