The look and feel of OpenOffice.org Writer is very similar to Microsoft Word. Though it may not look as polished as Microsoft Word, Writer can produce the same documents as with Word. Though there are some differences, working in OpenOffice Writer is very much the same as in Microsoft Word.
The steps with printing a document in Writer is the same as in Word. Just as in Word there are three options to print a Writer document.
Three options to Print
- Select File > Print from the main menu
- Use keyboard shortcut Ctrl + P
- Click the Printer icon on the standard toolbar (this prints directly without opening print dialog box)
The first two options above will open the Print dialog box. There is more control over the print job by using this dialog.
Some controls within the Print dialog
- Select printer to send the document to for printing.
- Choose the properties of the printer and print job
- Select Print Range - All pages (to print all of the document), Pages (to print only selected pages) or Selection (to print the prior selection only)
- Choose the number of copies needed and whether to collate (put in order)
- Options button gives even more control over Content, Pages and Notes
What is different between Writer and Word is the location and steps with setting up a document prior to printing. Some items may need adjusting prior to printing such as changing the margins or orientation. While these controls are found under the main menu at File > Page Setup in Word, they are instead found under Format > Page in Writer.
When selecting Format > Page in Writer, the Page Style Default dialog box appears. There are several tabs found within this box to control many aspects of the document.
Print Setup options under Format > Page
- Organizer tab - control style of the document
- Page tab - change the document margins, choose orientation (Portrait or Landscape), choose paper size.
- Background tab - choose a color or graphic for the page background.
- Header tab - control details of header (if there is one)
- Footer tab - control details of footer (if there is one)
- Borders tab - add page borders and control their style
- Columns tab - add columns and control their style
- Footnote tab - control details of footnote (if there is one)
Once accustomed to the page set location and controls in Writer, printing documents created in Writer becomes a breeze. In addition to a word processor, Writer, OpenOffice.org also includes an application for creating spreadsheets, Calc and presentations, Impress.
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