UNIT 5 OFFICE TOOLS: WORD

PROCESSING, PRESENTATION
AND SPREADSHEETS
Structure
5.0 Objectives
5.1 Introduction
5.2 Getting Started with LibreOffice Suit
5.2.1 Advantages of LibreOffice

5.3 Word Processing with Writer

5.3.1 Working with Text
5.3.2 Formatting Text
5.3.3 Formatting Pages
5.3.4 Using Mail Merge
5.3.5 Tracking Changes to a Document
5.3.6 Linking to another part of a Document

5.4 Presentations with Libreoffice: Impress

5.4.1 Main Impress Window
5.4.2 Creating a New Presentation
5.4.3 Formatting a Presentation
5.4.4 Setting up a Slide Show

5.5 Spreadsheets with Libreoffice: Calc

5.5.1 Calc Main Window
5.5.2 Spreadsheet Layout
5.5.3 Opening a CSV File
5.5.4 Navigating within Spreadsheets
5.5.5 Working with Columns and Rows
5.5.6 Working with Sheets
5.5.7 Working with a Spreadsheet
5.5.8 Sorting Records
5.5.9 Using Formulas and Functions
5.5.10 Analysing Data
5.5.11 Creating a Chart

5.6 Summary
5.7 Answers to Self Check Exercises
5.8 Keywords
5.9 References and Further Reading

5.0 OBJECTIVES
After going through this Unit, you will be able to:
 understand the features of LibreOffice as a freely available, open source,
fully- featured office productivity suite;
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 use LibreOffice applications such as Writer (word processor or text editor),
Technologies
Impress (presentation) and Calc (spreadsheet); and
 explain how different applications wizards in the office tools help you in
handling tasks for its various applications.

5.1 INTRODUCTION
Office tools are applications that allow viewing, creating and modifying of general
office documents (e.g letters, memos, reports, presentations, spreadsheets, image
editing, etc.). Office productivity tools also include applications for managing
employee tasks.
Choosing free and open source software over proprietary software does not mean
that you compromise on features and support. Open source office tools are as
feature-rich as proprietary tools. They also provide ample online documentation
and have large communities of users and developers as support system. These office
tools are generally referred to as office suite, productivity suite, applications tools
because they come as a collection of applications mainly consisting of word
processor, spreadsheet and presentation bundled together and quite often sharing
a common user interface.
With an open-source licence, LibreOffice can be freely used and distributed with
no licence worries. LibreOffice is a leading open-source office software suite for
word processing, spreadsheets, presentations, graphics, databases and more. It is
available in many languages and works on all platforms. It stores all your data in an
international open standard format and can also read and write files from other
common office software packages. It can be downloaded and used completely free
of charge for any purpose.
In this Unit you will be introduced to the LibreOffice applications: Writer
(word processing), Impress (presentation) and Calc (spreadsheet). This Unit has been
adapted as a summary from the ‘Getting Started Guide 4.2’ – the official
documentation issued by The Document Foundation, the body responsible for
developing and launching LibreOffice suite. The material is available under the
terms of either the GNU General Public License
(http://www.gnu.org/licenses/gpl.html), version 3 or later, or the Creative Commons
Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), version
4.0 or later for distribution and modification. The documents used are listed in
the References and Further Readings section for further reference.

5.2 GETTING STARTED WITH LIBREOFFICE SUIT

LibreOffice is a freely available, fully-featured office productivity suite. It is a
powerful open-source office suite that provides tools for all types of office tasks
such as writing texts, working with spreadsheets, creating graphics and
presentations, or designing scientific formulas. With LibreOffice, you can use
the same data across different computing platforms. You can also open and edit files
in other formats, including Microsoft Office, then save them back to LibreOffice
format. Its native file format is Open Document Format (ODF), an open standard
format that is being adopted by governments worldwide as a required file format for
publishing and accepting documents.
LibreOffice comprises several application modules designed to interact with each
other. These modules feature the same graphical user interface and similar
functionality. LibreOffice includes the following components:
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Writer (word processor) – it is a full-featured word processor with page and
text- formatting
capabilities. It also
includes some
features that are
usually found only in
expensive desktop
publishing
applications.
Calc (spreadsheet) – it has all of the advanced analysis, charting, and decision Office Tools:
making features expected from a high-end spreadsheet. Word Processing,
Presentation
Impress (presentations) – Impress provides all the common multimedia and Spreadsheets
presentation tools, such as special effects, animation, and drawing tools. It is
integrated with the advanced graphics capabilities of LibreOffice Draw and
Math components.
Draw (vector graphics)
Draw is a vector drawing tool that can produce everything from simple diagrams
or flowcharts to 3D artwork.
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 relational database is much the same as in other
popular database applications.
Math (formula editor)
Math is the LibreOffice 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 formulae in other documents, such
as Writer and Impress files, Math can also work as a standalone tool.

5.2.1 Advantages of LibreOffice

The advantages of LibreOffice over other office suites are:
 No licensing fees required – LibreOffice is free for anyone to use and
distribute at no cost. Many features like PDF export are available as extra
cost add-ins in other office suites whereas in LibreOffice it is free. There are
no hidden charges involved at present and not expected in the future as well.
 Open source – You can distribute, copy, and modify the software as much as
you wish, in accordance with the LibreOffice Open Source license policy.
 Cross-platform- LibreOffice runs on several hardware architectures and
under multiple operating systems, such as Microsoft Windows, Mac OS X
and Linux.
 Extensive language support – The LibreOffice user interface is available
in over 40 languages and the LibreOffice project provides spelling,
hyphenation, and thesaurus dictionaries in over 70 languages and dialects.
LibreOffice also provides support for both Complex Text Layout (CTL) and
Right to Left (RTL) layout languages (such as Urdu, Hebrew, and Arabic).
 Consistent user interface – All the components have a similar “look and
feel,” making them easy to use and master.
 Integration – The components of LibreOffice are well integrated with one
another. They share a common spelling checker and other tools. The
drawing tools for example available in Writer are also found in Calc and with
similar but enhanced versions in Impress and Draw. Another advantage is that
there is no need to know which application was used to create a particular file.
For instance one can open a Draw file from Writer.
 Granularity – LibreOffice options can be set at a component level or even
at document level. One may change options at component level so as not to
disturb the other components. 7
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 File compatibility – In addition to its native OpenDocument formats,
Technologies
LibreOffice includes PDF and Flash export capabilities, as well as support for
opening and saving files in many common formats including Microsoft Office,
HTML, XML, WordPerfect, and Lotus 1-2-3 formats. An extension
(included) provides the ability to import and edit some PDF files.
 No vendor lock-in – LibreOffice uses OpenDocument, an XML
(eXtensible Markup Language) file format developed as an industry
standard by OASIS (Organization for the Advancement of Structured
Information Standards). These files can easily be unzipped and read by any
text editor, and their framework is open and published.
 You have a voice – Enhancements, software fixes, and release dates are
community driven. You can join the community and affect the course of the
product you use.
You can read more about LibreOffice and The Document Foundation on their
websites at: http://www.libreoffice.org/ and http://www.documentfoundation.org/.
The software can be downloaded from http://www.libreoffice.org/download.
For Information on installing and setting up LibreOffice on the various supported
operating systems visit: http://www.libreoffice.org/get-help/installation/.
The most common way to launch any component of LibreOffice is by using the
system menu, the standard menu from which most applications are started.
Clicking on the LibreOffice menu entry or tile opens the LibreOffice Start Center as
shown in Fig. 5.1. From the Start Centre individual components of LibreOffice may
be selected to open. You can also select to open an existing file or use a template
from the Start Centre.

Fig. 5.1: Start Centre of LibreOffice

For each component of LibreOffice, the main window is almost similar. Common
features include the menu bar, standard toolbar, and formatting toolbar at the top of
the window and the status bar at the bottom as shown in Fig. 5.2.

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 Office Tools:
Word Processing,
Presentation
and Spreadsheets

Title bar

Menu bar Formatting bar

Standard toolbar

Status bar

Fig. 5.2: LibreOffice Standard Interface

Menu bar
The menu bar is located just below the title bar on top of the LibreOffice window.
The menu options available are: File, Edit, View, Insert, Format, Table, Tools,
Window and Help as common in other Office applications. On selecting one of
the menus, a sub- menu drops down to show commands.
Toolbars
LibreOffice has two types of toolbars: docked (fixed in place) and floating.
Docked toolbars can be moved to different locations or made to float, and floating
toolbars can be docked. In a default LibreOffice installation, the top docked toolbar,
just under the menu bar, is called the Standard toolbar.
The second toolbar at the top, in a default LibreOffice installation, is the
Formatting bar. It is context-sensitive i.e., it shows the tools relevant to the current
position of the cursor or the object selected. For example, when the cursor is on
a graphic, the Formatting bar provides tools for formatting graphics.
Status bar
The status bar is located at the bottom of the workspace. It provides information
about the document. It is similar in Writer, Calc, Impress, and Draw, but each
LibreOffice component includes some component-specific items. An example of the
Writer status bar is shown in Fig. 5.3

Fig. 5.3: Status bar in Writer

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Technologies 5.3 WORD PROCESSING WITH
LIBREOFFICE: WRITER
LibreOffice Writer is the word processor application. In addition to the usual
features of a word processor (spelling check, thesaurus, hyphenation, autocorrect,
find and replace, automatic generation of tables of contents and indexes, mail merge
and others), Writer provides the following important features:
 Templates and styles.
 Page layout methods, including frames, columns, and tables.
 Embedding or linking of graphics, spreadsheets, and other objects.
 Built-in drawing tools.
 Master documents—to group a collection of documents into a single document
 Change tracking during revisions.
 Database integration, including a bibliography database.
 Export to PDF, including bookmarks.
Apart from these above mentioned features there are many more which are relevant
for all levels of users.

5.3.1 Working with Text

Working with text (selecting, copying, pasting, moving) in Writer is similar to
working with text in any other program. LibreOffice also has some convenient
ways to select items that are not next to each other, select a vertical block of text, and
paste unformatted text.
Selecting items that are not consecutive:
1) Select the first piece of text.
2) Hold down the Ctrl key and use the mouse to select the next piece of text.
3) Repeat as often as needed.
To select nonconsecutive items using the keyboard:
1) Select the first piece of text. (For more information about keyboard selection
of text, see the topic “Navigating and selecting with the keyboard” in the
Help.)
2) Press Shift+F8. This puts Writer in “Adding selection” mode.
3) Use the arrow keys to move to the start of the next piece of text to be
selected. Hold down the Shift key and select the next piece of text.
4) Repeat as often as required. Now Press Esc to exit from this mode.
Selecting a vertical block of text
You can select a vertical block or “column” of text that is separated by spaces or
tabs (as you might see in text pasted from e-mails, program listings, or other
sources), using LibreOffice’s block selection mode. To change to block selection
mode, use Edit > Selection Mode > Block Area, or press Ctrl+F8, or click on
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the Selection icon in the Status Bar and select Block selection from the list.
 Office Tools:
Word Processing,
Presentation
and Spreadsheets

Now highlight the selection, using mouse or keyboard, as shown below.

Fig. 5.4: Selecting a vertical block of text

Cutting, copying, and pasting text
Cutting and copying text in Writer is similar to cutting and copying text in
other applications. You can use the mouse or the keyboard for these operations.
You can copy or move text within a document, or between documents, by dragging
or by using menu selections, toolbar buttons, or keyboard shortcuts. You can also
copy text from other sources such as Web pages and paste it into a Writer
document.
To move (drag and drop) selected text using the mouse, drag it to the new location
and release it. To copy selected text, hold down the Ctrl key while dragging.
The text retains the formatting it had before dragging.
To move (cut and paste) selected text, use Ctrl+X to cut the text, insert the cursor
at the paste-in point and use Ctrl+V to paste. Alternatively, use the buttons on the
Standard toolbar.
When you paste text, the result depends on the source of the text and how you paste
it. If you click on the Paste button, any formatting the text has (such as bold or
italics) is retained. Text pasted from Web sites and other sources may also be placed
into frames or tables. If you do not like the results, click the Undo button or
press Ctrl+Z.
To make the pasted text take on the formatting of the surrounding text where it is
being pasted:
 Choose Edit > Paste Special, or
 Click the arrow button of the combination Paste button, or
 Click the Paste button without releasing the left mouse button. Then select
Unformatted text from the resulting menu.
The range of choices on the Paste Special menu varies depending on the origin and
formatting of the text (or other object) to be pasted.

Fig. 5.5: Paste Special 11

menu
Middleware Technologies Finding and replacing text and formatting
Writer has two ways to find text within a document: the Find toolbar for fast
searching and the Find & Replace dialog. In the dialog, you can:
 Find and replace words and phrases
 Use wildcards and regular expressions to fine-tune a search
 Find and replace specific attributes or formatting
 Find and replace paragraph styles
Using the Find & Replace dialog
To display the Find & Replace dialog, use the keyboard shortcut Ctrl+H or choose
Edit > Find & Replace from the Menu bar. If the Find toolbar is open, click the
Find

and Replace button ( ) on the toolbar. Once opened, optionally click the
Other Options symbol to expand the dialog. Click the button again to reduce
the dialog options.
To use the Find & Replace dialog:
1) Type the text you want to find in the Search for box.
2) To replace the text with different text, type the new text in the Replace with
box.
3) You can select various options such as matching the case, matching whole
words only, or doing a search for similar words.
4) When you have set up your search, click Find. To replace the found text,
click
Replace.
Inserting special characters
A special character is one not found on a standard English keyboard. For example,
©
¾ æ ç ñ ö ø ¢ are all special characters. To insert a special character:
1) Place the cursor where you want the character to appear.
2) Choose Insert > Special Character to open the Special Characters dialog.
3) Select the characters (from any font or mixture of fonts) you wish to insert,
in order, then click OK. The characters selected for insertion are shown in the
lower left of the dialog. As you select a character, it is shown on the right,
along with its numerical code.

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 Fig. 5.6: The Special Characters dialog, where youcan insert special characters

Fig. 5.5: Paste Special 11

menu
Checking spelling and grammar > AutoCorrect >
While Typing.
Writer provides a spelling checker, which can be used in two ways.
Choose Tools >
AutoSpellcheck checks each word as it is typed and displays a wavy red AutoCorrect Options
line under any unrecognised words. When the word is corrected, the line to open the
disappears. AutoCorrect dialog.
To perform a combined spelling and grammar check on the document (or a There you can define
text selection) click the Spelling and Grammar button. This checks the which strings of text
document or selection and opens the Spelling and Grammar dialog if any are corrected and how.
unrecognised words are found. In order to use this, the appropriate dictionaries In most cases, the
must be installed. By default, four dictionaries are installed: a spellchecker, defaults are fine.
a grammar checker, a hyphenation dictionary, and a thesaurus. To stop Writer
Using built-in language tools replacing a specific
spelling, go to the
Writer provides some tools that make your work easier if you mix multiple Replace tab, highlight
languages within the same document or if you write documents in various the word pair, and
languages. click Delete.
The main advantage of changing the language for a text selection is that you can
then use the correct dictionaries to check spelling and apply the localised
versions of Autocorrect replacement tables, thesaurus, grammar, and hyphenation
rules.
You can also set the language for a paragraph or a group of characters as None
(Do not check spelling). This option is especially useful when you insert text such
as web addresses or programming language snippets that you do not want to check
for spelling.
You can also set the language for the whole document, for individual paragraphs,
or even for individual words and characters, from Tools > Language on the
Menu bar.
Another way to change the language of a whole document is to use Tools > Options
> Language Settings > Languages. In the Default languages for documents
section, you can choose a different language for all the text that is not explicitly
marked as a different language.
The spelling checker works only for those languages in the list that have the
symbol

( ) next to them. If you do not see the symbol next to your preferred language,
you can install the additional dictionary using Tools > Language > More
Dictionaries Online.
The language used for checking spelling is also shown in the Status Bar, next to
the page style in use.
Using AutoCorrect
Writer’s AutoCorrect function has a long list of common misspellings and typing
errors, which it corrects automatically. For example, “hte” will be changed to
“the”.
AutoCorrect is turned on when Writer is installed. To turn it off, uncheck Format
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 Office Tools: Word Processing, Presentation
and Spreadsheets

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Middleware Technologies To add a new spelling to the list, type it into the Replace and With boxes on the
Replace tab, and click New.
See the different tabs of the dialog for the wide variety of other options available
to fine-tune AutoCorrect.

5.3.2 Formatting Text

Styles are central to using Writer. Styles enable you to easily format your
document consistently, and to change the format with minimal effort. A style is a
named set of formatting options. When you apply a style, you apply a whole group
of formats at the same time. In addition, styles are used by LibreOffice for many
processes, even if you are not aware of them. For example, Writer relies on heading
styles (or other styles you specify) when it compiles a table of contents.
Writer defines several types of styles, for different types of elements:
characters, paragraphs, pages, frames, and lists.
Formatting paragraphs
You can applymany formats to paragraphs using the buttons on the Formatting
toolbar and by using the Paragraph panel of the Sidebar’s Properties deck. Fig. 5.7
shows the Formatting toolbar as a floating toolbar, customised to show only the
buttons for paragraph formatting. The appearance of the buttons may vary with
your operating system and the selection of icon size and style in Tools > Options
> LibreOffice > View.

1 Open Styles and 5 Align Right 10 Numbering

On/Off Formatting Window 6 Justified 11 Bullets

On/Off
2 Apply Style 7 Line Spacing: 1 12 Decrease Indent
3 Align Left 8 Line Spacing: 1.5 13 Increase Indent
4 Centered 9 Line Spacing: 2 14 Paragraph format dialog

Fig. 5.7: Formatting toolbar, showing buttons for paragraph formatting

Formatting characters
You can apply many formats to characters using the buttons on the Formatting
toolbar. Fig. 5.8 shows the Formatting toolbar, customised to include only the
buttons for character formatting. The Character panel of the Sidebar’s Properties
deck also provides buttons for character formatting.
The appearance of the buttons may vary with your operating system and the
selection of icon size and style in Tools > Options > LibreOffice > View.

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 5.3.3 Formattin
g Pages
Writer provides
1. Open Styles and 6. Italic 11. Reduce
several ways for you
Font Formatting Window
to control page
2. Apply Style 7. Underline 12. Font Colour layouts: page styles,
3. Font Name 8. Superscript 13. Highlighting columns, frames,
tables, and sections.
4. Font Size 9. Subscript 14. Background Colour

5. Bold 10. Increase Font 15. Open Character Format

Dialog

Fig. 5.8: Formatting toolbar, showing buttons for character formatting

Autoformatting
You can set Writer to automatically format parts of a document according to the
choices made on the Options page of the AutoCorrect dialog (Tools >AutoCorrect
Options).
Creating numbered or bulleted lists
There are several ways to create numbered or bulleted lists:
 Use autoformatting, as described above.
 Use list (numbering) styles.
 Use the Numbering and Bullets buttons on the Formatting toolbar
Using the Bullets and Numbering toolbar
You can create nested lists (where one or more list items has a sub-list under it, as in
an outline) by using the buttons on the Bullets and Numbering toolbar (Fig. 5.9).
You can move items up or down the list, create sub-points, change the style of
bullets, and access the Bullets and Numbering dialog, which contains more
detailed controls. Use View > Toolbars > Bullets and Numbering to see the
toolbar.

1 Promote One Level 5 Insert Unnumbered Entry 8 Move Up with Subpoints

2 Demote One Level 9 Move Down with Subpoints 10 Restart Numbering

3 Promote One 6 Move Up 11 Bullets and Numbering

Level with
Subpoints
4 Demote One 7 Move Down
Level with
Subpoints

Fig. 5.9: Bullets and Numbering toolbar

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Office Tools: Word Processing, Presentation
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Middleware Technologies The best layout method depends on what the final document should look like and
what sort of information will be in the document. Here are some examples.
For a book with one column of
text, some figures without text beside
them, and some other figures with
descriptive text, use page styles for
basic layout, and tables to place
figures beside descriptive text
when necessary.

For an index or other document

with two columns of text, where
the text continues from the left-
hand column to the right-hand
column and then to the next page,
all in sequence (also known as
“snaking columns” of text), use page
styles (with two columns). If the
title of the document (on the first
page) is full-page width, put it in a
single-column section.

For a newsletter with complex

layout, two or three columns on
the page, and some articles that
continue from one page to some
place several pages later, use page
styles for basic layout. Place articles
in linked frames and anchor graphics
to fixed positions on the page if
necessary.

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For a document with terms and Office Tools:
translations to appear side-by- Word Processing,
side in what appear to be columns, Presentation
and Spreadsheets
use a table to keep items lined up,
and so you can type in both
“columns”.

Creating headers and footers

A header is an area that appears at the top of a page above the margin. A footer
appears at the bottom of the page below the margin. Information such as page
numbers inserted into a header or footer displays on every page of the document
with that page style.
To insert a header, you can either:
 Choose Insert > Header > Default Style (or some other page style, if not
Default Style), or
 Click above the top margin to make the Header marker appear (Fig. 5.10),
and then click on the +.

Fig. 5.10: Header marker at top of text area

After a header has been created, a down-arrow appears on the header marker.
Click on this arrow to drop down a menu of choices for working with the header
(Fig. 5.11).

Fig. 5.11: Header menu

To format a header, you can use either the menu item shown in Figure 26 or Format
> Page > Header. Both methods take you to the same tab on the Page Style
dialog.
Other information such as document titles and chapter titles is often put into the
header or footer. These items are best added as fields. That way, if something
changes, the headers and footers are updated automatically. Here is one common
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example.
To insert the document title into the header:
1) Choose File > Properties > Description and type a title for your document.

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Middleware Technologies 2) Add a header (Insert > Header > Default).
3) Place the cursor in the header part of the page.
4) Choose Insert > Fields > Title. The title should appear on a gray
background (which does not show when printed and can be turned off).
5) To change the title for the whole document, go back to File > Properties
> Description.
Changing page margins
You can change page margins in three ways:
 Using the page rulers—quick and easy, but does not have fine control
 Using the Page Style dialog—can specify margins to two decimal places
 Using the Page panel on the Properties deck of the
Sidebar To change margins using the rulers:
1) The gray sections of the rulers are the margins. Put the mouse cursor over the
line between the gray and white sections. The pointer turns into a double-
headed arrow and displays the current setting in a tool-tip.
2) Hold down the left mouse button and drag the mouse to move the margin.

Fig. 5.12: Moving the margins

To change margins using the Page Style dialog:

1) Right-click anywhere in the text area on the page and select Page from the
context menu.
2) On the Page tab of the dialog, type the required distances in the Margins
boxes. To change margins using the Page panel of the Properties deck of the
Sidebar:
1) On the open Sidebar (View > Sidebar) select the Properties tab.
2) Open the Page panel if is not open by clicking the plus (+) symbol in the panel
title
3) Click the Margin button to open the sub-panel and enter the required
dimensions in the Custom size boxes (clicking the More Options button will
open the Page Style dialog).

5.3.4 Using Mail Merge

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 Writer provides very useful features to create and print:
 Multiple copies of a document to send to a list of different recipients (form
letters)

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  Mailing labels In contrast, cross-
references to
 Envelopes figures with
All these facilities use a registered data source (a spreadsheet or database containing captions
the name and address records and other information). automatically
show useful text,
5.3.5 Tracking Changes to a Document and you have a
choice of several
You can use several methods to keep track of changes made to a document. variations of the
1) Make your changes to a copy of the document (stored in a different folder, name.
or under a different name, or both), then use Writer to combine the two files
and show the differences. Choose Edit > Compare Document. This
technique is particularly useful if you are the only person working on the
document, as it avoids the increase in file size and complexity caused by the
other methods.
2) Save versions that are stored as part of the original file. However, this method
can cause problems with documents of non-trivial size or complexity, especially
if you save a lot of versions. Avoid this method if you can.
3) Use Writer’s change marks (often called “redlines” or “revision marks”) to
show where you have added or deleted material, or changed formatting.
Choose Edit > Changes > Record before starting to edit. Later, you or
another person can review and accept or reject each change. Choose Edit
> Changes > Show. Right-click on an individualchange and choose Accept
Change or Reject Change from the context menu, or choose Edit > Changes
>Accept or Reject to view the list of changes and accept or reject them.

5.3.6 Linking to another Part of a Document

If you type in cross-references to other parts of a document, those references can
easily get out of date if you reorganize the order of topics, add or remove material,
or reword a heading. Writer provides two ways to ensure that your references are
up to date, by inserting links to other parts of the same document or to a different
document:
 Hyperlinks
 Cross-references
The two methods have the same result if you Ctrl+click the link when the document is
open in Writer: you are taken directly to the cross-referenced item. However, they
also have major differences:
 The text in a hyperlink does not automatically update if you change the text of
the linked item (although you can change it manually), but changed text
does automatically update in a cross-reference.
 When using a hyperlink, you do not have a choice of the content of the link
(for example text or page number), but when using a cross-reference, you have
several choices, including bookmarks.
 To hyperlink to an object such as a graphic, and have the hyperlink show
useful text. You need to give such an object a useful name (instead of a default
name like Graphics6), or use the Hyperlink dialog to modify the visible text.
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 Office Tools: Word Processing, Presentation
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Middleware Technologies  If you save a Writer document to HTML, hyperlinks remain active but
cross- references do not. (Both remain active when the document is exported
to PDF.)
Using hyperlinks
The easiest way to insert a hyperlink to another part of the same document is by
using the Navigator:
1) Open the document containing the items you want to cross-reference.
2) Open the Navigator by clicking its button, choosing View > Navigator, or
by pressing F5.
3) Click the arrow part of the combination Drag Mode button, and choose
Insert as Hyperlink.
4) In the list at the bottom of the Navigator, select the document containing the
item that you want to cross-reference.
5) In the Navigator list, select the item that you want to insert as a hyperlink.
6) Drag the item to where you want to insert the hyperlink in the document.
The name of the item is inserted in the document as an active hyperlink.
You can also use the Hyperlink dialog to insert and modify hyperlinks within and
between documents.

Fig. 5.13: Inserting a hyperlink using the Navigator

Using cross-references
If you type in references to other parts of the document, those references can easily
get out of date if you reword a heading, add or remove figures, or reorganize topics.
Replace any typed cross- references with automatic ones and, when you update
fields, all the references willupdate automatically to show the current wording or
page numbers. The Cross-references tab of the Fields dialog lists some items, such as
headings, bookmarks, figures, tables, and numbered items such as steps in a
procedure. You can also create your own reference items.
To insert a cross-reference to a heading, figure, bookmark, or other item:
25
 1) In your document, place the cursor where you want the cross-reference to
appear.

26
 2) If the Fields dialog is not open, click Insert > Cross-reference. On the Office Tools:
Cross- references tab (Fig. 5.14), in the Type list, select the type of item to be Word Processing,
referenced (for example, Heading or Figure). You can leave this page open Presentation
and Spreadsheets
while you insert many cross-references.
3) Click on the required item in the Selection list, which shows all the items of
the selected type. In the Insert reference to list, choose the format required.
The list varies according to the Type. The most commonly used options are
Reference (to insert the full text of a heading or caption), Category and
Number (to insert a figure number preceded by the word Figure or Table,
but without the caption text), Numbering (to insert only the figure or table
number, without the word “Figure” or “Table”), or Page (to insert the number
of the page the referenced text is on). Click Insert.

Fig. 5.14: The Cross-references tab of the Fields dialog

Self-Check Exercise
Note: i) Write your answers in the space given below.
i) Check your answers with the answers given at the end of this Unit.
1) Enumerate important features of LibreOffice Writer.
.....................................................................................................................
.....................................................................................................................
.....................................................................................................................
.....................................................................................................................

5.4 PRESENTATIONS WITH

LIBREOFFICE: IMPRESS
Impress is the presentation (slide show) program included in LibreOffice. You can
create slides that contain many different elements, including text, bulleted and
numbered
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Middleware
lists, tables, charts, and a wide range of graphic objects such as clipart, drawings
Technologies
and photographs. Impress also includes a spelling checker, a thesaurus, text
styles, and background styles.
To use Impress for more than very simple slide shows requires some knowledge of
the elements which the slides contain. Slides containing text use styles to
determine the appearance of that text. Creating drawings in Impress is similar to
the Draw program included in LibreOffice.
When you start Impress for the first time, the Presentation Wizard is shown. Here
you can choose from the following options:
 Empty presentation gives you a blank document
 From template is a presentation designed with a template of your choice
 Open existing presentation
 Click Create to open the main Impress window.
If you prefer not to use the Presentation Wizard in future, you can select Do not
show this wizard again. You can enable the wizard again later in Tools > Options >
LibreOffice Impress > General > New document and select the Start with wizard
option.

5.4.1 Main Impress Window

The main Impress window (Fig. 5.15) has three parts: the Slides pane,
Workspace, and Sidebar. Additionally, several toolbars can be displayed or hidden
during the creation of a presentation.

Fig. 5.15: Main window of Impress; ovals indicate the Hide/Show markers

Slides pane
The Slides pane contains thumbnail pictures of the slides in your presentation, in
the order they will be shown unless you change the slide show order. Clicking a slide
in this pane selects it and places it in the Workspace. When a slide is in the
Workspace, you can make changes any way you like.
Several additional operations can be performed on one or more slides
simultaneously in the Slides pane:
22
 Add new slides to the presentation. Office Tools:
Word Processing,
 Mark a slide as hidden so that it will not be shown as part of the presentation. Presentation
and Spreadsheets
 Delete a slide from the presentation if it is no longer needed.
 Rename a slide.
 Duplicate a slide (copy and paste) or move it to a different position in the
presentation (cut and paste).
It is also possible to perform the following operations, although there are more
efficient methods than using the Slides pane:
 Change the slide transition following the selected slide or after each slide in
a group of slides.
 Change the sequence of slides in the presentation.
 Change the slide design.
 Change slide layout for a group of slides simultaneously.
Sidebar
The Sidebar has seven sections. To expand a section you want to use, click on its
icon or click on the small triangle at the top of the icons and select a section from
the drop down list. Only one section at a time can be open.

Properties
Shows the layouts included within Impress. You can choose the one you want and
use it as it is, or modify it to meet your own requirements. However, it is not
possible to save customised layouts.

Master Pages
Here you define the page (slide) style for your presentation. Impress includes
several designs of Master Pages (slide masters). One of them – Default – is blank,
and the rest have background and styled text.

Custom Animation
A variety of animations can be used to emphasize or enhance different elements of
each slide. The CustomAnimation section provides an easy way to add, change, or
remove animations.

Slide Transition
Provides a number of slide transition options. The default is set to No Transition,
in which the following slide simply replaces the existing one. However, many
additional transitions are available. You can also specify the transition speed (slow,
medium, fast), choose between an automatic or manual transition, and choose how
long the selected slide should be shown (automatic transition only).

Styles and Formatting

Here you can edit and apply graphics styles, but you can only edit presentation
styles. 23
Middleware Technologies When you edit a style, the changes are automatically applied to all of the
elements formatted with this style in your presentation. If you want to ensure that
the styles on a specific slide are not updated, create a new master page for the
slide.

Gallery
Opens the Impress gallery where you can insert an object into your presentation
either as a copy or as a link. Acopy of an object is independent of the original object.
Changes to the original object have no effect on the copy. A link remains
dependent on the original object. Changes to the original object are also
reflected in the link.

Navigator
Opens the Impress navigator, in which you can quickly move to another slide or
select an object on a slide. It is recommended to give slides and objects in your
presentation meaningful names so that you can easily identify them when using
the navigator.
Workspace
The Workspace (normally in the center of the main window) has five tabs:
Normal, Outline, Notes Handout, and Slide Sorter (Fig.5.16). These five tabs are
called View buttons. The Workspace below the View buttons changes depending
on the chosen view.

Fig.5.16: Workspace tabs

Workspace views
Each of the workspace views is designed to ease the completion of certain tasks; it
is therefore useful to familiarize yourself with them in order to quickly accomplish
those tasks. Note Each Workspace view displays a different set of toolbars when
selected. These toolbar sets can be customised by going to View > Toolbars on
the Menu bar, then check or uncheck the toolbar you want to add or remove.
Normal view
Normal view is the main view for working with individual slides. Use this view to
format and design and to add text, graphics, and animation effects.
Outline view
Outline view (Fig. 5.17) contains all the slides of the presentation in their
numbered sequence. It shows topic titles, bulleted lists, and numbered lists for each
slide in outline format. Only the text contained in the default text boxes in each
slide is shown, so if your slide includes other text boxes or drawing objects, the
text in these objects is not displayed. Slide names are also not included.

24
 Office Tools:
Word Processing,
Presentation
and Spreadsheets

Fig. 5.17: Outline view

Notes view
Use the Notes view (Fig. 5.18) to add notes to a slide. These notes are not seen
when the presentation is shown.

Fig. 5.18: Notes view

1) Click the Notes tab in the Workspace.

2) Select the slide to which you want to add notes.
3) Click the slide in the Slides pane, or double-click the slide name in the Navigator.
4) In the text box below the slide, click on the words Click to add notes and
begin typing.
You can resize the Notes text box using the coloured resising handles which
appear when you click on the edge of the box. You can also move the box by
placing the pointer on the border, then clicking and dragging. To make changes
in the text style, press the F11 key to open the Styles and Formatting dialog or
click on the Styles and
Formatting icon on the Sidebar.
Handout view
Handout view is for setting up the layout of your slide for a printed handout. Click
the Handout tab in the workspace and the Layouts section opens on the Sidebar
(Fig. 5.19) where you can then choose to print 1, 2, 3, 4, 6, or 9 slides per page.
If the
Layouts section does not open, then click on the Properties icon at the side of
25
the Sidebar. Use this view also to customize the information printed on the
handout.

26
Middleware
Technologies

Fig. 5.19: Handout layouts

Slide Sorter
view
Slide Sorter view (Fig. 5.20) contains all of the slide thumbnails. Use this view to
work with a group of slides or with only one slide.

Fig. 5.20: Slide Sorter view

You can work with slides in the Slide Sorter view just as you can in the Slide pane.
To make changes, right-click a slide and choose any of the following from the
context menu:
 New Slide – adds a new slide after the selected slide.
 Duplicate Slide – creates a duplicate of the selected slide and places the new
slide immediately after the selected slide.
 Delete Slide – deletes the selected slide.
 Rename Slide – allows you to rename the selected slide.
 Slide Layout – allows you to change the layout of the selected slide.
 Slide Transition – allows you to change the transition of the selected slide.
– For one slide, select a slide and add the desired transition.
– For more than one slide, select a group of slides and add the desired
transition.
 Hide Slide – any slides that are hidden are not shown in the slide show.
 Cut – removes the selected slide and saves it to the clipboard.
 Copy – copies the selected slide to the clipboard without removing it.
27
  Paste – inserts a slide from the clipboard after the selected slide.

28
 5.4.2 Creating a New Presentation Office Tools:
Word Processing,
This section describes how to start a new presentation using the Presentation Wizard. Presentation
and Spreadsheets
When you start Impress, the Presentation Wizard appears (Fig. 5.21).
1) Under Type, choose one of the options. These options are covered in the
Impress Guide.
– Empty presentation creates a blank presentation.
– From template uses a template design already created as the basis for a
new presentation.
The wizard changes to show a list of available templates. Choose the template you
want.
– Open existing presentation continues work on a previously created
presentation. The wizard changes to show a list of existing presentations. Choose
the presentation you want.

Fig. 5.21: Presentation Wizard

2) Click Next. Fig. 5.22 shows the Presentation Wizard step 2 as it appears if
you selected Empty Presentation at step 1. If you selected From template, an
example slide is shown in the Preview box.

Fig. 5.22: Selecting a slide design

3) Choose a design under Select a slide design. The slide design section gives
you two main choices: Presentation Backgrounds and Presentations. Each one
has a list of choices for slide designs. If you want to use one of these other
than
<Original>, click it to select it.
29
Middleware Technologies – The types of Presentation Backgrounds are shown in Fig. 5.22. When you
select a presentation background, you will see a preview of the slide design in
the Preview window.
– <Original> is for a blank presentation slide design.
4) Select how the presentation will be used under Select an output medium.
Majority of presentations are created for computer screen display. It is
recommended to select Screen. You can change the page format at any time.
5) Click Next and step 3 of the Presentation Wizard appears (Fig. 5.23).
– Choose the desired slide transition from the Effect drop-down menu.
– Select the desired speed for the transition between the different slides in
the presentation from the Speed drop-down menu. Medium is a good
choice for now.

Fig. 5.23: Selecting a slide transition effect

6) Click Next and step 4 of the Presentation Wizard appears allowing you to
enter information about your company and the presentation you are
creating.

Fig. 5.24: Entering information about your presentation

7) Click Next and step 5 of the Presentation Wizard appears showing a preview
of what your presentation will look like (Fig. 5.25). If the preview does not
appear, select Preview.
8) If you want to create a summary of your presentation, select Create summary.
9) Click Create and your new presentation is created.
30
 6) A duplicate slide
is inserted after
the selected slide
in the
presentation.

Fig. 5.25: Presentation preview

5.4.3 Formatting a Presentation

A new presentation contains only one empty slide. In this section we will start adding
new slides and preparing them for the intended contents.
Inserting slides
New slide
A new slide can be inserted into a presentation as follows:
1) Go to Insert on the Menu bar and select Slide.
2) Or right-click on a slide in the Slides Pane or Slide Sorter view and select
New Slide from the context menu.
3) Or, right click in an empty space in the Workspace and select Slide > New
Slide
from the context menu.

4) Or click the Slide icon in the Presentation toolbar. If the Presentation

toolbar is not visible, go to View > Toolbars on the Menu bar and select
Presentation from the list.
5) A new slide is inserted after the selected slide in the presentation.
Duplicate slide
Sometimes, rather than starting from a new slide you may want to duplicate a slide
already included in your presentation. To duplicate a slide:
1) Select the slide you want to duplicate from the Slides Pane.
2) Go to Insert on the Menu bar and select Duplicate Slide.
3) Or, right click on the slide in the Slides Pane or Slide Sorter view and
select
Duplicate Slide from the context menu.
4) Or, right click on a slide in the Workspace and select Slide > Duplicate Slide
from the context menu.

5) Or click on the triangle to the right of the Slide icon in the

Presentation toolbar and select Duplicate Slide from the context menu. If
the Presentation
toolbar is not visible, go to View > Toolbars on the Menu bar and select
Presentation from the list.
 Office Tools: Word Processing, Presentation
and Spreadsheets

29
32
Middleware Technologies Selecting slide layout
When creating a presentation, the first slide is normally a title slide. You can use
either a blank layout or one of the title layouts as your title slide. Click on the
Properties icon at the side of the Sidebar to open Layouts section and display
the available layouts
(Fig. 5.26). The layouts included in LibreOffice range from a blank slide to a slide
with
six contents boxes and a title.

Fig. 5.26: Available slide layouts

To create a title, if one of the title layouts has been selected, click on Click to add
title and then type the title text. To add text content, depending on the slide layout
selected, click on Click to add text.
To select or change the layout of a slide, select the slide in the Slides Pane so
that it appears in the Workspace and select the desired layout from the Layouts
section in the Sidebar. Several layouts contain one or more content boxes. Each
of these content boxes can be configured to contain text, movies, images, charts
or tables. You can choose the type of contents by clicking on the corresponding
icon that is displayed in the middle of the contents box as shown in Fig.5.27. If you
intend to use the contents box for text, click on Click to add text.

30
Fig.5.27: Selecting contents type

31
Modifying slide elements on the details. Rather
than having to create a
Aslide contains elements that were included in the slide master, as well as those new presentation, you
elements included in the selected slide layout. However, it is unlikely that the can use two tools that
predefined layouts will suit all your needs for your presentation. You may want to Impress offers: hiding
remove elements that are not required or insert objects such as text and graphics. slides and custom
Although Impress does not have the functionality to create new layouts, it allows you slide shows.
to resize and move the layout elements. It is also possible to add elements without
being limited to the size and position of the layout boxes.
To resize a contents box, click on the outer frame so that the resising handles
are displayed. To move it, place the mouse cursor on the frame so that the cursor
changes shape. You can now click and drag the contents box to a new position
on the slide.
To remove any unwanted elements:
1) Click the element to highlight it. The resising handles show it is selected.
2) Press the Delete key to remove it.
Adding text
To add text to a slide that contains a text frame, click on Click to add text in the
text frame and then type your text. The Outline styles are automatically applied to the
text as you insert it. You can change the outline level of each paragraph as well as
its position within the text by using the arrow buttons on the Text Formatting
toolbar.
Adding objects
To add any objects to a slide, for example a picture, clipart, drawing, photograph,
or spreadsheet, click on Insert then select from the drop down menu what type of
object you want to insert.
Modifying appearance of all slides
To change the background and other characteristics of all slides in the presentation,
you need to modify the master page or choose a different master page. A Slide
Master is a slide with a specified set of characteristics that acts as a template and
is used as the starting point for creating other slides. These characteristics include
slide background, objects in the background, formatting of any text used, and any
background graphics.

5.4.4 Setting up a Slide Show

Impress allocates reasonable default settings for slide shows, while at the same
time allowing for customising many aspects of the slide show experience.
Most of the tasks are best done in Slide Sorter view where you can see most of
the slides simultaneously. Go to View > Slide Sorter on the Menu bar or click the
Slide Sorter tab at the top of the Workspace.
One slide set – multiple presentations
In many situations, you may find that you have more slides than the time available
to present them or you may want to provide a rapid overview without dwelling
32
Office Tools: Word Processing, Presentation
and Spreadsheets

33
Middleware Technologies Hiding slides
1) Select the slide you want to hide in the Slide Pane or Slide Sorter view on
the Workspace area.
2) Go to Slide Show > Hide Slide on the Menu bar or right-click on the
slide thumbnail and select Hide Slide from the context menu. Hidden slides are
marked by a diagonal bars across the slide.
Custom slide shows
If you want to create a custom slide show from the same presentation:
1) Select the slides you want to use in your custom slide show.
2) Go to Slide Show > Custom Slide Show on the Menu bar.
3) Click on the New button to create a new sequence of slides and save it
with a different name. You can have as many slide shows as you want
from a single presentation.
Slide transitions
Slide transition is the animation that is played when a slide is changed for the next
slide in your presentation. You can configure the slide transition from the Slide
Transition section in the Tasks Pane.
1) Go to Slide Show > Slide Transition on the Menu bar or click on the
Slide Transition icon on the Sidebar to open the options available for slide
transitions.
2) Select the desired transition, the speed of the animation, and whether the
transition should happen when you click the mouse (preferred) or
automaticallyafter a certain number of seconds.
Running a slide show
To run a slide show, do one of the following:
 Click Slide Show > Start from first Slide on the Menu bar.
 Click the Start from first Slide icon on the Presentation toolbar.
 Press F5 on the keyboard.
If the slide advance is set to Automatically after X sec, let the slide show run by
itself. If the slide advance is set to On mouse click, do one of the following to move
from one slide to the next:
 Use the arrow keys on the keyboard to go to the next slide or to go back to
the previous one.
 Click the mouse to move to the next slide.
 Press the spacebar on the keyboard to advance to the next slide.
Right-click anywhere on the screen to open a context menu where you can
navigate through the slides and set other options.

34
To exit the slide show at any time including when the slide show has ended, press Office Tools:
the Esc key. Word Processing,
Presentation
Self-Check Exercise and Spreadsheets

Note: i) Write your answers in the space given below.

i) Check your answers with the answers given at the end of this Unit.
2) Discuss the steps in running a slide show.
.....................................................................................................................
.....................................................................................................................
.....................................................................................................................
.....................................................................................................................

5.5 SPREADSHEETS WITH LIBREOFFICE: CALC

Calc is the spreadsheet component of LibreOffice. You can enter data (usually
numerical) in a spreadsheet and then manipulate this data to produce certain
results.
Other features provided by Calc include:
 Functions, which can be used to create formulas to perform complex
calculations on data.
 Database functions, to arrange, store, and filter data.
 Dynamic charts; a wide range of 2D and 3D charts.
 Macros, for recording and executing repetitive tasks; scripting languages
supported Include LibreOffice Basic, Python, BeanShell, and JavaScript.
 Ability to open, edit, and save Microsoft Excel spreadsheets.
 Import and export of spreadsheets in multiple formats, including HTML,
CSV, PDF, and PostScript.
Calc works with elements called spreadsheets. Spreadsheets consist of a number
of individual sheets, each sheet containing cells arranged in rows and columns.
Aparticular cell is identified by its row number and column letter. Cells hold the
individual elements – text, numbers, formulas, and so on – that make up the data to
display and manipulate. Each spreadsheet can have several sheets, and each sheet
can have several individual cells. In Calc, each sheet can have a maximum of
1,048,576 rows (65,536 rows in Calc 3.2 and earlier) and a maximum of 1024
columns.

5.5.1 Calc Main Window

When Calc is started, the main window opens as shown in Fig. 5.28.

35
Middleware
Technologies

Fig. 5.28: Calc main dialog, without Sidebar

Formula bar is a special component of the Calc which is not common with
other LibreOffice applications is described below.
Formula bar
The Formula Bar is located at the top of the sheet in the Calc workspace. The
Formula Bar is permanently docked in this position and cannot be used as a
floating toolbar. If the Formula Bar is not visible, go to View on the Menu bar and
select Formula Bar.

Fig. 5.29: Formula bar

Going from left to right and referring to Figure 2, the Formula Bar consists of
the following:
 Name Box – gives the cell reference using a combination of a letter and
number, for example A1. The letter indicates the column and the number
indicates the row of the selected cell.
 Function Wizard – opens a dialog from which you can search through a
list of available functions. This can be very useful because it also shows
how the functions are formatted.
 Sum – clicking on the Sum icon totals the numbers in the cells above
the selected cell and then places the total in the selected cell. If there are no
numbers above the selected cell, then the cells to the left are totalled.
Function = – clicking on the Function icon inserts an equals (=) sign into the
selected cell and the Input line, allowing a formula to be entered.
 Input line – displays the contents of the selected cell (data, formula, or
function) and allows you to edit the cell contents.
 You can also edit the contents of a cell directly in the cell itself by double-
clicking on the cell. When you enter new data into a cell, the Sum and
Function icons change to Cancel and Accept icons .
5.5.2 Spreadsheet Layout
Individual cells
The main section of the workspace in Calc displays the cells in the form of a grid.
34 Each cell is formed by the intersection of the columns and rows in the
spreadsheet.
At the top of the columns and the left end of the rows are a series of header Fig. 5.30: Text Import
boxes containing letters and numbers. The column headers use an alpha character dialog
starting at A and go on to the right. The row headers use a numerical character
starting at 1 and go down.
These column and row headers form the cell references that appear in the Name
Box on the Formula Bar (Figure 2). If the headers are not visible on your
spreadsheet, go to View on the Menu bar and select Column & Row Headers.
Sheet tabs
In Calc you can have more than one sheet in a spreadsheet. At the bottom of the grid
of cells in a spreadsheet are sheet tabs indicating how many sheets are there in
your spreadsheet. Clicking on a tab enables access to each individual sheet and
displays that sheet. An active sheet is indicated with a white tab (default Calc
setup). You can also select multiple sheets by holding down the Ctrl key while
you click on the sheet tabs.

5.5.3 Opening a CSV File

Comma-separated-values (CSV) files are spreadsheet files in a text format where
cell contents are separated by a character, for example a comma or semi-colon.
Each line in a CSV text file represents a row in a spreadsheet. Text is entered
between quotation marks; numbers are entered without quotation marks.
To open a CSV file in Calc:
1) Choose File > Open on the Menu bar and locate the CSV file that you want
to open.
2) Select the file and click Open. By default, a CSV file has the extension
.csv. However, some CSV files may have a .txt extension.
3) The Text Import dialog (Fig. 5.30) opens allowing you to select the
various options available when importing a CSV file into a Calc
spreadsheet.
4) Click OK to open and import the file.

35
 Office Tools: Word Processing, Presentation
and Spreadsheets

36
Middleware Technologies The various options for importing CSV files into a Calc spreadsheet are as follows:
 Import
– Character Set – specifies the character set to be used in the imported file.
– Language – determines how the number strings are imported.
If Language is set to Default for CSV import, Calc will use the globally set language.
If Language is set to a specific language, that language will be used when importing
numbers.
– From Row – specifies the row where you want to start the import. The rows
are visible in the preview window at the bottom of the dialog.
 Separator Options – specifies whether your data uses separators or fixed
widths as delimiters.
– Fixed width – separates fixed-width data (equal number of characters) into
columns. Click on the ruler in the preview window to set the width.
– Separated by – select the separator used in your data to delimit the data
into columns.
When you select Other, you specify the character used to separate data into
columns. This custom separator must also be contained in your data.
– Merge delimiters – combines consecutive delimiters and removes blank
data fields.
– Text delimiter – select a character to delimit text data.
 Other options
– Quoted fields as text – when this option is enabled, fields or cells whose
values are quoted in their entirety (the first and last characters of the value
equal the text delimiter) are imported as text.
– Detect special numbers – when this option is enabled, Calc will
automatically detect all number formats, including special number formats
such as dates, time, and scientific notation.
The selected language also influences how such special numbers are detected,
since different languagesand regions manyhave different conventions for such
specialnumbers.
When this option is disabled, Calc will detect and convert only decimal numbers.
The rest, including numbers formatted in scientific notation, willbe imported as text.
Adecimal number string can have digits 0-9, thousands separators, and a decimal
separator. Thousands separators and decimal separators may vary with the selected
language and region.
 Fields – shows how your data will look when it is separated into columns.
– Column type – select a column in the preview window and select the data type
to be applied the imported data.
– Standard – Calc determines the type of data.
– Text – imported data are treated as text.
– US English – numbers formatted in US English are searched for and
37
 included regardless of the system language. Anumber format is not applied. If
there are no US English entries, the Standard format is applied.

38
 – Hide – the data in the column are not imported. Fig. 5.31: Navigator dialog
in Calc
5.5.4 Navigating within Spreadsheets
Calc provides many ways to navigate within a spreadsheet from cell to cell and sheet to
sheet. You can generally use the method you prefer.
Cell navigation
When a cell is selected or in focus, the cell borders are emphasised. When a group of
cells is selected, the cell area is coloured. The colour of the cell border emphasis
and the colour of a group of selected cells depend on the operating system being
used and how you have set up LibreOffice.
 Using the mouse – place the mouse pointer over the cell and click the left
mouse button.
To move the focus to another cell using the mouse, simply move the mouse pointer to
the cell where you want the focus to be and click the left mouse button.
 Using a cell reference – highlight or delete the existing cell reference in
the Name Box on the Formula Bar (Fig. 5.29). Type the new cell reference of
the cell you want to move to and press Enter key. Cell references are case-
insensitive: for example, typing either a3 or A3 will move the focus to cell
A3.

Using the Navigator – click on the Navigator icon on the Standard toolbar
or press the F5 key to open the Navigator dialog (Fig. 5.31) or click the
Navigator Tab
button in the open Sidebar. Type the cell reference into the Column and Row fields and
press the Enter key.
 Using the Enter key – pressing Enter moves the cell focus down in a column
to the next row. Pressing Shift+Enter moves the focus up in a column to the
next row.
 Using the Tab key – pressing Tab moves the cell focus right in a row to the
next column.
Pressing Shift+Tab moves the focus to the left in a row to the next column.
 Using the arrow keys – pressing the arrow keys on the keyboard moves the
cell focus in the direction of the arrow pressed.

39
 Office Tools: Word Processing, Presentation
and Spreadsheets

40
Middleware Technologies  Using Home, End, Page Up and Page Down
– Home moves the cell focus to the start of a row.
– End moves the cell focus to the last cell on the right in the row that
contains data.
– Page Down moves the cell focus down one complete screen display.
– Page Up moves the cell focus up one complete screen display.
Sheet navigation
Each sheet in a spreadsheet is independent of the other sheets in a spreadsheet,
though references can be linked from one sheet to another sheet. There are three
ways to navigate between different sheets in a spreadsheet.
 Using the Navigator – when the Navigator is open (Fig. 5.31), double-
clicking on any of the listed sheets selects the sheet.
 Using the keyboard – using key combinations Ctrl+Page Down moves
one sheet to the right and Ctrl+Page Up moves one sheet to the left.
 Using the mouse – clicking on one of the sheet tabs at the bottom of the
spreadsheet selects that sheet.
If your spreadsheet contains a lot of sheets, then some of the sheet tabs may be
hidden behind the horizontal scroll bar at the bottom of the screen. If this is the
case:
 Using the four buttons to the left of the sheet tabs can move the tabs into view
(Fig. 5.32).
 Dragging the scroll bar edge to the right may reveal all the tabs.
 Right-clicking on any of the arrows opens a context menu where you can
select a sheet (see Fig. 5.33).

Fig. 5.32: Navigating sheet tabs

41
 Fig. 5.33: Right-click any arrow button

42
5.5.5 Working with Columns and Rows Office Tools:
Word Processing,
Inserting columns and rows Presentation
and Spreadsheets
When you insert a column, it is inserted to the left of the highlighted column. When
you insert a row, it is inserted above the highlighted row. When you insert columns
or rows, the cells take the formatting of the corresponding cells in the next column
to left or the row above.
Single column or row
Using the Insert menu:
1) Select a cell, column, or row where you want the new column or row inserted.
2) Go to Insert on the Menu bar and select either Insert > Columns or Insert
> Rows.
Using the mouse:
1) Select a column or row where you want the new column or row inserted.
2) Right-click the column or row header.
3) Select Insert Columns or Insert Rows from the context menu.
Multiple columns or rows
Multiple columns or rows can be inserted at once rather than inserting them one
at a time.
1) Highlight the required number of columns or rows by holding down the left
mouse button on the first one and then dragging across the required number of
identifiers.
2) Proceed as for inserting a single column or row above.
Deleting columns and rows
Single column or row
To delete a single column or row:
1) Select a cell in the column or row you want to delete.
2) Go to Edit on the Menu bar and select Delete Cells or right-click and
select
Delete from the context menu.
3) Select the option you require from the Delete Cells dialog (Fig. 5.34).

Fig. 5.34: Delete Cells dialog

Alternatively:
43
1) Click in the column or header to select the column or row.

44
Middleware Technologies 2) Go to Edit on the Menu bar and select Delete Cells or right-click and select
Delete Columns or Delete Rows from the context menu.
Multiple columns or rows
To delete multiple columns or rows:
1) Select the columns or rows
2) Go to Edit on the Menu bar and select Delete Cells or right-click and select
Delete Columns or Delete Rows from the context menu.

5.5.6 Working with Sheets

Click on the Add Sheet icon . This inserts a new sheet after the last sheet in the
spreadsheet without opening the Insert Sheet dialog. You can move or copy
sheets within the same spreadsheet by dragging and dropping or using the
Move/Copy Sheet dialog. To move or copy a sheet into a different spreadsheet,
you have to use the Move/Copy Sheet dialog.
Using a dialog
Use the Move/Copy Sheet dialog (Fig. 5.35) to specify exactly whether you want the
sheet in the same or a different spreadsheet, its position within the spreadsheet,
the sheet name when you move or copy the sheet.
1) In the current document, right-click on the sheet tab you wish to move or
copy and select Move/Copy Sheet from the context menu or go to Edit >
Sheet > Move/Copy on the Menu bar.
2) Select Move to move the sheet or Copy to copy the sheet.
3) Select the spreadsheet where you want the sheet to be placed from the
drop- down list in To document. This can be the same spreadsheet, another
spreadsheet already open, or you can create a new spreadsheet.
4) Select the position in Insert before where you want to place the sheet.
5) Type a name in the New name text box if you want to rename the sheet when
it is moved or copied. If you do not enter a name, Calc creates a default name
(Sheet 1, Sheet 2, and so on).
6) Click OK to confirm the move or copy and close the dialog.

Fig. 5.35: Insert Sheet dialog

45
Deleting sheets Fig. 5.36: Sort Criteria
dialog
To delete a single sheet, right-click on the sheet tab you want to delete and
select Delete Sheet from the context menu, or go to Edit > Sheet > Delete
from on the Menu bar. Click Yes to confirm the deletion.

5.5.7 Working with a Spreadsheet

Entering Numeric Data
Click in the cell and type in the number using the number keys on either the
main keyboard or the numeric keypad. To enter a negative number, either type a
minus (–) sign in front of it or enclose it in parentheses (brackets), like this: (1234).
By default, numbers are right-aligned and negative numbers have a leading minus
symbol.
Entering Text
Click in the cell and type the text. Text is left-aligned by default. If a number is
entered in the format 01481, Calc will drop the leading 0. To preserve the
leading zero, for example for telephone area codes, type an apostrophe before
the number, like this: ‘01481. The data is now treated as text and displayed
exactly as entered.
Using the Fill Tool on cells
At its simplest, the Fill tool is a way to duplicate existing content. Start by selecting
the cell to copy, then drag the mouse in any direction (or hold down the Shift key
and click in the last cell you want to fill), and then choose Edit > Fill and the direction
in which you want to copy: Up, Down, Left or Right. A more complex use of the
Fill tool is to add a fill series to a spreadsheet, select the cells to fill, choose Edit
> Fill > Series.
Formatting Numbers
Several different number formats can be applied to cells by using icons on the
Formatting toolbar. Select the cell, then click the relevant icon. Some icons may not
be visible in a default setup; click the down-arrow at the end of the Formatting bar
and select other icons to display.

5.5.8 Sorting Records

Sorting within Calc arranges the cells in a sheet using the sort criteria that you
specify. Several criteria can be used and a sort applies each criteria
consecutively. Sorts are useful when you are searching for a particular item and
become even more useful after you have filtered data.
Also, sorting is useful when you add new information to your spreadsheet.
When a spreadsheet is long, it is usually easier to add new information at the
bottom of the sheet, rather than adding rows in their correct place. After you have
added information, you then carry out a sort to update the spreadsheet.

46
Office Tools: Word Processing, Presentation
and Spreadsheets

41
Middleware Technologies To sort cells in your spreadsheet:
1) Select the cells to be sorted.
2) Go to Data > Sort on the Menu bar to open the Sort dialog (Fig. 5.36).
3) Select the sort criteria from the drop down lists. The selected lists are
populated from the selected cells.
4) Select either ascending order (A-Z, 1-9) or descending order (Z-A, 9-1).
5) Click OK and the sort is carried out on your spreadsheet.

5.5.9 Using Formulas and Functions

You may need more than numbers and text on your spreadsheet. Often the contents
of one cell depend on the contents of other cells. Formulas are equations that use
numbers and variables to produce a result. Variables are placed in cells to hold
data required equations.
A function is a predefined calculation entered in a cell to help you analyze or
manipulate data. All you have to do is enter the arguments and the calculation is
automatically made for you. Functions help you create the formulas required to get
the results that you are looking for.

5.5.10 Analysing Data

Calc includes several tools to help you analyze the information in your
spreadsheets, ranging from features for copying and reusing data, to creating
subtotals automatically, to varying information to help you find the answers you
need. These tools are divided between the Tools and Data menus.
One of the most useful of these tools is the PivotTable, which is used for
combining, comparing, and analysing large amounts of data easily. Using the
PivotTable, you can view different summaries of the source data, display the details
of areas of interest, and create reports, whether you are a beginner, an
intermediate or advanced user.

5.5.11 Creating a Chart

Chart is a useful tool for quantitative analysis and representation of a data series
in a performance report or a presentation. It is also visually appealing to the
laymen for understanding various data elements.
To create a chart, you will first highlight (select) the data to be included in the chart.
The selection does not need to be in a single block, as shown in Fig. 5.37; you
can also choose individual cells or groups of cells (columns or rows).

42
Fig. 5.37: Selecting Data for Plotting
Next, open the Chart Wizard dialog using one of two methods. Office Tools:
Word Processing,
 Choose Insert > Chart from the menu bar. Presentation
and Spreadsheets
 Or, click the Chart icon on the main toolbar.

Fig. 5.38: Insert Chart from Main Toolbar

Either method inserts a sample chart on the worksheet, opens the Formatting
toolbar, and opens the Chart Wizard, as shown in Fig. 5.39.

Fig. 5.39: Chart Wizard

Self-Check Exercise
Note: i) Write your answers in the space given below.
i) Check your answers with the answers given at the end of this Unit.
3) Explain steps in sorting data in Calc.
.....................................................................................................................
.....................................................................................................................
.....................................................................................................................
.....................................................................................................................

5.6 SUMMARY
In this Unit you have been introduced to an open source office productivity tool
LibreOffice. The special features of LibreOffice have been discussed in this Unit. In
the section on Word processing in with Writer you were introduced to working
with text, formatting using mailmerge, tracking changes and linking to other parts of
a document. In Impress you learned about the structure, creating and formatting
presentation and setting up a slide show. Finally in the Calc section you were
introduced
44 to Calc main
window and the spreadsheet layout. Importing data in CSV format, navigating within 43
Middleware Technologies spreadsheet, working with columns and rows as well as spreadsheets, sorting
records, using formula and functions, analysing data and graphical presentation of
data in Calc has also been covered. The Unit has been presented in a manual
format to help you in getting started with LibreOffice.

5.7 ANSWERS TO SELF CHECK EXERCISES

1) Writer provides the following important features:
 Templates and styles.
 Page layout methods, including frames, columns, and tables.
 Embedding or linking of graphics, spreadsheets, and other objects.
 Built-in drawing tools.
 Master documents—to group a collection ofdocuments into a single
document
 Change tracking during revisions.
 Database integration, including a bibliography database.
 Export to PDF, including bookmarks.
2) To run a slide show, do one of the following:
 Click Slide Show > Start from first Slide on the Menu bar.
 Click the Start from first Slide icon on the Presentation toolbar.
 Press F5 on the keyboard.
If the slide advance is set to Automatically after X sec, let the slide show run by
itself. If the slide advance is set to On mouse click, do one of the following to move
from one slide to the next:
 Use the arrow keys on the keyboard to go to the next slide or to go back to
the previous one.
 Click the mouse to move to the next slide.
 Press the spacebar on the keyboard to advance to the next slide.
Right-click anywhere on the screen to open a context menu where you can
navigate through the slides and set other options.
3) To sort cells in your spreadsheet:
a) Select the cells to be sorted.
b) Go to Data > Sort on the Menu bar to open the Sort dialog.
c) Select the sort criteria from the drop down lists. The selected lists are
populated from the selected cells.
d) Select either ascending order (A-Z, 1-9) or descending order (Z-A, 9-1).
e) Click OK and the sort is carried out on your spreadsheet.

44
 Office Tools:
5.8 KEYWORDS Word Processing,
Presentation
BeanShell : Java-like scripting language, invented by and Spreadsheets
Patrick Niemeyer. It runs in the Java
Runtime Environment (JRE) and uses Java
syntax, in addition to scripting commands
and syntax.

Complex Text Layout : Typesetting of writing systems in whichthe

shape
or positioning of a grapheme depends on its
relation to other graphemes. The term is used
in the field of software internationalization,
where each grapheme is a character.

CSV : A common, relatively simple file format that

is widely supported by consumer, business,
and scientific applications.

JavaScript : An object-oriented computer programming

language commonly used to create interactive
effects within web browsers.

Open source software : Software for which the original source code
is
made freely available and may be redistributed and
modified.

Python : A high-level general-purpose programming

language.

5.9 REFERENCES AND FURTHER READING

The Document Foundation. Introducing LibreOffice In LibreOffice 4.2 Getting Started
Guide, Chapter 1
<https://wiki.documentfoundation.org/images/2/20/GS4201-IntroducingLibre
Office.pdf >

The Document Foundation. Setting up LibreOffice In LibreOffice 4.2 Getting Started

Guide, Chapter 2
<https://wiki.documentfoundation.org/images/8/8b/GS4202-SettingUpLibreOffice.pdf>

The Document Foundation. Using Styles and Templates In LibreOffice 4.2 Getting
Started Guide, Chapter 3
< https://wiki.documentfoundation.org/images/6/6b/GS4203-StylesAndTemplates.pdf>

The Document Foundation. Getting Started with Writer In LibreOffice 4.2 Getting
Started Guide, Chapter 4
< ht t p s : / / w ik i. d o c u me n t fo u nd a t io n. o r g / ima g e s / 1 / 11 / G S 4
2 0 4 - GettingStartedWithWriter.pdf >

The Document Foundation. Getting Started with Calc In LibreOffice 4.2 Getting Started
Guide, Chapter 5
<https://wiki.documentfoundation.org/images/c/c0/GS4205-GettingStarted 45
WithCalc.pdf >
Middleware Technologies The Document Foundation. Getting Started with Impress In LibreOffice 4.2
Getting Started Guide, Chapter 6
< ht t p s : / / w ik i. d o c u me nt fo u nd a t io n. o r g / ima g e s / e / e a / G
S 4 2 0 6 - GettingStartedWithImpress.pdf>
https://doc.opensuse.org/documentation/html/openSUSE_121/opensuse-startup/
art.oofficequick.html

46