Use LibreOffice Text Writer

DEDICATION

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To Julian Robinson, without whose help I'd never have been able to complete this book.

1 First Steps

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❶Go to http://www.LibreOffice.org/download/LibreOffice-fresh/ in your browser

❷Click on the version of LibreOffice that you want to download. The screenshots in this guide are taken from version 4.2.5 for windows.

❸If using chrome, the following box will appear at the bottom of the screen while the download is taking place. An estimate of how long the download will take is also shown.

❹Once the download is finished, the following will appear at the bottom of the screen in chrome.

Other web browsers will vary.

Congratulations, you're ready to run the installer!

Step Two - Install

❶Click on the LibreOffice install program. You can either find it at the bottom of your screen in chrome:

Or by opening File Explorer and selecting the download folder:

Then double clicking on the installer

❷The LibreOffice installation wizard will appear

Click on

❸In the next dialogue you will be given the option of a typical or custom install. I recommend simply using the typical install.

If you are happy with the typical install click

If you want to install a custom installation see How to run a custom installation below.

❹The next screen gives you a few more options. I recommend you click on install

Selecting will install tools that LibreOffice provides for people with various disabilities.

Selecting will mean that LibreOffice will start when the operating system starts. It's useful if you use LibreOffice almost all the time but may slow down loading the operating system.

When you are happy with your options click . If you are not happy with any choice you've made you can go back to an earlier choice by clicking .

❺A user account dialogue will appear. Click Yes, Allow or Ok.

❻A progress dialogue will appear:

Wait until it is finished

and click on .

How to run a custom installation

❶Run the install procedure above, but in step ❸instead of selecting

select

Then click on

❷To find out if there is available space for the feature set you've selected click on

The following dialogue will appear:

Notice that the column Available shows how much space your disk contains, and Required shows how much disk space your installation has available.

In the above example, we're good to go.

Click to return to the custom installation dialogue.

❸To change the location the program will install to select change

A location selection dialogue will appear:

Clicking on the next to the look in location will provide you with a list of folders

which you can select from, going up or down as necessary.

You can add a new folder by selecting

Or you can simply type the file location in the box provided

I don't recommend changing the file location UNLESS your default drive doesn't have enough room for the installation to work.

❸To install a new language

Click on the next to

A list of languages will appear:

Scroll down to the language you want, and click on the

Select if you want it installed on the local hard drive or

if you want sub features such as spell check and custom fonts to be installed. I recommend this option.

❹To install non-English language dictionaries:

Click on the next to

Click on the next to

Scroll down to the dictionary you want, and click on the by its name, for example:

Select

❺Other Optional Components

LibreOffice installs most components by default. The only exception is ActiveX components. If you don't need a particular component and you are low on space you can click the by its name and select but I do not recommend doing this. It will limit the facilities your LibreOffice installation can provide to you.

Some people may need ActiveX controls, in which case you can select the by and

. I don't recommend doing this unless you know that you will need ActiveX controls since it can slow down LibreOffice and it's an unusual requirement

❻Once happy with the options you have selected click on .  A File type dialogue will appear

I recommend leaving the defaults on this, but simply check the box next to the file types you want to associate LibreOffice with and click when you are happy.

❼You are now on the installation dialogue that is the last step in Install LibreOffice above.

Selecting will install tools that LibreOffice provides for people with various disabilities.

Selecting will mean that LibreOffice will start when the operating system starts. It's useful if you use LibreOffice almost all the time but may slow down loading the operating system.

When you are happy with your options click . If you are not happy with any choice you've made you can go back to an earlier choice by clicking .

❽A user account control dialogue may appear. Click Ok, Yes or Allow depending on what version of windows you use.

❾A progress dialogue will appear.

Wait until the installer finishes:

And click on .

To Run

To run LibreOffice Text writer double click on its icon on the desktop or select its tile in the start screen   or search for it:

Create a New Document

If you've started the main LibreOffice program you will see the following window:

To create a new document click on:

To open an existing document

In the main LibreOffice window, click on

Select the file you want to open:

And click .

You will see the LibreOffice Writer screen for the first time:

In the next chapter, we'll use LibreOffice Writer to write a simple letter, spell check it, and print it out!

2 Write A Letter

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This chapter is intended to give you the basic information you need to write a letter or other simple document in LibreOffice. It will show you:

How to write text in LibreOffice

How to do some basic formatting

A tab stop, so you can line up the address on the right hand corner

Basic formatting - how to change the font, font size, add emphasis.

How to save the document

How to print the document

That's a lot of material to cover in one chapter! But by the end of this chapter you should know almost everything that you need to write the basic documents that you use every day!

Getting to know LibreOffice Writer.

When you open LibreOffice Writer on a new document you will see a screen that looks like the following:

It is comprised of a number of features that allow you to control the program:

①Menu Bar