OpenOffice newbie & Clueless = Wait to Format?

corygraves · Sep 11, 2011

Long story short, I have a newly bought laptop which didn't include MS Word so I looked around and downloaded OpenOffice (aka it is free) .... similar as they may be, I am clueless on how in the world to format it correctly in every aspect, from headers to title page etc., without screwing it up or not knowing how to get rid of pre-determined steps from the software itself.

But, since it is free and others seem to enjoy O.O. , and I am likely just clueless and not educated, would it be okay/possible to just start typing away the story, and down the line getting help from somebody to insert headers on each page and such ? Or must that be done from the get-go? I just don't want to type up massive amounts then not be able to insert the headers and any other necessary formatting (and yes i've looked into the index/f.a.q's for help and am just getting more annoyed at myself, haha)

p.s. , I read around some talk that O.O. is done and people are running towards a LibreOffice or such? is O.O. outdated and not recommended to use ? Or, is it still okay to work with?

Thanks!

kuwisdelu · Sep 11, 2011

corygraves said:
p.s. , I read around some talk that O.O. is done and people are running towards a LibreOffice or such? is O.O. outdated and not recommended to use ? Or, is it still okay to work with?

You can work with OpenOffice, but LibreOffice will be the one getting attention from developers, so you'll want to switch over to LibreOffice eventually. They're mostly similar, but if you're just starting to learn it, it's best to learn LibreOffice, since that'll be what gets updated.

TheIT · Sep 11, 2011

Pick a font you like and start writing. The most important thing is the text of your story. Formatting can come later.

FYI: look at the threads stickied to the top of the Novels forum, especially the one labeled something like "THE ANSWERS YOU SEEK ARE HERE". That thread is an index to useful discussions and includes a section about manuscript formatting.

But what's important from the start is to make yourself comfortable writing down the words. Use orange crayon if you want. Just write!

:Sun:

Al Stevens · Sep 11, 2011

It's okay to just start typing. After you learn to manage styles in OO, you can reformat your work with a few keystrokes.

Google "openoffice tutorial" to find anything you need. The OO tutorials often apply to LibreOffice, too, since LO is a spinoff project.

You might also try AbiWrite. I like it better than the other two except for the incredibly long time it takes to load a complex ms. Neither LibreOffice nor AbiWrite have adequate docs, in my opinion.

You can install all three and decide which one you prefer. They have compatible file formats.

corygraves · Sep 11, 2011

thanks for the quick replies folks, appreciated... i'll look into libreoffice, and regardless of what i can do right away, my gut instinct agrees to just start typing off and away if all else fails.

TheIT · Sep 11, 2011

Remember also that to a computer, text is just text. You can always copy & paste the text of your document to a Notepad .txt file to get rid of any strange formatting that might creep in.

Don't let lack of knowledge about the tools stop you from writing your story.

Maryn · Sep 11, 2011

Cory, are you going back and forth between the laptop and some other computer? If you are, use OpenOffice's ability to save the documents in .doc format, fully compatible with any version of Word and pretty much seamless between them.

(My one issue has been that comments made in Word2003 do not show properly in OpenOffice. Knowing that, I don't expect them to. I view commented documents on the desktop.)

To me, OpenOffice is a lot like Word2003. I may switch to Libre eventually, but right now, OO meets my needs just fine. And, as you noted, the price is just right.

Maryn, satisfied

corygraves · Sep 12, 2011

nope, i had ms word on my old comp. , which crashed and got screwed up beyond repair more or less, so i got a new laptop (thankfully didn't lose anything too valuable), but this new laptop didn't come with ms word, so i started to look around for other (aka free) ways of writing ideas/manuscripts etc.,

Snitchcat · Sep 12, 2011

OO's formatting almost always takes place in "Format > Page", or any of the other "Format" menu tools.

If you want to make permanent changes to how all documents' fonts appear, you need to do the following:

Tools > Options > OpenOffice.org Writer > Basic Fonts (Western)

You can also download a novel or manuscript template to use each time:

http://templates.services.openoffice.org/en/search/node/novel

If all of this is confusing, open the word processor of Open Office and write. Using the programme will help you figure out the formatting.

Good luck.

corygraves · Sep 13, 2011

reg. wordpad writing i've done will copy and paste without worries to libreoffice , right?

Steven_Lake · Sep 13, 2011

I'm gonna toss my hat in the ring with TheIT and the others who said to just start writing and worry about formatting later. That's what I do with my books. The only formatting I put in the book is automatic indent, title, prologue and epilogue (if applicable) and a chapter 1 heading. After that I don't do anything (save for the occasional Italics) till the book is ready to go to the editor. Then I simply chapter out the book and ship it out the door.

mikeofmany · Sep 13, 2011

Mostly nothing new here.

I completely agree, focus on the text, the writing, how it flows in it's own logic. Sentences, paragraphs, pages and chapters are what is important in drafts. I've noticed that sometimes, different magazines and anthology editors have different formatting requirements, so until I know the requirements for my short, I don't even bother with any formatting.

Titles, chapter breaks, get centered.
New paragraphs are not indented, just double spaced.

Snitchcat · Sep 13, 2011

corygraves said:
reg. wordpad writing i've done will copy and paste without worries to libreoffice , right?

If it's just text and there are no "smart quotes", etc., it should paste fine into LO.

If you're worried about any formatting messing up the results, paste to Notepad first (strips coding), then re-copy and paste to LO. But note! If you paste to Notepad first, italics, bolding, underlining, etc., will also vanish.

OpenOffice newbie & Clueless = Wait to Format?

corygraves

kuwisdelu

Revolutionize the World

TheIT

Infuriatingly Theoretical

Al Stevens

corygraves

TheIT

Infuriatingly Theoretical

Maryn

I Tried

corygraves

Snitchcat

Dragon-kitty.

corygraves

Steven_Lake

Sci-Fi Guru/Linux Geek

mikeofmany

Snitchcat

Dragon-kitty.