On 02/06/2013 07:50 AM, Joel Ikenberry wrote:
To Whom It May Concern: I have been adjusting to OpenOffice Writer for a few weeks after losing my Microsoft Word application, and I hope you can imagine how frustrated and confused I am with this new software. As Microsoft Word is what I know, I naturally approached Writer like I would Word. However, there are stark and considerable differences between Writer and Word that I have inevitably encountered. For example, there is apparently no "vertical paragraph alignment" option in Writer, but there is in Word. As a writer, there are many essential tools and options that I need from my word processor that I am not finding or having trouble finding. I do refer to OpenOffice Wiki and the Help Tool, however, there are many things the Wiki and the Help Tool do not explain. For example, they do not explain how to apply a certain page-style. I only stumbled across the fact that a page-style can only be applied by inserting a manual page break. I am struggling with how to format my documents to display various page-numbers. I am a novelist and any guides I discover only pertain their information to technical and business-style document formats. For example, the guides on "headers" always go into great detail about customizing your header and skip over the essential "simple" how-to-make a normal, average everyday header that is not going to be viewed by a company CEO or graded by a business education instructor. I am simply a writer writing a novel, and I need my word processor to apply to me specifically. Here is what I need to know how to do: 1. Format different page numbers- Title Page (no number)- Dedication Page (no number)- Table of Contents (roman numerals)- Preface (roman numerals)- Prologue through all chapters ( starting at page 1)- Acknowledgments (continuing page numbers)- Appendices/Index (continuing page numbers)2. Create a traditional Table of Contents (like in any other novel, no business topics or sections and complete with a leader)3. Design headers to display book name on one page, chapter title on the next, continuously4. Vertically align a paragraph Any information regarding these issues would be most certainly appreciated and duly acknowledged. I am new to OpenOffice Writer, but I know I will be just fine with it once I get my bearings. I also have another question concerning file format and extensions. As a writer, I will have to eventually electronically submit part or all of my manuscript to a Literary Agent and or Publisher at some point and so the file extension will need to be in a format usable by these organizations' software (most likely Word). Is the ODT file format compatible with Word or do I need to save my documents under a different format? This, above all else, is perhaps the most important question because the others are useless without the file being able to proceed. I thank you very much for your time, consideration, all manners of things and especially for the development and availability of this software to simple people like myself. Thank you. Sincerely, Joel S. Ikenberry
http://wiki.openoffice.org/wiki/Documentation/OOo3_User_Guides/OOo3.3_User_Guide_Chapters
This is a link to the User Guides for Apache OpenOffice. From here you can download individual chapters or the entire guide. From the Getting Started Guide, I recommend downloading chapters 2 and 3. I also recommend downloading the entire Writer Guide (Full Book choice) given for what you are now using Apache Office. The two chapters on styles in the Writer Guide are very important. Vertical alignment of text is a property of the paragraph styles. Changing page styles is discussed in detail. This includes telling you when you need a page break to change page styles and when you don't.
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