Teresa Ethington wrote:
Hello, i am not sure if this is the proper way to seek HELP. But help. I
am a totally newbie to all this computer stuff. I am an old lady who decided
to JUMP into the computer age. I even have plans to get a cell phone some day,
really, I am that far from current. I just want to find a nice word processing
thing (application?). I have Vista and I have maxed out the memory on my
laptop so I am told that I should be able to load anything I wish. I read and
read all this but I am just not sure where to start? Do I load the Java bridge
stuff first, do i even need it. I just use mozilla and internet explorer but I
would like to be able to type and print regular old letters to my friends. Can
someone please help, I would be very very grateful.
Teresa Ethington in Seattle, WA
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
Congratulations on your leap, and yes, this is the right place to get
help. If you download the Windows version of OpenOffice.org (OOo) from
www.openoffice.org, and select the one with JRE, the next step would be
to install it by double-clicking the downloaded file's icon. That will
install both OOo and the Java runtime code, which you do need to get so
you can use all the functions available in OOo.
After that, you'll see a menu item in Start > All Programs (or whatever
Vista calls it) for "OpenOffice.org 2.3". If you look in there, you'll
find Writer, which is the OOo word processing application. That's the
one you need to type your letters, save them, print them if you want,
and send them to your friends. You can send them by regular mail
(usually called "snail mail" these days!) or as attachments to e-mail
messages. For e-mail, you can use the File > Send menu and choose one of
its options, all of which open your e-mail program with your letter
already attached:
* Use "Document as E-mail" or "E-mail as OpenDocument Text" if your
friends already have OOo. This will attach an ODT file, which is
OOo's usual format for text documents. It follows international
standards, and is typically the smallest and most flexible.
* Use "E-mail as PDF" to attach a file that can be opened with a
program your friends probably already have, or can get for free
from www.adobe.com. This is also fairly small, and your friends
will see exactly what you do.
* Use "E-mail as Microsoft Word" if they only have that, to attach a
DOC file. These files are large and there might be some
differences in what they see, though that's not likely with simple
letters.
None of these actually save your letter anywhere permanently, you do
that separately using File > Save, File > Save as, File > Export, or
File > Export as PDF. Any of those files could then be attached to an
e-mail message; the ones from Save or Save as are also available for
editing, if you want to work on a letter over several sessions before
sending it.
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