Softwares Download and Reviews: Seven things about openoffice that you never knew

Seven things about openoffice that you never knew
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Brian on 26/02/2009 18:52:00
 
And there are also certain tricks that OpenOffice.org has up its sleeve that
even MS Office can never think of; so we start with all the info that shall make
OpenOffice.org a less annoying phenomenon.
1. Editing simultaneously various parts of the same document: We are used to MS
Word’s nifty, split-window feature that allows editing two different pages at
the same time. But with OpenOffice.org, you don’t need to split that window.
Simply click on the Window menu and then on New Window. It shall open a new
window displaying the current document and the process can be repeated for
opening many of them, bringing different places in a document into focus. A
change in one of the windows reflects in all others and to remove the screen
clutter, just turn-off the toolbars.
2. Extension no bar: The new MS Word falls short when it comes to open
documents by earlier word processing and spreadsheet programs. However,
OpenOffice.org caught this opportunity and can open WordPerfect documents
(including the Macintosh 3.5 Enhanced files) and has made provisions for the day
when Microsoft shall release the WinWord 5.0. Probably OpenOffice.org is
expecting the bridge the gap between MS Word 2.0 and 6.0.
3. The whiff of the vintage times: That’s the Space Invaders game, in line
with Easter Eggs. It’s a 1990s-styled shooting action game that can be played
from the Calc application upon entering the code =GAME("StarWars") in any of the
cells. The only thing that might dishearten you is an explanatory text in
German, but you don’t need to learn anything up to play the game. Shut Calc
down and restart it to play the game for the second time.
4. The light bulb: This icon appears whenever OpenOffice.org does something on
its own; it is in the lines of the tilting hourglass. Turn it off if it annoys
you; just go to Tools > Options, and expand the menu tree in the left-hand pane.
Lastly, remove the check mark in the General dialog next to the Help Agent.
5. .doc as default: Openoffice.org allows saving files in Office formats though
opens them in its own format that MS Office can't. And with the Always Save As
option, you can save the files for opening with any modern word processor or
spreadsheet reader.
6. Automatic! For the people: That’s automation, folks. Macros have helped
many an advanced MS Office user to open/print/close the files, but this time,
it’s a menu-driven interface that automatically triggers the macros. Just
record the actions and they shall be played, even for specific events.
7. Single quotes? Not anymore: As per the default setting, OpenOffice.org
creates double-quotation marks but for single-quotes or apostrophes, it’s the
same vertical line that vintage typewriters used to make. So, go to Tools >
AutoCorrect > Custom Quotes to add that check mark next to Replace in the Single
Quotes section.