Category: Writer

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Preview a document.

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To preview a document, click on ‘File’ from the main menu bar and from the resulting drop-down menu, click on ‘Print Preview’. This will open the preview display of the document as has been shown below. To close the preview, click on ‘Close Preview’.

Print a document from an installed printer using output options like: entire document, specific pages, number of copies.

To print a document, click on ‘File’ from the main menu bar and from the resulting menu, click on ‘Print’. This will open the ‘Print’ dialog box. In this dialog, under the ‘General’ tab, we have certain options under ‘Range and Copies’.

To print some specific pages, simply select the ‘Pages’ radio button under ‘Range and Copies’ and enter the page numbers which need to be printed. Then click on ‘OK’. This will print only the selected pages.

To print multiple copies of a page or a document, select the value of copies required under ‘Number of copies’ and then click on ‘OK’. This will print the required number of copies.

To print the entire document, select ‘All pages’ under ‘Range and Copies’ and then click on ‘OK’. This will print the entire document.

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Spell check a document and make changes like: correcting spelling errors, deleting repeated words.
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To spell check a document, click on ‘Tools’ from the main menu bar and from the resulting drop-down menu, click on ‘Spelling and Grammar’. This will open the ‘Spelling and Grammar’ dialog box. This dialog lists all the incorrect words in the current document by highlighting them in red under ‘Not in dictionary’ area. The suggestions for the correct spellings for these words are also shown in the ‘Suggestions’ area.

In order to make changes to incorrect words, select the appropriate correct suggestion for the incorrect word from the ‘Suggestions’ area, and then click on ‘Correct’. This will replace the incorrect word with the correct one selected from the given suggestions. This is how the corrections can be done to a document.

Add words to a built-in custom dictionary using a spell checker.

To add words to the built-in custom dictionary using a spell checker, click on ‘Tools’ from the main menu bar and from the resulting drop-down menu, click on ‘Spelling and Grammar’. This will open the ‘Spelling and Grammar’ dialog box.

This dialog lists all the incorrect words in the current document by highlighting them in red under ‘Not in dictionary’ area. If any of these words is correct and needs to be added to the dictionary, simply click on ‘Add to Dictionary’.

This will add the selected word to the built-in dictionary of LibreOffice Writer.

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Add, edit text in headers, footers.

To add text in the header or footer of a document, first of all click on ‘Insert’ from the main menu bar and from the resulting drop-down menu, click on ‘Header’ or ‘Footer’ to insert a header or a footer respectively. Both these options will give a sub-menu having an option ‘Default Style’. Click on this option and a header or footer will get inserted into the document.
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After this, simply click once on the header or the footer area to get the text pointer there. Now enter the required text into the header or the footer with the help of your keyboard. This is how we can enter text into the header or footer in a document.

To edit text in header or footer, click once in the header or footer area to get the text pointer there. Then delete the already present text there with the help of the ‘delete’ button from the keyboard and enter new text with your keyboard. This is how we can edit the text in the header or footer of a document.

Add fields in headers, footers: date, page number information, file name.

To add fields in headers or footers, click once in the header or footer area to get the text pointer there. After this, click on ‘Insert’ from the main menu bar and from the resulting drop-down menu, click on ‘Fields’. This will display another sub-menu containing a number of different options.

We can select ‘Page Number’ or ‘Date’ option from this menu to insert these fields into the header or footer.

To insert file name, click on ‘More Fields’ from this sub-menu. This opens the ‘Fields’ dialog box. In this dialog box, under the ‘Document’ tab, we have a ‘Type’ list. Select ‘File Name’ from this list and then click on ‘Insert’. This will insert file name into the header or footer of the document.

Apply automatic page numbering to a document.

To apply automatic page numbering to a document, the best way is to use the same method which we have used in the last section to insert the page numbers into the headers or footers of a document. This same method should be used to apply automatic page numbering to a document.

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Recognize good practice in adding new pages: insert a page break rather than using the Return key.

When adding new pages, it is always better to use a page break rather than using the return key. This is considered as a best practice while working with any word processing software. This is because when we use the return key multiple times to reach the next page, we create many empty characters which affect the formatting of the document as well as the size of the document.
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But if we use a page break, then these characters will not get created and hence the formatting and document size will not get affected. This is why it is always a better idea to use a page break instead of using the return key.
Insert, delete a page break in a document.

To insert a page break, first of all place the text pointer after the text from where you want to start a new page. After this, click on ‘Insert’ from the main menu bar, and from the resulting drop-down menu, click on ‘Manual Break’.

This will open the ‘Insert Break’ dialog box.

In this dialog box, select the ‘Page break’ radio button and click on ‘OK’. This will insert the page break in the document.

In order to delete a page break, place the mouse pointer over the page break. Page break is the thick dotted line between two pages. When the mouse pointer is kept over this line, a drop-down symbol appears. Click once on this drop-down symbol. This will give you two options. From these, click on ‘Delete Page Break’.

This will delete the page break.

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Change document orientation: portrait, landscape. Change paper size.

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In order to change the document orientation and paper size, click on the ‘Format’ button from the main menu bar. Click on ‘Page…’ button from the resulting drop-down. This gives the ‘Page Style’ dialog box. In this dialog box, under the ‘Page’ tab, the ‘Paper Format’ options can be selected to make changes to the paper size and worksheet orientation.

Change margins of entire document, top, bottom, left, right.

In order to change the document margins, click on the ‘Format’ button from the main menu bar. Click on ‘Page…’ button from the resulting drop-down. This gives the ‘Page Style’ dialog box. Under the ‘Page’ tab, you can make the appropriate changes to the ‘Margins’ in order to change the top, bottom, left, and right margins of a document.

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Insert an object (picture, image, chart, drawn object) to a specified location in a document.

To insert an object like an image or a chart to a specific location in a document, first of all bring the text pointer to that location by clicking at that location once. Now click on ‘Insert’ from the main menu bar. This gives us a drop-down menu. In this drop-down, we have a number of options.
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To insert an image, click on ‘Image’ from the drop-down. This will open the ‘Insert Image’ dialog box. Go to the location of the required image from this dialog and select the image and then click on ‘Open’. This will insert the image to the specified location in the document.

Similarly, to insert a chart, click on ‘Object’ and from the resulting menu, click on ‘Chart’. This will insert a chart to the document. In the same way, we can insert some predefined shapes to the document by clicking on ‘Shapes’ from the drop-down and then choosing the required shape from the resulting menu.

Select an object.

To select an image, just click once on the image and the image will get surrounded by eight different green coloured small squares. This is how we select an image.

To select a chart, double-click on the chart. The chart will get surrounded by a thick grey coloured border. This is how we select a chart.

Copy, move an object within a document, between open documents.

To copy an object within a document or between open documents, first of all select the object. Then right-click on the object and from the resulting menu click on ‘Copy’. Now go to the location where you want to copy this object to and right-click once and from the resulting menu click on ‘Paste’. This will copy the object to the new location which can be in the same document or a different one.

To move an image within a document or between open documents, first of all select the image. Then right-click on the image and from the resulting menu click on ‘Cut’. Now go to the location where you want to move this image to and right-click once and from the resulting menu click on ‘Paste’. This will move the image to the new location which can be in the same document or a different one.

To move a chart, first of all select the chart. Now place the mouse pointer anywhere on the grey border of the chart other than the eight square pointers which are darker than the rest of the border. Simply click and drag the mouse pointer to the location where you want to place the chart and the chart will be moved to the new location.

Resize, delete an object.

To resize an object, click once on the object so that the object gets surrounded by eight small green squares on its border. Now Place the mouse pointer on any of these squares and click and drag in order to increase or decrease the size of the object.

To delete an object, click once on the object so that the object gets surrounded by eight small green squares on its border. Then press the ‘delete’ button from the keyboard and this will delete the object from the document.

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Modify column width, row height.

To modify column width or row height, click once on any one of the cells of the concerned column or row. After this, click on ‘Table’ from the main menu bar and from the resulting drop-down click on ‘Autofit’. From the resulting menu, click on ‘Column Width’ or ‘Row Height’.
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This will open the ‘Column Width’ or ‘Row Height’ dialog box where the width or height of the column or the row can be set. After giving the appropriate value, click on ‘OK’. This will change the height or width of the row or column accordingly.

Modify cell border line style, width, and colour.

To modify the cell border line style, width or colour, click on ‘Table’ from the main menu bar, and from the resulting menu, click on ‘Table Properties’. This will open the ‘Table Format’ dialog box.

In this dialog box, under the ‘Borders’ tab, we have the different ‘Line’ options like ‘Style’, ‘Width’ and ‘Color’. The appropriate formatting options can be selected from here. After making all the selections, click on ‘OK’. The cell border line formatting will get changed accordingly.

Add shading/background colour to cells.

To add shading/background colour to cells, click on ‘Table’ from the main menu bar, and from the resulting menu, click on ‘Table Properties’. This will open the ‘Table Format’ dialog box.

In this dialog box, under the ‘Background’ tab, we have the different options like ‘As’ and ‘For’. Under ‘As’, select ‘Color’ or ‘Graphic’ as per the requirement and under ‘For’, select ‘Cell’ for adding the background to cells. After this, select the appropriate colour from the options displayed in the dialog. After making all the selections, click on ‘OK’. The background colour will get added to the cells.

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Create a table ready for data insertion.

In LibreOffice Writer, we can insert a table into the document. To insert a table, click on ‘Table’ from the main menu bar and from the resulting drop-down menu, click on ‘Insert Table’. This will open the ‘Insert Table’ dialog box.
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After this, click on the ‘Character Styles’ icon to display the different character styles available in LibreOffice Writer in a list format. This icon has been highlighted in the below given illustration. Now we have a list of all the different character styles available. Double-click on the required character style from this list and this will apply this style to the selected text in the document.

In this dialog, we can select the name of the table under ‘Name’ and the number of the rows and columns under ‘Rows’ and ‘Columns’. We can also select some other features using the ‘Options’ area. The ‘Heading’ checkbox will add a heading row to the table. Similarly the ‘Border’ checkbox will add border to the table.

We can also select a table format by clicking on the ‘AutoFormat’ button. This will open the ‘AutoFormat’ dialog box.

The appropriate format can be chosen from this dialog from the ‘Format’ drop-down list. After selecting the format, click on ‘OK’. This will return the control to the ‘Insert Table’ dialog. Click on ‘Insert’ and the table will get inserted into the document.

Insert, edit data in a table.

To insert data in a table, click once inside the cell in which the data needs to be entered. This will give a blinking text pointer inside the cell. Now simply enter the required data using the keyboard.

To edit the data in a table, click once inside the cell whose data needs to be edited. Now delete the already present value using the ‘delete’ button from the keyboard and then enter the new value. This is how we can edit the table data.

Select rows, columns, cells, entire table.

To select a row or a column, click once on any one of the cells from that particular row or column. The table formatting toolbar menu will get displayed at the bottom of the document. From this menu, the row select, column select, or the table select icons can be selected to select a row, a column or the whole table respectively. These icons have been highlighted in the below given illustration.

Insert, delete, rows and columns.

To insert a row or a column, click once on any one of the cells from the column to whose right the new column needs to be inserted or from the row below which the new row needs to be inserted. The table formatting toolbar menu will get displayed at the bottom of the document. From this menu, the insert row or the insert column icons can be selected to insert a row or a column respectively. These icons have been highlighted in the illustration.

To delete a row or a column, click once on any one of the cells from that particular row or column. The table formatting toolbar menu will get displayed at the bottom of the document. From this menu, the delete row, delete column, or the delete table icons can be selected to delete a row, a column or the whole table respectively. These icons have been highlighted in the illustration.

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Apply an existing character style to selected text.

A character style is a template which is used to define the styling for a character in LibreOffice Writer. A character style can be applied to a character and the character will take up the styling properties defined by that character style.

To apply an existing character style to selected text, first of all select the text to which the character style needs to be applied and then click on ‘Format’ from the main menu bar and from the resulting drop-down menu, click on ‘Styles and Formatting’. This will open the ‘Styles and Formatting’ toolbar menu at the right side of the document.
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After this, click on the ‘Character Styles’ icon to display the different character styles available in LibreOffice Writer in a list format. This icon has been highlighted in the below given illustration. Now we have a list of all the different character styles available. Double-click on the required character style from this list and this will apply this style to the selected text in the document.


Apply an existing paragraph style to one or more paragraphs.

A character style is a template which is used to define the styling for a character in LibreOffice Writer. A character style can be applied to a character and the character will take up the styling properties defined by that character style.

To apply an existing paragraph style to one or more paragraphs, first of all select the paragraphs to which the paragraph style needs to be applied and then click on ‘Format’ from the main menu bar and from the resulting drop-down menu, click on ‘Styles and Formatting’. This will open the ‘Styles and Formatting’ toolbar menu at the right side of the document.

After this, click on the ‘Paragraph Styles’ icon to display the different paragraph styles available in Writer in a list format. This icon has been highlighted in the below given illustration. Now we have a list of all the different paragraph styles available. Double-click on the required paragraph style from this list and this will apply this style to the selected paragraphs in the document.

Use copy format tool.

The copy format tool copies the formatting of a piece of text and applies this formatting to some other text body. To use the copy format tool, first of all select the piece of text whose formatting needs to be copied. After this, click on the ‘Clone Formatting’ icon from the tool bar at the top of the document. This icon has been highlighted in the illustration.

On clicking this icon, the mouse pointer will change into a tilted paint can. Take this pointer to the text body to which the copied formatting needs to be applied and simply click once on that text. The formatting of that text piece will change to the one which was copied using the ‘Clone Formatting’ icon.

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