Add, remove bullets, numbers in a single level list. Switch between different standard bullet and number styles in a single level list.

To add bullets or numbers in a single level list, we need to use the same ‘Paragraph’ dialog box which we have been using in the previous sections. In this dialog box, under the ‘Outline & Numbering’ tab, we have two fields for ‘Outline’ and ‘Numbering’.
[the_ad id=”12355″]
[show_slider name=word-processing-formatting-bullets-and-numbers]
[the_ad id=”12356″]
As we are using a single level list here, under ‘Outline’ select the ‘Outline level:’ as ‘Level 1’. After this, under ‘Numbering’, we have a ‘Numbering style:’ drop-down list. Select the required ‘List’ or ‘Numbering’ style from this drop-down list to choose the different bullet or number styles respectively.

This is how we can add bullets and numbers in a single level list.

To remove the bullets and numbers, simply select the ‘Numbering style:’ as ‘None’. This will remove the bullets and numbers from the document.

To switch between different bullet and number styles, click on ‘Format’ from the main menu bar and from the resulting menu, click on ‘Bullets and Numbering’. This will open the ‘Bullets and Numbering’ dialog box.

In this dialog box, under the ‘Bullets’ and ‘Numbering Type’ tabs, we have lists of different bullet and numbering styles. The required style can be chosen from these lists and after making all the changes, click on ‘OK’. This will save the changes to the document.

This is how we can switch between different standard bullet and number styles.

Add a box border and shading/background colour to a paragraph.

To add a box border to a paragraph, we need to use the same ‘Paragraph’ dialog box which we have been using in the previous sections. In this dialog box, under the ‘Borders’ tab, we have a ‘Line Arrangement’ field. In this field, we have 5 options for surrounding the paragraph with some kind of lines or boxes. Choose the second option among these and click on ‘OK’. This will add a complete box border to the paragraph.

To add a background colour, in the same ‘Paragraph’ dialog box, under the ‘Area’ tab, we have a ‘Fill’ drop-down list. Choose the required type of background from this list. Then choose the appropriate options for the style chosen and then click on ‘OK’. This will add the background to the paragraph.

[the_ad id=”12397″]

Recognize good practice in paragraph spacing: apply spacing between paragraphs rather than use the Return key.

When creating new paragraphs, it is always advisable to apply appropriate spacing between paragraphs instead of using the return key. This is because when we use the return key more than once to provide spacing between paragraphs, we create additional characters in the document which affect the overall formatting and the size of the document.
[the_ad id=”12355″]
[show_slider name=word-processing-formatting-paragraph-good-practice]
[the_ad id=”12356″]
But if we apply spacing between paragraphs, then we can get the appropriate distance between two different paragraphs without having to use the return key more than once and thus without creating the extra characters.

Apply spacing above, below paragraphs. Apply single, 1.5 lines, double line spacing within paragraphs.

To apply spacing between two paragraphs, we need to use the same ‘Paragraph’ dialog box which we have been using in the previous sections. In this dialog box, under the ‘Indents & Spacing’ tab, we have two fields for ‘Spacing’ and ‘Line Spacing’.

In the ‘Spacing’ field, we have two options, ‘Above paragraph:’ and ‘Below paragraph:’, and these can be used to apply spacing above and below paragraphs respectively.

In the ‘Line Spacing’ field, we have a drop-down list which lists the different types of line spacing. We can select the different types of line spacing like single, double and 1.5 lines from this list.

After making all the changes, click on ‘OK’. This will make the changes effective in the document.

[the_ad id=”12397″]

Recognize good practice in aligning text: use align, indent, and tab tools rather than inserting spaces.

While aligning text in a document, it is always advisable to use the different alignment and indentation tools instead of inserting spaces into the document. This is because when we insert spaces into a document, we actually create a character in the document, which is just an empty space. These space characters are actually useless but they do occupy some disk space which makes the document size large without providing any value to the user.
[the_ad id=”12355″]

[show_slider name=word-processing-formatting-text-good-practice]
[the_ad id=”12356″]
Also, when we make any edits to the document at a later stage, the empty space characters too will get affected and will affect the overall formatting of the document. But if we use the different indentation and alignment tools, no such space characters will get created and the document will be a lot cleaner and will also not occupy any extra disk space.

Align text left, centre, right, justified.

To align text in different ways in LibreOffice Writer, click on ‘Format’ from the main menu bar and from the resulting drop-down menu, click on ‘Paragraph’. This will open the ‘Paragraph’ dialog box.

In this dialog box, under the ‘Alignment’ tab, we have the ‘Options’ area. Here we have a list of all the alignment types in the form of radio buttons. Select the appropriate alignment from this list and then click on ‘OK’. This will align the document in the chosen style.

Indent paragraphs: left, right, first line.

In the same ‘Paragraph’ dialog box, under the ‘Indents & Spacing’ tab, we have the ‘Indent’ field. In this field, we have certain options for providing the appropriate indentation to the paragraphs. To provide indentation only for the first line, make changes to the ‘First line:’ option. To provide left and right indentations, use the ‘After text:’ and ‘Before text:’ options respectively. This is how we can provide appropriate indentation to paragraphs.

Set, remove and use tabs: left, centre, right, decimal.

In the same ‘Paragraph’ dialog box, under the ‘Tabs’ tab, we have the ‘Type’ and ‘Position’ fields. From the ‘Type’ field, we can select the appropriate tab type which is required. The available options are ‘Left’, ‘Right’, ‘Centered’ and ‘Decimal’. From the ‘Position’ field, we can select the position for this tab.

After selecting both the type and the position, click on ‘New’. This saves the tab and the tab gets stored and becomes visible in the list given below the ‘Position’ option. Finally click on ‘OK’ to make these changes effective in the document.

To remove a tab, simply select the tab which needs to be removed from the list given below the ‘Position’ option and then click on ‘Delete’. This will remove the selected tab.

[the_ad id=”12397″]

Create, merge paragraph(s).

Paragraphs are very important for the formatting of any document. Paragraphs create proper divisions among the different parts of text and make it look more presentable. In order to create a paragraph, simply insert a line break in the text at the point where you want to divide the text into two paragraphs. The insertion of a line break will be discussed in the next section.
[the_ad id=”12355″]
[show_slider name=word-processing-formatting-paragraphs]
[the_ad id=”12356″]
To merge two paragraphs, simply remove the line break between the paragraphs and the paragraphs will get merged together.

A simpler way to create a paragraph or to insert a line break is to simply hit the ‘enter’ button from your keyboard at the point where the line break needs to be inserted. This will divide the text into two paragraphs.

Similarly, to remove the line break and to merge two paragraphs, simply hit the ‘backspace’ button from your keyboard after taking the text pointer to the start of the second paragraph. This will merge the two paragraphs together.

Insert, remove soft carriage return (line break).

To insert a line break into a document, take the text pointer to the point where the line break needs to be inserted. Then 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 ‘Line break’ radio button and then click on ‘OK’. This will insert a line break into the document.

We have already seen how to remove a line break in the last section.

[the_ad id=”12397″]

Change text formatting: font sizes, font types.

To change the font size and the font type of the text in a document, right-click anywhere on the document text area and from the resulting menu, click on ‘Edit Paragraph Style’. This will open the ‘Paragraph Style’ dialog box.
[the_ad id=”12355″]
[show_slider name=wordprocessing-formatting-text]
[the_ad id=”12356″]

In this dialog box, under the ‘Font’ tab, we have the ‘Size’ and ‘Font’ drop-down lists. The appropriate font size and font type can be selected from these lists. After selecting the required values, click on ‘OK’. This will make the required changes to the document.

Apply text formatting: bold, italic, underline.

In the same ‘Paragraph Style’ dialog box, under the ‘Font’ tab, we have the ‘Style’ drop-down list. From this list we can choose the ‘Bold’ or ‘Italic’ options to make the text style as bold or italic.

In the same dialog, under the ‘Font Effects’ tab, we have the ‘Underlining’ drop-down list. The required underlining effect can be chosen from this list.

After making the changes, click on ‘OK’ to make these changes effective.

We have another method to format a piece of text as bold, italic, or underline. First of all, select the text which needs to be formatted. After this, right-click on the selected text and from the resulting menu, click on ‘Format’. This displays a menu which contains three options for ‘Bold’, ‘Italic’, and ‘Underline’. The appropriate formatting option can be chosen from this menu.

Apply text formatting: subscript, superscript.

A subscript or superscript is a number, figure, symbol, or indicator that is smaller than the normal line of type and is set slightly below or above it. Subscripts appear at or below the baseline, while superscripts are above it.

To make some text as superscript or subscript, first of all select the text which needs to be formatted. After this, right-click on the selected text and from the resulting menu, click on ‘Format’. This displays a menu which contains two options for ‘Superscript’ and ‘Subscript’. The appropriate formatting option can be chosen from this menu.

Apply different colours to text.

In the same ‘Paragraph Style’ dialog box which has been used in the previous sections, under the ‘Font Effects’ tab, we have the ‘Font color’ drop-down list. Select the required color from this list and then click on ‘OK’. This will change the text color.

Apply case changes to text.

To apply case changes to text, first of all select the text which needs to be formatted. After this, right-click on the selected text and from the resulting menu, click on ‘Change Case’. This displays a menu which contains options like ‘lowercase’ and ‘UPPERCASE’. The appropriate formatting option can be chosen from this menu.

Apply automatic hyphenation.

In the same ‘Paragraph Style’ dialog used in the previous sections, under the ‘Text Flow’ tab, we have an option for ‘Hyphenation’. Select the ‘Automatically’ check box here and then make the required changes to the three options which are provided. After making all the changes, click on ‘OK’. This will apply automatic hyphenation for the document.

[the_ad id=”12397″]

Edit content by entering, removing characters, words within existing text, by over-typing to replace existing text.

To edit content by entering or removing characters or words within existing text, select the text which you want to remove and replace. After this type the new text values. The new text will automatically take place of the selected text.
[the_ad id=”12355″]
[show_slider name=edit-content]
[the_ad id=”12356″]

Use a simple search command for a specific word, phrase.

To use the search command, click on ‘Edit’ from the main menu bar, and from the resulting drop-down menu, click on ‘Find’. This will open the ‘Find’ bar at the bottom of the document.

In this bar, we can enter the search term which we need to find in the document. After entering the term, press enter from the keyboard. If the term exists in the document, it will get highlighted in the document. If the term is not present in the document, we’ll get a message ‘Search key not found’ in the bar.

In case more than one instances of the term are found in the document, you can use the arrow shaped ‘Next Element’ and ‘Previous Element’ buttons to browse through all of these.

Use a simple replace command for a specific word, phrase.

To use the replace command, click on ‘Edit’ from the main menu bar, and from the resulting menu, click on ‘Find & Replace’. This will open the ‘Find & Replace’ dialog box.

In this dialog, enter the term which needs to be replaced in ‘Search For’ and the term with which this term needs to be replaced in ‘Replace With’. After this, click on ‘Replace’ to change the text values one by one or click on ‘Replace All’ to change all the text values in one go.

There are also some options provided in this dialog which can be selected as per the requirements. These options help in filtering down the content to be searched in the document. These options can be viewed by expanding ‘Other options’.

Copy, move text within a document, between open documents.

To copy text within a document, or between open documents, select the text which needs to be copied and then right click on the selected text and from the resulting menu, click on ‘Copy’. After this, place the text pointer where the text needs to be copied to, this location can be in the same document or even some other open document, and again right-click and from the resulting menu, click on ‘Paste’. The text will get copied to the new location.

To move text within a document, or between open documents, select the text which needs to be moved and then right click on the selected text and from the resulting menu, click on ‘Cut’. After this, place the text pointer where the text needs to be moved to, this location can be in the same document or even some other open document, and again right-click and from the resulting menu, click on ‘Paste’. The text will be moved to the new location.

Delete text.

To delete text, simply select the text which needs to be deleted and press the delete button from the keyboard. This will delete the selected text.

Another method is to place the text pointer to the right of the text which needs to be deleted and then press the ‘backspace’ button from the keyboard. This will delete the text backwards. Release the button after deleting as much text as is needed.

Use the undo, redo command.

The undo command undoes the effect of the recent changes which were made to the document in such a way so that the most recent change is undone first. The redo command performs the most recent change done to the document again.
To use the undo or redo commands, click on ‘Edit’ from the main menu bar. From the resulting drop-down, click on ‘Undo’ or ‘Redo’ as per the requirement to perform undo or redo respectively.

[the_ad id=”12397″]

Enter Text

Switch between page-view modes.

Writer has three ways to view a document: Print Layout, Web Layout, and Full Screen. To change the view, go to ‘View’ from the main menu bar and click on the required view from the resulting drop-down menu. Print Layout is the default view in Writer.
[the_ad id=”12355″]
[show_slider name=document-creation]
[the_ad id=”12356″]

Enter text into a document.

To enter text in a document, simply click once in the text area. This will give a blinking text pointer in the text area. Now use the keys on your keyboard to enter the text values. This is how we can enter text into a writer document.

Insert symbols or special characters like: ©, ®, ™.

To insert symbols or special characters in a Writer document, click on ‘Insert’ from the main menu bar. From the resulting drop-down, click on ‘Special Character’. This will open the ‘Special Characters’ dialog box.

From this, you can select the required symbols or characters from the collection given and then click on ‘Insert’. This will insert the selected symbol or special character into the document.

Display, hide non-printing formatting marks like: spaces, paragraph marks, manual line break marks, tab characters.

To display the non-printing characters like spaces, paragraph marks, and tab characters, click on ‘View’ from the main menu bar and from the resulting drop-down menu, click on ‘Non-printing Characters’. This will display the non-printing characters in the page. How these characters look in a writer page has been shown in the below given illustration.

The ‘inverted P’ shows a paragraph mark, a ‘.’ shows a space and a forward arrow shows a tab character.

To hide the non-printing characters, again click on the same ‘Non-printing Characters’ from the ‘View’ menu.

Select character, word, line, sentence, paragraph, entire body text.

To select a character, simply place the text pointer on either side of the character using the mouse. Then, press the ‘Shift’ key from the keyboard and without releasing this key, move the pointer towards the character using the ‘Arrow’ keys from the keyboard and reach the other side of the character. Release the keys after moving over the character. This will select the character.

Another way is to place the text pointer on either side of the character using the mouse and then holding down the mouse button and hovering over the character without releasing the button. Release the button after reaching the other side of the character. This way the character will get selected. The character will be surrounded by a blue background upon selection.

These same two methods can be used to select a word, a line, a sentence, and even an entire paragraph. Just start from one end of the text body, and reach the other end by using any one of these methods. This will select the text body.

To select the entire body text, simply press the ‘Ctrl’ and ‘A’ keys from the keyboard together. This will select the entire body text.

[the_ad id=”12397″]

Set basic options/preferences in the application: user name, default folder to open, save documents.

To set the basic options in the Writer application, click on ‘Tools’ from the main menu bar. From the resulting drop-down, click on ‘Options’. This will open the ‘Options’ dialog box.
[the_ad id=”12355″]
[show_slider name=wordprocessing-productivity]
[the_ad id=”12356″]

In the ‘Options’ dialog box, under ‘LibreOffice’, in ‘User Data’ we have options to enter user info. The user name can be set here.

In the same dialog box, under ‘LibreOffice’, we have ‘Paths’. Here, we can set the different default paths for the folders to open and save files.

Use available Help functions.

All the components of LibreOffice offer extensive help system to the users. Writer is no different. To get the complete help system, click on ‘Help’ button from the main menu bar. Click on ‘LibreOffice Help’ from the drop down which gets displayed and this will open the full help system.

Additionally, you can click on ‘Tools’ from the main menu bar and then click on ‘Options’ from the resulting drop down menu. Select the ‘LibreOffice > General’ tab from the dialog which gets opened and you can then choose to check or uncheck the available help options like ‘Tips’ and ‘Extended Tips’.

If ‘Tips’ are enabled you can place the mouse pointer over any icon to see a small tooltip box, which provides a small explanation for the functioning of that icon.

If a more detailed explanation is desired, then click on ‘What’s This?’ from the ‘Help’ dropdown on the main menu bar. Holding the pointer above any icon after this will provide a detailed explanation.

Use magnification/zoom tools.

The view magnification can simply be changed by clicking on the + or – sign in the zoom slider on the status bar.

In order to make more custom changes, click on the percentage figure on the status bar. This opens the ‘Zoom & View Layout’ dialog. The appropriate changes can be made by selecting the desired values from this dialog.

Display, hide built-in toolbars. Restore, minimize the ribbon.

Whether to display or hide the different toolbars in Writer can be controlled by using the ‘View’ button on the main menu bar. Click on ‘View’ and then click on ‘Toolbars’ from the drop down. You get a list of different toolbars which can be checked or unchecked in order to display or hide them respectively.

[the_ad id=”12397″]

Open, close a word processing application. Open, close documents.

To start Writer, click on the ‘Start’ button on your Windows machine. Click on ‘All Programs’ and then go to the ‘LibreOffice’ folder in the list of all programs which gets displayed. Click on the ‘LibreOffice’ folder and then click on ‘LibreOffice Writer’. This will start the Writer application.
[the_ad id=”12355″]
[show_slider name=working-with-documents]
[the_ad id=”12356″]

When Writer is started, the main window opens which has been shown below.

The highlighted portion shown in the above illustration is the ‘Main Menu Bar’. This is the most important menu bar in the Writer application and most of the operations in Writer can be performed from here. In this tutorial, we are going to use the main menu bar for performing a variety of different operations.

To close Writer, simply click on the ‘white cross icon with red background’ on the upper right corner of the Writer main window screen. This will close Writer.

Once the application has been started, then a new document can be opened. To open a new document, click on ‘File’ from the main menu bar. From the resulting drop-down, click on ‘New’ and from the sub-menu which is displayed, click on ‘Text Document’. This will open a new document.

To close a document, simply click on the same ‘white cross icon with a red background’ from the top right corner of the document screen.

Create a new document based on default template, other available template like: memo, fax, and agenda.

A default template is the one, which is used to create documents when any new document is created. This means that when we create a new document, it gets created based on the default template which has been set.

We are going to learn how to set a default template in the subsequent chapters. But to create a new document based on the default template, simply follow the steps which have been given in the last section for opening a new document. This creates a new document based on the default template.

To create documents based on the other available templates, click on ‘File’ from the main menu bar. From the resulting drop-down, click on ‘New’ and from the sub-menu which is displayed, click on ‘Templates’. This will open the ‘Template Manager’ dialog box.

This dialog box, under the ‘Documents’ tab, displays the different template categories available for creating new documents. You can select any of these by double clicking and this will display the different templates under that category. Double click on the required template and this will create a new document based on this template.

Save a document to a location on a drive. Save a document under another name to a location on a drive.

Once the changes to a Document have been made, we need to save this document to a location on our computer. To save a document, click on ‘File’ from the main menu bar. From the resulting drop-down, click on ‘Save As’. This opens the ‘Save As’ dialog box.

In this dialog box, we can browse to the folder where we want to save the document file and thus select the appropriate location. To change the name by which the file will get saved, just enter the new name in the ‘File Name:’ field. After making these changes, click on ‘Save’. This will save the file to the location which has been specified and under the given file name.

Save a document as another file type like: text file, Rich Text Format, template, software specific file extension, version number.

To save a document as another file type, follow the same steps as given above. This will open the ‘Save As’ dialog box. In this dialog box, under the ‘Save as type:’ field, select the appropriate file type as per the requirement and then click on ‘Save’. This will save the document as the selected file type.

Switch between open documents.

You can open multiple documents at a time in Writer. In such a case, to switch between these documents, just click on the ‘Writer’ icon on the task bar of your computer. This icon will always get displayed whenever you are running Writer on your machine.

When this icon is clicked, then the names of all the active documents get displayed as has been shown above. Simply click on the name of the document which you want to open and that document will get opened. You can switch between different documents using this method.

[the_ad id=”12397″]