Getting Started with LibreOffice

Many computer users work with Microsoft Office programs, such as Word and Excel. A handy software package, but for a fee. Don’t want to spend money? There are also free options. One of these is LibreOffice. The software package includes Writer for text documents and Calc for worksheets.

LibreOffice is free to download. How to do this is described in the article ‘LibreOffice’.

The LibreOffice software package contains six programs. These have many options.

1. Writer (Text document)
   A word processor similar to Microsoft’s Word. It is intended for reading and writing texts, providing images and much more.
2. Calc (Worksheet)
   A calculation program. It is an alternative to Excel from Microsoft. With this you keep all kinds of data with numbers, such as a household book.
3. Impress (Presentation)
   A program for making presentations. It is similar to Microsoft PowerPoint.
4. Draw (Drawing)
   A vector drawing program. This can be used to create diagrams, 3D works or cliparts.
5. Base (Data source)
   A program to create databases. It is an alternative to Microsoft Access. With this, an overview can be created in data, and then easily managed.
6. Math (Formula)
   A program for formulas and equations. The capabilities of Math are already incorporated in some other LibreOffice programs.

Open one of the programs like this:

• Click Start > LibreOffice 6.4.
• Click on the desired program, for example LibreOffice Writer.
• Most LibreOffice programs also immediately open a new document to get started right away. Only with Impress and Base a number of things need to be set first.

Despite the fact that each program has its own options, there are also many similarities between the programs. They look similar. For example, at the top is the menu bar. All possible commands of the program are hidden in it. Click on a menu item to see all child commands.

There are also worksheets below the menu bar. These are a kind of shortcuts to commands that are also in the menu bar. The first bar is a standard bar with the same icons in almost every program. An example is the button for saving a document. Below that is another toolbar with relevant tools, such as formatting text in Writer. This bar differs per program.

In Writer, users can directly type a text after opening. In Calc, first click in a cell and then enter text or numbers. This text can then be formatted.

• Select the text to format. To do this, drag the mouse pointer over the part you want to select, while holding down the left mouse button. In Calc, first double click in the cell.
• Click on a formatting tool:
• Font style: : click on the arrow and select a font from the drop-down menu.
  • Font size : click on the arrow and select the font size from the drop-down menu.
  • make fat .
  • Make italic .
  • underline .
  • Text color .

The result is immediately visible.

By default, LibreOffice saves all documents in the OpenDocument (ODF) format. Several programs use that format, including Microsoft programs.

Save a file like this:

• click on File.
• click on Save.
• Type a file name.
• Navigate to the desired location to save the document.
• click on Save.

However, Microsoft Office uses its own document types. These documents can be opened with LibreOffice. The LibreOffice documents can also be used in Microsoft Office programs. Still, the person you’re sharing a document with may prefer Microsoft format. Then save the file as follows:

• click on File.
• click on Save as.
• Type a file name.
• Navigate to the desired location to save the document.
• Click on the drop-down menu after ‘Save as’.
  
• Click on the Microsoft document. For Writer, this is Microsoft Word 2007-2013 XML (.docx). For Calc this is Microsoft Excel 2007-2013 XML (.xlsx) and for Impress this is Microsoft PowerPoint 2007-2013 XML (.pptx).
• click on Save.