Assistance with basic tools on apache system

[S Friedman <sf...@gmail.com>]

I am a poet, writer, trying to make basic, editorial changes on a document;
the system appears to be quite user unfriendly even though my needs are
very simple and basic. These are some of the issues:

1. will not change double space to single space
2. cannot insert page number; the page number continues to be highlighted.
3. cannot make a long dash after a word
4, I want to be able to compare two documents side by side
5. I want the system to automatically highlight mis-spellings

I deeply appreciate any assistance you can provide. My phone number is
304-300-2920.

Thank you.

P.S. The Geek Squad at Best Buy could not resolve this issue and
recommended I contact you.

Re: Assistance with basic tools on apache system

[Rory O'Farrell <of...@iol.ie>]

On Thu, 7 Oct 2021 11:35:51 -0400
S Friedman <sf...@gmail.com> wrote:

> I am a poet, writer, trying to make basic, editorial changes on a document;
> the system appears to be quite user unfriendly even though my needs are
> very simple and basic. These are some of the issues:
> 
> 1. will not change double space to single space
> 2. cannot insert page number; the page number continues to be highlighted.
> 3. cannot make a long dash after a word
> 4, I want to be able to compare two documents side by side
> 5. I want the system to automatically highlight mis-spellings
> 
> I deeply appreciate any assistance you can provide. My phone number is
> 304-300-2920.
> 
> Thank you.
> 
> P.S. The Geek Squad at Best Buy could not resolve this issue and
> recommended I contact you.

Support on this list and on the User Group Forum at https://forum.openoffice.org/en/forum/ is given by volunteers in their own time on a pro bono basis.

1) Use /Edit /Find and Replace.  In Find box enter two spaces, in Replace box enter one space, press Replace all button

2) /Insert /Field : Page number. If it is on a grey background (non printing) /View /Field shading.  If it shows "Page Number" in place of the actual number /View /Field Names.

3) Dash replacement is enabled by a setting in /Tools /Autocorrect Options: Options tab.  There should be a tick in both the M and T columns against "Replace dashes".  These are replaced according to these entries:

"Replace Dashes
Replaces one or two hyphens with a long dash (see the following table).
Text will be replaced after you type a trailing white space (space, tab, or return). In the following table, the A and B represent text consisting of letters A to Z or digits 0 to 9.
Text that you type:				Result that you get:
A - B (A, space, minus, space, B)		A – B (A, space, en-dash, space, B)
A -- B (A, space, minus, minus, space, B)	A – B (A, space, en-dash, space, B)
A--B (A, minus, minus, B)			A—B (A, em-dash, B)
(see note below the table)
A-B (A, minus, B)				A-B (unchanged)
A -B (A, space, minus, B)			A -B (unchanged)
A --B (A, space, minus, minus, B)		A –B (A, space, en-dash, B)

You can see this properly set out by /Tools /Autocorrect options and pressing the Help button on that page.  

4) You need to open another instance in Writer of the second file and position  the two Writer windows side by side.  You will need to manually steer both to keep the files in sync.

5) The system should automatically highlight mis-spellings if a dictionary has been selected for the chosen language.

If you have queries on any of the above, please log on to the Forum at the above URL and state your problem.

You might find it useful to see some instructions.  Many have found this document to be useful:
https://wiki.openoffice.org/wiki/Documentation

PDF at
http://openoffice-uni.org
 

-- 

If you expect OpenOffice to work like MS Word, you will be disappointed.  OpenOffice is based on the user of Style, for text and pages.
Rory O'Farrell <of...@iol.ie>

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Re: Assistance with basic tools on apache system

[Steven Ahlers <sa...@yahoo.com.INVALID>]

There are several good resources to help answer your questions. The Student’s Guide to OpenOffice Writer is a very good resource for the basic information to answer your questions: https://wiki.documentfoundation.org/images/0/01/Ooo_for_students.pdf

OpenOffice.org 3 Writer Guide has more details on these subjects: https://www.openoffice.org/documentation/manuals/userguide3/0200WG3-WriterGuide.pdf

Apache OpenOffice User Guide: Writer is a work in progress updating this information: https://wiki.openoffice.org/wiki/Documentation/UserGuide/Writer

Further specifics are below:

> 
> 1. will not change double space to single space
This is a function of Paragraph Styles

> 2. cannot insert page number; the page number continues to be highlighted
This is a function of Page Styles, page numbers are usually put into a Footer or a Header 

> 3. cannot make a long dash after a word
Inserting special characters

> 4, I want to be able to compare two documents side by side
Open both documents, resize their windows and position them next to each other. You may need to adjust the Zoom percentage of each document in View menu. Be careful paying attention to which document your cursor is in when making changes.

> 5. I want the system to automatically highlight mis-spellings
Turn on Auto Spellcheck: Menu bar at top of window, click on ABC with Red line under it.


As a courtesy to you I have sent you a copy of this message. As a courtesy to me Only respond to: users@openoffice.apache.org

This group is a worldwide group of users, putting personal information (phone numbers) is usually not a good idea.