Sharing Documents With Other Word Processors; Formatting With Styles - Novell LINUX ENTERPRISE DESKTOP 10 SP1 - GNOME 23-05-2007 Manual

3.2.2 Sharing Documents with Other Word Processors

You can use Writer to edit documents created in a variety of other word processors. For example,
you can import a Microsoft Word document, edit it, and save it again as a Word document. Most
Word documents can be imported into OpenOffice.org without any problem. Formatting, fonts, and
all other aspects of the document remain intact. However, some very complex documents—such as
documents containing complicated tables, Word macros, or unusual fonts or formatting—might
require some editing after being imported. OpenOffice.org can also save in many popular word
processing formats. Likewise, documents created in OpenOffice.org and saved as Word files can be
opened in Microsoft Word without any trouble.
So, if you use OpenOffice.org in an environment where you frequently share documents with Word
users, you should have little or no trouble exchanging document files. Just open the files, edit them,
and save them as Word files.

3.2.3 Formatting with Styles

OpenOffice.org uses styles for applying consistent formatting to various elements in a document.
The following types of styles are available:
Table 3-4
Type of Style
Paragraph
Character
Frame
Page
List
Opening the Styles and Formatting Window
The Styles and Formatting window (called the Stylist in earlier versions of OpenOffice.org), is a
versatile formatting tool for applying styles to text, paragraphs, pages, frames, and lists. To open this
window, click Format > Styles and Formatting. OpenOffice.org comes with several predefined
styles. You can use these styles as they are, modify them, or create new styles.
114 SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop 10 SP1 GNOME User Guide
About the Types of Styles
What it Does
Applies standardized formatting to the various types of paragraphs in your
document. For example, apply a paragraph style to a first-level heading to
set the font and font size, spacing above and below the heading, location
of the heading, and other formatting specifications.
Applies standardized formatting for types of text. For example, if you want
emphasized text to appear in italics, you can create an emphasis style that
italicizes selected text when you apply the style to it.
Applies standardized formatting to frames. For example, if your document
uses sidebars, you can create frames with specified graphics, borders,
location, and other formatting so that all of your sidebars have a consistent
appearance.
Applies standardized formatting to a specified type of page. For example, if
every page of your document contains a header and footer except for the
first page, you can use a first page style that disables headers and footers.
You can also use different page styles for left and right pages so that you
have bigger margins on the insides of pages and your page numbers
appear on an outside corner.
Applies standardized formatting to specified list types. For example, you
can define a checklist with square check boxes and a bullet list with round
bullets, then easily apply the correct style when creating your lists.