Customizing OpenOffice.org

Contents

Overview	ii

Feedback	ii

Acknowledgments	ii

Modifications and updates	ii

Toolbars	1

Customizing toolbars	1

Creating a new toolbar	1

Menus	2

Customizing menu content	2

Customizing the menu font	2

Customizing keyboard shortcuts	2

Customizing word entry and editing	3

AutoCorrect/AutoFormat	3

Undo / Redo	3

Spell checking	3

Security settings	3

Personal settings	3

Storing configurations in a template	4

Overview

This guide is about customizing the user interface in OpenOffice.org (OOo). The guide specifically covers the differences between customizing OOo and Microsoft Office (MSO). Also, the last section of this guide describes how to store to a template any changes to menus, keyboard shortcuts, status bar, and toolbars. It does not cover how to write macros; this topic is covered in another chapter in the guide.

Feedback

Please direct any comments or suggestions about this document to:
authors@user-faq.openoffice.org

Acknowledgments

This document was originally written by Ian Laurenson, with excellent corrections by Jean Hollis Weber.

Modifications and updates

Version	Date	Description of Change
1.0	27 October 2004	First published version.
1.1	2 November 2004	Minor corrections to text.

Toolbars

In the Windows version of OOo it is possible to customize toolbars by holding down the Alt key while dragging a button – the same functionality as MSO. However, as OOo is available on different platforms, the following method outlines the most generic approach to customizing and adding toolbars.

Customizing toolbars

There are three ways to get to the toolbar customization menu:

On a toolbar, right-click > Customize. (Same as MSO).

Tools > Configure... > Toolbars tab > Customize...

View > Toolbars > Customize... (Same as MSO).

However, rather than dragging buttons onto the toolbar as is required in MSO, use:

Toolbars drop-down to select the toolbar.

The Add‑‑> and <‑‑Remove buttons to change which buttons are on the selected toolbar.

The checkboxes to determine whether the button gets displayed or not.

The Move Up or Move Down buttons to change the order.

Icons... to change the icon displayed (e.g. for a macro).

Note: There is no in-built tool button editor. To use a custom icon, save it to the "{installpath}/share/config/symbol" directory in *.BMP format. OOo automatically searches this directory for new icons each time the Customize Buttons dialog is opened. Custom icons must be 16 x 16 or 26 x 26 pixels in size and cannot contain more than 256 colors (from OOo help).

Creating a new toolbar

To create a new toolbar:

Tools > Configure... > Toolbars.

Click New. This will create a toolbar called “User-defined no.1”. It is not possible to change the name of this toolbar. Based on pre-release versions of Ooo2.0, clicking New will display a dialog allowing a name to be given to the new toolbar.

Customize the toolbar as above.

Menus

Customizing menus is not significantly different in OOo to what it is in MSO. The specific steps are outlined below. It is even possible to set the menu font to be the font used by the system.

Customizing menu content

To customize menu content:

Tools > Configure... > Menu

To add a function:

Select the location in the Menu entries list box.

Select the new menu item using the Category and Function list boxes.

Click New to insert that function into the menu.

Customizing the menu font

The font used in OOo for menus is different from that used in MSO. If you want to change the font to the one used in MSO:

Tools > Options... > OpenOffice.org > Accessibility.

Check Use system font for user interface.

Click OK.

Customizing keyboard shortcuts

Customizing keyboard shortcuts requires a different procedure from that used in MSO. MSO requires the user to use a key combination and then click Assign, whereas in OOo the following steps are used:

Tools > Configure... > Keyboard.

Select the desired shortcut in the top list box labeled Shortcut keys.

Select the Category for the command, and the actual Function in the bottom list boxes.

Select whether the key shortcut is to be OOo-wide or just for the current application in the top right corner of the dialog.

Click Modify.

Note: Styles cannot automatically have keyboard shortcuts. A work-around is to record a macro. A macro has been written to make it easier to assign Alt key combinations to things like styles. See AltKeyHandler.sxw available from http://homepages.paradise.net.nz/hillview/OOo/.

Customizing word entry and editing

AutoCorrect/AutoFormat

A feature in OOo is the ability to have exceptions for AutoCorrect/AutoFormat rules. For example, you can have “Correct TWo INitial Capitals” in operation but exclude situations where two capitals are desired, like OOo. To set up exceptions:

Tools > AutoCorrect/AutoFormat...

Click on the Modifications menu tab.

Undo / Redo

To specify how many “undos” are available:

Tools > Options... > OpenOffice.org > Memory > Number of steps.

Spell checking

To set up the spell check options in OOo, use:

Tools > Options... > Language Settings > Writing Aids

The spell check options are consistent across all OOo applications.

Note: Custom dictionaries, unlike the default dictionaries, are not compressed. Using too many custom dictionaries, or custom dictionaries that contain more than 1,000 entries, slows down performance while proofing text.

Security settings

To set up virus protection for macro and Java security settings, use:

Tools > Options > OpenOffice.org > Security

For other security-related issues, see Password Protection and Privacy Options in the chapter General Differences in Use between OpenOffice.org and Microsoft Office.

Personal settings

To find out where these customizations are stored, use:

Tools > Options > OpenOffice.org > Paths

The dialog shows that the information, by default, is stored below a folder called “user”.

Storing configurations in a template

This section describes how to store changes to menus, keyboard shortcuts, status bar and toolbars in a template so that these customizations are automatically loaded when you work on an OOo document based on that template.

Create and save the template that is to have the configurations saved into it. Having a back-up of the template without the configuration changes is probably a good idea.

Make the desired changes to the configuration. (See Toolbars, Menus and Customizing keyboard shortcuts above.) Note any changes that you don't want as standard, as these will have to be undone.

Tools > Configure.

For each type of customization which is to be stored in the template, that is for each tab of the dialog that you want to change, click Save and choose the desired template (the one created and saved in step 1).

It is OK to overwrite the file – the warning message that is displayed is inappropriate and can be ignored.

Undo the changes that are not wanted as standard (as were noted in step 2).

Storing configurations in a template

Customizing OpenOffice.org	4

Title:	Customizing OpenOffice.org:
Version:	1.1
First edition:	November 2004

Overview

Customizing OpenOffice.org	iv

Customizing OpenOffice.org

Jean Hollis Weber

2004-10-25T07:27:23