OpenOffice.org OpenOffice - 3.0 Impress Guide

OpenOffice.org 3

Impress Guide

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Copyright

This document is Copyright © 2007–2009 by its contributors as listed in the section titled Authors. You may distribute it and/or modify it under the terms of either the GNU General Public License , version 3 or later, or the Creative Commons Attribution License , version 3.0 or later. All trademarks within this guide belong to their legitimate owners.

Authors

Agnes Belzunce

Martin J Fox

Peter Hillier-Brook

Dan Lewis

Gary Schnabl

Jean Hollis Weber

Michele Zarri

Feedback

Please direct any comments or suggestions about this document to: [email protected]

Publication date and software version

Published 27 January 2009. Based on OpenOffice.org 3.0.

You can download

an editable version of this document from http://oooauthors.org/en/authors/userguide3/published/

Contents

Chapter 1

Introducing Impress...................................................................7

What is Impress?.................................................................................8

Parts of the main Impress window......................................................8

Creating a new presentation.............................................................17

Formatting a presentation................................................................21

Running the slide show.....................................................................27

Chapter 2

Using Slide Masters, Styles, and Templates.............................28

Designing a presentation..................................................................29

What are slide masters?....................................................................29

What are styles? Why use them?.......................................................30

Working with slide masters...............................................................32

Modifying a slide master...................................................................34

Choosing and applying the background............................................35

Modifying default text areas.............................................................38

Adding text to all slides.....................................................................41

Working with styles...........................................................................42

Working with templates....................................................................46

Chapter 3

Adding and Formatting Text.....................................................53

Introduction......................................................................................54

Working with text boxes....................................................................54

Inserting text....................................................................................57

Formatting text.................................................................................60

Creating bulleted and numbered lists...............................................70

Using tables......................................................................................77

Using fields.......................................................................................83

Using hyperlinks...............................................................................85

Chapter 4

Adding and Formatting Pictures..............................................88

Introduction......................................................................................89

Inserting pictures..............................................................................89

Formatting pictures..........................................................................93

OpenOffice.org Impress Guide 3

Creating an image map.....................................................................99

Managing the Gallery themes.........................................................101

Chapter 5

Creating Graphic Objects.......................................................104

Introduction....................................................................................105

The Drawing toolbar.......................................................................105

Creating lines and shapes...............................................................108

Working with connectors................................................................109

Working with 3D shapes.................................................................111

Grouping shapes together...............................................................113

Arranging shapes............................................................................113

Flipping shapes...............................................................................114

Aligning shapes...............................................................................115

Alignment using the grid and snap guides......................................115

Converting an object to a different type.........................................117

Setting up interaction with a shape or image.................................118

Animating images...........................................................................120

Using Fontwork...............................................................................122

Chapter 6

Formatting Graphic Objects...................................................127

Introduction....................................................................................128

Using graphics styles to format graphics........................................128

Formatting lines and shapes...........................................................130

Moving, resizing and rotating a graphic object..............................130

Formatting lines..............................................................................134

Formatting areas.............................................................................138

Formatting text...............................................................................151

Formatting connectors....................................................................153

Chapter 7

Inserting Spreadsheets, Charts, and Other Objects...............155

Using spreadsheets in Impress.......................................................156

Inserting a chart.............................................................................163

Inserting other objects....................................................................173

Inserting the contents of a file........................................................178

4 OpenOffice.org Impress Guide

Chapter 8

Adding and Formatting Slides, Notes and Handouts.............179

Introduction....................................................................................180

Adding, renaming, and removing slides..........................................181

Creating slides from an outline.......................................................186

Modifying slides..............................................................................188

Adding and formatting notes..........................................................192

Creating handouts..........................................................................197

Chapter 9

Slide Shows.............................................................................202

Putting together a slide show.........................................................203

Using slide transitions....................................................................209

Using slide animation effects..........................................................211

Using interactions...........................................................................221

Running a slide show......................................................................222

Chapter 10

Printing, e-mailing, exporting, and saving slide shows.........225

Introduction....................................................................................226

Quick printing.................................................................................226

Controlling printing........................................................................226

Printing a brochure.........................................................................230

Exporting to PDF............................................................................231

Exporting as a Flash file.................................................................237

Exporting as web pages (HTML files).............................................238

E-mailing a presentation.................................................................241

Opening and saving a PowerPoint file.............................................243

Chapter 11

Setting Up and Customizing Impress.....................................245

Choosing options that affect all of OOo..........................................246

Choosing options for Impress.........................................................248

Customizing the user interface.......................................................253

Adding functionality with extensions..............................................262

Appendix A

Keyboard Shortcuts................................................................265

Introduction....................................................................................266

OpenOffice.org Impress Guide 5

Function keys for Impress...............................................................266

Other shortcut keys for Impress.....................................................267

Shortcut keys in the Normal View..................................................268

Shortcut keys in slide shows...........................................................269

Navigating in the Slide Sorter........................................................269

Index.........................................................................................270


Chapter

1

Introducing Impress

8

What is Impress?

Impress is OpenOffice.org’s presentations (slide show) component. You can create slides that contain many different elements, including text, bulleted and numbered lists, tables, charts, clip art, and a wide range of graphic objects. Impress, in common with the other components of

OpenOffice.org, has access to the spelling checker and thesaurus and comes with pre-packaged text styles, background styles, and a handy online help.

This chapter introduces the Impress user interface and describes how to create a simple slide show using the Presentation Wizard.

To use Impress for more than very simple slide shows, refer to the other chapters in this guide for explanations of the program’s many features.

Note

Drawings are created in the same way with Impress as they are with Draw. Refer to the drawing facilities.

Draw Guide for details on how to use the

Parts of the main Impress window

The main Impress window (Figure 1) has three parts: the

Slides pane , the Workspace, and the Tasks pane . Additionally, several toolbars can be displayed or hidden during the creation of a presentation.

Tip

You can remove the clicking the X

Slides pane or Tasks pane from view by

in the upper right corner. You can also show or hide these panes using View > Slide Pane or View > Task

Pane.

Slides pane

The Slides pane contains thumbnail pictures of the slides in your presentation, in the order they will be shown (unless you change the order, as described in Chapter 9). Clicking a slide in this pane selects it and places it in the Workspace. While it is there, you can apply any changes desired to that particular slide.

OpenOffice.org Impress Guide

Figure 1: Main window of Impress

Several additional operations can be performed on one or more slides in the Slides pane:

•

•

Add new slides at any place within the presentation after the first slide.

Mark a slide as hidden so that it will not be shown as part of the slide show.

•

•

•

Delete a slide from the presentation if it is no longer needed.

Rename a slide.

Copy or move the contents of one slide to another (copy and paste, or cut and paste, respectively).

It is also possible to perform the following operations, although there are more efficient methods than using the Slides pane as you will see in this chapter.

•

•

Change the slide transition following the selected slide or after each slide in a group of slides.

Change the sequence of slides in the presentation.

•

•

Change the slide design. (A window opens allowing you to load your own design.)

Change slide layout for a group of slides simultaneously. (This requires using the Layouts section of the Tasks pane.)

Chapter 1 Introducing Impress 9

Tasks pane

The Tasks pane has five sections:

Master Pages

Here you define the page style for your presentation. Impress contains 28 prepackaged Master Pages (slide masters). One of them

—Default—is blank, and the rest have a background.

Tip

Press F11 to open the Styles and Formatting window, where you can modify the styles used in any slide master to suit your purposes. This can be done at any time. See Chapter 2 for more information.

Layout

Twenty prepackaged layouts are shown. You can choose the one you want, use it as it is or modify it to your own requirements. At present it is not possible to create custom layouts.

Table Design

Eleven standard table styles are provided in this pane. You can further modify the appearance of a table with the selections to show or hide specific rows and columns, or to apply a banded appearance to the rows and columns.

Custom Animation

A variety of animations for selected elements of a slide are listed.

Animation can be added to selected elements of a slide, and it can also be changed or removed later.

Slide Transition

Fifty-six transitions are available, including No Transition. You can select the transition speed (slow, medium, fast). You can also choose between an automatic or manual transition, and how long you want the selected slide to be shown (automatic transition only).

Workspace

The Workspace has five tabs: Normal, Outline, Notes, Handout, and

Slide Sorter, as seen in Figure 9. These five tabs are called View

Buttons. There are also many toolbars that can be used during slide creation; they are revealed by selecting them with View > Toolbars.

The actual Workspace section is below the View Buttons. This is where you assemble the various parts of your selected slide.


Each view is designed to ease the completion of certain tasks. In summary:

• Normal view is the main view for creating individual slides. Use this view to format and design slides and to add text, graphics, and animation effects.

• Outline view shows topic titles, bulleted lists, and numbered lists for each slide in outline format. Use this view to rearrange the order of slides, edit titles and headings, rearrange the order of items in a list, and add new slides.

•

•

•

Notes view lets you add notes to each slide that are not seen when the presentation is shown.

Slide Sorter view shows a thumbnail of each slide in order. Use this view to rearrange the order of slides, produce a timed slide show, or add transitions between selected slides.

Handout view lets you print your slides for a handout. You can choose one, two, three, four, or six slides per page from Tasks

pane > Layouts. Thumbnails can be re-arranged in this view by dragging and dropping them.

Normal view

There are two ways to place a slide in the Slide Design area of the

Normal view: clicking the slide thumbnail in the Slides pane or using the Navigator.

To open the Navigator, click the Navigator button in the Standard

Toolbar or press Ctrl+Shift+F5 and select a slide by scrolling down the Navigator list until you find the one you want and then double-click

it. For more about using the Navigator, see page 17.

Outline view

Outline view contains all of the slides of the presentation in their numbered sequence. Only the text in each slide is shown. Slide names are not included.

Outline view serves at least two purposes.

1) Making changes in the text of a slide:

•

•

Add or delete text in a slide just as in the Normal view.

Move the paragraphs of text in the selected slide up or down by using the up and down arrow buttons (Move Up or Move Down) on the Text Formatting toolbar.


•

•

Change the outline level for any of the paragraphs in a slide using the left and right arrow buttons (Promote or Demote).

Both move a paragraph and change its outline level using a combination of these four arrow buttons.

2) Comparing the slides with your outline (if you have prepared one in advance). If you notice from your outline that another slide is needed, you can create it directly in the Outline view or you can return to the Normal view to create it, then return to review all the slides against your outline in the Outline view.

If a slide is not in the correct sequence, you can move it to its proper place: a) Click the slide icon of the slide you wish to move, as indicated

in Figure 2.

b) Drag and drop it where you want it.

Figure 2: Outline view

Notes view

Use the Notes view to add notes to a slide:

1) Click the Notes tab in the Workspace (Figure 3).

2) Select the slide to which you will add notes.

• Double-click the slide in the Slide pane, or

• Double-click the slide’s name in the Navigator.

3) In the text box below the slide, click on the words Click to add notes and begin typing.


You can resize the notes text box using the green resizing handles and move it by placing the pointer on the border, then clicking and dragging. To make changes in the text style, press the F11 key to open the Styles and Formatting window.

Figure 3: Adding notes in Notes View

Slide Sorter view

The Slide Sorter view contains all of the slide thumbnails (Figure 4).

Use this view to work with a group of slides or with only one slide.

Figure 4: Slide Sorter view


Change the number of slides per row, if desired:

1) Check View > Toolbars > Slide View to show the Slide view

toolbar (Figure 5).

Figure 5: Slide Sorter and Slide

View toolbars

2) Adjust the number of slides (up to a maximum of 15).

3) After you have adjusted the number of slides per row,

View > Toolbars > Slide View will remove this toolbar from view.

To move a slide in a presentation using the Slide Sorter:

1) Click the slide. A thick black border is drawn around it.

2) Drag and drop it to the location you want.

• As you move the slide, a black vertical line appears to one side of the slide.

• Drag the slide until this black vertical line is located where you want the slide to be moved.

To select a group of slides, use one of these methods:

•

•

•

Use the Control (Ctrl) key: Click on the first slide and, while pressing Control, select the other desired slides.

Use the Shift key: Click on the first slide, and while pressing the

Shift key, select the final slide in the group. This selects all of the other slides in between the first and the last.

Use the cursor: Click on the first slide to be selected. Hold down the left mouse button. Drag the cursor to the last slide thumbnail.

A dashed outline of a rectangle forms as you drag the cursor through the slide thumbnails and a thick black border is drawn around the selected slides. Make sure the rectangle includes all the slides you want to select.

To move a group of slides:

1) Select the group.

2) Drag and drop the group to their new location. The same vertical black line appears to show you where the group of slides will go.

Note

Selection of a group of slides works in a rectangular fashion.

Slides that do not fall within a rectangular area cannot be grouped.


You can work with slides in the Slide Sorter view just as you can in the

Slide pane.

To make changes, right-click a slide and do the following, using the pop-up menu:

•

•

•

•

•

•

Add a new slide after the selected slide.

Delete or rename the selected slide.

Change the Slide Layout.

Change the Slide Transition.

–

–

For one slide, click the slide to select it. Then add the desired transition.

For more than one slide, select the group of slides and add the desired transition.

Mark a slide as hidden. Hidden slides will not be shown in the slide show.

Copy or cut and paste a slide.

Handout view

Handout view is for setting up the layout of your slides for a printed handout. Click the Handout tab in the workspace, then choose Layouts

in the tasks pane (Figure 6). You can then choose to print one, two,

three, four, or six slides per page.

Figure 6: Handout layouts

To print a handout:

1) Select the slides using the Slide Sorter. (Use the steps listed in

selecting a group of slides on page 14.)

2) Select File > Print or press Control+P to open the Print dialog box.

3) Select Options in the bottom left corner of the Print dialog box.

4) Check Handouts in the Contents section, and then click OK.

5) Click OK to close the Print dialog box.


Toolbars

The various Impress toolbars can be displayed or hidden by clicking

View > Toolbars and selecting from the menu. You can also select the icons that you wish to appear on each toolbar. For more information, refer to Chapter 1 (Introducing OpenOffice.org) in the Getting Started guide.

Many of the toolbars in Impress are similar to the toolbars in OOo

Draw. Refer to the Draw Guide for details on the functions available and how to use them.

Status Bar

The status bar, positioned at the bottom of the Impress window, contains information that you may find useful when working on a presentation.

From left to right, you will find:

• A general information area, which changes depending on the selection: For example:

•

–

–

Text area—”TextEdit: Paragraph x, Row y, Column z”

Charts, spreadsheets—”Embedded object (OLE) ‘ObjectName’ selected”

Graphics—”Bitmap with transparency selected” –

The position of the cursor or of the top left corner of the selection measured from the top left corner of the slide.

•

•

•

•

•

•

The width and height of the selection or of the text box where the cursor is.

The zoom level of the workarea.

A modified flag, showing a star when the file needs saving.

A flag indicating if the document is digitally signed.

The slide number currently displayed in the workarea.

The slide master associated to the slide currently in the workarea.

Tip

Right-clicking on the slide master area of the Status bar you can quickly apply a different slide master to the current slide.

In case you do not need the information in the Status Bar you can hide it by selecting View > Status Bar from the main menu.


Navigator

The Navigator (Figure 7) displays all objects

contained in a document. It provides another convenient way to move around a document and find items in it. The Navigator button is located on the Standard toolbar. You can also display the Navigator by choosing Edit >

Navigator on the menu bar or pressing

Ctrl+Shift+F5.

The Navigator is more useful if you give your objects (pictures, spreadsheets, and so on) meaningful names, instead of leaving them as the default “Object 1” and “Picture 1” shown

in Figure 7.

Figure 7: Navigator

Creating a new presentation

This section shows you how to set up a new presentation using the

Presentation Wizard.

Planning the presentation

The first thing to do is decide what you are going to do with the presentation. For example, putting a group of digital photos together in a presentation requires very little planning. However, using a presentation to increase the knowledge of others about your topic requires much more planning.

You need to ask and answer many questions before you begin creating a presentation. If you are not acquainted with creating presentations, the answers will be more general. Those who have created a variety of presentations in the past will want to have more specific answers.

Who is to see the presentation? How will it be used? What is the subject matter? What should be in its outline? How detailed should the outline be? Will an audio file be played? Is animation desirable? How should the transition between slides be handled? These are some of the many questions that should be asked, answered, and written down before creating the presentation.

Again, it is not always necessary at this point to have specific answers to every question. Making an outline is extremely important. You may already know exactly what some of the slides will contain. You may only have a general idea of what you want on some of the slides. That


is alright. You can make some changes as you go. Change your outline to match the changes you make in your slides.

The important part is that you have a general idea of what you want and how to get it. Put that information on paper. That makes it much easier to create the presentation.

Using the Presentation Wizard

You can start Impress in several ways:

•

•

From the system menu or the OpenOffice.org Quickstarter.

Details vary with your operating system; see the Getting Started guide if you need more information.

From any open component of OOo, click the triangle to the right of the New icon on the main toolbar and select Presentation from

the drop-down menu (Figure 8).

•

Figure 8: Opening the presentation wizard

From any open component of OOo, choose File > New >

Presentation.

When you start Impress, the Presentation Wizard (Figure 9) appears.

Tips

If you do not want the wizard to start every time you start

Impress, select the Do not show this wizard again checkbox.

Leave the Preview checkbox selected, so templates, slide designs, and slide transitions appear in the preview box as you choose them.


Figure 9. Using the Presentation Wizard to choose the type of presentation

1) Select Empty presentation under Type. It creates a presentation from scratch.

Note

From template uses a template design already created as the basis for a new presentation. The wizard changes to show a list of available templates. Choose the template you want. More details can be found in Chapter 2.

Open existing presentation continues work on a previously created presentation. The wizard changes to show a list of existing presentations, from which you can choose the one you want.

2) Click Next. The Presentation Wizard step 2 appears. Figure 10

shows the Wizard as it appears if you selected Empty presentation at step 1. If you selected From template, an example slide is shown in the Preview box.

3) Choose a design under Select a slide design. The slide design section gives you two main choices: Presentation Backgrounds and Presentations. Each one has a list of choices for slide designs.

If you want to use one of these other than <Original>, click it to select it.


Impress provides about 25 types of Presentation Backgrounds that you

can select from the list shown in Figure 10. <Original> is an empty

background. You can also select among three predefined

Presentations: <Original>, Introducing a New Product, and

Recommendation of a Strategy.

Figure 10. Selecting a slide design using the

Presentation Wizard

To start with a blank presentation, select <Original>. Click an item to see a preview of the slide design in the Preview window.

Note

Introducing a New Product and Recommendation of a Strategy are pre-packaged presentation templates. They can be used to create a presentation by choosing From template in the first

step (Figure 9).

Select how the presentation will be used under Select an output

medium. Generally, presentations are created for computer screen display, so you would select Screen.

Click Next. The Presentation Wizard step 3 appears (Figure 14).

In this step you can choose the desired slide transition from the Effect drop-down menu. Select the desired speed for the transition between the different slides in the presentation from the Speed drop-down menu. Medium is a good choice for now.

Click Create. A new presentation is created.


Tip

Figure 11: Selecting a slide transition effect

You might want to accept the default values for both Effect and

Speed unless you are skilled at doing this. Both of these values can be changed later while working with Slide transitions and

animations. These two are explained in more detail in Chapter

9 (Slide Shows).

Note

If you selected From template on step 1 of the Wizard, the Next button will be active on step 3 and other pages will be available.

Formatting a presentation

Now put your presentation together based on your outline.

Caution

Remember to save frequently while working on the presentation, to prevent any loss of information should something unexpected occur. You might also want to activate the AutoRecovery function

(Tools > Options > Load/Save > General). Make sure Save

AutoRecovery information every is selected and that you have entered a recovery frequency.


Creating the first slide

The first slide is normally a title slide. Decide which of the layouts will best suit your purposes for this first slide: simplicity would be appropriate in this instance. You can use the pre-packaged layouts available in the Layout section of the Tasks pane. Suitable layouts are

Title Slide (which also contains a section for a subtitle) or Title Only, however all but one layout (the blank one) contains a title section, so you are not restricted to the two layouts described here.

Tip

If you do not know the names for the pre-packaged layouts, you can use the tooltip feature. Position the cursor on an icon in the

Layout section (or on any toolbar icon) and its name will be displayed in a small rectangle.

If the tooltips are not enabled, you can enable them. From the main menu, select Tools > Options > OpenOffice.org >

General > Help and mark the Tips checkbox. If the Extended

tips checkbox is also marked, you will get more detailed tooltip information, but the tooltip names themselves will not be provided.

Select a layout in the Layout section of the Tasks pane by clicking on it: it appears in the Workspace. To create the title, click on Click to add title (assuming the Blank Slide layout was not used) and then type the title text. Adjustments to the formatting of the title can be done by pressing the F11 key, right-clicking the Title presentation style entry, and selecting Modify from the pop-up menu.

If you are using the Title Slide layout, click on “Click to add text” to add a subtitle. Proceed as above to make adjustments to the formatting if required.

Inserting additional slides

The steps for inserting additional slides are basically the same as for selecting the title page. It is a process that has to be repeated for each slide. Unless you are using more than one slide master, your only concern is the

Layouts section of the Tasks pane (Figure 12).


Figure 12: Choosing a slide layout

First insert all the slides your outline indicates you will need. Only after this should you begin adding special effects such as custom animation and slide transitions.

Step 1: Insert a new slide. This can be done in a variety of ways—take your pick.

• Insert > Slide.

•

•

Right-click on the present slide, and select Slide > New Slide from the pop-up menu.

Click the Slide icon in the

Presentation toolbar (Figure 13).

Figure 13: Presentation toolbar

Step 2: Select the layout slide that bests fits your needs.

Step 3: Modify the elements of the slide. At this stage, the slide consists of everything contained in the slide master, as well as the chosen layout slide, so this includes removing unneeded elements, adding needed elements (such as pictures), and inserting text.

Caution

Changes to any of the pre-packaged layouts can only be made using View > Normal, which is the default. Attempting to do this by modifying a slide master may result in unpredictable results and requires extra care as well as some trials and errors.


1) Remove any element on the slide that is not required (Figure 14).

a) Click the element to highlight it. (The green squares show it is highlighted.) b) Press the Delete key to remove it.

24

Figure 14: Deleting an element of a slide

Tip

Sometimes you will accidentally select the wrong layout slide or decide to change it. This is safe and does not cause loss of the contents already on the slide.

2) Add any elements to the slide that you do need.

a) Adding pictures to the clipart frame, if your chosen layout includes one: i.

Double-click the picture within the frame. The Insert picture dialog box opens.

ii. Browse to the location of the picture you want to include.

To see a preview of the picture, check Preview at the bottom of the Insert picture dialog box.

iii. Select the picture and click Open.

iv. Resize the picture as necessary. Follow the directions in the Caution note below.

b) Adding pictures from graphic files to places other than the clipart frame: i.

Insert > Picture > From File. The Insert picture dialog box opens.


ii. Browse to the graphic file. To see a preview of the picture, check Preview at the bottom of the Insert picture dialog box. Select a picture and click Open.

iii. Move the picture to its location.

iv. Resize the picture, if necessary.

c) Adding OLE Objects is an advanced technique covered in

Chapter 7 (Inserting spreadsheets, charts, and objects).

Caution

When resizing a graphic, right-click the picture. Select Position

and Size from the context menu and make sure that Keep ratio is selected. Then adjust the height or width to the size you need.

(As you adjust one dimension both dimensions will change.)

Failure to do so will cause the picture to become distorted.

Remember also that resizing a bitmap image will reduce its quality; better by far to create an image of the desired size outside of Impress.

3) Adding text to a slide: If the slide contains text, click on Click to add an outline in the text frame and then type your text. The

Outline styles from 1 to 10 are automatically applied to the text as you insert it. You can change the outline level of each paragraph as well as its position within the text using the arrow buttons on the

Text Formatting toolbar (see “Outline view” on page 11).

Step 4: To create additional slides, repeat steps 1–3.

Modifying the appearance of slides

To change the background and other characteristics of all slides in the presentation, you need to modify the slide master or choose a different slide master.

A Slide Master is a slide with a specified set of characteristics which is used as the beginning point for creating other slides. These characteristics include the background, objects in the background, formatting of any text used, and any background graphics.

Note

OOo uses three interchangeable terms for this one concept.

Master slide , slide master , and master page all refer to a slide that is used to create other slides. This book, however, will use only the term interface.

slide master, except when describing the user

Impress has five pre-packaged slide masters, found in the Master

Pages section of the

Tasks pane (Figure 2). You can also create and


save additional slide masters. See Chapter 2 for information on creating and modifying slide masters.

Modifying the slide show

Now review the entire presentation and answer some questions. Run the slide show at least once before answering them. You might want to add some questions of your own.

1) Are the slides in the correct order? If not, some of them will need to be moved.

2) Would an additional slide make a particular point clearer? If so, another slide needs to be created.

3) Would some custom animations help some of the slides?

(Advanced technique.)

4) Should some of the slides have a different slide transition than others? The transition of those slides should be changed.

5) Do some of the slides seem unnecessary? Delete the affected slide or slides after checking if they are indeed unnecessary.

Caution

If one or more slides seems to be unnecessary, hide the slide or slides, and view the slide show a few more times to make sure.

To hide a slide, right-click the slide in the Slides pane. Select

Hide Slide in the pop-up menu. Do not delete a slide until you have done this, otherwise you may have to create that slide again.

Once you have answered these and your own questions, you should make the necessary changes. This is done most easily in the Slide

Sorter view (see page 13). If you need one or more new slides, create

them using the steps listed in “Inserting additional slides” on page 22.

Renaming slides

Right-click on a thumbnail in the Slides pane or the Slide Sorter and choose Rename Slide from the pop-up menu. In the Name field, delete the old name of the slide and type the new name. Click OK to save the change.

Custom animations

If you know how to add a custom animation to a slide and wish to do so, do it now. Custom animations are found on the Tasks pane. This is an advanced technique and is explained in Chapter 9 (Slide shows).


Slide transitions

Your first slide show should probably have the same slide transition for all slides. Setting Advance slide to On mouse click is the default and a simple setting. If you want each slide to be shown for a specific amount of time, click Automatically after and enter the number of seconds. Click Apply to all slides.

Transition choices are found on the Tasks pane. For more information about slide transitions, see Chapter 9 (Slide Shows).

Tip

The Slide transition section has a very useful choice: Automatic preview . Select its checkbox. Then when you make any changes in a slide transition, the new slide is previewed in the Slide

Design area, including its transition effect.

Running the slide show

To run the slide show, do one of the following:

•

•

•

Click Slide Show > Slide Show on the main menu bar.

Click the Slide Show button on the Presentation toolbar (Figure

13) or the Slide Sorter toolbar (Figure 5).

Press F5 or F9.

If the slide transition is Automatically after x seconds, let the slide show run by itself.

If the slide transition is On mouse click, do one of the following to move from one slide to the next.

• Use the arrow keys on the keyboard to go to the next slide or to go back to the previous one.

•

•

Click the mouse button to advance to the next slide.

Press the Spacebar on the keyboard to advance to the next slide.

When you advance past the last slide, the message “Click to exit presentation...” appears. Click the mouse or press any key to exit the presentation.

To exit the slide show at any time, including at the end, press the Esc key.


Chapter

2

Using Slide Masters,

Styles, and Templates

Designing a presentation

In addition to careful planning of the content (as discussed in Chapter

1), you need to plan the appearance of the presentation. It is best to do this after you have developed an outline, because the outline will determine some of the requirements for the slides’ appearance. For example:

•

•

•

•

•

•

What color combinations (background and text) will both look good and be easy for your audience to see?

Would a picture help your audience understand the contents better?

Do you want a particular picture (for example a company logo) to appear on all the slides?

Would the audience benefit from having the slides numbered so that they can quickly refer to one of them?

Do you want a background graphic or gradient? If so, you need to pick something that does not interfere or clash with your content, for example, colors used in charts.

Will you need one slide master or more than one? If one slide design does not suit all of the content, you might need more than one slide master.

You can change the appearance of slides as you develop the presentation, but planning ahead will save you time in the long run.

What are slide masters?

A slide master is a slide that is used as the starting point for other slides. It is similar to a page style in Writer: it controls the basic formatting of all slides based on it. A slide show can have more than one slide master.

Note

OOo uses three terms for this one concept. Master slide , slide master , and master page all refer to a slide which is used to create other slides. This book uses the term when describing the user interface.

slide master, except

A slide master has a defined set of characteristics, including the background color, graphic, or gradient; objects (such as logos, decorative lines, and other graphics) in the background; headers and footers; placement and size of text frames; and the formatting of text.

Chapter 2 Using Slide Masters, Styles, and Templates 29

All of the characteristics of slide masters are controlled by styles. The styles of any new slide you create are inherited from the slide master from which it was created. In other words, the styles of the slide master are available and applied to all slides created from that slide master. Changing a style in a slide master results in changes to all the slides based on that slide master; it is, however, possible to modify each individual slide without affecting the slide master.

Note

Although it is highly recommended to use the slide masters whenever possible, there are occasions where manual changes are needed for a particular slide, for example to enlarge the chart area when the text and chart layout is used.

Slide masters have two types of styles associated with them: presentation styles and graphic styles. The pre-packaged presentation styles can be modified, but new presentation styles cannot be created.

However, not only can the pre-packaged graphic styles be modified, but new graphic styles can also be created.

What are styles? Why use them?

A style is a set of formats that you can apply to selected items in your presentation to quickly change their appearance. When you apply a style, you apply a whole group of formats at the same time. For example, a style defines the font, type size, indents and spacing, tab stops, and other characteristics of text; and the area fill and line style of a frame or other object.

Using styles gives you more control over the entire presentation.

Although you can manually change each slide one element at a time, any manual changes you make apply only to that one slide. If you have several slides with the same elements, you would have to change those elements of each slide if you wanted your slides to have a consistent appearance. When you do this manually, how can you be sure you changed every slide that needs to be changed?

However, if you assign a style to each of the elements you add to your slides, changing the style for that element changes all the slides containing it. Thus, by using styles, you can eliminate most of the work required for changing manually created slides.


Tip

Press F11 to open the Styles and Formatting window. You can dock or undock this window by holding down the Control key while double-clicking the top of the window between the icons

(see Figure 15). Press

F11 to close the Styles and Formatting window when you do not need it.

Tip

Figure 15: Styles and Formatting window

At the bottom of the Styles and Formatting window is a dropdown list. You can choose to show all styles or other groups of styles, for example applied styles or (in the case of Graphics styles), custom styles.

Presentation styles

Presentation styles affect three elements of a slide master: the background, background objects (such as icons, decorative lines, and text frames), and the text placed on the slide. Text styles are further divided into Notes, Outline 1 through Outline 9, Subtitle, and Title. The outline styles are used for the different levels of the outline to which they belong. For example, Outline 2 is used for the subpoints of Outline

1, and Outline 3 is used for the subpoints of Outline 2.

As described earlier, the pre-packaged presentation styles can be modified, but new presentation styles cannot be created.


Graphic styles

Graphic styles affect many of the elements of a slide. Notice that text styles exist in both the presentation and graphic style selections. What styles to use and when to use them is described later in this chapter.

There are 15 pre-packaged graphic styles to choose from. You can create additional styles or modify the pre-packaged styles.

Working with slide masters

Impress comes with 28 pre-packaged slide masters. They are shown in

the Master Pages section of the Tasks pane (Figure 17). This section

has three subsections: Used in This Presentation, Recently Used, and

Available for Use. Click the + sign next to the name of a subsection to expand it to show thumbnails of the slides, or click the – sign to collapse the subsection to hide the thumbnails.

Each of the slide masters shown in the Available for Use list is from a template of the same name. If you have created your own templates, or added templates from other sources, slide masters from those

templates will also appear in this list. See “Working with templates” on page 46 for more about templates.

Creating slide masters

You can create a new slide master in a similar way to modifying the default slide master.

To start, enable editing of slide masters by

View > Master > Slide Master.

On the Master View toolbar (Figure 16),

click the New Master icon (highlighted in the figure).

Figure 16: Master

View toolbar

A second slide master appears in the Slides pane. Modify this slide master to suit your requirements. It is also recommended that you rename this new slide master. To do that, right-click on the slide in the

Slides pane and select Rename master from the popup menu.

When you are done, close the Master View toolbar to return to normal slide editing mode.


Applying a slide master

In the Tasks Pane, be sure the Master Pages

section is showing (Figure 17).

To apply one of the slide masters to all slides in your presentation, click on it in the list.

To apply a different slide master to one or more selected slides:

1) In the Slide Pane, select the slides you want to change.

2) In the Tasks Pane, right-click on the slide master you want to apply to the selected slides, and click Apply to Selected

Slides on the pop-up menu.

Loading additional slide masters

Sometimes, in the same set of slides, you may need to mix multiple slide masters that may belong to different templates (the use of

templates is explained later in “Working with templates” on page 46). For example, you may

Figure 17: Available

master pages (slides) need a completely different layout for the first slide of the presentation, or you may want to add to your presentation a slide from a different presentation (based on a template available on the hard disk).

The Slide Design dialog box makes this possible. Access this dialog box either from the menu bar (Format > Slide design) or from the pop-up menu that appears when right-clicking on a slide in the Slides pane.

The main window in the dialog box shows the slide masters already available for use. To add more:

1) Click the Load button.

2) Select in the new dialog box the template from which to load the slide master. Click OK.

3) Click OK again to close the slide design dialog box.

The slide masters in the template you selected are now shown also in the Master Pages section of the Tasks pane in the Available for use subsection.


Note

Tip

The slide masters you have loaded will also be available the next time you load the presentation. If you want to delete the unused slide masters, click the corresponding checkbox in the Slide

Design dialog box. Due to a bug, if the slide master was not used in the presentation, it is removed from the list of available slide masters anyway.

To limit the size of the presentation file, you may want to minimize the number of slide masters used.

Modifying a slide master

The following items can be changed on a slide master:

• Background (color, gradient, hatching, or bitmap)

• Background objects (for example, add a logo or decorative graphics)

•

•

Size, placement, and contents of header and footer elements to appear on every slide

Size and placement of default frames for slide titles and content

Refer to Figure 20 for a graphical representation of many of these

elements.

Before working on the slide master, make sure that the Styles and

Formatting window is open. See page 31 for instructions on doing this.

To select the slide master for modification:

1) Select View > Master > Slide Master from the menu bar. This unlocks the properties of the slide master so you can edit it.

2) Click Master Pages in the Tasks pane. This gives you access to the pre-packaged slide masters.

3) Click on the slide master you want to modify among the ones

available (Figure 17).

4) Make changes as described in this chapter, then click the Close

Master View icon on the Master View toolbar. Save the file before continuing.


Caution

Any changes made to one slide when in Master View mode will appear on all slides using this slide master. Always make sure you close Master View and return to Normal view before working on any of the presentation slides.

Select View > Normal from the menu bar, or clicking

Close Master View in the Master View toolbar to return to the normal slide view.

The changes made to one of the slides in Normal view (for example, changes to the bullet point style, the color of the title area, and so on) will not be overridden by subsequent changes to the slide master.

There are cases, however, where it is desirable to revert a manually modified element of the slide to the style defined in the slide master: to do that, select that element and choose Format > Default

Formatting from the menu bar.

Sometimes you may want to try several of the available layouts to see which one is more suitable for your contents. Applying a layout only requires that you open the Layouts section of the Tasks pane and double-click on the new layout. Alternatively you can right-click on the desired layout thumbnail and select Apply to selected slide from the pop-up menu.

Choosing and applying the background

Background can be applied to a number of elements in Impress: the page, a default text area, a graphic object and so on. The procedures to apply a background are always the same.

The following procedure is used to apply a background to the page.

1) To begin, do one of the following:

•

•

Select Format > Page from the menu bar. On the Page Setup dialog box, choose the Background tab.

Make sure the Presentation Styles icon is selected in the

Styles and Formatting window (Figure 15), right-click

Background and select Modify from the pop-up menu. This opens the Background dialog box.

2) Select the type of fill you want for your background from the five

choices, as shown in Figure 18: None, Color, Gradient, Hatching,

or Bitmap.


Figure 18: Background choices

A list of choices for the selected fill type then appears (see Figure

19 for an example).

3) Select one of the items on the list and click OK. The fill you have chosen is added to the slide master, replacing any previously selected fill.

Tip

You can make custom additions to each type of background, with the obvious exception of None . After you create new fills, they are listed in the Background dialog box along with the fills

provided with OOo. For example, the last color in Figure 19,

Test

Blue , is a custom color. See Chapter 6 for more information.

36

Figure 19: Background colors


Adding background objects

This section describes how to add background objects and graphic elements (such as a logo, decorative lines, and so on). OOo supports a large number of picture formats.

Whenever you want the same graphic element to appear on every slide of your presentation, the easiest and quickest solution is to use the slide master. Not only it will save time while creating the presentation, but also when you decide to either modify the graphic element or reposition it on the slide. If the graphic element was added to each slide, the same operations would have to be performed on each individual slide of the presentation.

One of the most common activities when preparing a presentation is to add a picture to the slide master. To insert a picture already available on the hard disk, follow these steps:

1) Choose View > Master > Slide Master from the menu bar.

2) Select from the menu bar Insert > Picture > From File.

3) Navigate to the directory where your picture is and select it. If you want to see a preview, select the corresponding checkbox in the file browser dialog box.

Caution

OOo offers the option to insert a picture as a link to the file rather than embedding it in the document. This can be useful when a presentation is not intended to be distributed elsewhere, and where it will remain in the same hierarchical directory structure. For example, it could be created on a notebook computer, from which the presentation will be given to, typically, a group of clients.

If the presentation file is to be distributed, however, the picture should be embedded to avoid the “missing picture” syndrome when the presentation is finally given on a different computer.

Once the picture is inserted, you may need to reposition it and modify its size. How to do that is explained in Chapter 4 (Adding and

Formatting Pictures).

Tip

If you want the image to blend with the background, you can set the background color of the picture as transparent. Select the picture, then chose Tools > Eyedropper from the menu bar.

Check the first checkbox and then move the mouse on the picture and click on the color you would like to make transparent. This color appears next to the checkbox. Make sure that Replace with...

is set to Transparent and click Replace.


In addition to pictures you can add a number of other background

objects, for example decorative lines, text and shapes. Figure 20 is an

example of a slide master with a custom background gradient, a background picture, another picture in the top right corner, some decorative lines and some customized presentation styles.

Figure 20: Example of a complex slide with several modifications

Modifying default text areas

When a slide master is opened for editing, it contains five areas, as

shown in Figure 21:

•

•

Title area for AutoLayouts

Object area for AutoLayouts

•

•

•

Date area

Footer area

Slide number area


Figure 21: Slide master showing five editable areas

Click with the left mouse button on any of these areas to display eight green squares (handles) around the rectangle. Use these handles to modify the size and position of the area.

1) To change the position, move the mouse towards one of the edges, away from the green handles, until the cursor changes

shape 1 , then click the left mouse button and drag the area to the

desired position.

2) To modify the shape and size of one of the rectangular area, use one of the 8 green handles. Use the handles in the corners to modify both the sides of the rectangle simultaneously; the handles in the middle of the sides modify only one dimension at a time.

The shape of the mouse cursor usually changes when over the handle, giving a clear visual indication of how it will affect the shape of the rectangular area.

Tip

To keep the ratio between the sides of the rectangular area constant, move the mouse to one of the 4 green handles at the corner of the area and keep the the handle with the mouse.

Shift key pressed while dragging

1 The shape of the cursor to move and resize objects is operating system specific, therefore no image is provided.


To more accurately control the shape and size as well as the position of the default text area, instead of using the mouse it is better to access the Position and Size dialog box. To do that, first select the rectangular area by clicking on any point inside it, then either press F4 or from the main menu select Format > Position and Size. The dialog box shown

in Figure 22 is displayed.

The functions of this dialog box are explained in the Draw Guide, so only a short description of the most important fields is provided in this chapter.

Figure 22: The Position and Size dialog box

Use the Position section to specify the X (horizontal) and Y (vertical) position of the rectangular area. The values represent the distance of the base point (selected on the right hand side) relative to the top left corner of the slide.

Use the Size section to specify the width and height of the rectangular are. Select as the base point the part of the rectangular area that remains fixed. The default setting (top left corner) means that the when resizing the area, the position of the top left corner of the area will not change.

You can also use the Rotation tab of the dialog box to rotate one of the axes by 90 degrees to obtain a modern looking layout. In general it is preferable to use only right angles for ease of editing, although the program does not impose restrictions on the values that can be used.


Further modifications to the default text areas

Besides the shape, size and position, it is also possible to modify other aspects of the 5 areas of the slide master, such as the background, add a border, alignment relative to the slide and position relative to other objects.

While background style and line style of an area can be accessed from the Format menu, in order to access the Alignment and Arrange menus you need to either open the Drawing toolbar or use the context menu.

To display the Drawing toolbar (Figure 23), select it in

View > Toolbars; to open the context menu, right-click on the edge of the rectangular area after selecting it. On the Drawing toolbar, click

the arrow next to the Alignment or Arrange icon (highlighted in Figure

23) to display choices. See the

Draw Guide for details.

Figure 23: The Drawing toolbar

The date area, footer area, and slide number area do not automatically appear on every slide, even though you have defined them. In order to show them, you need to close the Master View and select the desired field from the menu: Insert > Page number or Insert > Date and

time. This procedure is explained in detail in Chapter 8 (Adding and

Formatting Slides, Notes, and Handouts).

Adding text to all slides

Some of the supplied slide masters have text objects in the footer. You can add other text objects to the master page for your slides to act as a header or a footer.

1) Choose View > Master > Slide Master from the menu bar.

2) On the Drawing toolbar (see Figure 23), select the Text icon.

3) Click once and drag in the master page to draw a text object, and then type or paste your text into the object or add fields as described below.

4) Choose View > Normal when you are finished.

To add a field, such as the date or page number, to a text object in the header or footer, choose Insert > Fields. and select the required field from the submenu. If you want to edit a field in your slide, select it and choose Edit > Fields.


The fields you can use in Impress are:

• Date (fixed).

•

•

Date (variable) —updates automatically when you reload the file.

Time (fixed).

•

•

•

•

Time (variable)—updates automatically when you reload the file

Author—First and last names listed in the OpenOffice.org user data.

Page number (slide number).

File name.

Tip

To change the number format (1,2,3 or a,b,c or i,ii,iii, etc.) for the page number field, choose Format > Page and then select a format from the list in the Layout Settings area.

To change the author information, go to Tools > Options >

OpenOffice.org > User Data.

Working with styles

This section describes how to create, modify, apply and delete styles in

Impress. If you are familiar with styles in Writer, you will find both similarities and differences in Impress. The presentation styles are similar to paragraph styles in Writer and are used in a very similar fashion. You cannot create new presentation styles but you can fully configure the existing ones. Note that, as for the Heading styles in

Writer, the Outline styles are hierarchically linked, so a change in the

Outline 1 will cascade through all the other Outline levels.

In Impress you will also find the graphic styles very useful. As the name suggests, graphic styles define the characteristics of a graphic object (including a text object). If, for example, you need to create a organization chart diagram in one of the slides of your presentation, you will surely want all the boxes to have consistent appearance, meaning same line style, same font type, maybe same shadow and so on. The easiest way to achieve this result with the minimum effort is to create a graphic style for the boxes and apply it to each box. The major benefit is that if later on you decide to modify, say, the background color of the boxes, all you need to do is modify the style.


Creating graphics styles

As discussed above you cannot create new presentation styles. You can create a new graphics style in two ways:

•

•

Using the Style dialog box

From a selection

Creating a new style using the Style dialog box

Choose the Graphics icon at the top of the Styles and Formatting window.

To link a new style with an existing style, first select that style, and then right-click and select New.

When styles are linked, then when you change the base style (for example, by changing the font from Times to Helvetica), all the linked fonts will change as well. Sometimes this is exactly what you want; other times you do not want the changes to apply to all the linked styles. It pays to plan ahead.

The style dialog box is shown in Figure 24. It has 14 tabs, each with

several options. If you are familiar with styles in Writer, you will find that you already know how to set many of these options. When you are finished making changes, click OK to save those changes.

Figure 24: Dialog box to create a new graphics style

Creating a new style from a selection

You can create a new style from manually formatted text or graphics:

1) Select the item you want to save as a style.


2) In the Styles and Formatting window, click the New Style from

Selection icon, highlighted in Figure 25.

Figure 25: New Style from Selection

3) In the Create Style dialog box (Figure 26) that pops up, type a

name for the new style. The list shows the names of existing custom styles of the selected type. Click OK to save the new style.

Figure 26: Naming a new style created from a selection

Modifying styles

To change an existing style, right-click on it in the Styles and

Formatting window and choose Modify from the pop-up menu. (For

Presentation styles, Modify is the only choice.)

The dialog box for the modification of a graphic style is the same as the

one for creating a graphic style (Figure 24); while the dialog box for

modifying a presentation style is simpler and more similar to the one to modify a paragraph style in Writer.

Make the required changes to the style and when finished click OK to save them.

Updating a style from a selection

To update a style from a selection:

1) Select an item that has the format you want to adopt as a style.

2) In the Styles and Formatting window, select the style you want to update (single-click, not double-click), and then click the Update

Style icon (see Figure 27).


Figure 27. Updating a style from a selection

Tip

Any changes you make to a style are effective only in the document on which you are working. The changes do not go into any associated template. If you want the changes to apply to more than one document, you need to change the template (see

“Working with templates” on page 46).

The Update Style button is available for both presentation and graphic styles.

Applying styles

In Impress you can apply styles in two ways, both starting from the

Styles and Formatting window. First click on one of the icons at the top left (Graphics Styles or Presentation Styles) to display a list of styles in the category you want. Then do one of the following:

• Position the insertion point in the paragraph or graphic and double-click on the name of the style you want to apply.

•

•

Click the Fill Format mode icon . The mouse pointer changes to this icon. Position the moving icon on the paragraph to be styled and click the mouse button. This mode remains active until you turn it off, so you can apply the same style to several paragraphs. To quit Fill Format mode, click the Fill Format

mode icon again or press the Esc key.

When Fill Format mode is active, a right-click anywhere in the document undoes the last Fill Format action. Be careful not to accidentally right-click and thus undo actions you want to keep.

Tip

At the bottom of the Styles and Formatting window is a dropdown list. You can choose to show all styles or other groups of styles, for example applied styles or (in the case of graphics styles) custom styles.


Deleting styles

You cannot remove (delete) any of OOo’s predefined styles, even if you are not using them.

You can remove any user-defined (custom) styles; but before you do, you should make sure the styles are not in use. If an unwanted style is in use, you will want to replace it with a substitute style.

To delete unwanted styles, right-click on them (one at a time) in the

Styles and Formatting window and click Delete on the pop-up menu.

Click Yes in the message box that pops up.

Assigning styles to shortcut keys

OOo provides a set of predefined keyboard shortcuts which allow you to quickly apply styles while typing in a document. You can redefine these shortcuts or define your own, as described in Appendix A

(Keyboard Shortcuts).

Working with templates

All documents in OpenOffice.org (OOo) are based on templates.

However, Impress is a little different from other OOo components, in that it starts with the Presentation Wizard unless you have elected to turn the Wizard off.

When you choose File > New > Presentation from the menu bar, if the Presentation Wizard is active, the Wizard offers several choices for a new presentation, one of which is From template.

If you have turned the Presentation Wizard off, when you start a new presentation by choosing File > New > Presentation from the menu bar, OOo uses the default presentation template. If you have not defined your own default template, OOo uses an inbuilt blank template supplied with the program.

Using templates supplied with OOo

OOo comes with five presentation templates. Two are in the

Presentations folder and three are in the Presentation backgrounds folder. The difference between them is that “Presentation” templates include a series of slides with sample titles and topics, while

“Presentation background” templates have only backgrounds and background objects. Both types have predefined presentation and graphics styles.


You can create a new presentation from a previously saved presentation template by choosing File > New > Templates and

Documents from the menu bar. This opens the Templates and

Documents – Templates window. To open a new presentation based on a template, double-click that template’s name in the list.

Using templates from other sources

If you have created your own templates, or imported templates from another location, they are probably stored in the My Templates folder in the Templates and Documents – Templates window. Templates installed using the Extension Manager may be installed in their own folders. You can use them in the same way as the templates installed with OOo.

See page 52 for information on importing templates into OOo.

Installing templates using the Extension Manager

The Extension Manager provides an easy way to install collections of templates, graphics, macros, or other add-ins that have been

“packaged” into files with a .OXT extension.

Although individual extensions can be found in different places, the official OpenOffice.org extension repository is at http://extensions.services.openoffice.org/ . Some extensions are free of charge; others are available for a fee. Check the descriptions to see what licenses and fees apply to the ones that interest you.

For more about the Extension Manager and some extensions of interest to Impress users, see Chapter 11 (Setting up and Customizing

Impress).

To install a collection templates packaged as an extension:

1) Download the extension and save it anywhere on your computer.

2) In OOo, select Tools > Extension Manager from the menu bar.

In the Extension Manager dialog, click Add.

3) A file browser window opens. Find and select the extension you want to install and click Open. The extension begins installing.

You may be asked to accept a license agreement.

4) When the installation is complete, the extension is listed in the

Extension Manager dialog.

The slide masters from the templates will now appear in the list of

Available Master Pages in the Tasks Pane (Figure 17).


Tip

To get extensions that are listed in the repository, you can open the Extension Manager and click the Get more extensions

here link. You do not need to download them separately as in step 1 above.

Setting a default template

You can set a custom presentation template to be the default template.

You can reset the default later if you choose.

Setting a custom template as the default

You can set any template to be the default, as long as it is in one of the folders displayed in the Template Management dialog box.

To set a custom template as the default:

1) From the main menu, choose File > Templates > Organize. The

Template Management dialog box (Figure 28) opens.

2) In the box on the left, double-click the folder containing the template that you want to set as the default, then select the template.

3) Click the Commands button.

4) From the drop-down menu, choose Set As Default Template.

The next time that you create a document by choosing File >

New, the document will be created from this template.

48

Figure 28. Template Management dialog box


Resetting the default to OOo’s in-built Default template

To re-enable OOo’s Default presentation background template as the default:

1) In the Template Management dialog box, in the box on the left, click the Presentation Backgrounds folder.

2) Click the Commands button.

3) From the drop-down menu, choose Reset Default Template >

Presentation.

Creating your own templates

To create a template from a presentation:

1) Open the presentation that you want to use for a template.

2) From the main menu, choose File > Templates > Save. The

Templates window opens (see Figure 29).

3) In the New template field, type a name for the new template.

4) In the Categories list, click the folder in which you want to store the template. This is usually the My Templates folder, unless you have created other folders.

To learn more about template folders, see “Organizing templates” on page 50.

5) Click OK. OOo saves the new template and the Templates window closes.

Figure 29. Saving a new template


Modifying a template

You can edit a template’s styles and content, and then, if you wish, you can reapply the template’s styles to documents that were created from that template.

Note You can only reapply styles. You cannot reapply content.

To edit a template:

1) From the main menu, choose File > Templates > Edit. A standard file browser window opens.

2) Find and select the template that you want to edit, and then click

Open. The selected template opens in Impress.

3) Edit the template just as you would any other presentation. To save your changes, choose File > Save from the main menu.

The next time that you open a document that was created from the changed template, the following message appears.

Figure 30. Apply current styles message

Click Yes to apply the template’s changed styles to the document. Click

No if you never want to apply the template’s changed styles to the document. Whichever option you choose, the message box closes and the document opens in OOo.

Organizing templates

OOo can only use templates that are in OOo template folders. You can, however, create new OOo template folders and use them to organize your templates. For example, you might have separate template folders for templates for different purposes or projects. You can also import and export templates.

To begin, choose File > Templates > Organize from the main menu.

The Template Management dialog box (Figure 28) opens.

Note

All the actions made by the Commands button in the Template

Management window can be made as well by right-clicking on the templates or the folders.


Creating a template folder

To create a template folder:

1) In the Template Management dialog box, click any folder.

2) Click the Commands button and choose New from the dropdown menu. A new folder called Untitled appears.

3) Type a name for the new folder, and then press Enter. OOo saves the folder with the name that you entered.

Deleting a template folder

You cannot delete the template folders supplied with OOo or installed using the Extension Manager; you can only delete folders that you have created.

To delete a template folder that you have created:

1) In the Template Management dialog box, select the folder that you want to delete.

2) Click the Commands button and choose Delete from the dropdown menu. A message box appears and asks you to confirm the deletion. Click Yes.

Moving a template

To move a template from one template folder to another template folder:

1) In the Template Management dialog box, double-click the folder that contains the template you want to move. A list of all the templates contained in that folder appears underneath the folder name.

2) Click the template that you want to move and drag it to the desired folder. If you do not have the authority to delete templates from the source folder, this action copies the template instead of moving it.

Deleting a template

You cannot delete the templates supplied with OOo or installed using the Extension Manager; you can only delete templates that you have created or imported.


To delete a template:

1) In the Template Management dialog box, double-click the folder that contains the template you want to delete. A list of all the templates contained in that folder appears underneath the folder name.

2) Click the template that you want to delete.

3) Click the Commands button and choose Delete from the dropdown menu. A dialog box appears and asks you to confirm the deletion. Click Yes.

Importing a template

If the template that you want to use is in a different location, you must import it into an OOo template folder.

To import a template into a template folder from another location on your computer:

1) In the Template Management dialog box, click the folder into which you want to import the template.

2) Click the Commands button and choose Import Template from the drop-down menu. A standard file browser window opens.

3) Find and select the template that you want to import and click

Open. The file browser window closes and the template appears in the selected template folder.

4) If you want, type a new name for the template, and then press

Enter.

Exporting a template

To export a template from a template folder to another location:

1) In the Template Management dialog box, double-click the folder that contains the template you want to export. A list of all the templates contained in that folder appears underneath the folder name.

2) Click the template that you want to export.

3) Click the Commands button and choose Export Template. from the drop-down menu. The Save As window opens.

Find the folder into which you want to export the template and click

Save.


Chapter

3

Adding and Formatting

Text

Introduction

This chapter describes the different ways to add text to slides and format the text.

Text in slides is contained in text boxes.

There are two ways to add text boxes to a slide:

•

•

Choose a predefined layout from the Layouts section of the Tasks pane, as described in Chapter 1. These text boxes are called

AutoLayout text boxes.

Create a text box using the text tool.

This chapter describes how to create, modify, use, and delete text boxes; discusses the various types of text that can be inserted; and explains how to format the text, how to insert a numbered or bulleted list. and finally how and when to use fields.

Working with text boxes

Using text boxes created from the Layout pane

In Normal view:

1) Click in the text box that reads Click to add text, Click to add

an outline, or a similar notation.

2) Type or paste your text in the text box.

These text boxes are known as AutoLayout text boxes. See also

“Creating bulleted and numbered lists” on page 70.

Using text boxes created from the text box tool

In Normal View:

1) Click on the Text icon on the Drawing toolbar. If the toolbar with the text icon is not visible, choose View > Toolbars >

Drawing.

2) Click and drag to draw a box for the text on the slide. Do not worry about the vertical size and position—the text box will expand if needed as you type. To reposition the text box to a

different part of the slide, see “Moving a text box” on page 55; to

change the horizontal size, see “Resizing a text box” on page 56.


3) Release the mouse button when finished. The cursor appears in the text box, which is now in edit mode (gray hashed border with

green resizing handles shown in Figure 31).

4) Type or paste your text in the text box.

5) Click outside the text box to deselect it.

Note

Figure 31: Selected text box showing the green resizing handles and text toolbar

In addition to the normal text boxes where text is horizontally aligned, it is possible to insert text boxes where the text is aligned vertically. This choice is available only when Asian languages are enabled in Tools > Options > Language

Settings > Languages.

Click on the button in the drawing toolbar to create a vertical text box. Note that when editing the contents, the text is displayed horizontally.

Moving a text box

In Normal view, notice how the pointer changes from an arrow to an Ibeam as you move it over the text in a text box.

1) Click when the pointer becomes an I-beam. The text box is now in edit mode, with a gray border and green resizing handles.

2) Move the I-beam (or pointer) over the gray border. Notice how it changes shape, becoming a four-headed arrow (or a similar shape depending on the operating system and user’s settings).

Chapter 3 Adding and Formatting Text 55

3) When the four-headed arrow appears, click and drag to move the text box. An empty dashed-line box shows where your text box will be placed.

4) Release the mouse button when the text box is in the desired position.

Resizing a text box

In Normal view, when the green resizing handles are displayed, move the I-beam (or pointer) over any handle. Notice how the pointer changes shape, indicating in what direction the text box will be resized. The corner handles change the two dimensions of the text area simultaneously while the four handles in the middle of the sides modify only one of the dimensions.

When the two-headed arrow is displayed, click and drag to resize the text box.

Tip

To maintain the proportions of a text box while resizing, press and hold the Shift key, then click and drag. Make sure to release the mouse button before releasing the Shift key.

OOo also provides a different type of text box which resizes horizontally to automatically fit the text as it is inserted. To insert an auto-resizing text box, click on the Icon in the text toolbar (see

Figure 31) and then click on the place in the slide where you want the

first letter of the text to appear. If the text toolbar is not visible, choose

View > Toolbars > Text.

For more accurate control over the shape, size and position of the text box, instead of using the mouse, use the Position and Size dialog box.

Select the text box, then press F4 or select Format > Position and

Size from the menu bar. The use of this dialog box is explained in

Chapter 2.

Deleting a text box

1) Click the text once to display the gray border and green resizing handles of the text box.

2) Position the pointer anywhere on the gray border so that it becomes either a four-headed or two-headed arrow.

3) Click once. The gray border disappears, leaving only the green resizing handles.

4) Press Delete.


Tip

Sometimes it is faster to to delete a text box by dragging a selection rectangle around the text box and then hitting the

Delete key. Take care to avoid selecting and accidentally deleting other text boxes or shapes.

Inserting text

Pasting text

Text may be inserted into the text box by copying it from another document and pasting it into Impress. However, the pasted text will probably not match the formatting of the surrounding text or that of the other slides in the presentation. This may be what you want on some occasions, however in most cases you want to make sure that the presentation does not become a patchwork of different paragraph styles, font types, bullet points and so on. There are several ways to ensure consistency; these methods are explained below.

Pasting unformatted text

It is normally good practice to paste text without formatting and apply the formatting later. To paste without formatting, either press

Control+Shift+V and then select Unformatted text from the dialog box that appears, or click on the small black triangle next to the paste symbol in the standard toolbar and select Unformatted text. The unformatted text will be formatted with the outline style at the cursor position in an AutoLayout text box or with the default graphic style in a normal text box.

Formatting pasted text

If pasting the text into an AutoLayout area, then to give the pasted text the same look and feel of the rest of the presentation apply the appropriate outline style to the text. To do so:

1) Paste the text in the desired position. Do not worry if it does not look right: it will in a minute.

2) Select the text you have just pasted (see “Selecting text” on page

62 for details on how to do that).

3) Select Format > Default formatting from the menu bar.

4) Use the four arrow buttons in the Text Formatting toolbar

to move the text to the appropriate position and


give it the appropriate outline level. The button with the arrow pointing left promotes the list entry by one level (for example from Outline 3 to Outline 2), the right arrow button demotes the list entry by one level, the up and down arrow buttons move the list entry.

5) Apply manual formatting as required to sections of the text (to change font attributes, tabs, and so on).

If you are pasting text in a text box, you can still use styles to quickly format the text. Note that one and only one graphic style can be applied to the copied text. To do that:

1) Paste the text in the desired position.

2) Select the text you have just pasted (see “Selecting text” on page

62 for details).

3) Select the desired graphic style.

4) Apply manual formatting as required to sections of the text.

Tip

Presentation styles are very different from Writer styles and

are applied in quite a different way. Refer to “Using styles to format text” on page 60 for details.

Inserting special characters

To insert special characters, such as copyright, math, geometric, or monetary symbols, or characters from another language:

1) Click in the place in the text where you want to insert the character.

2) Choose Insert > Special Character. The Special Characters

dialog box appears. See Figure 32. Alternatively if the

icon is visible, you can click this to bring up the Special Characters dialog box.

Tip

To show toolbar buttons that are not visible, click on the small down-arrow on the right end of the tool bar, move the cursor over Visible Buttons and then click on the icon you wish to make visible.

3) Choose the font and character subset from the Font and Subset drop-down menus.

4) Click the character you want to insert. You may have to scroll to find the one you want.

5) Click OK.


Selecting more than one character will insert all those characters.

Characters to be inserted are displayed below the character section in the order they were selected. They will also be inserted in this order. If you accidentally click the wrong character, clicking another character will only add it to the ones being inserted. Click Delete (all the characters selected will be deleted), then click the correct characters.

Figure 32: Insert special characters dialog box

Inserting non-breaking spaces and hyphens

Where it is not desirable for words separated by a space or by a hyphen to span over two lines, or where an optional hyphen is desired, you can insert a special formatting mark.

To access the Formatting marks options, select from the menu bar

Insert > Formatting marks. Impress supports three formatting marks:

•

•

•

Non-breaking space: A non-breaking space between two words prevents these two words being separated over two lines. Press

Control+Space bar on the keyboard to insert a non-breaking space.

Non-breaking hyphen: A non-breaking hyphen keeps the two words separated by the hyphen on the same line.

Optional hyphen: An invisible hyphen that is activated (thus breaking the word) only when the word is too long to fit on one line.

Caution

In OOo Writer a non-breaking hyphen can be inserted by pressing

Control+Minus sign . This shortcut does not work in Impress.


Formatting text

Formatting text can give a presentation a consistent look and a dynamic feel. The appropriate use of formatting can even enhance the audience’s understanding of your message by holding their interest.

Whenever you enter text, either in an AutoLayout text box or in a normal text box, it already comes with an underlying style. Generally this style is the outline level of the point where the text was entered for

AutoLayout text boxes or the Default Graphic style for text boxes.

Sometimes, as seen also in the “Pasting text” section on page 57, it is

very useful to re-apply the baseline style to a selection of text, thus eliminating any manual formatting applied to it (particularly if you made a mistake and you do not know how to undo it). On these occasions, select the manually formatted text, and then select Format

> Default formatting from the menu bar.

Using styles to format text

This chapter describes ways to apply manual formatting, but you are encouraged to use styles to really get the best out of Impress. The good news is that all the information given here can be immediately reused for applying styles. Chapter 2 describes how to use styles efficiently and the difference between the presentation and graphic styles available in Impress.

Modifying a style

In Impress there are two categories of styles: presentation styles and graphics styles. When inserting text in an AutoLayout area, the presentation styles become available, while when inserting text in a text box or a graphic object it is possible to apply the graphic styles.

It is possible to create new graphics styles, but not the presentation styles which are fixed and can only be modified.

To modify a style, follow these steps:

1) Open the Styles and Formatting window by pressing F11 or selecting Format > Styles and Formatting from the menu bar.

2) Select the style category by clicking on either the Presentation

Styles icon or the Graphic Styles icon at the top of the Style and

Formatting window.

3) Right-click on the style to be modified and select Modify from the pop-up menu.


If you have selected a presentation style, the dialog box in Figure 33 is

shown.

The dialog box for making modifications to a graphics style is shown in

Figure 34.

Figure 33: The Presentation Style dialog box

The Presentation Style dialog box shares five pages with the Graphics

Style dialog box; these are the ones that determine the formatting of the text.

There is no difference between the parameters that characterize a style and the attributes given manually to portions of text: in fact the same dialog boxes are used in both cases. Therefore once you master the formatting of text, you will know how to create and modify a style.

In particular:

•

•

For the Font and Font Effects pages of a style, refer to

“Formatting characters” on page 63.

For the Indents and Spacing, Alignment, and Tabs pages of a

style, refer to “Formatting paragraphs” on page 66.

The other tabs of the Presentation Style dialog box are all related to

bullets and numbering and are described in “Creating bulleted and numbered lists” on page 70.


Figure 34: The Graphics Style modification dialog box

For additional details on the other tabs in the Graphics Style dialog box, please refer to Chapter 6 (Formatting Graphic Objects).

Note

When Asian typography is activated (Tools > Options >

Language Settings > Languages), the dialog boxes in Figure

33 and Figure 34 contain an additional page to set some high-

level options for Asian typography, the additional information, and the different.

Fonts

Alignment

page contains

page is slightly

Selecting text

Text must be selected before it can be formatted manually.

•

•

To format all the text in a text box, click once on the text, then click once on the border of the text box. Only the green resizing handles are displayed. Now any formatting changes will apply to all the text in the text box.

To format only part of the text, click once on the text, then select the text to be formatted by clicking and dragging (highlighting) over it. You can also use keyboard combinations to select text: move the cursor where you want to begin your selection, press

Shift and then use the arrow buttons to extend your selection.

Formatting changes will apply only to the selected text.


Tip

Pressing the combine the

Control a selection is useful to speed up the process. This combination highlights the text word by word instead of character by character. To speed up the selection even further, you can

Shift

key along with the

key with the Home the cursor is positioned, respectively.

Shift key while creating

key or the End key to extend the selection up to the start or end of the line in which

Formatting characters

To view the character formatting options, select Format > Character or click the Character button on the Text Formatting toolbar. (If a toolbar with the text icon is not visible, choose View > Toolbars >

Text Formatting.) The Character dialog box appears.

Font page

Use the Font page ,

shown in Figure 35, to select the desired font type,

its base attributes (Italic, Bold, etc.) as well as the size. A sample of the font is displayed in the lower part of the dialog box. You can also specify the language of this style.

Figure 35: The dialog box to set the basic font attributes


Tip

When writing a presentation in multiple languages, you can make the best of the language setting by creating two styles that only differ in the language but are otherwise the same. This allows you to check the spelling of all of the contents without affecting the appearance.

This page is available when creating or modifying a presentation style or a graphics style.

If Asian Typography has been enabled, the Font page looks like

Figure 36.

Figure 36: The Font page when Asian Typography is enabled

The page is divided into three parts. The top and bottom parts have the same functionality as described above, while in the middle part you can specify the Asian text font and its attributes.

Font Effects page

Use the Font Effects page ,

shown in Figure 37, to apply special effects

to the text, such as underlining, color, shadow and so on. As for the

Font page, a sample of the text is displayed in the lower part of the dialog box allowing a quick visual check of the effects applied.

This page is available when creating or modifying a presentation style or a graphics style.


Figure 37: Advanced options for the character can be set in the Font Effects page

Position page

The

Position page, shown in Figure 38, has advanced options to

customize text. This page is not available when creating or modifying a presentation style or a graphics style.

Use this page to set the text position relative to the baseline when you need to insert subscripts or superscripts.

To create a superscript or a subscript do the following:

1) Select Superscript or subscript as applicable.

2) Specify the amount by which the text should be raised

(superscripts) or lowered (subscripts).

3) Specify the dimension of the character relative to the baseline character size (in percentage).

The amount by which the text is raised or lowered can be set to automatic by selecting the Automatic checkbox.


Figure 38: Setting the character position attributes

Two more position attributes can be set on this page:

• The (width) scaling of the text, which specifies the percentage of the font width by which to compress or expand the individual characters of the selected text.

• The spacing between the characters of the font, which can be defined in number of points. Selecting the Pair kerning checkbox causes OOo to automatically adjust the spacing between certain pairs of characters to visually improve the appearance. For example, when writing a V followed by an A (VA) the spacing between the two letters is reduced (strong kerning) as can be easily seen when compared with, say, VS which is not a kerning pair.

Formatting paragraphs

To view the paragraph formatting options, select Format >

Paragraph or click the Paragraph button on the Text Formatting toolbar. If a toolbar with the text icon is not visible, choose View >

Toolbars > Text Formatting. The Paragraph dialog box (Figure 39) is

shown.


This dialog box contains three pages that are described in detail below.

If Asian Typography has been activated, a page called Asian

Typography is also displayed.

Figure 39: The paragraph formatting dialog box

Indents and Spacing page

The

Indents and Spacing page, shown in Figure 39, has four sections:

•

•

•

Indent: modifies the indentation of the text (before and after) as well as the indentation of the first line.

Spacing: defines the space before and after each paragraph formatted with the style.

Line spacing: determines the spacing between two lines formatted with the style. Note that selecting Proportional spacing requires specifying the percentage of a line to be used as spacing;

100% corresponds to a single line, 200% to a double line, 50% to half a line. If Leading is selected, specify the amount of line spacing in your default unit of measurement.

Tip

Setting the line spacing to less than 100% is a good method to cram a lot of text into a text box, however care must be taken as too small a value will make the text hard to read.


Tip

You can change the default unit of measurement, for example from inches to centimetres, from Tools > Options >

OpenOffice.org Impress > General.

• Preview area: provides a visual representation of the settings before you apply them.

Figure 40: Insert and Spacing settings for the selected paragraph or style

The Indents and Spacing page is also available when creating or modifying a graphics style, or modifying a presentation style, as shown

in Figure 40.

Alignment page

Use the Alignment page to determine the text alignment: Left, Right,

Center, or Justified. A preview shows the effects of the changes. The same choices can be accessed from the Text Formatting toolbar.

This page is also available when creating or modifying a graphics style, or modifying a presentation style.


Tabs page

Use the

Tabs page, shown in Figure 41, to set tab stops. To delete one

existing tab stop, select it in the list and click the Delete button. To delete all the tab stops, click the Delete All button. To create a new tab stop:

1) Set the size of the tab stop in the edit box on the left.

2) Select the type. If you set the type to Decimal. specify in the box below the character to be considered the decimal point.

3) Select a fill character which will be drawn from the tab insertion point up to the tab stop. You can choose any character to act as fill character.

4) Click the New button to apply the new tab stop.

This page is also available in the Format > Paragraph dialog box, as

seen in Figure 39.

Figure 41: Setting tab stops in a paragraph or a style

Asian Typography page

Use the

Asian Typography page, shown in Figure 42, to set the

following properties relative to line changes:

•

•

•

Apply list of forbidden characters to the beginning and end of lines

Allow hanging punctuation

Apply spacing between Asian, Latin and Complex text


Their use is self-explanatory.

Figure 42: The Asian Typography page options

Creating bulleted and numbered lists

The procedure to create a bulleted or numbered list is quite different depending on the type of text box used, although the tools to manage the list and customize the appearance are the same.

In text boxes created automatically by Impress (called AutoLayout), the outline styles available are by default bulleted lists, while for normal text boxes an additional step is required to create a bulleted list.

Creating lists in AutoLayout text boxes

Every text box included in the available layouts is already formatted as a bulleted list, therefore to create a bulleted list the only necessary steps are:

1) From the Layout pane, choose a slide design that contains a text box. Those are easily recognizable from the thumbnail.

2) Click in the text box that reads Click to add an outline.

3) Type the text, then press Enter to start a new bulleted line.

4) The default list type is a bulleted list. The mechanisms to change the list from bulleted to numbered and vice versa are explained in

“Changing the appearance of the list ”.

Tip

Press Shift + Enter to start a new line without creating a new bullet or number. The new line will have the same indentation of the previous line. Press instead the button bullets on/off on the text formatting toolbar for a line without bullet. If the text formatting toolbar is not showing, enable it selecting View >

Toolbar > Formatting in the menu bar.


Creating lists in other text boxes

To create a list in a text box, follow these steps:

1) Place the cursor in the text box.

2) Click the Bullets On/Off button on the text formatting toolbar. If the text formatting toolbar is not showing, enable it by selecting View > Toolbar > Formatting from the menu bar.

3) Type the text and press Enter to start a new bulleted line.

4) The default list type is a bulleted list. The mechanisms to change

the appearance of the list are explained on page 71.

Creating a new outline level

1) If necessary, press Enter to begin a new line.

2) Press Tab. Each time you press Tab the line indents to the next outline level. Pressing Enter creates a new line at the same level as the previous one. To return to the previous level, press

Shift+Tab.

In the AutoLayout text boxes, promoting or demoting an item in the list corresponds to applying a different outline style, so the second outline level corresponds to Outline 2 style, the third to Outline 3 style and so on.

Caution

Unlike styles in Writer, do not try to change the outline level by selecting the text and then clicking the desired outline style. Due to the way the presentation styles work, it is not possible to apply them in this way.

Changing the appearance of the list

You can fully customize the appearance of a list, changing the bullet type or numbering for the entire list or for single entry. All the changes can be made using the Bullets and Numbering dialog box, which is accessed by selecting Format > Bullets and Numbering or by clicking on the Bullets and Numbering icon formatting toolbar.

on the text


Selecting the entries

For the entire list:

1) Select the entire list or click on the gray border of the text box so that just the green resizing handles are displayed.

2) Select Format > Bullets and Numbering or click on the

Bullets and Numbering icon .

3) The Bullets and Numbering dialog box (Figure 43) contains five

tabs: Bullets, Numbering type, Graphics, Position, and Customize.

•

•

•

If a bulleted list is needed, select the desired bullet style from the six default styles available on the Bullets page.

If a graphics style is needed, select one from those available on the Graphics page.

If a numbered list is needed, select one of the 6 default numbering styles on the Numbering type page.

Later in this section is an explanation on how to add further bullets and numbering styles to the existing ones.

Figure 43: The Bullets and Numbering dialog box

For a single line in the list:

1) Click anywhere in the line to place the cursor in it.

2) Follow steps 2–4 of the previous instruction set.


If the list was created in an AutoLayout text box, then an alternative way to change the entire list is to modify the Outline styles. Changes made to the outline style will apply to all the slides using them.

Sometimes this is what you want; sometimes it is not, so some care must be taken. Follow the procedure to change the Presentation style

described in “Modifying a style” on page 60. The tabs related to list

management in Figure 33 are the same ones described below.

Bullets, Numbering type and Graphics pages

These three tabs contain predefined formatting for either the bullet type (Bullets and Graphics tabs) or for the numbering. To apply a specific one, it is sufficient to click on the image. A thick border will indicate the selection.

Position page

Use the

Position page, shown in Figure 44, to fine tune the indentation

and spacing of the bullet point and its text. This page is particularly effective when used in combination with the Customize page.

Figure 44: The Position page used to set list indentation


To set up an outline level, first select it from the list on the left hand side of the page. Then set the Indent, which is the spacing between the bullet or number and the text. If you select the Relative option, the indent value will be measured relative to the previous level and not from the margin.

The numbering alignment is only useful when creating a numbered list; use it to specify the alignment of the numbers. For example, you may want to align them to the right to line up one- and two-digit numbers in a pleasing way.

Tip

To fully appreciate how the Numbering alignment works, try to create a numbered list with more than 10 elements and make sure that enough room has been made for a two (or more) digit number.

The Position page is not available if you are modifying a presentation style or graphics style, however the same effects can be obtained by using the Indents and Spacing page of the dialog box for creating or

modifying a slide (see Figure 40).

Customize page

Use the Customize page ,

shown in Figure 45, to alter the style of all

the outline levels.

74

Figure 45: The Customize page for the list outline


The options available on this page depend on the type of marker selected for the list. Select first the level you want to modify on the left hand side of the box. To modify all 9 levels at once, select 1 – 9 as the level. Because the levels are arranged in a hierarchical structure, changing for example the font attribute of one of the levels ripples through all the lower levels.

Depending on the numbering style selected in the Numbering box

(bullet, graphic, numbering), some of the following options become available on the page:

•

•

Before: Enter any text to appear before the number (for example,

Step).

After: Enter any text to appear after the number (for example, a punctuation mark).

•

•

•

•

•

•

•

Color: Pick the color for the list marker (number or bullet character).

Relative size: Specify the size of the number relative to the size of the characters in the paragraph of the list.

Start at: Enter the first value of the list (for example, you might want the list to start at 4 instead of 1).

Character button: Click this button to select the character for the bullet.

Graphics selection button: Opens a list of available graphics

(Gallery) or allows the selection of a file on the hard disk to be used as marker.

Width and Height: Specify the dimensions of the graphic marker.

Keep ratio checkbox: If selected, the ratio between the width and the height of the graphic marker is fixed.

The right hand side of the screen shows a preview of the modifications made.

To revert to the default values, click the Reset button in the bottom right corner.

Using the Customize page, you can create complex structured layouts, for example a nested list with numbering followed by bullets, as in

Figure 46.


Figure 46: Nested list with mixture of numbers and bullets

Changing the order or the outline level lines

Click once in a line of text to place the cursor in it, then click on the

Outline tab (to the right of the Normal tab) in the Workspace and use the Promote/Demote buttons in the Text Formatting toolbar to move the text to the appropriate position and give it the appropriate outline level.

The button with the arrow pointing left promotes the list entry by one level (for example from Outline 3 to Outline 2), the right arrow button demotes the list entry by one level, the up and down arrow buttons move the list entry. Numbering adjusts automatically.

Tip

You can also use the Tab key and Shift + Tab keys to promote and demote the outline level of a line in a list.


Using tables

Tables are a powerful mechanism to convey structured information quickly, so they represent an important tool when creating a presentation. Since OpenOffice.org version

3.0, tables are supported natively in Impress, which means that there is no need to embed a Calc spreadsheet or a Writer text table although in some circumstances it makes sense to do so as the functionalities provided by a Calc spreadsheet are far superior to those provided by an Impress table.

Many predefined table designs are available in the Table design section of the task pane

(see Figure 47).

Creating a table

As it is usual when working with tables it pays to have already in mind an idea of the required number of rows and columns as well as the look and feel. Although all the parameters can be adjusted later, this procedure is far more laborious than setting the correct table dimensions from the very beginning. To create a table proceed as follows:

Figure 47: The Table

Design task pane

1) Position the slide which will contain the table in the workarea. If necessary modify the slide layout in order to reserve the place for the table.

2) If the task pane is already open select Table Design. If the task pane is not visible, select View > Task pane, then select the

Table Design task.

3) Select one of 11 predefined styles. You will be able to change the color scheme later on, however again, it is recommended that you select a color scheme similar to the one you want to obtain.

Selecting a style opens the dialog box of Figure 48 where you can

specify the number of rows and columns.


Figure 48: Insert Table dialog box

The table is placed at the center of the slide, but you can move it wherever it is more convenient by selecting it then dragging it in the

new position or by using the method described in “Position and size” on page 82.

You can also create a table directly by selecting Insert > Table from the main menu: the default style and settings are applied to the newly created table.

Modifying a table

Once the table is added to the slide, you can control its appearance, size, position and so on using a combination of the task pane options, the table toolbar and the Table properties dialog box.

Task pane options

The following options are available in the Show section of the task pane:

• Header Row: Selected by default, it adds a first row with a different background from the rest of the table.

•

•

•

•

•

Total Row: the opposite of Header row, if selected changes the background of the last row to make it stand out from the other rows.

Banded Rows: selected by default, this option colors alternate rows with different backgrounds making it easier to ready data presented in rows.

First Column: Highlights the first column of the table by allocating a darker background to it.

Last column: same as first column, only applied to the last column.

Banded Columns: when selected alternate columns are colored differently.


Table toolbar

When a table is selected (you can tell by the presence of 8 blue square

handles around the edges), the Table toolbar (Figure 49) should be

displayed. If necessary, you can open the toolbar using View >

Toolbars > Table. By default the toolbar will float, but you can at any time dock it to the side or top of the work area.

1 Create Table

2 Line Style

7 Merge Cells

8 Split Cells

3 Line Color (border) 9 Optimize

4 Borders 10 Top alignment

13 Insert Row

14 Insert Column

15 Delete Row

16 Delete Column

5 Area style filling 11 Center alignment 17 Table design

6 Available fillings 12 Bottom alignment 18 Table properties

Figure 49: The Table Toolbar

The Table toolbar contains the majority of the tools you need to manipulate a table; these are described below.

Table

Use to create a new table on the selected slide. Opens the Insert

Table dialog box where you can select the desired number of rows and columns. Click on the small black triangle next to the button to open the graphic tool for inserting a table. To use the tool, move the mouse to the right and down in the grid until you reach the cell you want to be the last and click there.

Figure 50: Creating a 5x4 table with the graphic tool


Line Style

Use to change the style of the line of the selected cells. Opens a new dialog box where you can choose among a wide number of predefined styles.

Line Color

Open a color swatch dialog box where you can select the color of the lines for the selected cells.

Borders

Use to select among some predefined borders configurations. The borders are applied to the selected cells. If the desired border pattern is not available, you will need to use the Table properties dialog box.

Area filling

Choose first in the drop-down menu how the selected cells should be filled: Invisible, Color, Gradient, Hatching, or Bitmap. Depending on the selection, the Available Fillings drop-down menu is populated with the available schemes. Refer to Chapter 6 (Formatting Graphic

Objects) for a detailed description on how to manage area filling styles.

Merge cells

Merges the selected cells. Note that the contents of the merged cells are also merged.

Split cells

The opposite operation of Merge cells. Make sure that the cursor is positioned on the cell you want to split, then click to open the Split

Cells dialog box (Figure 51).

80

Figure 51: Split cell dialog box


Select the number of resulting cells from the split as well as whether the cell should be split horizontally or vertically. When splitting horizontally, you can select the “into equal proportions” option to get all cells of equal size. The contents of the split cell are kept in the original cell.

Optimize

Distributes evenly the selected cells either horizontally or vertically.

If you want to optimize the whole table, you can distribute rows or columns evenly by right-clicking on the table edge and selecting

Row > Space Equally or Column > Space Equally from the popup menu.

Vertical Alignment

You can select the vertical alignment of the text on a cell by cell basis between Top, Center and Bottom. The chosen setting only applies to the selected cells. The alignment commands can be applied to all the cells of the table by right-clicking on the edge of the table, choosing Cell from the pop-up menu, and then choosing the required alignment.

Insert or delete rows and columns

Use the Table toolbar to insert or delete rows and columns of your table. Rows and columns are inserted below and to the right of the selected cell. You can insert rows and columns at the end of the table using the pop up menu that opens right clicking on the edge of the table. The insert commands are under the Row or under the

Column menu.

Table Design

The only purpose of this button is to open the Table Design pane in the task pane.

Table properties

Click the Table Properties icon to open the Format Cells dialog box

(Figure 52).


Figure 52: The Format Cells dialog box showing the Borders page

This dialog box contains the following pages:

•

•

•

•

Font: see “Font page” on page 63 for a description of the available

options.

Font Effects: see “Font Effects page” on page 64 for a description

of the available options.

Borders: here you can set advanced properties not available from the Table Toolbar, such as the spacing between the text and the border as well as setting the style of each individual border of the table separately. This page also provides the same options as the line style, line color buttons of the Table Toolbar.

Background: changes the background of the selected cells and provides the same functionalities of the Area Style Filling and

Available Filling drop down menus of the Table Toolbar.

Note

The Table Properties dialog box can also be accessed from the pop-up menu that opens when right-clicking on the table.

Position and size

Tables are treated in Impress just like any other graphic object; it is therefore possible to modify their position on the slide as well as their size either using the mouse or, for more accurate control, with the

Position and size dialog box. You can open the dialog box by pressing

F4 when the table is selected or by right-clicking on the table and then selecting Position and Size from the pop-up menu. The functionalities provided in this dialog are described in Chapter 6 (Formatting Graphic

Objects).


Note Unlike other graphic objects, it is not possible to rotate a table.

Deleting a table

To delete a table, select it and then press the Delete key on the keyboard.

Using fields

Fields allow the insertion of text automatically in the slide. Rather than text, think of a field as a kind of formula which is calculated when the document is loaded or printed, where the result of the formula is written to the document.

Inserting a field

To insert a field in a slide, move the cursor where the field will be and then select from the menu bar Insert > Fields followed by one of these choices:

•

•

•

•

Date (fixed): inserts the date at time of inserting the field.

Date (variable): upon loading the file, the field is updated and contains the date at the time of opening the file.

Time (fixed): a field displaying the time of insertion.

Time (Variable): a field which is updated at time of opening the file.

•

•

•

Author: The author of the presentation. This information is derived from the value recorded in the general options. To modify this information go to Tools > Options > OpenOffice.org section then select User Data.

Page number: inserts the page number of the slide.

File name: a field with the name of the file.

By default, the fields are displayed with a gray background. To remove the shading, go to View in the menu bar and deselect Field Shading; alternatively, press Control+F8.

Customizing fields

The appearance of all the fields, excluding the page number field, can be customized from the corresponding field editor. To access the field

editor (Figure 53):

1) Move the cursor to the field and select it.


2) Select Edit > Fields from the menu bar.

3) Select the desired format in the dialog box that appears.

4) Click OK when satisfied.

Tip

A similar list of format choices can be accessed by selecting the field and right-clicking.

Figure 53: Setting the Time format for a time field.

Modifications to the page number fields can be done in two different ways:

• Select the field and apply the formatting manually.

• Switch to the slide master editing mode (View > Master > Slide

Master), then modify the Background object style as desired.

Once back in Normal view, insert the page numbers from the

Insert > Page Number box. See Chapter 2 for more information about editing a slide master.

Tips on use of fields

When you want to have the same field appearing on all the slides of the presentation (for example the page number), it is faster and more convenient to add the field to the slide master, as explained in

Chapter 2.

Some fields, such as the file name or the author, are often more suitable to be inserted in a single slide such as the first or the last.


Using hyperlinks

When inserting text (such as a website address or URL) that can be used as a hyperlink, Impress formats it automatically, creating the hyperlink and applying to the text a color and underlining. If you do not want Impress to do that, select Edit > Undo Insert from the menu bar or press Control+Z immediately after the formatting has been applied.

You can also insert hyperlinks manually.

Tips

To prevent OOo from automatically turning website addresses

(URLs) into hyperlinks, go to Tools > AutoCorrect > Options and deselect the URL Recognition checkbox.

To change the color of hyperlinks, go to Tools > Options >

OpenOffice.org > Appearance, scroll to Unvisited links and/or

Visited links , select the checkboxes, pick the new colors and click OK. Caution: this will change the color for all hyperlinks in all components of OpenOffice.org—this may not be what you want.

To insert a hyperlink, or to customize the appearance of a hyperlink, select Insert > Hyperlinks from the menu bar. The dialog box shown

in Figure 54 opens.

Figure 54: Dialog box to edit hyperlinks

On the left hand side, select one of the four types of hyperlinks:

• Internet: a web address, normally starting with http://

• Mail & News: for example an email address.


•

•

Document: the hyperlink points to another document or to another place in the presentation.

New document: the hyperlink creates a new document.

The top right part of the dialog box changes according to the choice made for the hyperlink type. A full description of all the choices, and their interactions, is beyond the scope of this chapter. Here is a summary of the most common choices used in presentations.

For an Internet type hyperlink, choose the type of hyperlink (choose between Web, FTP or Telnet), and enter the required web address

(URL).

For a Mail and News type hyperlink, specify whether it is a mail or news link, the receiver address and for email, also the subject.

For a Document type hyperlink, specify the document path (the Open

File button opens a file browser); leave this blank if you want to link to a target in the same presentation. Optionally specify the target in the document (for example a specific slide). Click on the Target icon to open the Navigator where you can select the target, or if you know the name of the target, you can type it into the box.

For a New Document type hyperlink, specify whether to edit the newly created document immediately or just create it (Edit later) and the type of document to create (text, spreadsheet, etc.). For a presentation,

Edit now is the more likely choice. The Select path button opens a directory picker.

The Further settings section in the bottom right part of the dialog box is common to all the hyperlink types, although some choices are more relevant to some types of links.

•

•

•

•

•

Set the value of Frame to determine how the hyperlink will open.

This applies to documents that open in a Web browser.

Form specifies if the link is to be presented as text or as a button.

See “Working with hyperlink buttons” for more information.

Text specifies the text that will be visible to the user.

Name is applicable to HTML documents. It specifies text that will be added as a NAME attribute in the HTML code behind the hyperlink.

Event button: this button will be activated to allow OOo to react to events for which the user has written some code (macro). This function is not covered in this book.


Editing text hyperlinks

To edit a text hyperlink, select it (by dragging across the text, not clicking on it), then choose Edit > Hyperlink from the main menu bar.

Make changes as needed and click Apply when done. If you need to edit several hyperlinks, you can leave the Hyperlink dialog box open until you have edited all of them. Be sure to click Apply after each one.

When you are finished, click Close.

Working with hyperlink buttons

A hyperlink button is inserted in the center of the current slide.

In most cases, that is not where you want it to appear. To edit the text or size of a hyperlink button, or to move it to another place on the slide, first display the Form Controls toolbar (View

> Toolbars > Form Controls). Select the Design Mode

On/Off icon (upper right corner of the toolbar).

Now you can click on the button and drag it to another position, or right-click to open a dialog box where you can change the text on the button, the size of the button, and other properties.

When you have finished editing the button, click the Design

Mode On/Off icon again to make the button active again.


Chapter

4


Pictures

Introduction

Pictures are often used in presentations as they can convey quickly a large amount of information. When wisely used, they can also give the presentation a professional look. Some presentations may require each slide to be marked with a company logo. You may also want to use

Impress to create a presentation consisting only of pictures, such as a slideshow of holiday snapshots to share with friends.

This chapter describes how to insert and format pictures.

Inserting pictures

This section describes several ways to insert a picture from an external source into the presentation. Once the picture has been inserted, it can be formatted extensively as explained later in this chapter.

Inserting a picture from a file

Inserting a picture from a file is quick and easy. If the layout of the

slide already contains a placeholder for a graphic (see Figure 55),

double-click anywhere in the graphics frame. This opens a dialog box for selecting the file to be inserted. The detailed procedure is given below.

Figure 55: Slide with automatic layout including a placeholder for graphic object

Chapter 4 Adding and Formatting Pictures 89

Whether you are using an AutoLayout for the placement of the picture, or you are just inserting a picture, follow these steps:

1) Select Insert > Picture. (When using an AutoLayout; doubleclick in the graphics frame instead.)

2) In the Insert Picture dialog box (Figure 56), browse to the

directory containing the desired picture.

3) Select the file. OOo recognizes a very large number of image types and, if Preview is selected, will display a reduced copy of the selected file.

4) Click Open to place the picture on the current (selected) slide.

The picture is now displayed on the slide with green resizing handles around it.

Figure 56: Inserting a picture from a file

Notice in the Insert picture dialog box (Figure 56) the two options

called Link and Preview. Their position is determined by the operating system, but they are normally in the bottom part of the dialog box.

If Preview is checked, and if the selected file is in one of the many formats that OOo recognizes, a thumbnail of the selected image shows

in a preview area on the right (not shown in Figure 56).


Select the Link option to insert the picture as a link to the file rather than embedding the file itself. In general it is preferable to embed images so that the presentation can be copied to other computers, however on some occasions it makes sense to link the image rather than embed it:

•

•

•

When the image file is quite large (linking rather than embedding will dramatically reduce the size of the presentation file)

When the same image file is used in many presentations (for example when using the same background image for all the presentations created)

When the linked file will be available when loading the presentation (for example if the presentation is a slide show of holiday pictures)

Inserting a picture from a scanner

Inserting an image from a scanner is normally fairly straightforward.

Make sure that the scanner is supported by the SANE system if you are running the Linux (or other UNIX-like) operating system, or TWAIN if you are using a Windows version, and that it is already configured on the machine on which OOo is running. In case more than one scanner or equivalent device are present, select the source from Insert >

Picture > Scan > Select Source.

To insert an image from the scanner:

1) Prepare the image in the scanner and make sure that the scanner is ready.

2) Select Insert > Picture > Scan > Request.

3) The rest of the procedure depends on the scanner driver and interface. You will normally be required to specify the resolution, a scan window and other parameters. Consult the scanner’s documentation for more information.

4) When the image is ready, Impress places it in the slide. At this point it can be edited as any other image.

Inserting a picture from the Gallery

The Gallery contains a collection of images that you can use in a presentation. You can also add your own images to the Gallery, making it an essential tool for creating presentations quickly and with a consistent look. The Gallery is available in all components of

OpenOffice.org. For an introduction to the Gallery, see Chapter 11

(Graphics, the Gallery, and Fontwork) in the Getting Started guide.


Select Tools > Gallery or click the Gallery icon on the Drawing toolbar.

By default, the Gallery (shown in Figure 57) is docked above the

Impress workspace. To expand the Gallery, position the pointer over the line that divides it from the top of the workspace. When the pointer changes to parallel lines with arrows, click and drag downward. The workspace will resize in response.

Figure 57: The Gallery with the Hide/Show selector circled

To expand the Gallery without affecting the Impress workspace, undock it so it floats over the workspace. To do so, hold down the

Control key and double-click on the upper part of the Gallery next to

the View icons (see Figure 57). Double-click in the same area to dock it

again (restore it to its position over the workspace).

When the Gallery is docked, to hide it and view the full Impress workspace, click the Hide/Show button in the middle of the thin bar

separating the Gallery from the workspace (see Figure 57). The Hide/

Show button lets you keep the Gallery open for quick access while you create your slide show, yet out of the way when you need it to be.

Additional information on the use of the Gallery can be found in

“Managing the Gallery themes” on page 101.

Once you are satisfied with the Gallery display, select a theme from the left pane and then scroll as necessary through the right pane to find a suitable image. Click on the image and drag it onto the workspace.

Figure 58 shows an example of an image dragged from the Gallery.

At this point the image will be in your slide, but may not be of a

satisfactory size; if necessary, re-size it as described in “Resizing a picture” on page 93.


Figure 58. Inserting an image from the Gallery

Formatting pictures

This section discusses the formatting of pictures inserted with one of

the methods explained in “Inserting pictures” on page 89.

Moving a picture

1) Click the picture, if necessary, to show the green resizing handles.

2) Move the pointer over the picture until the pointer changes shape. On most operating systems, the cursor associated with moving objects is a four headed arrow, but it may also be a hand or some other symbol.

3) Click and drag the picture to the desired position.

4) Release the mouse button.

For a more accurate placement of the picture, use the Position and

Size dialog box described in Chapter 6 (Formatting Graphic Objects).

Resizing a picture

1) Click the picture, if necessary, to show the green resizing handles.

2) Position the pointer over one of the green resizing handles. The pointer changes shape giving a graphical representation of the direction of the resizing.

3) Click and drag to resize the picture.


4) Release the mouse button when satisfied with the new size.

The corner handles resize both the width and the height of the graphic object simultaneously, while the other four handles only resize one dimension at a time.

Tip

To retain the original proportions of the graphic, button before releasing the Shift key.

Shift+click one of the corner handles, then drag. Be sure to release the mouse

For more accurate resizing of the graphic object, use the Position and

Size dialog box described in Chapter 6 (Formatting Graphic Objects).

Caution

Be aware that re-sizing a bit-mapped (raster) image will adversely affect the resolution, causing some degree of blurring.

It is better to externally size your picture before insertion into your presentation, if possible.

Rotating a picture

As for the position and the size, rotation of a picture can be done manually or using a dedicated dialog box. The Rotation dialog box is described in Chapter 6 (Formatting Graphic Objects). To rotate a picture manually, do as follows:

1) Select the picture if necessary so that the green handles around it show.

2) Click the Rotate button on the Drawing toolbar. This toolbar is usually located at the bottom the screen, but it can be undocked and used as a floating toolbar. If the toolbar is not showing, select View > Toolbars > Drawing. The Drawing toolbar is discussed in detail in Chapter 5 (Creating Graphic

Objects).

Note

The icons representing the functions in the toolbars are different, depending on the operating system used and on whether OOo has been customized for the Linux distribution in use or not. When in doubt, hover the mouse over the icons and wait for the tooltip to appear showing the name of the button.

3) Eight red circular handles replace the green square handles, as

shown in Figure 59. Move the mouse over one of the corner

handles and the mouse cursor shape will change. Click the mouse and move in the direction in which you want to rotate the picture.

4) When satisfied, release the mouse button.


At step 2 a black crosshair with a circle appears in the middle of the picture: this represents the pivot point for the rotation.

Normally the center of the picture will be just fine, but on some occasions you may wish to rotate around a corner or even around a point outside the picture; to do that, click on the crosshair and drag it to

Figure 59: Shape showing the red rotating handles.

the desired position before applying the rotation, as shown in Figure

59.

To restrict the rotation angles to multiples of 15 degrees, press the

Shift key while rotating the graphic. This is very handy to rotate pictures of right angles, for example from portrait to landscape or vice versa.

Formatting using the Picture toolbar

When a picture is selected, the Picture toolbar (Figure 60) becomes

available. This toolbar provides a number of formatting options which are described in this section. If the picture toolbar does not show when an image is selected, display it by selecting View > Toolbars >

Picture from the menu bar.

Figure 60: The Picture toolbar

Applying filters

Use the left-most icon on the toolbar to apply various filters to the selected picture. The best way to judge if a filter works for your picture is to try it (step 4 of the following procedure explains how to undo). To apply a filter:

1) Select the image so that the green handles around it show.

2) Click on the magic wand icon in the

Picture toolbar. The toolbar will expand to

show the icons in Figure 61.

3) Select the filter to apply. To show the name of the filter, hover the mouse pointer over the icon and wait for the tooltip to appear.

If not satisfied with the effect obtained, before doing anything else click the Undo button or

Figure 61: The graphic filters available in Impress


select Edit > Undo: Bitmap Graphic Filter from the menu bar or press Control+Z.

Table 1 describes briefly each of the available graphic filters and their

effects. See the Draw Guide for examples of the effects.

Table 1: Graphic filters and their effects

Icon Name

Invert

Effect

Inverts the color values of a color image, or the brightness values of a grayscale image.

Smooth Softens the contrast of an image.

Sharpen Increases the contrast of an image.

Remove noise

Solarizati on

Aging

Removes single pixels from an image.

Mimics the effects of too much light in a picture. A further dialog box opens to adjust the parameters.

Simulates the effects of time on a picture. Can be applied several times. A further dialog box will open to adjust the aging level.

Posterize Makes a picture appear like a painting by reducing the number of colors used.

Pop Art Modifies the picture dramatically.

Charcoal Displays the image as a charcoal sketch.

Relief

Mosaic

A dialog box is displayed to adjust the light source that on turn will create the shadow and hence the relief effect.

Joins groups of pixels into a single area of one color.

Changing the Graphics mode

Use the next box in the Picture toolbar to change the mode of the image. Choose between:

•

•

•

Default: no changes to the graphic object.

Grayscale: the image is converted to scales of gray.

Black/White: each pixel of the image is converted to black or white depending on the brightness value.


• Watermark: adjusts the brightness of the image making it suitable to be used as a watermark. For more information on creating watermarks, refer to Chapter 2.

Adjusting the color

Clicking the color adjustment button on the Picture toolbar opens

the color adjustment dialog box, shown in Figure 62.

Use this dialog box to modify the individual color components of the image (red, green, blue) as well as the brightness, contrast, and gamma of the image. If the result is not satisfactory, press Control+Z to restore the default values.

Figure 62: The color adjustment dialog box

Setting the object transparency

Modify the percentage value in the Transparency box on the

Picture toolbar to make the image more transparent. Note that this is different from the transparency settings for a line or a shape

(described in Chapter 5).

Adjusting the line, area and shadow settings

These settings are not very commonly used for images, with the exception of the shadow setting that applies a shadow to the image.

Cropping pictures

Impress 3 provides two ways to crop a picture: interactively (new in

OOo 3) or using a dialog box. The interactive method is easier to use, but the dialog box provides more precise control. You can use both methods: first cropping interactively, then using the dialog box to fine tune the result.


To crop a selected picture interactively, click the Crop icon on the

Picture toolbar (Figure 60). A set of crop marks appears around the

picture (see Figure 63).

Figure 63: Interactive crop marks

When you place the cursor over any of the crop marks, the cursor changes shape. Drag the mark to crop the picture. Click outside the picture to deactivate cropping mode.

To crop using the dialog box, right-click a selected picture and choose

Crop Picture (or choose Format > Crop Picture from the menu bar).

Figure 64: The options available when cropping a picture

The Crop dialog box (Figure 64) has the following options:

•

•

Keep scale / Keep image size buttons: when Keep scale is selected (default), cropping the image does not alter the scale of the picture. When Keep image size is selected, cropping produces enlargement (for positive cropping values), shrinking (for negative cropping values), or distortion of the image so that the image size remains constant.

Left, Right, Top, and Bottom: the function of these boxes changes according to the choice made between Keep scale and

Keep image size. In both cases, when a value is entered in one of these boxes, the image is cropped by that amount. For example, a


•

•

• value of 3cm in the Left box will cut 3cm from the left side of the picture.

When Keep scale is selected, the size of the image also changes, so in this example the width will be reduced by 3 cm. If Keep image size is selected instead, the remaining part of the image is enlarged (positive values for cropping) or shrunk (negative values for cropping) so that the width and height of the image remains unchanged.

Note that the Width and Height fields change as you enter the values when in this mode. Use the thumbnail next to these fields to determine the correct amount by which to crop.

Scale Width and Height: specify in percentages the scaling of the picture. The size of the image changes accordingly.

Image size: specify the size of the image in your preferred unit of measurement. The image enlarges or shrinks accordingly.

Original size: when clicked, restores the original image size.

Deleting a picture

1) Click on the picture, if necessary, to show the green resizing handles.

2) Press Delete.

Creating an image map

An image map defines areas of the image (called hotspots) with a URI

(a web address or a file on the computer). Hotspots are the graphic equivalent of text hyperlinks. Clicking on a hotspot causes Impress to open the linked page in the appropriate program (for example, the default browser for an HTML page; OOo Writer for a .ODT file; a PDF viewer for a PDF file). You can create hotspots of various shapes, and include several hotspots in the same image.

To use the image map tool:

1) Select the picture where the hotspots will be defined.

2) Choose Edit > ImageMap from the menu bar. The ImageMap

Editor dialog box (Figure 65) opens.

3) Use the tools and fields in the dialog box to define the hotspots and links necessary.

4) Click the Apply icon to apply the settings.


5) When done, click the Save icon to save the imagemap to a file, then click the X in the upper right corner to close the dialog box.

Figure 65: The dialog box to create image maps. The last ‘o’ is set as an active hotspot

The top part of the dialog box contains the following tools:

•

•

•

•

Apply button: click this button to apply the changes.

Load, Save, and Select icons.

Tools for drawing a hotspot shape: these tools work in exactly the same way as the corresponding tools in the Drawing toolbar

(described in Chapter 5).

Edit, Move, Insert, Delete Points: advanced editing tools to manipulate the shape of a polygon hotspot. Select the Edit Points tool to activate the other tools.

•

•

•

Active icon: toggles the status of the hotspot activating a deactive the selected hotspot or deactivating it if active.

Macro: associates a macro with the hotspot instead of just associating an hyperlink.

Properties: sets the hyperlink properties and adds the Name attribute to the hyperlink.

Below the toolbar, specify for the selected hotspot:

• Address: the address pointed by the hyperlink. You can also point to an anchor in a document such as a specific slide number; to do


•

• this, write the address in this format: file:///<path>/document_name#anchor_name

Text: enter the text that will be displayed when the mouse is moved over the hotspot.

Frame: where the target of the hyperlink will open: pick among

_blank (opens in a new browser window), _self (opens in the active browser window), _top or _parent.

Tip

The value _self for the target frame will work just fine in the vast majority of the occasions. It is therefore not recommended to use the other values unless absolutely necessary.

The main part of the dialog box shows the image on which the hotspots will be defined and the hotspot itself. Note that an active hotspot is indicated by a white shading, while an inactive hotspot is identified by a red border but no shading.

Managing the Gallery themes

Graphics in the Gallery are grouped by themes, such as Bullets, Rulers, and 3D Effects. The box on the left of the gallery window lists the available themes. Click on a theme to see its graphics displayed in the

Gallery window (see Figure 57).

The default themes are locked; no items can be added or deleted from these themes. The locked themes are easily recognizable by rightclicking on them; the only available option in the pop-up menu is

Properties.

In a default installation, only the My themes theme is customizable,

although new themes can be added as explained in “Adding a new theme to the Gallery” on page 102.

Adding images to the Gallery

You can add new images to existing themes which you created or that can be edited. There are two ways to add an image to an existing theme.

Method 1 (selecting a file):

1) Right-click on the theme name in the list of themes and choose

Properties from the pop-up menu.

2) Click the Files tab, if necessary.

3) Click Add.


4) Select a file and click Open. The image is added to the theme.

Method 2 (drag and drop):

1) Open the document containing an image you want to add to the

Gallery, and display the Gallery theme to which you want to add it.

2) Position the mouse pointer above the image, without clicking.

3) If the mouse pointer changes to a hand symbol, the image refers to a hyperlink. In this case, press the Alt key while you click the image, to select it without executing the respective link. If the mouse pointer does not change to a hand symbol, you can simply click the image to select it.

4) When the image is selected, evident from the green selection handles around it, release the mouse button. Click again on the image, keeping the mouse button pressed for more than two seconds. Without releasing the mouse button, drag the image into the document. Release the mouse button.

Deleting images from the Gallery

To delete an image from a theme:

1) Right-click on the image in the Gallery window.

2) Choose Delete from the pop-up menu. A message appears, asking if you want to delete this object.

3) Click Yes.

Note

The image is deleted from the Gallery only. The original image file is not deleted.

All the images in a gallery are actually linked files. From time to time it is beneficial to update the gallery theme to make sure that all the files are still there. To do so, right-click n the theme where you added at least one file and then select Update from the pop-up menu.

Adding a new theme to the Gallery

1) Click the New Theme button above the list of themes (see

Figure 57).

2) Click the General tab and type a name for the new theme.

3) Click the Files tab.

4) Click Find Files. The Select Path dialog box opens (Figure 66).

Browse to the folder that contains the image files for the new theme and click OK.


5) Back on the Files tab, either click on Add All to install all of the files in the selected folder, or use File Type and/or select one or more files from the displayed list, and click on Add to install a selection of files to the new theme.

6) Click OK when finished.

Note

The files do not show in the large box under the File Type box; and under the General tab, the Contents will display as

“0 Objects,” but the chosen files will be inserted into the new theme. Remember, you can always add or delete image files later.

Figure 66. Setting up a new theme in the Gallery


Chapter

5

Creating Graphic Objects

Introduction

This chapter describes how to create your own graphics using the drawing tools available in Impress. It focuses on the most commonly used tools and techniques.

Impress also contains a number of advanced drawing functions that are rarely used when creating a presentation and are not fully described in this book. To create more advanced graphic objects, the reader is invited to use OpenOffice.org Draw and then to import the graphic object created there into an Impress slide. See the Draw Guide for more details.

The Drawing toolbar

The Drawing toolbar collects the majority of the tools normally used to create graphic objects. If this toolbar is not showing, select View >

Toolbars > Drawing from the main menu bar.

1 Select 4 Rectangle 7 Vertical Text 10 Basic Shapes

2 Line

3 Arrow

5 Ellipse

6 Text

8 Curve

9 Connector

11 Symbol Shapes

12 Block Arrows

13 Flowcharts

14 Callouts

15 Stars

Figure 67: First section of Drawing toolbar with drawing objects tools

The toolbar can be divided into two parts. The first part contains

drawing objects, as shown in Figure 67. The tools in this part of the

Drawing toolbar are:

• Select: selects objects. To select multiple objects click on the top leftmost object and while keeping the mouse button pressed, drag the mouse to the bottom rightmost object of the intended selection. A marching ants rectangle identifying the selection area is displayed. It is also possible to select several objects by pressing the Control button while selecting the individual objects.

•

•

•

Line: draws a straight line.

Arrow: draws a straight line ending with an arrowhead. The arrowhead will be placed where you release the mouse button.

Rectangle: draws a rectangle. Press the Shift button to draw a square.

Chapter 5 Creating Graphic Objects 105

106

•

•

•

•

Ellipse: draws an ellipse. Press the Shift button to draw a circle.

Text: creates a text box with text aligned horizontally.

Vertical text: creates a text box with text aligned vertically. This tool is available only when Asian language support has been enabled in Tools > Options > Language Settings >

Languages.

Curve: draws a curve. Click the black triangle for more options,

shown in Figure 68. Note that the title of the submenu when

undocked is Lines.

•

Figure 68: Curve options

Connectors: draws a connector line between two figures. Click

the black triangle for additional connectors, shown in Figure 69.

The use of connectors is described in “Working with connectors“ on page 109.

•

Figure 69: Connectors options

Basic Shapes, Symbol Shapes, Block Arrows, Flowcharts,

Callouts, Stars: click the black triangle to open a toolbar showing the available shapes in that category. The default shapes

are shown in Figure 70. Select the desired shape, then draw as

normal. Keep the Shift key pressed to obtain a shape where the height and width are equal.


Figure 70: Available shapes for Impress

The second part of the toolbar, shown in Figure 71, contains more

generic tools.

1 Edit Points

2 Glue Points

3 Fontwork

4 From File

5 Gallery

6 Rotate

7 Alignment

8 Arrange

9 Extrusion ON/Off

10 Interaction

11 Visible Buttons

Figure 71: The second section of the drawing toolbar with utility tools

Those tools are:

• Edit points: select this tool, then select a shape or a line, to edit the individual points that form the shape or line.

• Glue points: select this tool to edit the glue points of a graphic object. Glue points are the positions where connector lines

terminate or start. See “Managing glue points” on page 110 for

instructions.

•

•

•

Fontwork: opens the Fontworks gallery. See “Using Fontwork” on page 122

for further information.

From file: equivalent to Insert > Picture > From file on the main menu. See Chapter 4 for details.

Gallery: opens the gallery. Equivalent to Tools > Gallery on the main menu. See Chapter 4 for details.


•

•

•

•

•

•

Rotate: select this tool to rotate an object. As rotation is considered a formatting attribute, this is discussed in chapter 6 of this book.

Align object: see “Aligning shapes“ on page 115.

Arrange object: see “Arranging shapes“ on page 113.

Extrusion On/Off: switches 3D effects on or off for the selected object. Clicking this button also opens the 3D settings toolbar.

See “Working with 3D shapes” on page 111 for details.

Interaction: opens a dialog box where you can specify the

interaction between the user and the object. See “Setting up interaction with a shape or image” on page 118.

Visible buttons: use the black triangle to open a menu that allows to add or subtract buttons to the toolbar. The step by step procedure is given in Chapter 4 of the Getting Started guide.

Creating lines and shapes

To create shapes and lines:

1) Select the desired line or shape tool.

2) Click and drag to create the object

on the slide. See Figure 72.

When drawing a polygon, keep the Shift key pressed to restrict the angle between the segments to multiples of 45 degrees.

To finish drawing a polygon, double-click on the last part of the segment. If a

Figure 72: Creating a shape closed polygon was selected, OOo will color the inside area.

When drawing certain shapes, one or more yellow dots are displayed along with the blue resizing handles. These dots perform a different function according to the shape they are applied to. With the basic shapes the yellow dot (or dots) are used for the following purposes:

•

•

Rounded rectangle and Rounded square shapes: use the yellow dot to change the size of the curve replacing the corners.

Circle Pie: use the two yellow dots to change the size of the filled sector.

•

•

Isosceles triangle: move the yellow dot on one vertex to modify the triangle type.

Trapezoid, Parallelogram, or Octagon: move the yellow dot to change the angle between the sides.


•

•

•

•

•

• Cross: use the yellow dot to change the thickness of the four sides.

Ring: use the yellow dot to change the internal diameter.

Block arc: use the yellow dot to change both the internal diameter and the size of the filled area.

Cylinder and Cube: use the yellow dot to change the perspective.

Folded corner: use the yellow dot to change the size of the corner.

Frame: use the yellow dot to change the internal rectangle diagonal.

Working with connectors

Connectors are lines that can be anchored to particular places, called glue points, on the graphic object. The advantage of connectors is that when the graphic object to which the connector is attached is moved or resized, the connector automatically adjusts to the change. When creating a flowchart, org chart, schematics or diagrams, it is highly recommended to use connectors instead of simple lines.

Impress offers a wide variety of predefined connectors, which differ in the termination shape (none, arrow, custom) and in the way the

connector is drawn (straight, line, curved). See Figure 69.

Unlike normal lines, when a connector is drawn or selected Impress displays red handles; in particular, the termination points are identified by red circles, while square handles are used to modify the routing of a connector (where applicable).

Draw a connector in a similar way to drawing any object. First select

the connector style from the Connector toolbar (Figure 69), then move

the mouse cursor over one of the objects to be connected. When the cursor is brought near an object, small black crosses appear around the object; these represent the glue points to which the connector can be attached. Click on the required glue point to attach one end of the connector, then hold the mouse button down and drag the connector to the second object and click on a glue point on that object to connect the other end.

For instructions on how to format a connector, refer to the corresponding section in Chapter 6 (Formatting Graphic Objects).


Managing glue points

As described above, a glue point is the point of attachment for a connector to a shape or graphic object. Each shape has a number of predefined glue points, but it is possible to define new ones as well as

edit them, using the Gluepoints toolbar, shown in Figure 73.

Figure 73: The Glue point toolbar

Use the first tool to insert a new glue point. The next four tools determine the exit direction of the connector terminating at the glue point. To maintain the relative position of the glue point when resizing the object, make sure that the Glue point relative icon (highlighted in

Figure 73) is selected. Deselecting the Glue point relative icon

enables the next six icons of the toolbar; use these to fix the position of the gluepoint during the resizing of the object. Hover the mouse over the buttons to obtain a tooltip giving a short description of its function.

To delete a custom glue point, select it with the mouse and press the

Delete key.

Setting custom glue points is particularly useful where multiple connectors terminate on the same side of a shape or where the default glue point position is not satisfactory.

To move a predefined or newly inserted glue point:

1) Select the glue point tool from the drawing toolbar (see Figure

71).

2) Click on the glue point you want to move. The glue point should now be highlighted.

3) Keep the mouse button pressed and drag the glue point to the desired position. Release the mouse button.

Tip

Glue points are placed by default on the grid (see the section

“Alignment using the grid and snap guides“ on page 115 for

information), however it is sometimes required to fine tune the position of the glue point depending on the shape. To do this, keep the Control the new position.

key pressed while dragging the glue point to


Working with 3D shapes

3D graphic objects can be created in different ways in Impress:

• From the 3D-Objects toolbar. The 3D-Objects tool is not included in the default Drawing toolbar. To include it, click on the small triangle at the end of the toolbar, select Visible Buttons, and select 3D-Objects from the list. On the Drawing toolbar, click on the triangle by the 3D-Objects icon to display the extended 3D

Objects toolbar (Figure 74).

•

•

Figure 74: 3D-Objects extended toolbar

From Convert menu as Rotation. Select an object, right-click on it, then select Convert and select To 3D Rotation Object.

From the Extrusion on/off icon on the drawing toolbar. Select the shape to which apply a 3D effect, then click the button on

the Drawing toolbar (see Figure 75).

Caution

You can not apply extrusion to rectangular and oval shapes created using the rectangle and the oval tools respectively. To create a rectangle or oval with 3D effects, select the desired shape from the basic shapes menu. Alternatively, right-click on the object then select Convert > To 3D. Note though that in this case the Extrusion on/off menu will not be enabled.

Although Impress offers advanced functions to manipulate 3D objects, this book describes only the 3D settings applicable to an object with

Extrusion enabled. For additional information on how to use advanced

3D effects such as geometry and shading, refer to the Draw Guide.

Click on to activate the extrusion. The shape changes and a default thickness is added to it. At the same time the 3D-Settings toolbar

(Figure 75) should become visible. If the toolbar does not appear,

select View > Toolbars > 3D-Settings.

Figure 75: The 3D-Settings toolbar

Use the tools to change the appearance of the 3D object.


Extrusion On/Off: adds thickness to an object and activates the

3D properties.

Tilt Down: tilts the object downwards around an horizontal axis.

Tilt Up: tilts the object up around an horizontal axis.

Tilt Left: tilts the object left around a vertical axis.

Tilt Right: tilts the object right around a vertical axis.

Depth: determines the thickness of the shape. An extended toolbar opens where some default values are given. If none of them is satisfactory, select Custom and then enter the desired thickness.

Direction: pick the direction of the perspective as well as the type among parallel and perspective from the extended toolbar that opens when clicking the button.

Lighting: specify the direction of the light as well as its intensity from the extended toolbar that opens when clicking this button.

Surface: choose between Wire frame (useful when manipulating the object), Matt, Plastic or Metal.

3D Color: select the color of the object thickness.

Most of the Fontwork shapes (see “Using Fontwork” on page 122) have

3D properties and can be manipulated with the 3D-Settings toolbar.

Note that when rotating a 3D object, in addition to the corner red handles, the four handles on the sides of the frame become available.

Figure 76 is an example of customized 3D object.

112

Figure 76: Example of

3D object


Grouping shapes together

It is often convenient to group shapes together so that they are treated as a single shape by Impress. A group of shapes can be formatted as if it was a single shape, moved, rotated, deleted and so on. To group shapes together, do as follows:

1) Select the shapes to be grouped. To do this, use the selection tool on the drawing toolbar and draw a rectangle around the shapes to be grouped, or click on each shape to be added to the group while pressing the Shift key.

2) When the green resizing handles show, select Format > Group >

Group or press Control+Shift+G on the keyboard.

Once the group is defined, click on any of the shapes in the group to select the group. To edit only the elements of the group, press F3 when the group is selected or select Format > Group > Enter group from the menu bar. Notice that the elements not part of the group are grayed out and that only the shapes belonging to the group can be edited. Use this function when you need to apply a particular format to a single member of the group. To exit from group mode, press

Control+F3 or select Format > Group > Exit group from the menu bar.

For more about working with grouped objects, see Chapter 5

(Combining Multiple Objects) in the Draw Guide.

To ungroup objects:

1) Select the group of shapes.

2) When the green resizing handles show, select Edit > Format >

Group > Ungroup from the menu bar.

Tip

If you use the grouping and ungrouping often, why not add them to one of the toolbars shown by default so that the commands are readily available? To do so, you will need to customize the selected toolbar. See Chapter 12 of the Getting Started guide.

Arranging shapes

Arrange determines the stacking order of the selected object. Impress organizes objects in a stack so that the objects on a high level of the stack cover the objects on lower levels if overlapping occurs. To modify the position of an object in the stack, click the small triangle on the side of the

Arrange icon to open the extended toolbar (Figure 77). The


same arrange options described below are available from the rightclick menu.

Figure 77: The extended

Arrange toolbar

The first four tools work on a single object:

• Bring to front: the selected object is moved on top of any other object.

•

•

•

Bring forward: the selected object is moved one level up in the stack.

Send backwards: the selected object is moved one level down in the stack.

Send to back: the selected object is given the lowest position in the stack.

The other three tools work on the relative positions of two objects:

• In front of object: brings the selected object in front of the second selected object.

•

•

Behind object: brings the selected object behind the second selected object.

Reverse: swaps the stacking order of two selected objects.

To use the In front of object and Behind object tools:

1) Select the first object by clicking on it.

2) When the green handles show, select the desired arrange action.

3) The mouse pointer changes to a pointing hand. Click on the second object.

Flipping shapes

To flip an object or group, right-click on it and select either Flip >

Vertically or Flip > Horizontally. The object will be flipped around an imaginary axis (horizontal and vertical respectively) passing through the center of the object, or group. If these two commands are used often it may be advisable to add them to the Drawing toolbar.


Aligning shapes

Use the alignment tools to adjust the relative position of a graphic object compared to another object. Clicking on the Alignment icon in

the Drawing toolbar opens the extended toolbar (Figure 78). The same

alignment options are available from the right-click menu.

Figure 78: The Align extended toolbar

The toolbar has six icons. The first three determine the horizontal alignment of the selected objects (Left, Center, Right); the other three determine the vertical alignment of the selected objects (Top, Middle,

Bottom). If only one object is selected, it is aligned to the page, however when in a group, a single object is aligned to the edge of the group selection.

Alignment using the grid and snap guides

The section “Aligning shapes” on page 115 discussed the alignment of

objects relative to each other or to the page border. However, sometimes it is important to align objects to specific points of the page or to make sure that objects that appear on multiple slides are placed in exactly the same position. For this purpose Impress provides two mechanisms: the Grid and the Snap Guides (also called Snap Lines).

Using the grid

Options for the grid are available in the menu that opens by rightclicking on an empty part of the page in Normal view and choosing

Grid or by selecting View > Grid from the menu bar. In both cases a submenu with three options opens:

•

•

•

Visible Grid: displays the grid.

Snap to Grid: the anchor points of an object will always be placed on a grid when the object is moved or resized.

Grid to Front: displays the grid in the foreground.

To set up the grid spacing and snapping options, choose Tools >

Options > OpenOffice.org Impress > Grid from the menu bar.


Using snap guides

Options for the guides are available in the menu that opens by clicking on an empty part of the page in Normal view and choosing Snap Lines or by selecting View > Guides from the menu bar. A submenu with three options opens:

•

•

Visible Guides (Snap Lines Visible): the guides are shown on the slide.

Snap to Guides (Snap to Snap Lines): the anchor points of the objects snap to the guides when the objet is moved or resized.

• Guides to Front (Snap Lines to Front): the guides are brought to the foreground and cover the objects.

Note

The main menu uses the term refers to Snap Lines .

Guides , but the pop-up menu

To create a new Guide:

1) Right-click on an empty part of the work area and select Insert

Snap Point/Line from the pop-up menu.

2) In the dialog box that appears, specify the type (Point, Vertical line, or Horizontal line).

3) Depending on the choice made, the two edit fields X and Y become active; enter the position of the Guide.

4) Click OK to close the dialog box.

Tip

When positioning the Snap Guides, it is useful to display the rulers. To do so, select View > Rulers.

Tip

Drag a Snap Guide directly onto the slide by clicking on the ruler and then dragging onto the slide.

To edit a Guide:

1) Right-click next to or on the guide to be edited.

2) Select Edit Snap line from the pop-up menu.

3) Enter the new value (or values) and click OK.

To delete a Guide:

1) Right-click next or on the guide to be deleted.

2) Choose Delete Snap line from the pop-up menu.

Figure 79 show the three types of guides, the grid on a slide, and the

dialog box to create a new Guide.


Figure 79: Gridline, snap lines, and snap point on a slide

Converting an object to a different type

You can convert an object into a different type. Right-click on the

object and select Convert to display a menu (Figure 80) containing the

following options:

•

•

•

•

•

•

•

To Curve: converts the selected object to a Bézier curve.

To Polygon: converts the selected object to a polygon. After the conversion choose Edit Points to edit the shape.

To Contour: converts the selected object to a polygon, or a group of polygons. If the conversion creates a group of polygons (for example, when you convert a text object), then press F3 to enter the group before you can select an individual polygon.

Convert to 3D: converts the selected object to a threedimensional (3D) object.

Convert to 3D Rotation Object: creates a three-dimensional shape by rotating the selected object around its vertical axis.

To Bitmap: converts the selected object to a bitmap.

To metafile: converts the selected object to Windows Metafile

Format (WMF), containing both bitmap and vector graphic data.


Figure 80: The convert options in the context menu

Setting up interaction with a shape or image

You can associate with a shape or an image some action to be performed when the user clicks on it. To create an interaction:

1) Select the graphic object for which an interaction will be created.

2) When the green handles show, select from the Drawing toolbar

(Figure 67) the Interaction button

or right-click on the object and select Interaction from the pop-up menu.

3) The dialog box shown in Figure 81 is displayed. Select the

interaction type and the parameters (if applicable). Click OK to close the dialog box.


Figure 81: dialog box to set the interaction with a graphic object

To remove an interaction from a graphic object follow the steps 1–5, above taking care to select No action as the interaction type at step 4.

The possible actions and their parameters are described in Table 2.

Table 2: Interactions and their parameters

Interaction type

Go to Previous slide

Parameters

No parameters.

Go to Next slide

Go to First slide

Go to Last slide

Go to Page or Object

No parameters.

No parameters.

No parameters.

Specify the target from the list in the Target box.

You can search for a specific target in the

Document box at the bottom of the screen.

Go to Document

Play sound

Run program

Select the document in the Document box. Use the Browse button to open a file picker dialog box. If the document to be opened is in Open

Document Presentation format, the target list will be populated allowing the selection of the specific target in the document.

Select the file containing the sound to be played.

Use the Browse button to open a file picker dialog box.

Select the program to execute. Use the Browse button to locate it.


Interaction type

Run Macro

Exit presentation

Parameters

Select a macro that will run during the presentation. Use the Browse button to open the macro browser dialog box.

When the mouse is clicked over the graphic object, the presentation will terminate.

Animating images

Impress offers some animation functionalities that are typical of specialized programs. An animated image consists of a sequence of images (frames) that are displayed in succession. Each frame may contain one or multiple drawing objects. To start creating a custom animated image, open the Animator dialog box from Insert >

Animated Image (see Figure 82).

Figure 82: The Animation dialog box

Creating an animation

Several mechanisms can be used to create an animated image. This chapter describes only two of them as that should be sufficient to understand the functions offered.


Frame by frame animation

1) Create the image you intend to animate using the drawing tools.

2) Select the image and click the Apply Object button. This copies the object (or objects) into the upper part of the Animation dialog box.

3) Apply some transformation to the object; for example, rotate it, change the color, if you are animating a text add or subtract a letter and so on.

4) When you are ready, create the second frame of the animation and click the Apply Object button again.

5) Repeat steps 3 and 4 until you have created all the desired frames of the animation.

6) Select Bitmap object in the Animation group section of the

Animator dialog box. This allows you to customize the timing of each of the frames and the number of repetitions for the animation (set the value to Max to obtain an infinite loop).

7) Click Create to place the animated image on the slide.

Note

If the image to be copied in the Animator consists of several objects, you can choose to treat each object as a separate frame.

In this case click the Apply objects individually button .

Remember that each object will be centered in the animation.

Animated image in one step

For some simple animations it is possible to create all the animation frames in advance, and place them on the slide. This method works well for a rotating line, a shape gradually changing color, shapes increasing or decreasing size. In most of these occasions it is convenient to use the Edit > Duplicate command.

When all the frames are already prepared, use the Apply objects

individually to create one frame for each of the objects.

It is easy to obtain for example a rotating segment:

1) Draw a segment, say, horizontal and make it fairly thick (use

Format > Line or the Line and Filling toolbar to do that).

2) Open the Duplicate dialog box by selecting Edit > Duplicate and set the number of copies to 5, the X and Y axis to 0.1, the angle to

30, the enlargement width and height to 0, and press the OK button.


3) Select the 6 segments created by Impress and open the Animator

(Insert > Animated image from the main menu bar).

4) On the Animator dialog box, click Apply objects individually.

5) Select Bitmap object in the lower part of the dialog box, then click the Create button.

Other functions of the Animator

You can review the animation at any time by clicking the Play button

as well as navigate the various frames using the other controls available.

If you are not satisfied with a particular frame, you can remove it. To do so:

1) Navigate to the frame using the edit control with the spin buttons.

2) Click the Delete current image button .

You can also delete the whole animation by clicking the Delete all

images button .

Tip

If you want to work on the animation frames a bit more, you can copy them into the Impress work area by selecting Group

object and then clicking Create.

Tip

Since all the objects are centered in the animation window, to animate an object off the center of the image, create a blank rectangle of the same size of the final image and select it along with the object to be animated. Make sure that Group object is selected before clicking the Apply object button.

Using Fontwork

Use Fontwork to obtain special text effects. For more about this topic, see Chapter 11 (Graphics, the Gallery, and Fontwork) in the Getting

Started guide.

To start using Fontwork:

1) Open the Fontwork Gallery by clicking the icon on the

Drawing toolbar (see Figure 71) or on the Fontwork toolbar (see

Figure 85). If the Drawing toolbar is not showing, you can go

directly to the Fontwork toolbar by selecting View > Toolbars >

Fontwork from the main menu bar.


2) Select from the Fontwork Gallery (Figure 83) the preferred style

and click OK. You can modify it later, so pick one providing an effect similar to the desired one. The text Fontwork in the

selected style appears on the slide (Figure 84).

Figure 83: The Fontwork gallery

3) Double-click the object to edit the Fontwork text. Type your own text in place of the black Fontwork that appears over the object

(Figure 84).

4) Press the Esc key or click outside the area with the blue resizing handles to exit.

Figure 84. Editing Fontwork text


Now that the Fontwork object is created, you can edit some of its attributes. To do this, you can use the Fontwork toolbar or other options as described in the next section.

Using the Fontwork toolbar

Make sure that the Fontwork toolbar, shown in Figure 85, is visible on

the workspace. If not, select View > Toolbars > Fontwork from the main menu bar.

Figure 85: The

Fontwork toolbar

In addition to the Fontwork Gallery icon, this toolbar contains the following icons:

Fontwork shape: to change the shape of the selected object,

choose a shape from the extended toolbar (Figure 86).

124

Figure 86: The extended shapes toolbar

Fontwork Same Letter Heights: Changes the height of characters in the object. Toggles between normal height (some characters taller than others, for example capital letters, d, h, l and

others) and all letters the same height. See Figure 87.


Figure 87. Left: normal letters; right: same letter heights

Fontwork Alignment: specify the alignment of the text within

the frame from the choices available in Figure 88. The effects of the

text alignment can only be appreciated if the text spans over two or more lines. In the Stretch Justify mode all the lines are filled completely.

Figure 88: The extended alignment toolbar

Fontwork Character Spacing: select the desired spacing

(Figure 89) and whether kerning pairs should be used. For custom

spacing, input a percentage value: 100% is normal spacing; less than 100% is tight spacing; more than 100% is expanded spacing.

Figure 89: The extended character spacing toolbar


Modifying Fontwork text as a shape

It is possible to treat Fontwork text as a shape and therefore to apply to it all the formatting that has been described in this chapter. Assign line properties only to Fontwork which does not have a 3D effect, otherwise the changes will not be visible.

Tip

Change the Fontwork color quickly using the Area fill color swatch on the Line and Filling toolbar.

In the same way as it is possible to modify the angles of Trapezoids and

Parallelogram basic shape by moving the yellow dot that is displayed along with the blue resizing handles, it is possible to modify some of the Fontwork shapes.


Chapter

6

Formatting Graphic

Objects

Introduction

This chapter describes how to format the graphic objects created with the drawing tools described in Chapter 5.

The formatting of each graphic object, in addition to its size, rotation and position on the slide, is determined by a number of attributes that define the line, text and area fill of each object. These attributes

(among others) also contribute to form a graphics style, so although this chapter discusses the formatting when applied manually to an object, you can use the same methods to build a collection of graphics styles.

Using graphics styles to format graphics

In many situations where a presentation contains only a few graphic objects, manual formatting can be an efficient way to change their appearance. However, when you want to achieve consistency in the style across the slides of your presentation (or your presentations portfolio), or simply when you want to apply the same formatting to a large number of objects, the best approach is to use graphics styles.

Graphics styles are the equivalent for graphic objects to the presentation styles for text. A graphics style groups all the formatting attributes that a graphic object could have and associates this set to a name, making them quickly reusable. If a style is modified (for example, by changing the area transparency), the changes are automatically applied to all the graphics with that style.

Using the inheritance properties of styles also achieves professional results in a short time. For example, if multiple lines change in color but are otherwise identically formatted, the best way to proceed is to define a generic style for the line and a number of hierarchically dependent styles which only differ in the line color attribute. If later you need to change the arrowhead style or the thickness of the lines, it is sufficient to change the parent style and all the other styles will change accordingly.

When creating several presentations, a library of well-defined graphics styles is an invaluable tool for speeding up the process of formatting a new presentation while achieving the desired appearance.


To create a new style, follow the procedures outlined in Chapter 2. As

shown in Figure 90, the dialog box to create a graphics style consists

of 15 pages.

•

•

The Organizer page, which contains a summary of the style and its hierarchical position, is discussed in Chapter 2.

The Font, Font Effects, Indents & Spacing, Alignment, Tabs and

Asian typography pages, which set the properties of the text and are shared with presentation styles, are discussed in detail in

Chapter 3.

•

•

The Dimensioning page is used to set the style of dimension lines and it is not normally used in presentations. For further details refer to the Draw Guide.

The remaining pages (Text, Text animation, Connector, Line, Area,

Shadowing, and Transparency) contain the same options as the dialogs for manual formatting of the Line, Area, Text and

Connectors; they are discussed in this chapter.

Note

In most of the cases you will not need to configure the parameters of every page; for example, to create a simple line style you will probably only use 3 of the 15 pages.

Figure 90: The dialog box for defining a custom graphics style

Chapter 6 Formatting Graphic Objects 129

To apply a style, select the object (or objects) and click on the style from the Styles and Formatting window. If the window is not showing, press F11, or click the Styles and Formatting icon at the left-hand end of the formatting bar, or select Format > Styles and Formatting from the menu bar. Press F11 again when the dialog box is not needed, to maximize the workspace area.

Formatting lines and shapes

Use the Format menu to modify lines and shapes.

1) Click on the shape or line to select it.

2) Click Format in the menu bar. Some of the options may not be available (grayed out) because of the type of object selected. For example, if the object is a simple line, the Area choice will be unavailable because a line does not have an area to fill.

3) Select one of the formatting options:

• Line to set the characteristics of the line, including the border

of an area (see “Formatting lines” on page 134).

•

•

•

Area to format the fill, or interior, of an object. This includes

color, transparency, and pattern (see “Formatting areas“ on page 138).

Position and Size to move, rotate, and manipulate an object

according to specified measurements (see “Moving, resizing and rotating a graphic object” on page 130).

Text to format the appearance of the text that can be added to

any shape or line (see “Formatting text“ on page 151).

Most of these commands are also available for selection in the pop-up menu that appears by right-clicking on the object.

Moving, resizing and rotating a graphic object

This section describes the mechanisms that are available in Impress to move, resize and rotate a graphic object. Note that the same procedures can be applied equally to a picture (see Chapter 4) and to a graphic (see Chapter 5).


Moving graphic objects

1) Click the graphic object, if necessary, to show the green resizing handles.

2) Move the pointer over the graphic object until the pointer changes shape. On most operating systems, the cursor associated with moving objects is a four-headed arrow, but it may also be a hand or some other symbol.

3) Click and drag the graphic object to the desired position.


For a more accurate placement of the graphic object, use the Position

and Size dialog box shown in Error: Reference source not found. To

open this dialog box, first select the graphic object by clicking on it; when the resizing green handles are displayed, either press F4 or select Format > Position and Size from the menu bar.

Figure 91: Fine adjustment of position and size of the graphic object

Use the Position section of the dialog box to specify the X (horizontal) and Y (vertical) position of the graphic object. The values represent the distance of the base point (selected on the right hand side of the dialog box) relative to the top left corner of the slide.


To prevent accidental modification of the position of the graphic object, select the Position option in the Protect section (bottom left) of the dialog box.

The unit of measurement for this and the other dialog boxes in this section is set in Tools > Options > OpenOffice.org Impress >

General.

Resizing graphic objects

1) Click the graphic object, if necessary, to show the green resizing handles.

2) Position the pointer over one of the green resizing handles. The pointer changes shape, giving a graphical representation of the direction of the resizing.

3) Click and drag to resize the graphic object.

4) Release the mouse button when satisfied with the new size.

The corner handles resize both the width and the height of the graphic object simultaneously, while the other four handles only resize one dimension at a time.

Tip

To retain the original proportions of the graphic, button before releasing the Shift key.

Shift+click one of the corner handles, then drag. Be sure to release the mouse

For more accurate resizing of the graphic object, use the Position and

Size dialog box (Error: Reference source not found). Select as the base

point the part of the graphic object that you would like to anchor to the page. The default setting (top left corner) means that the when resizing the area, the position of the top left corner of the area will not change. Now modify either the Width value or the Height value of the object. To maintain the proportions between width and height, select the Keep ratio option before modifying any value. Notice that when the option is selected both dimensions change simultaneously.

To prevent accidental modifications of the size, make sure that the

Size option is selected in the Protect section in the bottom left part of the dialog box.


Rotating graphic objects

As for the position and the size, rotation of an object can be done manually or using a dedicated dialog box. To rotate a graphic manually, do as follows:

1) Select the graphic object if necessary so that the green handles around it show.

2) Click the Rotate button on the Drawing toolbar. This toolbar is usually located at the bottom the screen, but it can be undocked and used as a floating toolbar. If the toolbar is not showing, select View > Toolbars > Drawing. The Drawing toolbar is discussed in detail in Chapter 5.

Note

The icons representing the functions in the toolbars are different depending on the operating system used and on whether OOo has been customized for the Linux distribution in use or not.

When in doubt, hover the mouse over the icons and wait for the tooltip to appear showing the name of the button.

3) Eight red handles replace the green square handles, as shown in

Figure 92. Move the mouse over one of the corner handles and

the mouse cursor shape will change. Click the mouse and move in the direction in which you want to rotate the graphic object.

4) When satisfied release the mouse button.

Figure 92: Shape showing the red rotating handles.

Only the corner ones are active.

At step 2) a black crosshair with a circle appears in the middle of the

picture: this represents the pivot point for the rotation. Normally the center of the picture will be just fine, but on some occasions you may wish to rotate around a corner or even around a point outside the picture; to do that, click on the crosshair and drag it to the desired position.

To restrict the rotation angles to multiples of 15 degrees, press the

S hift key while rotating the graphic. This is very handy to rotate


pictures of right angles, for example from portrait to landscape or vice versa.

Instead of rotating a graphic object manually, you can use the

Rotation dialog box shown in Figure 93. To display this dialog box,

select the graphic object so that the green resizing handles are shown, then press F4 or select Format > Position and Size and select the

Rotation page.

Figure 93: The Rotation page of the Position and Size dialog box

In the top part of the dialog box, select the position of the pivot point relative to the top left corner of the page. The default position of the pivot point is the center of the figure.

In the lower part of the dialog box select the angle by which to rotate the graphic object. On the right hand side 8 default rotation values are easily configurable by selecting the desired button.

Formatting lines

The dialog box to format the line properties is shown in Figure 94. It

contains three pages.

The Line page is further subdivided into four parts handling different aspects of the line.


The Line Properties section (left side) is the most important. It includes the following parameters:

•

•

•

•

Line style: a variety of line styles is available in the drop-down list, but more can be defined if needed.

Color: pick among the already defined colors. If a color not in the

list is needed, refer to “Creating colors” on page 139 to create a

new one.

Width: specifies the thickness of the line.

Transparency: sets the transparency value of the line, a useful property when you do not want to hide completely what is under the line.

Figure 94: Main line formatting dialog box

The Arrow styles section of this page is only applicable to line segments; it has no effect on the line that forms the border of a shape or of a polygon. Use this section to set the styles of the two ends of the segment. You can configure independently the two ends, selecting for each of them the arrow shape (Style drop-down menu), the Width, and the termination style (Center option). Selecting the Center option moves the center of the arrowheads to the end point of the line. If the two ends should be identical, select the Synchronize ends option. To create new arrowheads, use the Arrow styles page, as described in the following section.


Use the Corner style section of this page to choose how the connection between two segments should look. There are four available options in the drop-down menu.

The bottom part of the page shows a preview of the applied style and a preview of two corners so that the corner style choice can be quickly evaluated. To appreciate the difference between corner styles, choose a thick line style and observe how the preview changes.

Creating line styles

Use the

Line Styles page of the Line dialog box (shown in Figure 95) to

create new line styles and load previously saved line styles. Normally it is not a good practice to modify the predefined styles; instead, create new ones when necessary.

Figure 95: Advanced options for creating line styles

To create a new line style:

1) Choose Format > Line from the menu bar.

2) Select from the Line style drop-down menu a style similar to the desired one.

3) Click Add. On the pop-up dialog box, type a name for the new line style and click OK.

4) Now define the new style. Start by selecting the line type for the new style. To alternate two line types (for example, dashes and dots) within a single line, select different types in the two Type boxes.


5) Specify the number and length (not available for dot style) of each of the types of line selected, set the spacing between the various elements, and decide if the style should fit to the line width

(length).

The new line style is available only in the current presentation. If you want to reuse the line style in other presentations, click the Save Line

Styles icon and type a memorable name. This saves all of the line styles in this presentation. (Saved styles have a file extension of .sod.)

To make previously saved line styles available in the current presentation, click the Load Line Styles icon, select the saved list of styles, and click Open.

Use the Modify button to change the name of the style. Recommended only for custom line styles, not the built-in ones.

Creating arrow styles

Use the third page of the Line dialog box to create new arrow styles, modify existing arrow styles, or load previously saved arrow styles.

1) The first step is to draw a curve with the shape you want for the arrowhead.

Note

The arrowhead must be a curve . A curve is something you could draw without lifting a pencil. For example, is a curve but is not a curve.

2) Select the curve. With the resizing handles showing, select

Format > Line from the menu bar, or right-click and choose Line from the pop-up menu.

3) Go to the

Arrow styles page (Figure 96), click the Add button,

type a name for the new arrow style, and click OK.

4) Now you can access the new style from the Arrow style list. When you select the name of the new style, it is shown at the bottom of the dialog box.


Figure 96: Advanced options for creating arrow styles

Formatting areas

Impress offers many different options for formatting the fill of an area.

1) Start by selecting the object to which the formatting will be applied.

2) When the resizing handles appear, select Format > Area from

the menu bar. The dialog box shown in Figure 97 is displayed.

138

Figure 97: Area page of the area formatting dialog box


3) Select the desired type of fill from the drop-down list. The Area page changes to display the choices available for that fill style, as described on the following pages.

4) Select the required fill and its parameters, and then click OK to close the dialog box and apply your selection.

Picking the type of fill from the five available choices (None, Color,

Gradient, Hatching, and Bitmap) modifies the entries in the list below and makes some new options appear in the Area page. The list is populated with the default choices for the selected fill type. If none of the choices is satisfactory, you can fully customize the fill by using the page with the corresponding name in the same dialog box.

Creating area fills

Impress comes with many pre-defined area fills in four categories: colors, gradients, hatching patterns, and bitmaps. If none of the provided fills is satisfactory, you can fully customize them and create new fills. The following sections describe how to create new fills and how to apply them.

On each page of the Area dialog box, to modify the characteristics of an existing fill, change those characteristics in the dialog box and then click the Modify button. (In some cases, you can also change the name of the fill in the same step.) However, it is recommended to create new fills or modify custom fills, and not change the pre-defined ones.

Colors

For color fills, select one from the list on the Area page, as shown in

Figure 97.

Creating colors

On the Colors page, shown in Figure 98, you can modify existing colors

or create your own.

Every color is specified by a combination of the three primary colors

(Red, Green and Blue), hence the notation RGB. To create a new color:

1) Enter the name for the color in the Name box.

2) Specify the red, green and blue component on a 0 to 255 scale.

Alternatively specify the Cyan, Magenta, Yellow and black (K) components, from 0% to 100%.

3) Click the Add button. The color is now added to the list on the

Area page.


Figure 98: Customizing colors

To modify a color:

1) Select the color to modify from the list.

2) Enter the new values that define the color (if necessary change the settings from RGB to CMYK or viceversa).

3) Modify the name as required.

4) Click the Modify button.

Alternatively, use the Edit button (this will open a new dialog box), modify the color components as required and click OK to exit the dialog box.

Tip

You can also add custom colors using Tools > Options >

OpenOffice.org > Colors. This method makes the color available to all components of OOo, whereas colors created using Format > Area > Colors are only available for Impress.

Gradients

A gradient fill provides a smooth transition from one color to another.

The transition pattern may vary from a simple linear transition to a more complex radial transition.

If the predefined gradients are not satisfactory, you can create a new gradient or modify an existing one.


Select Gradient in the drop-down list on the Area page and pick the

gradient from the list (see Figure 99). To manually input the number of

steps (increments) that should be applied, deselect the Automatic option and enter the number of steps required.

Figure 99: Selecting a gradient fill

Creating gradients

To create a new gradient or to modify an existing one, select the

Gradients page from the Area dialog box (shown in Figure 100).

Several types of gradients are predefined and in most cases changing the From and To colors will be sufficient to obtain the desired result.

Figure 100: The Gradients page of the Area dialog box


It is highly recommended to create a new gradient even if you just want to change the two colors rather than modifying the predefined ones which should only be used as starting points.

To create a new gradient:

1) First choose the

From and To colors (Figure 101).

Figure 101: Gradient transition color selection

2) Then choose a type of gradient from the list: Linear, Axial, Radial,

Ellipsoid, Square or Rectangular.

A preview of the gradient type is shown under the available

gradients list in the middle of the dialog box. Figure 100 shows an

example.

Figure 102: Center option in a radial gradient

3) Depending on the chosen type some options will be grayed out.

Set all the properties as desired (very often the default values will work well). The properties to set to create a gradient are

summarized in Table 3.

4) Click the Add button to add the newly created gradient to the list.

The gradient is now available to all the OOo components and also for future presentations. It pays to give it a memorable name.


Table 3: Gradient properties

Property

Center X

Meaning

For Radial, Ellipsoid, Square and Rectangular gradients, modify these values to set the horizontal offset of the gradient center.

Center Y

Angle

Border

From

To

For Radial, Ellipsoid, Square and Rectangular gradients, modify these values to set the vertical offset of the gradient center.

Specifies for all the gradient types the angle of the gradient axis

Increase this value to make the gradient start further away from the border of the shape

Set here the start color for the gradient. In the edit box below enter the intensity of the color: 0% corresponds to black, 100% to the full color.

Set here the end color for the gradient. In the edit box below enter the intensity of the color: 0% corresponds to black, 100% to the full color.

Hatching

A hatching fill is a pattern of lines that is repeated throughout the area.

To apply a hatching pattern to an area, go to the Area page, select

Hatching from the drop-down list and then select the desired hatching

from the list (Figure 103). To apply a background color to the hatching

pattern, selecting the Background color option and choose a color from the drop-down list.

As for gradients and colors, if the predefined patterns are not satisfactory, you can create a new pattern or modify a predefined one.

Creating hatching patterns

You can create new hatching patterns or modify existing ones. Start by selecting the Hatching page of the Area dialog box. This is shown in

Figure 104.

As for gradients and colors, if the predefined patterns are not satisfactory, it is recommended to create a new pattern rather than modify a predefined one.


Figure 103: Selecting a hatching fill pattern

To do so:

1) Select a pattern similar to the one that will be created as a starting point.

2) Modify the properties of the lines forming the pattern. A preview is displayed in the window below the available patterns.

3) Click the Add button and choose a name for the newly created hatching.

The properties that can be set for a hatching pattern are shown in

Table 4.

144

Figure 104: The Hatching fill dialog box


Table 4: Properties of hatching patterns

Property

Spacing

Meaning

Determines the spacing between two lines of the pattern.

As the value is changed the preview window is updated.

Angle

Line type

Line color

Use the mini map below the numerical value to quickly set the angle formed by the line to multiples of 45 degrees. If the required angle is not a multiple of 45 degrees, just enter the desired value in the edit box.

Set single, double or triple line for the style of the pattern.

Use the list to select the color of the lines that will form the pattern.

Bitmaps

The last type of fill for an area is the bitmap fill.

On the Area page, chose Bitmap from the drop-down list. Select from the list of bitmaps the one to be used to fill the area. Note that any imported bitmaps should be available in the list.

Set the size, position and offset parameters (as applicable) in the right hand side of the page, and then click OK to close the dialog box.

As Figure 105 shows, when using a bitmap fill there are quite a

number of parameters to be configured. These are described in Table

5.

Figure 105: Advanced formatting for bitmap fill


Table 5: Bitmap fill properties

Property

Size – Original

Meaning

Select this box to retain the original size of the bitmap.

Size – Relative

Size – Width

Size – Height

Position – Anchor

Map

Position – X offset

Position – Y offset

Position – Tile

Position – Autofit

Offset – Row

Offset – Column

To rescale the object deselect the Original option and select this one. The Width and Height edit boxes are enabled.

When Relative is selected 100% means that the bitmap original width will be resized to occupy the whole fill area width, 50% means that the width of the bitmap will be half that of the fill area.

When Relative is selected 100% means that the bitmap original height will be resized to occupy the whole fill area height, 50% means that the height of the bitmap will be half that of the fill area.

Select from the map the place of the area where the bitmap should be anchored to.

When tiling is enabled, enter in this box the offset for the width of the bitmap in percentage values. 50% offset means that at the anchor point of the bitmap

OOo will place the middle part of the bitmap and start tiling from there.

This will have the same effect of the X offset, but will work on the height of the bitmap.

When this option is selected the bitmap will be tiled to fill the area. The size of the bitmap used for the tiling is determined by the Size settings.

Stretches the bitmap to fill the whole area. Selecting this option disables all the size settings.

If tiling is enabled offsets the rows of tiled bitmaps by the percentage entered in the box so that two subsequent rows are not aligned.

If tiling is enabled, offsets the columns of tiled bitmaps by the percentage entered in the box so that two subsequent columns of bitmaps are not aligned.

The way some of these parameters work is difficult to describe; the best way to understand them is to use them. Some examples of bitmap

fills are given in Figure 106 along with the parameters used.


Figure 106: Some examples of bitmap fill

Creating and importing bitmaps

As for the other types of fill, OOo comes with a number of predefined bitmaps, but you can also add (import) new ones or to create your own pattern on a 8x8 grid, using the Bitmaps page of the Area dialog box

(shown in Figure 107).

To create a bitmap fill:

1) Start with the Blank bitmap type on top of the list to activate the

Pattern editor.

2) Select the Foreground and Background colors.

3) Start creating the pattern by clicking with the left mouse button the squares (pixels) that you want to be painted in the foreground color. Use the right mouse button to apply the background color.

Check the preview window to see if the desired effect is achieved.

4) When done, click Add to save the pattern.


Figure 107: The Bitmaps page of the Area fill dialog box.

To import a bitmap created in Draw or another program:

1) Click the Import button.

2) A file picker dialog box is displayed. Browse to the directory containing the bitmap file and select it, then click Open.

3) Type a name for the imported bitmap and click OK.

Formatting shadows

Shadowing can be applied to both lines and areas. To apply a shadow to an area, first select the object to which shadowing should be applied, then select Format > Area.

Shadows can also be applied to lines, but it is not very obvious how to do it. One way is to click the Shadow icon on the Line and Filling

toolbar (see the last tool in Figure 108). The other way is to apply a

style to the line that uses a shadow (see “Using graphics styles to format graphics” on page 128 for additional information on using

styles).

148

Figure 108: The Line and Filling toolbar provides quick access to many common formatting tools


Using the first method, you cannot customize the shadow; it is applied according to the default settings. The second method offers full flexibility to configure the shadow properties. If the Line and Filling toolbar is not shown when selecting an object, open it using View >

Toolbars on the menu bar.

The dialog box to customize a shadow is shown in Figure 109.

Figure 109: Dialog box for customizing the shadowing of graphic objects

When the Use shadow option is selected, the following parameters can be set:

•

•

•

•

Position: the selected point in the mini map determines the direction in which the shadow is cast.

Distance: determines the distance between the object and the shadow.

Color: sets the color of the shadow.

Transparency: determines the amount of transparency for the shadow.

Tip

By setting the transparency value above 0%, the objects below the shadow are not completely hidden by the shadow. This

produces a pleasant visual effect, as shown in Figure 110.


Figure 110: Shadow with

50% transparency

Transparency formatting

Transparency is applicable to lines, areas, and shadows. To apply

transparency to lines, refer to “Formatting lines” on page 134; for

shadows, refer to “Formatting shadows” on page 148.

To apply transparency to areas, select Format > Area and then go to

the Transparency page shown in Figure 111.

Figure 111: Setting the object transparency

There are two types of transparency: one which is uniformly applied to all the area of the object, and the gradient one. To obtain a uniform transparency, select Transparency and then select the percentage of transparency required. For a gradient transparency so that the area becomes gradually transparent, select Gradient and then set the parameters of the gradient:

• Type: pick between Linear, Axial, Radial, Ellipsoid, Quadratic or

Square.


•

•

•

•

•

Center X, Y: for some types of gradient, you can specify the position of the center in percentage points.

Angle: the angle of the gradient, applicable to all but the radial type of gradients.

Border: the percentage of the shape (measured from the edge) that is not subject to the gradient settings.

Start value: the transparency value of the start point of the gradient: 0% is fully opaque, 100% means fully transparent.

End value: the transparency value of the end point of the gradient: 0% is fully opaque, 100% fully transparent.

Formatting text

Impress provides two separate dialog boxes related to text formatting.

•

•

To modify the formatting such as font, font effects and so on, select the text in the shape and then go to Format > Character.

This is covered in Chapter 3.

To determine how the text which is added to a line or a shape behaves, use the settings on the Text dialog box, as described in this section.

Before formatting text, add it to the object (a shape or a line):

1) Select the object to which text will be added.

2) With the green (or blue) resizing handles showing, double-click on the object and wait for the cursor to become an I-beam or just start typing.

3) Type the text. When finished, click somewhere outside the object or press Esc.

To format the text in a shape:

1) Select the object to which text was added.

2) Select Format > Text or right-click on the shape and select Text

from the pop-up menu. The Text dialog box (Figure 112) is

displayed.


Figure 112: Main dialog box to set the text properties

The top section of the dialog box offers several options in the form of options. Some of the options will be grayed out, depending on the object to which the text will be attached.

•

•

Select Fit width to text to expand the width of the shape or line if the text is longer than it.

Select Word wrap text in shape to automatically start a new line when the edge of the shape is reached.

•

•

Select Fit height to text to expand the object height whenever it is smaller than the text (set by default for lines.

Select Resize shape to fit text to expand a custom shape when the text inserted in the shape is too large.

•

•

Select Fit to frame to expand the text so that it fills all the available space.

Select Adjust to contour to make the text follow a curved line.

In the Spacing to borders section, specify the amount of space to be left between the border of the shape or line and the text; this is similar to the settings for indentation and spacing for paragraphs.

The text anchor grid is used to decide where to anchor the text. The

Full width option determines if the anchoring should be performed to the full width of the shape.


Text animation

Use this page to specify special effects applied to the text. Choose between four options in the list and where applicable the direction of the effect picking one of the four arrow buttons to the right. The available effects are:

•

•

Blink: the text will blink on the screen.

Scroll through: the text will move into the shape and then out following the chosen direction.

•

•

Scroll back and forth: the text will not exit the shape border and move first in the chosen direction.

Scroll in: the text will scroll in towards the given direction starting from the edge of the shape.

By default no animation is applied.

The other properties that can be set are:

• Start inside option: when set the animation will start from inside the shape.

•

•

Text visible when editing option: set this box to see the text while editing.

Animation cycles: includes three further options to set the frequency of the animation, the increments between two positions of the animation and finally the delay before the animation starts.

To see some of the animations in action, it is necessary to start the presentation. Press F9 or select Slide Show > Slide Show from the main menu. To return to the edit mode, press Esc.

Formatting connectors

Connectors are lines that join two shapes. Connectors stem from a

glue point of the shape. Refer to Chapter 5 (Creating Graphic Objects) for a description of the usage of connectors.

Connector properties can be accessed and modified in two ways:

• Manual formatting: right-click on the connector line and select

Connector in the pop-up menu.

• Style-based formatting: select one of the available graphics styles

or create a new one as discussed in “Using graphics styles to format graphics” on page 128.

Both methods open the Connector dialog box (shown in Figure 113)

where you can set the style of the connectors. Choose between


Standard (the default), Line, Straight, and Curved connector.

Whenever multiple connectors overlap, use the Line skew section of the dialog box to distance the lines. It is possible to customize the distance between 4 different lines.

In the Line spacing section of the dialog box, set the horizontal and vertical space between the connector and the object at each end of the connector.

Figure 113: Setting up the connector properties


Chapter

7

Inserting Spreadsheets,

Charts, and Other Objects

Using spreadsheets in Impress

A spreadsheet embedded in Impress includes most of the functionality of a spreadsheet in Calc and is therefore capable of performing complex calculations and data analysis. However, if you need to analyze your data or apply formulas, these operations are best performed in a Calc spreadsheet and the results displayed in an embedded Impress spreadsheet.

Many people also use spreadsheets in Impress for creating complex tables or presenting data in a tabular format. However, for this purpose you may find the new Table Design feature (described in

Chapter 3) more suitable.

Inserting a spreadsheet

To add a spreadsheet to a slide, select the corresponding layout in the

list of predefined layouts in the Tasks pane, as shown in Figure 114.

Figure 114: The spreadsheet layout in the Tasks pane

This inserts a placeholder for a spreadsheet in the center of a slide, as

shown in Figure 115. Double-click inside the frame to enter the edit mode, shown in Figure 116, where you can insert data and modify the

formatting of the spreadsheet. See “Entering data” on page 160 and

“Formatting spreadsheet cells” on page 160.

It is also possible to insert a spreadsheet as an OLE object as described

in “Inserting other objects” on page 173.


Figure 115: A slide ready to host a spreadsheet

Figure 116: A spreadsheet in edit mode. Note the active cell and the smalle black resizing handles on the gray border

When editing a spreadsheet, some of the contents of the main menu

bar change, as does the Formatting toolbar (see Figure 117), to show

entries and tools that support working with the spreadsheet.

Chapter 7 Inserting Spreadsheets, Charts, and Other Objects 157

Figure 117: The menu bar and the formatting toolbar in spreadsheet editing mode

One of the most important changes is the presence of the Formula toolbar, just below the Formatting toolbar. The Formula toolbar contains (from left to right):

•

•

The active cell reference or the name of the selected range

The Formula Wizard button

•

•

The Sum and Formula buttons or the Cancel and Accept buttons

(depending on the contents of the cell)

A long edit box to enter or review the contents of a cell

If you are familiar with Calc, you will immediately recognize the tools and the menu items since they are much the same.

Resizing and moving a spreadsheet

When resizing or moving a spreadsheet, ignore the first row and the first column (easily recognizable because of their light gray background) and the horizontal and vertical scroll bars). They are only used for editing purposes and will not be included in the visible area of the spreadsheet on the slide.

To resize the area occupied by the spreadsheet:

1) Double-click to enter the edit mode, if it is not already active.

Notice the black handles found in the gray border surrounding

the spreadsheet (see Figure 116).

2) Move the mouse over one of the handles. The cursor changes shape to give a visual representation of the effects applied to the area.

3) Click and hold the left mouse button and drag the handle. The corner handles resize the two sides forming the corner simultaneously, while the handles in the middle of the sides modify one dimension at a time.


You can move the spreadsheet (change its position within the slide) whether in edit mode or not. In both cases:

1) Move the mouse over the border until the cursor changes shape.

2) Click and hold the left mouse button and drag the spreadsheet to the desired position.


When selected but not in edit mode (green handles), the spreadsheet object is treated like any other object, therefore resizing it results in changing the scale rather than the spreadsheet area. This is not recommended, because it may distort the fonts and picture shapes.

Moving around the spreadsheet

How a spreadsheet is organized

A spreadsheet consists normally of multiple tables which in turn contain cells. However, in Impress only one of these tables can be shown at any given time on a slide.

The default for a spreadsheet embedded in Impress is one single table called Sheet 1. The name of the table is shown at the bottom of the

spreadsheet area (see Figure 116).

If required, you can add other sheets. To do that:

1) Right-click on the bottom area near the existing tab.

2) Select Insert > Sheet from the pop-up menu.

Just like in Calc, you can rename a sheet or move it to a different position using the same pop-up menu or the Insert menu on the main menu bar.

Note

Even if you have many sheets in your embedded spreadsheet, only one sheet—the one which is active when leaving the spreadsheet edit mode—is shown on the slide.

Each of the sheets is further organized into cells. Cells are the elementary unit of the spreadsheet. They are identified by a row number (shown on the left hand side on gray background) and a column letter (shown in the upper part again on gray background). For example, the top left cell is identified as A1, while the third cell in the second row is C2. All data, whether text or numbers, is input in a cell.


Moving the cursor to a cell

To move around the spreadsheet and select the cell which has the focus, you can:

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Use the arrow keys.

Left-click with the mouse on the desired cell.

Use the combinations Enter and Shift+Enter to move one cell down or one cell up respectively; Tab key and Shift+Tab key to move one cell to the right or to the left respectively.

Other keyboard shortcuts are available to move quickly to certain cells of the spreadsheet. Refer to Chapter 5 (Getting Started with Calc) in the Getting Started guide for further information.

Entering data

Keyboard input is received by the active cell, identified by a thick black

border (see Figure 116 where cell B3 is active). The cell reference (or

coordinates) is also shown on the left hand end of the formula bar.

To insert data, first select the cell to make it active, then type in it.

Note that the input is also added to the main part of the formula bar where it may be easier to read.

Impress will try to automatically recognize the type of contents (text, number, date, time, and so on) of a cell and apply default formatting to it. Note how the formula bar icons change according to the type of input, displaying Accept and Reject buttons ( ) whenever the input is not a formula. Use the green Accept button to accept the input made in a cell or simply select a different cell. In case Impress wrongly recognized the type of input, you can change it using the toolbar

shown in Figure 117, or from Format > Cells in the main menu bar.

Tip

Sometimes it is useful to treat numbers as text (for example, telephone numbers) and to prevent Impress from removing the leading zeros or right align them in a cell. To force Impress to treat the input as text, type a single apostrophe ' (U + 00B4) before entering the number.

Formatting spreadsheet cells

Normally, for the purpose of a presentation, it may be necessary to increase considerably the size of the font as well as matching it to the style used in the presentation.


The fastest and most flexible way to format the embedded spreadsheet is to make use of styles. When working on an embedded spreadsheet, you can access the cell styles created in Calc and use them. However, the best approach is to create specific cell styles for presentation spreadsheets, as the Calc cell styles are likely to be unsuitable when working within Impress.

To apply a style (or indeed manual formatting of the cell attributes) to a cell or group of cells simultaneously, first select the range to which the changes will apply. A range consists of one or more cells, normally forming a rectagular area. A selected range consisting of more than one cell can be recognized easily because all its cells except the active one have a black background. To select a multiple-cell range:

1) Click on the first cell belonging to the range (either the left top cell or the right bottom cell of the rectangular area).

2) Keep the left mouse button pressed and move the mouse to the opposite corner of the rectangular area which will form the selected range.


To add further cells to the selection, hold down the Control key and repeat the steps 1 to 3 above.

Tip

You can also click on the first cell in the range, hold down the

Shift key, and click in the cell in the opposite corner. Refer to

Chapter 5 (Getting Started with Calc) in the Getting Started book for further information on selecting ranges of cells.

Some shortcuts are very useful to speed up the selection:

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To select the whole visible sheet, click at the intersection between the rows indexes and the column indexes, or press Control+A.

To select a column, click on the column index at the top of the spreadsheet.

To select a row, click on the row index on the left hand side of the spreadsheet.

Once the range is selected, you can modify the formatting, such as font size, alignment (including vertical alignment), font color, number formats, borders, background and so on. To access these settings, choose Format > Cells from the main menu bar (or right-click and choose Format Cells from the pop-up menu). This command opens the

dialog box shown in Figure 118.


Figure 118: The Format Cells dialog box consists of 7 pages

If the text does not fit the width of the cell, you can increase the width by hovering the mouse over the line separating two columns and, when the mouse cursor changes shape, clicking the left button and dragging the separating line to the new position. A similar procedure can be used to modify the height of a cell (or group of cells).

To insert rows and columns in a spreadsheet, use the Format menu or right-click on the row and column headers and select the appropriate option from the pop-up menu. To merge multiple cells, select the cells to be merged and select Format > Merge cells from the main menu bar. To de-merge a group of cells, select the group and again Format >

Merge Cells (which will now have a checkmark next to it).

When you are satisfied with the formatting and the appearance of the table, exit the edit mode by clicking outside the spreadsheet area. Note that Impress will display exactly the section of the spreadsheet which was on the screen before leaving the edit mode. This allows you to hide additional data from the view, but it may cause the apparent loss of rows and columns. Therefore, take care that the desired part of the spreadsheet is showing on the screen before leaving the edit mode.


Inserting a chart

To add a chart to a slide, select the corresponding layout in the list of predefined layouts in the task pane or use the Insert Chart feature.

Creating a chart in AutoLayout

1) In the Tasks pane, choose a layout that contains a chart (look for

the vertical bars). See Figure 119.

Figure 119: Examples of layouts with charts

2) Double-click the chart icon in the center of the chart area. A fullsized chart appears that has been created using sample data. See

Figure 120.

3) To enter your own data in the chart, see “Entering chart data” on page 167.


Figure 120: Chart made with sample data

Creating a chart using the Insert Chart feature

1) Select Insert > Chart, or click the Insert Chart icon on the

Standard toolbar. A chart appears that has been created using

sample data. See Figure 120.

2) To enter your own data in the chart, see “Entering chart data” on page 167.

Choosing a chart type

A wide range of chart types and variations are available (see “Chart types” on page 165). To choose a chart type:

1) Double-click the sample chart. The window changes; the side panes are gone and the main toolbar shows tools specific for charts. The chart itself now has a gray border. (If the main toolbar is not showing, select View > Toolbars > Main Toolbar.)

2) Click the Chart Type icon or select Format > Chart Type , or right-click on the chart and choose Chart Type. The Chart

Type dialog box appears. See Figure 121.


Figure 121: Chart Type dialog box showing two-dimensional charts

3) As you change selections in the left-hand list, the chart examples on the right, and the chart in the main window, both change. If you move the Chart Type dialog box to one side, you can see the full effect in the main window.

4) As you change chart types, other selections become available on the right-hand side. For example, some chart types have both three-dimensional and two-dimensional variants; 3D charts have further choices of shape for the columns or bars.

5) Choose the chart characteristics you want, and then click OK.

The Chart Type dialog box closes and you return to the edit window.

Now you can continue to format the chart, add data to the chart, or click outside the chart to return to normal view.

Chart types

Your data can be presented with a number of different charts; choose a chart type that best suits the message you want to convey to your audience. The following summarizes the uses of the chart types. For more detail, see Chapter 4 (Creating Charts and Graphs) in the Calc

Guide.

Column charts

Column charts are commonly used for data that shows trends over time. They are best for charts that have a relatively small number of


data points. (For large time series, a line chart would be better.) It is the default chart type.

Bar charts

Bar charts are excellent for giving an immediate visual impact for data comparison where time is not important, for example to compare the popularity of a few products in a marketplace.

Pie charts

Pie charts are excellent when you need to compare proportions, for example, comparisons of departmental spending: what the department spent on different items or what different departments spent. They work best with smaller numbers of values, about half a dozen; more than this and the visual impact begins to fade.

This is one of the charts that can profitably be made into a 3D chart.

It can then be tilted, given shadows, and generally turned into a work of art. You can choose to explode the pie chart, but this is an all or nothing option.

Donut charts

If you want to show the proportional nature of your data but want to include more than one data series, a donut chart is your best option.

The extra layer attempts to give pies another dimension of time.

However, two or three data series are all you can include before it becomes meaningless. As with pie charts, you can explode the pieces of a donut chart.

Area charts

An area chart is a version of a line or column graph. It may be useful where you wish to emphasize volume of change. Area charts have a greater visual impact than a line chart, but the data you use will make a difference. You may need to use transparency values in an area chart.

Line charts

A line chart is a time series with a progression. It is ideal for raw data, and useful for charts with plentiful data that shows trends or changes over time where you want to emphasize continuity. On line charts, the x-axis is ideal to represent time series data. 3D lines confuse the viewer, so just using a thicker line often works better.

Scatter or XY charts

Scatter charts are great for visualizing data that you have not had time to analyze, and they may be the best for data when you have a constant value with which to compare the data; for example weather data, reactions under different acidity levels, conditions at altitude,


or any data which matches two series of numeric data. In contrast to line charts, the x-axis are the left to right labels which usually indicate a time series.

Net charts

A net chart is similar to polar or radar graphs. They are useful for comparing data that are not time series, but show different circumstances, such as variables in a scientific experiment or direction. The poles of the net chart are the y-axes of other charts.

Generally, between three and eight axes are best; any more and this type of chart becomes confusing.

Stock charts

A stock chart is a specialized column graph specifically for stocks and shares. You can choose traditional lines, candlestick, and twocolumn type charts. The data required for these charts is quite specialized, with series for opening price, closing price, and high and low prices. Of course the x-axis represents a time series.

Column and line charts

A column and line chart is a combination of two other chart types. It is useful for combining two distinct but related data series, for example sales over time (column) and the profit margin trends (line).

Entering chart data

Opening a chart data window

1) If the chart is not already in edit mode (with a gray border), double-click it. The main toolbar now shows tools specifically for charts. (If the main toolbar is not showing, select View >

Toolbars > Main Toolbar.)

2) Click the Chart Data icon or select View > Chart Data

Table, or right-click on the chart and choose Chart Data Table.

The Data Table dialog box (Figure 122) appears.

Tip

If you drag the Data Table dialog box so that your chart is visible, you can then immediately see the results of each change after clicking in a different cell.


Figure 122: Data Table dialog box

Entering data

Enter data in the Data Table dialog box.

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Insert buttons insert a row or column.

Delete buttons remove the information from a selected row or column.

Move buttons move the contents of the selected column to the right, or move the contents of the selected row down.

Input fields and cells are where you insert data. Type or paste information into the boxes within the desired rows and columns.

Formatting the chart

In addition to the wide range of chart type and appearance choices available through the Chart Type dialog box, Impress provides other ways to customize a chart. This section introduces some of them. Refer to Chapter 4 (Creating Charts and Graphs) in the Calc Guide for more details.

Adding or removing elements from a chart

The default chart includes only two elements: the chart wall and the legend (also known as the key). You can add other elements using the

Insert menu, as shown in Figure 123. The various choices open dialog

boxes in which you can specify details.


Figure 123: Insert menu for charts

Using the Format menu

The format menu has many options for formatting and fine-tuning the look of your charts.

Double-click the chart so that it is enclosed by a gray border. Click

Format in the main menu. See Figure 124.

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Figure 124: Chart format menu

Object Properties opens a dialog box in which you can specify the area fill, borders, transparency, characters, font effects, and position of the selected element of the chart.


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Position and Size opens the Position and Size dialog box (see

“Resizing and moving the chart”).

Arrangement provides two choices: Bring Forward and Send

Backward, of which only one may be active for specific items.

Use these choices to arrange overlapping data series.

Title formats the titles of the chart and its axes.

Axis formats the lines that create the chart as well as the font of the text that appears on both the X and Y axes.

Grid formats the lines that create a grid for the chart.

Legend formats the location, borders, background, and type of the legend.

Chart Wall, Chart Floor, and Chart Area are described in the following sections.

Chart Type changes what kind of chart is displayed and whether it is two- or three-dimensional.

3D View formats the various viewing angles of 3D chart.

Note

Chart Floor and 3D View are only available for a 3D chart.

These options are unavailable (grayed out) if a 2D chart is selected.

The two main areas of the chart control different settings and

attributes for the chart. See Figure 125.

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Figure 125: The Chart wall and Chart area

Chart wall contains the graphic of the chart displaying the data.

Chart area is the area surrounding the chart graphic. The

(optional) chart title and the legend (key) are in the chart area.


Note

Chart Floor, from the Format menu, is only available for 3D charts and has the same formatting options as 3Chart Area and

Chart Wall.

Knowing the difference between the chart wall and chart area is helpful when formatting a chart.

Resizing and moving the chart

You can resize or move all elements of a chart at the same time, in two ways: interactively, or by using the Position and Size dialog box. You may wish to use a combination of both methods: interactive for quick and easy change, then the dialog box for precise sizing and positioning.

To resize a chart interactively:

1) Click on the chart to select it. Green sizing handles appear around the chart.

2) To increase or decrease the size of the chart, click and drag one of the markers in one of the four corners of the chart. To maintain the correct ratio of the sides, hold the Shift key down while you click and drag.

To move a chart interactively:


2) Hover the mouse pointer anywhere over the chart. When it changes shape, click and drag the chart to its new location.

3) Release the mouse button when the element is in the desired position.

To resize or move a chart using the Position and Size dialog box:


2) Choose Format > Position and Size from the menu bar, or right-click and choose Position and Size from the pop-up menu, or press F4. For more about the use of this dialog box, see

Chapter 6 (Formatting Graphic Objects).

Moving chart elements

You may wish to move or resize individual elements of a chart, independent of other chart elements. For example, you may wish to move the legend to a different place. Pie charts allow moving of individual wedges of the pie (in addition to the choice of “exploding” the entire pie).


1) Double-click the chart so that is enclosed by a gray border.

2) Click any of the elements—the title, the legend, or the chart graphic—to select it. Green resizing handles appear.

3) Move the pointer over the selected element. When it changes shape, click and drag to move the element.

4) Release the mouse button when the element is in the desired position.

Note

If your graphic is 3D, round red handles appear which control the three-dimensional angle of the graphic. You cannot resize or reposition the graphic while the round red handles are showing.

With the round red handles showing, Shift + Click to get the green resizing handles. You can now resize and reposition your

3D chart graphic. See the following tip.

Tip

You can resize the chart graphic using its green resizing handles

( Shift + Click , then drag a corner handle to maintain the proportions). However, you cannot resize the title or the key.

Changing the chart area background

1) The chart area is the area surrounding the chart graphic, including the (optional) main title and key.

2) Double-click the chart so that it is enclosed by a gray border.

3) Select Format > Chart Area. The Chart Area window appears.

See Figure 126.

4) Choose the desired format settings.

Changing the chart graphic background

The chart wall is the area that contains the chart graphic.

1) Double-click the chart so that it is enclosed by a gray border.

2) Select Format > Chart Wall. The Chart Wall window appears.

It has the same formatting options as described in “Changing the chart area background” above.

3) Choose your settings and click OK.


Figure 126: Chart Area dialog box

Inserting other objects

Impress offers the capability of inserting in a slide various types of objects such as music or video clips, Writer documents, Math formulas, generic OLE objects and so on. A typical presentation may contain movie clips, sound clips, OLE objects and formulas; other objects are less frequently used since they do not appear during a slide show.

This section covers the part of the Insert menu shown in Figure 127.

Figure 127: Part of the Insert menu


Movies and sound

Note

On UNIX systems, the Media Player requires the Java Media

Framework API (JMF). Download and install the JMF files, and add the path to the installed jmf.jar to the class path in Tools >

Options > OpenOffice.org > Java.

To insert a movie clip or a sound into a presentation, select Insert >

Movie and Sound. Select the media file to insert from the dialog box, to place the object on the slide.

To insert media clips directly from the Gallery:

1) If not already open, open the Gallery by selecting Tools >

Gallery.

2) Browse to the Theme containing media files (for example the

Sounds theme).

3) Click on the movie or sound to be inserted and drag it into the slide area.

The Media Playback toolbar (Figure 128) is automatically opened (by

default, at the bottom of the screen, just above the Drawing toolbar; it can also be made floating). You can preview the media object as well as resize it. If the toolbar does not open, select View > Media Playback.

Figure 128: The media playback toolbar (movie clip)

The Media Playback toolbar contains the following tools:

• Add button: opens a dialog box where you can select the media file to be inserted.

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Play, Pause, Stop buttons: control the media playback.

Repeat button: if pressed, the media will restart when finished.

Playback slider: selects the position within the media clip.

Timer: displays the current position of the media clip.

Mute Button: when selected, the sound will be suppressed.

Volume Slider: adjusts the volume of the media clip.

Scaling drop-down menu: (only available for movies) allows scaling of the movie clip.

The movie will start playing as soon as the slide is shown during the presentation.


Note that Impress will only link the media clip, therefore when the presentation is moved to a different computer, the link will most likely be broken and as a consequence the media clip will not play. An easy workaround that prevents this from happening is the following:

1) Place the media file to be included in the presentation in the same folder where the presentation is stored.

2) Insert the media file in the presentation.

3) When sending the presentation to a different computer, send also the media file and place both files in the same folder on the target computer.

Impress offers the possibility to preview the media clips that are to be inserted by means of the provided media player. To open it select Tools

> Media Player. The media player is shown in Figure 129. Its toolbar

is the same as that of the Media Playback toolbar described above.

Figure 129: The embedded media player

OLE objects

Use an OLE (Object Linking and Embedding) object to insert in a presentation either a new document or an existing one. Embedding inserts a copy of the object and details of the source program in the target document, that is the program which is associated to the file type in the operating system. The major benefit of an OLE object is that it is quick and easy to edit the contents just by double-clicking on it. You can also insert a link to the object that will appear as an icon rather than an area showing the contents itself.


To create and insert a new OLE object:

1) Select Insert > Object > OLE object from the main menu. This

opens the dialog box shown in Figure 130.

Figure 130: Insert OLE Object dialog box

2) Select Create new and select the object type among the available options.

Note

“Further objects” is only available under a Windows operating system. It does not appear in the list under any other system.

3) Click OK. An empty container is placed in the slide.

4) Double-click on the OLE object to enter the edit mode of the object. The application devoted to handling that type of file will open the object.

Note

If the object inserted is handled by OpenOffice.org, then the transition to the program to manipulate the object will be seamless; in other cases the object opens in a new window and an option in the File menu becomes available to update the object you inserted.

To insert an existing object:

1) Select Insert > Object > OLE object from the main menu.

2) In the Insert OLE Object dialog box (Figure 130), select Create

from file. The dialog box changes to look like Figure 131.

3) To insert the object as a link, select the Link to file checkbox.

Otherwise, the object will be embedded.

4) Click Search, select the required file in the file picker window, then click Open. A section of the inserted file is shown on the slide.


Figure 131: Inserting an object as a link

Other OLE objects

Under Windows, the Insert OLE Object dialog box has an extra entry,

Further objects, as shown in Figure 130.

1) Double-click on the entry Further objects to open the dialog box

shown in Figure 132.

Figure 132: Advanced menu to insert an OLE object under

Windows

2) Select Create New to insert a new object of the type selected in the Object Type list, or select Create from File to create a new object from a file.

3) If you choose Create from File, the dialog box shown in Figure

133 opens. Click Browse and choose the file to insert. The

inserted file object is editable by the Windows program that created it.

If instead of inserting an object, you want to insert a link to an object, select the Display As Icon checkbox.


Figure 133: Insert object from a file

Formulas

Use Insert > Object > Formula to create a Math object in a slide.

When editing a formula, the main menu changes into the Math main menu.

Care should be taken about the font sizes used in order to make them comparable to the font size used in the rest of the slide. To change the font attributes of the Math object, select Format > Font Size from the main menu bar. To change the font type, select Format > Fonts from the main menu bar.

For additional information on how to create formulas, refer to Chapter

9 (Getting Started with Math) in the Getting Started guide, or Chapter

16 (Math Objects) in the Writer Guide.

Note that unlike in Writer, a formula in Impress is treated as an object, therefore it will not be automatically aligned with the rest of the text.

The formula can be however moved around (but not resized) as any other object.

Inserting the contents of a file

You can insert the contents of a file into a presentation. The types of file accepted are OpenOffice.org Draw file, HTML files or plain text files.

Select Insert > File from the main menu to open a file picker window.

If there is an internet connection, it is also possible to insert in the file name field a URL. Select the file and click Insert.


Chapter

8


Slides, Notes and Handouts

Introduction

This chapter describes how to add new slides to the presentation and how to format them. It then introduces two additional views—the

Notes view and the Handouts view—and explains how to format Notes and Handouts.

Two pop-up menus are quite useful when performing the operations described in this chapter. One menu is displayed by right-clicking on a slide in Normal view and then selecting Slide to display a submenu

(shown in Figure 134). The other menu appears by right-clicking on the slide thumbnail in the Slides Pane, as shown in Figure 135, which

also shows the tabs to switch view.

Figure 134: Slide pop-up submenu – submenu has changed; need new pic

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Figure 135: (Left) Pop-up menu on the Slides

Pane; (Right) View tabs


Adding, renaming, and removing slides

Adding a new slide

There are several equivalent ways to add a slide to a presentation:

• Select Insert > Slide (works in Normal and Outline view).

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Right-click on the Slides pane and select New Slide from the popup menu (works in Normal, Outline, and Notes view).

Right-click on the main work area while in Slide Sorter view and select New Slide from the pop-up menu.

On the work area in Normal view, right-click on the active slide and select Slide > New Slide.

The new slide is inserted after the current slide or in the position where the mouse was clicked.

If multiple slide masters exist, the new slide will apply the master of the previous slide in the sequence.

Inserting a slide from another presentation

You can insert slides from other presentations in three ways:

• Using Insert > File. With this method, you can optionally link the slides instead of copying (embedding) them into the presentation.

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Copying and pasting.

Dragging and dropping, to copy or move slides.

To insert a slide from another presentation:

1) In Normal view, select the slide after which you want to insert the new slide, then choose Insert > File from the menu bar.

2) In the file browser, locate the file containing the slide that you want to insert, and click Insert.

3) In the Insert Slides/Objects dialog box (Figure 136), click the plus

sign next to the icon for the presentation file, and then select the slides that you want to insert. (You can see that the slides would be easier to select if they had more descriptive names.)

4) Optionally select the Link checkbox.

5) Click OK. The slides are inserted after the selected slide in the presentation.

Chapter 8 Adding and Formatting Slides, Notes and Handouts 181

Figure 136: Inserting slides from another presentation

To copy and paste slides between presentations:

1) Open the presentations that you want to copy from and paste into.

2) In the presentation containing the slides that you want to copy, choose View > Slide Sorter.

3) Select the slides, and then choose Edit > Copy, or click the Copy button on the main toolbar, or press Control+C.

4) Change to the presentation where you want to paste the slides, and then choose View > Normal.

5) Select the slide that you want the copied slides to follow, and then choose Edit > Paste, or click the Paste button on the main toolbar, or press Control+V.

To copy or move slides between presentations:

1) Open the presentations that you want to copy or move slides between. Arrange the windows so both presentations are visible.

Choose View > Slide Sorter in each window.

2) In the presentation containing the slides that you want to copy or move, select the required slides. To move the slides, drag and drop them into the other presentation. To copy the slides, hold down the Control key while dragging and dropping.

Duplicating a slide

Duplicating a slide is a convenient way to add slides, since the new slide is an exact copy of the selected slide. To duplicate a slide:

1) Go to Normal view either by clicking on the tab on the work area or selecting View > Normal from the menu bar.

2) Make sure that the slide to be duplicated is on the work area.

3) Select Insert > Duplicate Slide from the menu bar.


The duplicated slide is inserted after the original slide and is displayed in the work area.

Here is another way to duplicate a slide:

1) In Normal view, go to the slide after which you want to insert the new slide.

2) Open the Navigator and select the slide you want to duplicate

(see Figure 137).

Figure 137: Selecting a slide in the Navigator

3) Drag the slide into the workspace and release the mouse button.

The Name Object dialog box (Figure 138) opens.

Figure 138: Naming the new slide

4) Type a name for the duplicated slide and then click OK. The new slide is inserted after the selected slide.

Tip

Duplicating a slide is a good way to prevent having slides with too much information crowded on them. Try duplicating the

“busy” slide and split the points over two or more slides. All the formatting, backgrounds, and so on will be preserved.


Expanding a slide

Sometimes you will have a slide with too many subpoints to fit in the space available. Instead of reducing the font size or using other methods to squeeze more text into the space, it is usually better to subdivide the contents of the slide into two or more slides.

As mentioned in the Tip above, you can duplicate the slide and manually split the points. Another way is to “expand” the contents of the slide. To do this:

1) [optional] Duplicate the slide (in case it is needed later).

2) Choose Insert > Expand Slide from the menu bar. Impress creates a new slide for each highest level of the outline. The outline text becomes the title of the new slide. Outline points below the top level on the original slide are moved up one level on the new slide.

3) If required, repeat steps 2 and 3 on any slide where level 2 entries of the outline exist, to expand those as well.

Figure 139 shows a slide with an outline consisting of three high level

points and two second-level points under bullet point 2. The Expand command has generated three slides, each having as title the first level outline and (if present) the second level points in the text area.

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Figure 139: Slide 1 is expanded in slides 2, 3 and 4.


Creating a summary slide

It is also possible to “reverse” the Expand operation to create summaries. The Summary command is useful to create an agenda for the presentation.

1) Select the slide that will be the first one to appear in the summary. Do this by clicking on it in the Slides Pane or in Slide

Sorter view.

2) Select Insert > Summary Slide. Impress creates a new slide at the end of the presentation where all the titles of the slides from the one after the selected one to the last are written as bullet points in the body of the slide.

3) Move this slide to wherever you want it to appear in the presentation.

Renaming a slide

To rename a slide, do one of the following:

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Right-click on the slide thumbnail in the Slides pane or in the main area when in Slide Sorter view and select Rename Slide from the pop-up menu.

In Normal view, right-click on the slide in the work area, then select Slide > Rename Slide from the pop-up menu.

In the Rename Slide dialog box, type a new name for the slide and then click OK.

Deleting a slide

To delete a slide, use the most convenient among these options:

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In Normal, Outline or Slide Sorter view, select a slide and then click Edit > Delete Slide or press the Delete key.

In the Slides Pane (not available in Slide Sorter view) right-click on the slide to be deleted and select Delete Slide from the popup menu, otherwise just select the slide and then press the

Delete key.

In Normal view, right-click on the work area, then select Slide >

Delete Slide from the pop-up menu.

Tip

When working in the Slide sorter view (View > Slide sorter) it is possible to delete multiple slides simultaneously by selecting them with the mouse and pressing the Delete key.


Creating slides from an outline

As discussed in Chapter 1, when planning a presentation it is often quite useful to develop an outline using OOo Writer. Once the outline is ready, you will probably want to create one or more separate slides for each of the top level outline elements. You can do this in several ways:

• Sending the outline from Writer to Impress (creates a new presentation)

•

•

Sending an autoabstract from Writer to Impress (creates a new presentation)

Copying and pasting the outline from Writer to Impress

Sending an outline from Writer to Impress

If a text document in Writer contains headings formatted with the default Heading paragraph styles, you can choose File > Send >

Outline to Presentation to create a new presentation containing the headings as an outline.

The new presentation opens in Outline view, as shown in Figure 140.

186

Figure 140: Outline created from a Writer document


Click on the Normal tab to populate the slides in the Slides pane.

As shown in Figure 141, some outline levels may have too many points

to fit on one slide. You can expand those slides as described in

“Expanding a slide” on page 184, or duplicate the slides and manually

change their contents, as described in “Duplicating a slide” on page

182.

Figure 141: Slides created from an outline may have too many points to fit the space

Sending an autoabstract from Writer to Impress

If a text document in Writer contains headings formatted with the default Heading paragraph styles, you can use the AutoAbstract feature to copy the headings and a number of subsequent paragraphs to a new presentation. You can specify the number of outline levels as well as the number of paragraphs displayed.

1) Choose File > Send > AutoAbstract to Presentation.

2) On the Create AutoAbstract dialog box (Figure 142), choose the

number of outline levels to be copied to the presentation. For example, if you choose 4 levels, all paragraphs formatted with

Heading 1 to Heading 4 are included, along with the number of paragraphs specified in Subpoints per level.

3) The new presentation opens in Outline view. Click on the Normal tab to populate the slides in the Slides pane.


4) If some outline levels have too many points to fit on one slide, you

can expand those slides as described in “Expanding a slide” on page 184 or duplicate the slides and manually change their

contents as described in “Duplicating a slide” on page 182.

Figure 142: Choosing outline levels for an autoabstract

Copying and pasting an outline

Use this method to add slides from an outline to an existing presentation.

1) Create a new slide and choose the “Title, Text” layout

(see “Choosing a slide layout from the list” on page 191).

2) Paste in the text area the outline created with Writer. Do not worry if the text does not fit the space on the slide.

3) When pasting, the hierarchical structure of the outline may be lost. If necessary, use the Demote button on the Text

Formatting toolbar to recreate it so that the outline points are at the correct hierarchical level. It may be useful to open the Style and Formatting window at the Presentation styles page to track the outline level of each item.

4) If some outline levels have too many points to fit on one slide, you can expand those slides or duplicate the slides and manually change their contents.

Modifying slides

It is highly recommended to avoid manually changing the formatting of individual slides in a presentation; instead, use slide masters as much as possible. A presentation can have multiple slide masters, so the need for modifying slide backgrounds or other features should be an exception rather than the rule. See Chapter 2 for details about using slide masters.


Formating the slide or page area

The Page Setup dialog box (Figure 143) is used for several purposes,

some of which depend on where you open the dialog box. For example, if you are in Notes view or Handout view when you open the Page

Setup dialog box, you are setting up the page layout for Notes or

Handouts, respectively (see pages 193 and 197 for more information).

If you are in Normal view, you are formatting the slides themselves.

Note

Any changes to the page format (size, margins, orientation, and so on) apply to all slides in the presentation. You cannot define more than one page style in Impress, as you can in Writer or Calc.

You can change the background of individual slides, as described

on page 190.

To format the slide or page area:

1) Switch to Normal view (click the tab in the main work area or select View > Normal in the menu bar).

2) Select Format > Page from the menu bar, or right-click and choose Page Setup from the pop-up menu to open the Page

Setup dialog box, shown in Figure 143.

The Page tab has three sections: Paper format, Margins, and

Layout settings. Settings on this tab affect all slides in the presentation.

Figure 143: The Page Setup dialog box


3) In the Paper format section, select the preferred Paper format from the drop-down list. Note that the dimensions change automatically when a standard format is selected. Despite the name (Paper format), the list contains selections for displaying the slides as well as printing them on paper.

The default values for the Screen settings are optimized for screen presentation (4:3 ratio) but will also print on Letter or A4 paper with landscape orientation. If your computer uses a widescreen monitor, you may wish to take advantage of that by selecting the User format and editing the Width and Height manually.

4) You can also select the orientation of the slide or paper (Portrait or Landscape) and the paper tray to be used. Note that in Impress you cannot specify different trays for different pages (slides), as you can in Writer; however, you can specify different trays for printing slides, notes, and handouts. This is useful if, for example, you want to print slides on transparencies and handouts on ordinary paper.

For more about printing presentations, see Chapter 10.

5) In the Margins section, you can change the spacing between the edges of the page and the contents of the slide.

6) In the Layout settings section, select the page number format in the Format drop-down list. To allow resizing the slide objects and fonts to fit the paper, select the Fit object to paper format checkbox.

7) Click OK to save your changes.

Changing the background of a slide

A presentation can have multiple slide masters, so the need for modifying slide backgrounds should be an exception. See Chapter 2 for details about using slide masters.

Applying a background to a slide master or to individual slides is no different from filling the area of a shape. See Chapter 6 (Formatting

Graphic Objects) for details.

To change the background for a slide:

1) Switch to Normal view (click the tab in the main work area or select View > Normal in the menu bar).

2) Select the slide you want to change.


3) Select Format > Page from the menu bar, or right-click and choose Slide > Page Setup from the pop-up menu to open the

Page Setup dialog box. Choose the Background tab.

4) Follow the instructions in “Formatting areas” in Chapter 6.

5) Click OK to save the changes. A pop-up dialog box (shown below) asks if you want to change the background on all slides. To change only the selected slide, click No.

Choosing a slide layout from the list

After creating a new slide, decide what this slide will contain and what layout is most suitable for the purpose. Impress offers various types of predefined layouts that can be applied to a slide; these layouts are

shown in Figure 144.

Figure 144: The available automatic layouts for slides

To apply a layout to a slide:

1) In the Task pane, select the Layouts tab. If the Task pane is not visible, select first View > Task Pane.


2) Hover the mouse cursor over the layout thumbnail to get a tooltip with a summary of the contents included in the layout.

3) Click on the selected layout to apply it to the slide.

Note

If the layout is changed when the slide already contains contents, Impress will not delete the contents, so slide elements may overlap.

You cannot create new AutoLayouts. However, if none of these layouts suit your requirements, you can rearrange elements on an individual slide and duplicate that slide as often as needed, copy it from one presentation to another, or save it in a template.

All the techniques discussed in Chapter 3 for working with text boxes can be applied to the Title and AutoLayout text elements of the slide, while the placeholder for images can be moved and resized as discussed in Chapter 4. Chapter 7 describes how to include and modify spreadsheets, charts, and other objects.

Choosing a slide master from the list

In the Task Pane, select the Master Pages tab.

To apply one of the slide masters to all slides in your presentation, click on it in the list.

To apply a different slide master to one or more selected slides:

1) In the Slide Pane or the Slide Sorter view, select the slides you want to change.

2) In the Task Pane, right-click on the slide master you want to apply to the selected slides, and click Apply to Selected Slides on the pop-up menu.

Chapter 2 discusses slide masters (also called “master slides” and

“master pages”) in detail.

Adding and formatting notes

Notes view provide a convenient way to create reminders or add extra information to the slides of the presentation. Notes are not displayed during a slide show, so with the dual monitor support feature, you can use notes as a presentation cue. You can also print the notes pages and use them as handouts.


To add notes to a slide:

1) In the Slides pane, select the slide to which you want to add notes.

2) Switch to Notes view (click the tab in the main work area or select View > Notes from the menu bar). The main work area

looks like Figure 145.

3) Click in the text box showing “Click to add notes” and type or paste text or graphics as needed.

4) To add notes to another slide, select it in the Slides pane. The

Notes view changes to show the selected slide.

5) When done entering notes, return to Normal view.

Figure 145: The work area in

Notes view

Formatting notes

It is highly recommended to use the Notes Master and the Notes

Presentation style to format the appearance of notes, rather than formatting them for each slide individually.

All the formatting guidelines given in this section can be applied to either the Notes Master or to the Notes Presentation style.


To open the Notes Master (Figure 146), choose View > Master >

Notes Master from the menu bar.

Figure 146: Notes Master View

Formatting the Notes page

To format the Notes page:

1) Switch to Notes view (click the tab in the main work area or select View > Notes from the menu bar).

2) Select Format > Page from the menu bar, or right-click and choose Page Setup from the pop-up menu to open the Page

Setup dialog box, shown in Figure 147.

3) Set the desired parameters. The Page Setup dialog box for notes

is the same as the dialog box for slides. Refer to “Formating the slide or page area” on page 189 for a description of this dialog

box. The only difference is that by default the Notes page orientation is set to portrait and the format is A4.

4) Click OK to close the dialog box.


Figure 147: The Page Setup dialog box for notes

Setting automatic layout options

In Notes view, Impress creates four areas where you can put information about the presentation:

•

•

•

•

Header area

Date and Time area

Footer area

Slide number area

To customize these fields, proceed as follows:

1) Switch to Notes view from the corresponding tab in the work area or by selecting View > Notes from the main menu, or open the

Notes Master (View > Master > Notes Master).

2) Select Insert > Date and Time from the main menu to display the Header and Footer dialog box. Select the Notes and

Handout tab (Figure 148).

3) Select the checkboxes to activate the corresponding areas. For the Header and Footer, type the text in the edit fields.

For the Date and time, select between Fixed (enter in the edit box the date and time that should be displayed) or Variable (the date and time of the slide creation will be inserted in the notes pages).

Use the two drop-down menus to select the format of the date and the language.

If the Page number checkbox is activated, to format the type of

numbering refer to “Formatting the Notes page” on page 194).


4) Click the Apply to All button to save these settings and close the dialog box.

Figure 148: The dialog box to set up header and footer for notes

Text formatting

When text is inserted in the Notes text box, it is automatically formatted using the Notes style from the Presentation styles. The best way to format the notes text is therefore to modify this style to suit your needs. Refer to Chapter 2 to learn how to work with styles.

If manual formatting is required, for example to highlight a particular section of the notes, the guidelines given in Chapter 3 apply.

Advanced Notes formatting

You can make other changes to the Notes pages. For example, you can:

•

•

•

Move the text box and the slide image around the page

Resize the slide image and text box

Add other text boxes to the page

Printing notes

1) Choose File > Print from the menu bar.

2) In the Print content section of the Print dialog box, make sure

that Notes is selected (Figure 149).


Figure 149: Select Notes for printing

3) Make any other needed changes and then click OK to print.

For more about printing slides, notes, and handouts, see Chapter 9.

Exporting notes to PDF

1) Choose File > Export as PDF from the menu bar and name the file.

2) In the PDF Options dialog box, choose the General tab.

3) Under General, make sure that Export notes is checked, and then click OK.

Figure 150: Exporting Notes to PDF

The notes pages follow the presentation in the PDF (that is, if your presentation has 10 slides, the PDF contains 10 pages, each with one slide, followed by 10 pages with notes formatted for paper). If you want only the Notes pages, you will need to use some other program to remove the unwanted pages of slides from the PDF.

Creating handouts

A handout is a special view of the presentation suitable to be printed and distributed to the audience. Each handout page contains from one to six thumbnails of the slides so that the audience can follow what is


presented as well as use it as reference. This section explains how to

customize the handout page. An example is shown in Figure 151.

Figure 151: Example of handout with four slide thumbnails

Note that the handout view consists of only one page regardless of the number of slides that compose the presentation.

Changing the layout

When creating handouts, first decide how many slide thumbnails you want printed on each handout page.

1) Select the Handout view either by clicking on the tab in the work area or by selecting View > Handout Page from the menu bar.

2) If the Task pane is not visible, select View > Task Pane from the menu bar.

Tip

As for any other toolbar, you can undock the Task pane by holding down the part of the pane.

Control key and double-clicking on an empty

3) In the Task pane select the

Layouts tab, which looks like Figure

152 in Handout view.


Figure 152: The available layouts for handouts in the Task Pane

4) Choose the preferred layout. The main work area changes to reflect the choice.

Formatting handouts

You can format several aspects of the handout, from the page style to the elements that appear on the page. You cannot format individual handout pages; any changes apply to all handouts in the presentation file.

Formatting the page

To format the handout pages:

1) Be sure you are in Handouts view. (Click the Handouts tab in the work area or select View > Handout Page from the menu bar.)

2) Select Format > Page from the main menu, or right-click on the handout and select Slide > Page Setup from the pop-up menu.

3) On the Page Setup dialog box (Figure 147 on page 195), set the

paper size, orientation (portrait or landscape), margins, and other parameters. Click OK.

Setting automatic layout options

In Handout view, as in Notes view, Impress creates four areas where you can put information about the presentation:

•

•

•

•

Header area

Date and Time area

Footer area

Slide number area

Note

The information in these areas does not show in Handout view, but it does appear correctly on the printed handouts.


The way to access and customize these areas is the same as for the

Notes and uses the same dialog box. Refer to “Setting automatic layout options” on page 195 for information.

Moving thumbnails and adding graphics

You can move (but not resize) the slide thumbnails and add lines,

boxes, and other graphic elements to the handouts. Figure 153 shows

an example. See Chapter 5 (Creating Graphic Objects) for instructions on using the graphics tools.

Tip

After designing a handout, you may wish to save it in a template so you can reuse it whenever you want. See “Working with templates” in Chapter 2 (Using slide masters, styles, and templates) for instructions on saving templates and starting a new presentation from a template.

Caution

If you click on one of the other handout layouts and then return to the one you have reformatted, the slide thumbnails return to their original positions, although any lines or other graphics you have added remain where you put them. You will need to move the thumbnails back to where you want them.

200

Figure 153: Customized 3-slide handout


Printing handouts

1) Choose File > Print from the menu bar.

2) In the Print content section of the Print dialog box, make sure

that Handouts is selected (Figure 154).

Figure 154: Select Handouts for printing

3) You can select which slides to include in the handouts. In the

Print range section (Figure 155), select Pages and specify the

slide numbers to be included. Any numbers entered here correspond to slides, not pieces of paper.

Figure 155: Choose which slides to print

For more about printing slides, notes, and handouts, see Chapter 10.

Exporting handouts to PDF

At present there is no way to export handouts to PDF. However, you can print to a PostScript file (if you have a suitable printer driver installed) and then use another program (such as Ghostscript or Adobe

Distiller) to create a PDF from the PostScript file.

Figure 156: Printing to a PostScript file


Chapter

9

Slide Shows

Transitions, animations, and more

Putting together a slide show

OpenOffice.org Impress gives you the tools to organize and display a slide show, including:

•

•

Which slides to show and in what sequence

Whether to run the show automatically or manually

•

•

•

Transitions between slides

Animations on individual slides

Interactions: what happens when you click a button or link

Most tasks associated with putting together a show from your slides are best done in Slide Sorter view. Choose View > Slide Sorter from the menu bar or click the Slide Sorter tab at the top of the workspace.

All of your slides appear in the workspace; you may need to scroll to see them all.

Choosing basic settings for a slide show

Basic settings for a slide show include which slide to start from, the way you advance the slides, the type of presentation, and pointer options.

Choose Slide Show > Slide Show Settings. The Slide Show dialog

box (Figure 159) appears.

Figure 157: Choosing slide show settings

Chapter 9 Slide Shows 203

In the Range section, choose which slides to include in the slide show:

•

•

All slides includes all of the slides except for those marked

Hidden (see “Hiding slides so they do not appear in a show” on page 205). Slides are shown in the sequence they occur in the

file. To change the sequence, either rearrange the slides in the

slide sorter or choose a custom slide show (see “Showing slides in a different order” on page 206).

From: starts the show at a slide other than the first. For example, you might have several slides at the beginning that describe you and your company, but when you present this show to your work colleagues, you want to skip that introduction.

• Custom Slide Show shows the slides in a different sequence that you have previously set up. This choice is not available until after

you set up a custom slide show (see “Showing slides in a different order” on page 206). You can set up as many different custom

shows as you wish from one set of slides; they will appear in the drop-down list under this choice.

In the Type section, choose how the slides will be displayed:

• Default shows the slides full screen, without the OpenOffice.org program controls visible, and exits the show after the last slide.

•

•

Window runs the slide show in the OpenOffice.org program window and exits the show after the last slide.

Auto restarts the slide show after the last slide. A pause slide is displayed between the last slide and the start slide. Press the Esc key to stop the show.

In the box under this choice, specify the length of time before the show restarts. If you enter zero, the show restarts immediately without showing a pause slide.

To display the OpenOffice.org logo on the pause slide, select the

Show logo checkbox. The logo cannot be changed.

In the Options section:

•

•

•

Change slides manually prevents slides from changing automatically. This choice overrides the Auto selection under

Type.

Mouse pointer visible shows the mouse pointer during a slide show. If you do not have a laser pointer or other device, this can be quite useful.

Mouse pointer as pen enables you to write or draw on slides during the presentation. Anything you write with the pen is not


•

•

•

• saved when you exit the slide show. The color of the pen cannot be changed.

Navigator visible displays the Navigator during the slide show.

For more about the Navigator, see Chapter 1 (Introducing

Impress).

Animations allowed displays all frames of animated GIF files during the slide show. If this option is not selected, only the first frame of an animated GIF file is displayed. (This has nothing to so

with the slide animations described in “Using slide animation effects” on page 211.)

Change slides by clicking on background advances to the next slide when you click on the background of a slide. (Other ways of advancing to the next slide include pressing the spacebar on the keyboard.)

Presentation always on top prevents any other program window from appearing on top of the presentation.

In the Multiple monitors section, you can choose which monitor to use for full screen slide show mode, if the current desktop is displayed on more than one monitor. If the current desktop spans only one monitor, or if the multiple-monitor feature is not supported on the current system, you cannot select another monitor. By default the primary monitor is used for slide show mode.

Note

This multiple monitors setting are not a property of the document, but are instead saved in the user configuration. This means that if you open the presentation on a different computer the local settings are applied.

Hiding slides so they do not appear in a show

You may not want to show all of the slides in a particular show. You can either hide some of the slides or set up a custom slide show. Which method is best depends on your needs. For example, you may have draft slides that you will show when they are finished, or you may have some slides that contain information for yourself, not your audience.

To hide a slide:

1) In the Slides pane, or in Slide Sorter view, select the slides that you want to hide.

2) Click the Show/Hide Slide icon on the Slide View toolbar, or choose Slide Show > Show/Hide Slide. The slide number is now


in a box with a diagonal line through it, to indicate that it is

hidden (see Figure 158). The slide remains in the file.

Figure 158: Slide 2 is hidden

To show a hidden slide:

1) In the Slides pane, or in Slide Sorter view, select the hidden slides that you want to show.

2) Click the Show/Hide Slide icon on the Slide View toolbar, or choose Slide Show > Show/Hide Slide.

Showing slides in a different order

To show the slides in a different order, you can either rearrange them in the slide sorter or set up a custom slide show. You can define as many custom slide shows as you need from one set of slides. In a custom slide show, you can choose which slides to include as well as the order in which they are shown. Any slides marked Hidden will not appear in a custom show.

Setting up a custom slide show

To set up a custom slide show:

1) Choose Slide Show > Custom Slide Show from the menu bar.

2) On the Custom Slide Shows dialog box (Figure 160), select the

Use Custom Slide Show checkbox and click New.


Figure 159: Start here to define or change a custom slide show

3) On the Define Custom Slide Show dialog box (Figure 160), type a

name for the new custom show. Then, in the Existing slides list, select the slides to include in the show, in the order you want to

show them. Click the >> button to include the slides in the

Selected slides list. In Figure 160, Slide 1 has been included, and

Slide 2 has been selected but not yet included.

You can select and include several slides at the same time. Hold down the Shift key and click the first and last slide in a group to select that group (for example, slides 3 through 7), or hold down the Control key and click on individual slides to select them (for example, slides 3, 5, and 9).

4) When you are done arranging the order of the slides, click OK to save this custom show and return to the Custom Shows dialog box.

Figure 160: Defining a custom slide show


Note

Tip

If you include several slides at the same time, they are added to the Selected slides list in numerical order regardless of the order in which you selected them. In other words, if you click on slides 3, 9, and 5 in that order and add them all at the same time, they will be included in the Selected slides list in this order: 3, 5, 9. To put them in a different order, either select and include them one at a time or select and drag them up or down the list.

Slides are added to the Selected slides list after the slide that is highlighted in that list. The last slide added is highlighted unless you select a different one. For example, you may have added slides 1, 2, 3 and 9, in that order. Slide 9 will be highlighted. If you now want to add slide 15 between slides 2 and 3, select 2 in the Selected slides list and click >>.

list, then select slide 15 in the Existing slides

You can also add slide 15 at the end of the Selected slides and then drag it up to where you want it in the sequence.

list

Editing, deleting, or copying a custom slide show

To edit a custom slide show (add, remove, or change the order of slides, or change the name of the show), select it in the Custom Slide

Shows dialog box (Figure 159) and click Edit.

To delete a custom slide show, select it in the Custom Slide Shows dialog box and click Delete. Deletion is immediate; no confirmation message appears.

To create a copy of a slide show, select it in the Custom Slide Shows dialog box and click Copy. You can now edit the copy to rename it or add, remove, or change the order of slides in it.

You can run a custom slide show (for example, to test it) from the

Custom Slide Shows dialog box, if the Use Custom Slide Show checkbox is selected. Select the slide show from the list and click

Start.

When you are done working with custom slides shows, click Close to save all changes and close the Custom Slide Shows dialog box.


Using slide transitions

Slide transitions are the effects that take place when one slide gives way to the next one in the presentation, like Roll down from top or Fly in from left. They add dynamic flair to a slideshow, smoothing the transition between slides.

You can add transitions while in Slide Sorter view or in Normal view.

To see the effect of a selection, you need to be in Normal view and select the Automatic preview checkbox on the Slide Transition page of the Tasks pane.

You can apply a single type of transition to all slides in the presentation or apply a different transition to any single slide, even having a different transition for every slide in the show. While using many different transitions may be fun to do, it may not give your show a professional appearance.

Tip

If you want most of the slides to have the same transition, but a few to be different, you may find it easiest to apply one transition to all slides and then change only the ones you want to be different.

Setting the timing of automatic slide changes

You can set up a slide show to run automatically, either unattended or while you speak. To set the default time for slides to be displayed before changing to the next slide, go to the Slide Transition pane

(Figure 161), leave the transition effect set to No Transition, choose

Automatically after in the Advance slide section, set a time, and click the Apply to All Slides button.

To vary the times for some slides, choose Slide Show > Rehearse

Timings from the menu bar, or click the Rehearse Timings icon on the Slide Show toolbar. The slide show begins in full-screen mode, and a timer appears in the lower left-hand corner of the screen.

When you want to advance to the next slide, click the timer. To keep the default setting for this slide, click the slide, not the timer. Continue for all slides in your presentation. Impress records the display time for each slide. Save your presentation. When you next look at the time set under Automatically after, you will see that the times have changed to match what you set when rehearsing.

If you want the whole presentation to auto-repeat, open the menu

Slide Show > Slide Show Settings. Click Auto and OK.


Applying a slide transition effect

In the Tasks pane, choose Slide Transition

(Figure 161).

In the Slides pane or Slide Sorter view, select the slides to which you want to apply the transition. If you want the transition to apply to all slides, you do not need to select them first.

In the Apply to selected slides list, select a transition.

Modify the selected transition by changing the speed or adding a sound, in the Modify transition area.

If you choose to play a sound, select it in the

Sound list. The Loop until next sound checkbox now becomes active. Select this checkbox to play the sound repeatedly until another sound starts.

Choose how to advance to the next slide: manually (on mouse click) or automatically. If you choose automatically, you can specify how long the slide remains visible before it automatically advances to the next slide.

If you want the effect you just defined to apply to all slides in the show, click the Apply

to All Slides button.

To preview the transition effect, click the

Play button.

To start the slide show from the current slide

(so you can see all the transitions), click the

Slide Show button.

Figure 161: Task pane, showing Slide

Transition page

Playing a sound throughout the presentation

You can use the Slide Transition pane to set up Impress so that a sound or a song is played throughout the presentation. To do that:

1) Select the slide where you want the sound to start and go to the

Slide Transition pane.


2) In the Modify transition section, select the entry Other sound from the Sound drop-down menu.

3) Select the Loop until next sound checkbox if you want the sound to restart once it is finished.

Caution

Do not click the Apply to all button, otherwise your selected sound will restart at every slide.

Note

The sound file is linked to the presentation rather than embedded, therefore if you plan to display the presentation on a different machine, remember that you also have to make the sound file available on the machine where the presentation will be played and re-establish the link to the local sound file before starting the slideshow.

Removing a transition effect

1) Select the desired slides.

2) Choose No Transition in the list on the Slide Transition page of the Tasks pane.

Using slide animation effects

Slide animations are similar to transitions, but they are applied to individual elements on a single slide—a title, chart, shape, or individual bullet point. Animations can make a presentation more lively and memorable. Just as with transitions, heavy use of animations can be fun, but distracting and even annoying for an audience expecting a professional presentation.

Animation effects need to be applied from Normal View so that you can select individual objects on a single slide.

Note

At present it is not possible to apply animation effects to the slide master elements. This means that if you want to display the items in a text box one by one, you need to apply the effects to each text box, or alternatively copy the text box from one slide to the other.


Applying an animation effect

In Normal View, display the desired slide.

Select the text or object you want to animate. An object such as a graphic or an entire text box will have green handles around it when selected. If you choose only a portion of the text in a text box, you may not see any green handles.

In the Tasks pane, choose Custom

Animation (Figure 162).

Click Add. The Custom Animation dialog

box (Figure 163) appears. Choose an effect

from one of the pages of this dialog box, and choose the speed or duration of that

effect. See the example on page 214 for

some hints on how to combine multiple effects.

To choose the animation to be applied when the object is placed on the screen, use an effect from the Entrance page, for example

Fly In or Dissolve In.

Use the Emphasis page to apply an effect that changes the font color or applies special effects to the text such as blinking text.

To choose the effect to be applied when the object is leaving the page, use the Exit page.

Figure 162: Task pane, showing Custom

Animation page

If you want the object to move along a line or curve, select an animation from the Motion Paths page. An example of this type of

animation is provided in “Example: Setting up a motion path” on page

217.

Click OK to save the effect and return to the Custom Animation page on the Task pane. Here you can choose how to start the animation, change the speed, and apply some additional properties of the selected effect.


Figure 163: Custom Animation dialog box. Choices may vary depending on the selected object; for example, pictures and text have different Emphasis choices.

Starting an animation effect

You have three choices for starting an animation effect:

On click—the animation stops at this effect until the next mouse click.

With previous—the animation runs at the same time as the previous animation.

After previous—the animation runs as soon as the previous animation ends.


Choosing additional properties of an animation effect

Many animations have a set of properties that you can set or change.

For example, if you chose the Change Font Color effect on the

Emphasis page, you can specify the font color. If you chose Fly In on the Entrance page, you can specify the direction from which the object flies in.

The label on the properties box changes depending on the choices available for each effect. For example, a Fly In effect has a box labelled

Direction and a Change Font Color effect has a box labelled Font color.

Example: Using multiple animation effects

To illustrate how you can set up multiple effects, let’s look at a common animation: list items fly in one at a time from the bottom of the slide, and as each new item appears, the previous items change to a different color. Here is how to create these effects.

Step 1. Apply the “fly in” effect to individual list items.

1) Display the Custom Animation page of the Task pane.

2) Create a slide with several items in a bullet list. Our example slide

(Figure 164) has four.

Figure 164: Example slide for multiple animations

3) Select all four items. Click Add on the Custom Animation pane.

4) On the

Entrance page of the Custom Animation dialog box (Figure

165), select Fly In, optionally change the Speed to Medium, and

click OK.


5) The four effects you have just set up are listed in the animations list on the

Custom Animation page, as shown in Figure 166.

Figure 165: Choosing an entrance effect

Figure 166: Animation list, showing four items


Step 2. Apply the “change font color” effect to some list items.

Now we want to set each of the first three list items to change color when the following item appears on the slide. To do this:

1) Select the first three items on the slide (not the animations list) and click Add in the Custom Animation pane.This time we go to the Emphasis page of the Custom Animation dialog box and

choose Change Font Color, as shown in Figure 167. Click OK to

save this effect.

Figure 167: Choosing an emphasis effect

2) Notice that the three new animations are listed at the bottom of the animations list, and the “type of effect” icon for these three effects (in the second column) is different from the icon for the

first four effects (see Figure 168).

Figure 168: Animation list after adding a second set of animations

3) You could, if you wish, select any of the last three items and choose a different color from the Font color list on the Custom

Animation pane.


4) Use the Change order: up-arrow button to move each of the last three items up the list to just under the other item with the same

name. The animation list will now look like Figure 169.

Figure 169: Animation list after moving items into required sequence

Step 3. Change the timing for some list items from With previous to On click

Notice that all of the items on the animations list (except for the two

“Point one” items) are set to start at the same time as the previous item. However, we want the second “Point two” animation and the second “Point three” animation to also occur On click.

1) Select these items, and then choose On click from the Start list.

The animation list now looks like Figure 170.

2) Save the file.

3) Test this set of animations by clicking the Slide Show button.

Figure 170: Final list of animations

Example: Setting up a motion path

The Motion path effect moves an object along a path consisting of a combination of straight and curved lines. Several pre-packaged paths are provided in OOo, but it is not difficult to create your own custom path. Start by selecting the object you want to animate and select a


pre-packaged motion path animation which is similar to the effect you want to obtain. Alternatively use the Polygon or Curve animation to create a new path.

Select the object to show the animation path, which will be displayed as a thin gray line with a triangle showing the starting point and another indicating the end point. Click on any point on the line so that blue handles are displayed around it. When the blue handles around the path are shown, you can move or resize the path in the same way as you would perform these operations on a graphic object.

Note

When moving a path, remember to move also the object on that path, otherwise the animation will start with a jump. Currently it is not allowed to rotate a path.

If instead you want to modify the individual points on the line, select the Points tool from the Drawing toolbar while the path is

selected. The Edit Points toolbar of Figure 171 should be displayed; if

not, select it from View > Toolbars > Edit Points.

Figure 171: The Edit Points toolbar

Once a point is selected, you can add an additional point, delete it, move it and so on. For a detailed explanation on how to manipulate the points on a curve, see the Draw Guide. Once you are satisfied with the shape of the curve and its speed, click anywhere on the screen to deselect the object and continue normal editing.

Figure 172 shows a polygon motion path with a curved section.

You can combine a motion with other effects such as spinning or changing of size or colors to obtain dramatic effects.


Figure 172: Object set to move along a polygon and curve path

Advanced animation effects

Click the Effect Options button [...] next to the Properties drop-down list to display the Effect Options dialog box.

Note

What you see on the Effect Options dialog box depends on the selected animation object. For example, the dialog box has three pages for text objects but only two pages for picture objects (the

Text Animation page does not appear). The Settings section on

Effect page for

the Effect page also varies. Figure 173 shows the a Direction effect, and Figure 174 shows the Settings section for

a Font Color effect. For picture objects, the Text animation box on the Effect page is unavailable.

On the

Effect page of the Effect Options dialog box (Figures 173 and

174), you can choose a sound to play, whether to dim or hide the object

after animation, and (in the case of text objects) whether to animate the text all at once or word-by-word or letter-by-letter.


Figure 173: Effect option settings for a direction effect

Figure 174: Effect option settings for a font color effect

On the

Text Animation page of the Effect Options dialog box (Figure

175), you can group text in other ways: as one object, all paragraphs at

once, or by first-level paragraphs (that is, one list item together with its sub-items, if any).

Figure 175: Text Animation effect options

The choices on the Timing page of the Effect Options dialog box,

shown in Figure 176, should be self-explanatory.


Figure 176: Timing page of Effect Options dialog box

Removing animation effects

1) On the Custom Animation page of the Task pane, select the desired object.

2) Click the Remove button.

Using interactions

Interactions are things that happen when you click on an object in a slide. They are typically used with buttons or images, but text objects can also have interactions. Possible interactions include: go to previous slide, go to next slide, go to first slide, go to last slide, go to page or object (that is, a specific slide or named object in a slide), go to document, play sound, or run a macro.

To apply an interaction to an object (or change an interaction applied to an object), right-click on the object and choose Interaction from

the pop-up menu. The Interaction dialog box (Figure 177) appears.

Select an interaction from the Action at mouse click drop-down list.

With some interactions, after you select one, the dialog box changes to

offer more choices. For example, Figure 178 shows the Interaction

dialog box after choosing Go to page or object.

Tip

A sound interaction can be also applied using the Effect Options

dialog box (Figure 173).


Figure 177: Interaction dialog box before choosing an interaction

Figure 178: Interaction dialog box after choosing the “Go to page or object” interaction, showing choices for the target slide or object

Running a slide show

To run the slide show, do one of the following:

•

•

•

Press F5 or F9.

Click Slide Show > Slide Show on the main menu bar.

Click the Slide Show button on the Presentation toolbar or the

Slide Sorter toolbar.

If the slide transition is Automatically after x seconds, let the slide show run by itself.

If the slide transition is On mouse click, do one of the following to advance from one slide to the next.

• Press the down arrow key, the right arrow key, or the Page Down key on the keyboard.

• Click the left mouse button.


• Press the Spacebar.

To go backwards through the show one slide at a time, press the up arrow key, the left arrow key, or the Page Up key. For more complex navigation, use the right-click menu (see below).

Custom animations on a slide are run in the specified order when performing one of the above actions.

When you advance past the last slide, the message Click to exit

presentation... appears. Click the left mouse button or press any key to exit the presentation.

To exit the slide show at any time and return to the Impress workspace, including at the end, press the Esc key.

Navigating using the right-click menu

If your presentation consists of more than one slide, right-clicking

anywhere on the screen brings up the menu shown in Figure 179

allowing you to navigate the slides and set other options. The choices are:

Next: Moves to the next slide in the defined sequence.

Previous: Move to the previous slide in the defined sequence.

Go to Slide: Displays a submenu as shown in the figure. Choices on the submenu include First slide, Last Slide, or any slide in the show. You can see why giving the slides meaningful names—instead of leaving them at the default Slide 1, Slide 2, and so on—can be very helpful.

Screen: Displays a submenu with two choices, as shown in the figure. Each choice blanks the screen, showing it as either all black or all white. This can be useful if you want to pause the show for awhile (perhaps during a break or to demonstrate something on another computer).

End Show: Ends the presentation and returns you to the Impress workspace. This is the same effect as pressing the Esc key.


Figure 179: Right-clicking on the screen during a slide show brings up this menu.


Chapter

10

Printing, e-mailing, exporting, and saving slide shows

Introduction

General information about printing documents from OOo is provided in

Chapter 10 of the Getting Started guide. This chapter describes some items of particular interest to users of Impress.

Quick printing

Click the Print File Directly icon to send the entire document to the default printer defined for your computer.

Controlling printing

Impress provides many options for printing a presentation: with multiple slides on one page, with a single slide per page, with notes, as an outline, with date and time, with page name, and more.

For more control over printing a presentation, choose File > Print to

display the Print dialog box (Figure 180).

226

Figure 180. The Print dialog box


On the Print dialog box, you can choose:

•

•

Which printer to use (if more than one are installed on your system) and the properties of the printer—for example, orientation (portrait or landscape), which paper tray to use, and what paper size to print on. The properties available depend on the selected printer; consult the printer’s documentation for details.

What content to print: slides, notes, handouts, or outline.

–

–

Slides prints one slide per page, full page, in landscape.

Handouts prints the slides in reduced size on the page, from a single slide up to six slides per page. You can choose how many slides to print per page, and whether to print them horizontally (landscape orientation) or vertically (portrait orientation) on the page.

•

•

–

–

Notes prints a single slide per page with any notes entered for that slide in Notes View.

Outline prints the title and headings of each slide in outline format.

What slides to print, how many copies to print, and in what order to print them.

– Pages prints the slide numbers you list in the box. Use hyphens to indicate ranges and commas or semicolons to separate ranges; for example: 1, 5, 11-14, 34-40.

– Selection prints selected objects. This choice is available only when you have selected one or more objects on a slide (in

Normal view).

What items to print. Click the Options button to display the

Printer Options dialog box (Figure 181).

Selecting printer options for a presentation

Selections on the Printer Options dialog box (Figure 181) apply to this

printing of this presentation only. To specify default printing options for

Impress, see “Selecting default print options” on page 229.

Chapter 10 Printing, e-mailing, exporting, and saving slide shows 227

Figure 181: Selecting printer options for a presentation

Some items of interest on the Printer Options dialog box include:

Under Quality:

• Default prints the presentation in color on a color printer or in grayscale on a mono printer, including all background colors and images. If you have used a dark background (which looks good when projected), the slides may not be very readable when printed, especially on handouts with small images.

•

•

Grayscale prints in black, white and grayscale on both color and mono printers, and does not print background colors or images.

Black & white prints in black, white and grayscale and does not print background colors or images.

Under Print, you can choose additional elements to be printed in the page margin. If you marked Brochure in the Page options area, the only available selection in this area is Hidden pages.

• Page name includes the name of the slide. Not available with brochure printing.

•

•

•

Date prints the current date at time of printing. Not available with brochure printing.

Time prints the current time. Not available with brochure printing.

Hidden pages prints the slides that are marked as hidden in the presentation.


Under Page options:

• Default prints the slides full size.

• Fit to page scales down slides so they fit on the paper in the printer.

•

•

•

Tile pages prints several slides on a page, if the slides are smaller than the paper.

Brochure is discussed in “Printing a brochure” on page 230.

Paper tray from printer settings specifies that the paper tray to be used is the one defined in the printer setup.

Selecting default print options

Selections on the Printer Options dialog box over-ride any default settings. To specify default settings for printing, use Tools > Options

> OpenOffice.org Impress > Print. The page displayed contains the same choices as the Printer Options dialog box.

Other printer settings are found in Tools > Options >

OpenOffice.org > Print, as shown in Figure 182. Use this page to

specify quality settings for printing, and whether to have OOo warn you if the paper size or orientation of your document does not match the printer settings.

Figure 182. Print options for OpenOffice.org


Printing in black and white on a color printer

You may wish to print documents in black and white on a color printer, to save expensive color ink or toner or to make handouts of slides with dark backgrounds easier to read. Several choices are available.

To print the current document in black and white or grayscale:

1) Click File > Print to open the Print dialog box (Figure 180).

2) Click Properties to open the properties dialog box for the printer.

The available choices vary from one printer to another, but you should find an option for Color. See your printer’s help or user manual for more information.

3) The choices for color may include black and white or grayscale.

Choose one of these. Grayscale is best if you have any graphics in the document. Click OK to confirm your choice and return to the

Print dialog box, then click OK again to print the document.

To set up OOo to print all color text and graphics as grayscale:

1) Click Tools > Options > OpenOffice.org > Print to display the

dialog box shown in Figure 182.

2) Select the Convert colors to grayscale checkbox. Click OK to save the change.

To set up Impress to print all color text as black, and all graphics as grayscale:

1) Click Tools > Options > OpenOffice.org Writer > Print.

2) Under Quality, select the Grayscale or Black & white checkbox.

Click OK to save the change.

Printing a brochure

You can print a presentation with two slides on each side of a sheet of paper, arranged so that when the printed pages are folded in half, the slides are in the correct order to form a booklet or brochure.

To print a brochure on a single-sided printer:

1) Click File > Print. In the Print dialog box (Figure 180), click

Properties and be sure the printer is set to the same orientation

(portrait or landscape) as specified in the page setup for your document. (Usually the orientation does not matter, but it does for brochures.)

2) Click Options. In the Pages section of the Printer Options dialog

box (Figure 181), choose Brochure and Right pages. Click OK

twice to print the first side of each page.


3) Flip the pages and put them back into the printer, new side up, and in the correct orientation. You may need to experiment a bit to find out what the correct arrangement is for your printer.

4) Click File > Print and check Properties to make sure the printer setup is still correct.

5) Click Options again. In the Pages section of the Printer Options dialog box, choose Brochure and Left page. Click OK twice to print the second side of each page.

6) If your printer can do double-sided printing, then click on the checkboxes for both Left and Right along with Brochure.

Exporting to PDF

OpenOffice.org Impress can export presentations to PDF (Portable

Document Format). This industry-standard file format for file viewing is ideal for sending the file to someone else to view using Adobe Reader or other PDF viewers.

Quick export to PDF

Click the Export Directly as PDF icon to export the entire presentation using the default PDF settings. You are asked to enter the file name and location for the PDF file, but you do not get a chance to choose a page range or the print quality.

Controlling PDF content and quality

For more control over the content and quality of the resulting PDF, use

File > Export as PDF. The PDF Options dialog box opens. This dialog box has five pages, described in this section. Make your selections, and then click Export. Then you are asked to enter the location and file name of the PDF to be created, and click Save to export the file.

General page of PDF Options dialog box

On the General page (Figure 183), you can choose which pages (slides)

to include in the PDF, the type of compression to use for images (which affects the quality of images in the PDF), and other options.


Figure 183: General page of PDF Options dialog box

Range section

• All: Exports the entire document.

•

•

Pages: To export a range of slides, use the format 3-6 (pages 3 to

6). To export single slides, use the format 7;9;11 (slides 7, 9, and

11). You can also export a combination of slide ranges and single slides, by using a format like 3-6;8;10;12.

Selection: Exports whatever material is selected.

Images section

• Lossless compression: Images are stored without any loss of quality. Tends to make large files when used with photographs.

Recommended for other images.

•

•

JPEG compression: Allows for varying degrees of quality. A setting of 90% tends to work well with photographs (small file size, little perceptible loss).

Reduce image resolution: Lower-DPI (dots per inch) images have lower quality.


Note

EPS images with embedded previews are exported only as previews. EPS images without embedded previews are exported as empty placeholders.

General section

• PDF/A-1: PDF/A is an ISO standard established in 2005 for longterm preservation of documents, by embedding all the pieces necessary for faithful reproduction (such as fonts) while forbidding other elements (including forms, security, encryption, and tagged PDF). If you select PDF/A-1, the forbidden elements are greyed-out (not available).

• Tagged PDF: Exports special tags into the corresponding PDF tags. Some tags that are exported are table of contents, hyperlinks, and controls. This option can increase file sizes significantly.

•

•

•

•

Create PDF form - Submit format: Choose the format of submitting forms from within the PDF file. This setting overrides the control’s URL property that you set in the document. There is only one common setting valid for the whole PDF document: PDF

(sends the whole document), FDF (sends the control contents),

HTML, and XML. Most often you will choose the PDF format.

Export bookmarks: Exports slide names as “bookmarks” (a table of contents list displayed by some PDF readers, including Adobe

Reader).

Export notes: Exports a set of Notes pages after the set of slides.

Export automatically inserted blank pages: Not used in

Impress.

Initial View page of PDF Options dialog box

On the Initial View page (Figure 184), you can choose how the PDF

opens by default in a PDF viewer. The selections should be selfexplanatory.

User Interface page of PDF Options dialog box

On the User Interface page (Figure 185), you can choose more settings

to control how a PDF viewer displays the file. Some of these choices are particularly useful when you are creating a PDF to be used as a presentation or a kiosk-type display.


Figure 184: Initial View page

Figure 185: User Interface page

Window options section

• Resize window to initial page. Causes the PDF viewer window to resize to fit the first page of the PDF.

• Center window on screen. Causes the PDF viewer window to be centered on the computer screen.


•

•

Open in full screen mode. Causes the PDF viewer to open fullscreen instead of in a smaller window.

Display document title. Causes the PDF viewer to display the document’s title in the title bar.

User interface options section

• Hide menubar. Causes the PDF viewer to hide the menu bar.

• Hide toolbar. Causes the PDF viewer to hide the toolbar.

• Hide window controls. Causes the PDF viewer to hide other window controls.

Transitions section

Includes Impress slide transition effects as the respective PDF effects.

Bookmarks section

Select how many heading levels are displayed as bookmarks, if Export bookmarks is selected on the General page.

Links page of PDF Options dialog box

On this page (Figure 186) you can choose how links are exported to PDF.

Figure 186: Links page of PDF Options dialog box

Export bookmarks as named destinations

If you have defined slide names, this option exports them as “named destinations” to which Web pages and PDF documents can link.

Convert document references to PDF targets

If you have defined links to other documents with OpenDocument extensions (such as .ODT, .ODS, and .ODP), this option converts the files names to .PDF in the exported PDF document.

Export URLs relative to file system

If you have defined relative links in a document, this option exports those links to the PDF.


Cross-document links

Defines the behavior of links clicked in PDF files.

Security page of PDF Options dialog box

PDF export includes options to encrypt the PDF (so it cannot be opened without a password) and apply some digital rights management

(DRM) features.

Note

Permission settings are effective only if the user’s PDF viewer respects the settings.

•

•

•

With an open password set, the PDF can only be opened with the password. Once opened, there are no restrictions on what the user can do with the document (for example, print, copy, or change it).

With a permissions password set, the PDF can be opened by

anyone, but its permissions can be restricted. See Figure 187.

With both the open password and permission password set, the

PDF can only be opened with the correct password, and its permissions can be restricted.

Figure 187: Security page

Figure 188 shows the pop-up dialog box displayed when you click the

Set open password button on the Security page of the PDF Options dialog box.


Figure 188: Setting a password to encrypt a PDF

After you set a password for permissions, the other choices on the

Security page (shown in Figure 187) become available. These

selections should be self-explanatory.

Exporting as a Flash file

Macromedia Flash file format (.SWF) was created to store animation for web pages. Because almost all browsers play Flash movies (the

Adobe Flash Player is available as a free download for those without

Flash-capable browsers), these files can be viewed by just about anyone. With OpenOffice.org, you can export your Impress slide show as a .SWF file. To download the latest Adobe Flash Player for your operating system, go to: http://www.adobe.com/products/flashplayer/

Note

Saving in Flash format does not retain animation and slide transitions.

To export the presentation as a Flash (.SWF) file:

1) Choose File > Export.

2) Select the location where you want the file saved and type a name for the file.

3) Under File Format, choose Macromedia Flash (SWF) (.swf) and click Save.


Exporting as web pages (HTML files)

You can export presentations as a series of web pages that can be viewed in any browser.

Note

Saving as web pages (HTML format) does not retain animation and slide transitions.

1) Select File > Export and choose HTML Document as the file type.

2) Create a folder for the files, supply a name for the resulting

HTML file, and click Save. The HTML Export Wizard opens.

Note

Depending on the size of your presentation and the number of graphics it contains, the HTML export function creates many

HTML, JPG, and GIF files. If you simply save to your desktop (not in a specific folder), these separate HTML and graphics files will be all over your desktop. So be sure to create a folder to hold all the files.

3) Choose the design for all of the pages, either from an existing design or by creating a new one.

If you have not previously saved a design, the Existing Design choice is not available.

238

Figure 189: HTML Export – Step 1


4) Click Next to select the type of web pages to create.

•

•

•

•

Standard HTML: one page for each slide, with navigation links to move from slide to slide.

Standard HTML with frames: one page with a navigation bar on the left-hand side; uses slide title as navigation links. Click on links to display pages in right-hand side.

Automatic: one page for each slide, with each page set with the Refresh meta tag so a browser automatically cycles from one page to the next.

WebCast: generates an ASP or Perl application to display the slides. Unfortunately OOo has no direct support for PHP yet.

Figure 190: HTML Export – Choosing publication type

5) Decide how the images will be saved (PNG, GIF or JPG) and what resolution to use. When choosing a resolution, consider what the majority of your viewers might have. If you use a high resolution, then a viewer with a medium-resolution monitor will have to scroll sideways to see the entire slide—probably not desirable.

Figure 191: HTML Export – Choosing graphics type


6) If Create title page was chosen in step 4, supply the information for it on the next page. The title contains an author name, e-mail address and home page, along with any additional information you want to include.

This page of the Wizard does not display if Create title page was not chosen.

Figure 192: HTML Export – Title page information

7) Choose the navigation button style to use to move from one page to another. If you do not choose any, OOo will create a text navigator.

Figure 193: HTML Export – Choosing navigation style

8) Select the color scheme for the web pages. Available schemes include the document’s existing scheme, one based upon browser colors, and a completely user-defined scheme. You can save a new


scheme so that it will appear on the first page of the HTML export wizard.

Figure 194: HTML Export – Choosing color scheme

9) Click Create to generate the HTML files. If this is a new design, a small dialog box pops up. If you might want to reuse this design, you can give it a name and save it. Otherwise, click Do Not Save.

Figure 195: Naming the design

E-mailing a presentation

OOo provides several ways to quickly and easily send an Impress document as an e-mail attachment in one of three formats: .ODP

(OpenDocument Presentation, OOo’s default format), .PPT (Microsoft

PowerPoint format), or PDF.

To send the current document in .ODP format:

1) Choose File > Send > Document as E-mail. OpenOffice.org opens a new e-mail in your default e-mail program. The document is attached.


2) In your e-mail program, enter the recipient, subject and any text you want to add, then send the e-mail.

File > Send > E-mail as OpenDocument Presentation has the same effect.

If you choose E-mail as Microsoft PowerPoint, OOo first creates a

.PPT file and then opens your e-mail program with the .PPT file attached. The .PPT file is not saved on your computer.

Similarly, if you choose E-mail as PDF, OOo first creates a PDF using your default PDF settings (as when using the Export Directly as PDF toolbar button) and then opens your e-mail program with the .PDF file attached. The PDF file is not saved on your computer.

Tip

If you want to keep a copy of the .PPT or .PDF file as well as emailing it to someone, first save or export the presentation into the required format, then attach it to an e-mail in the usual way.

Digital signing of documents

To sign a document digitally, you need a personal key, the certificate. A personal key is stored on your computer as a combination of a private key, which must be kept secret, and a public key, which you add to your documents when you sign them. You can get a certificate from a certification authority, which may be a private company or a governmental institution.

When you apply a digital signature to a document, a kind of checksum is computed from the document’s content plus your personal key. The checksum and your public key are stored together with the document.

When someone later opens the document on any computer with a recent version of OpenOffice.org, the program will compute the checksum again and compare it with the stored checksum. If both are the same, the program will signal that you see the original, unchanged document. In addition, the program can show you the public key information from the certificate. You can compare the public key with the public key that is published on the web site of the certificate authority.

Whenever someone changes something in the document, this change breaks the digital signature.

On Windows operating systems, the Windows features of validating a signature are used. On Solaris and Linux systems, files that are supplied by Thunderbird, Mozilla or Firefox are used. For a more


detailed description of how to get and manage a certificate, and signature validation, see “Using Digital Signatures” in the OOo Help.

To sign a document:

1) Choose File > Digital Signatures.

2) If you have not saved the document since the last change, a message appears. Click Yes to save the file.

3) After saving, you see the Digital Signatures dialog box. Click Add to add a public key to the document.

4) In the Select Certificate dialog box, select your certificate and click OK.

5) You see again the Digital Signatures dialog box, where you can add more certificates if you want. Click OK to add the public key to the saved file.

A signed document shows an icon in the status bar. You can double-click the icon to view the certificate.

Opening and saving a PowerPoint file

OpenOffice.org’s Impress file format is highly compatible with

Microsoft’s PowerPoint format. You can open a PowerPoint presentation in Impress, edit it, then save it in its original PowerPoint format or in Impress format. You can also create a new presentation in

Impress and save it as a PowerPoint file, for sharing your presentation with those who have yet to discover OpenOffice.org.

Saving an Impress file as a PowerPoint file

1) Choose File > Save As from the menu bar.

2) Select the location where you want the PowerPoint file saved and type a name for the file.

3) Under File type, choose Microsoft PowerPoint 97/2000/XP

(.ppt).

4) Click Save. If you have the “Warn when not saving in ODF or default format” option set in Options > Load/Save > General,

the message shown in Figure 196 appears. Click Keep Current

Format to confirm that you want to save the file in Microsoft

PowerPoint format. You can deselect the “Ask when not saving in

ODF format” checkbox to not show the message again unless you re-enable it in the Options.


Tip

Figure 196: Warning message when saving in

Microsoft PowerPoint format

Always save your work in Impress OpenDocument format (.odp) before saving in Microsoft format. Keep the Impress file as your working copy: if you need to change the presentation, change it in the Impress version and then save it again as PowerPoint. You are much less likely to have problems than if you open a file previously saved in PowerPoint format, edit it, and save it again.

Opening a PowerPoint file in Impress

If you receive a file from someone in PowerPoint format and need to edit it in Impress, here is how to:

1) In OpenOffice.org, choose File > Open from the menu bar.

2) Under File type, choose All files (*.*) or Presentations or

Microsoft PowerPoint 97/2000/XP from the drop-down list.

3) Navigate to the PowerPoint file, select it, and click Open.

The PowerPoint file can now be edited and saved as an Impress file or a PowerPoint file. To save the file as an Impress file, choose

OpenDocument Presentation (.odp) as the File Type.


Chapter

11

Setting Up and

Customizing Impress

Choosing options that affect all of OOo

This section covers some of the settings that apply to all the components of OpenOffice.org. Other general options are discussed in

Chapter 2 (Setting Up OpenOffice.org) in the Getting Started guide.

1) Click Tools > Options. The list on the left-hand side varies depending on which component of OOo is open. The illustrations in this chapter show the list as it appears when when

OpenOffice.org Impress is open.

2) Click the + sign to the left of OpenOffice.org on the left-hand side. A list of subsections drops down.

Note

The Back button has the same effect on all pages of the Options dialog box. It resets the options to the values that were in place when you opened OpenOffice.org.

User Data options

Impress uses the first and last name stored in the User Data page to fill in the Created and Modified fields in the document properties, and the optional Author field often used in the footer of a presentation, so you will want to ensure that your name appears there. To do this:

1) In the Options dialog box, click OpenOffice.org > User Data.

2) Fill in the form on the OpenOffice.org – User Data page or delete any existing incorrect information.

Print options

Set the print options to suit your default printer and your most common printing method. You can change these settings at any time, either through this dialog box or during the printing process (by clicking the Options button on the Print dialog box).

In the Options dialog box, click OpenOffice.org > Print.

See Chapter 10 (Printing, e-mailing, exporting, and saving slide shows) for more about the options on this page.

Color options

On the OpenOffice.org – Colors page (Figure 197), you can specify

colors to use in OOo documents. You can select a color from a color table, edit an existing color, or define new colors. These colors will then be available in color selection palettes in all components of OOo.


You can also define colors within Impress, but those colors will not be available to other components of OOo.

Figure 197. Defining colors to use in color palettes in OOo

Appearance options

On the

OpenOffice.org – Appearance page (Figure 198), you can

specify which items are visible and the colors used to display various items.

Figure 198. Changing the color of grid points in Impress and Draw

The only choice specific to Impress (and Draw) is the color of the grid points. Scroll down in the page until you find Drawing/Presentation.

Chapter 11 Setting Up and Customizing Impress 247

To change the default color for grid points, click the down-arrow by the color and select a new color from the pop-up box.

If you wish to save your color changes as a color scheme, click Save, type a name in the Scheme box; then click OK.

Choosing options for Impress

In the Options dialog box, click the + sign to the left of OpenOffice.org

Impress on the left-hand side. A list of subsections drops down. (See

Figure 199.)

Figure 199: Options for Impress

General options

In the Options dialog box, click OpenOffice.org Impress > General.

248

Figure 200: Specifying general options for Impress


Text objects section

Allow quick editing sets Impress to immediately switch to the text editing mode when you click a text object. You can also activate text editing mode through the Allow Quick Editing icon on the

Options toolbar.

Only text area selectable sets Impress to select a text frame when you click on text. In the area of the text frame that is not filled with text, an object behind the text frame can be selected. You can also activate this mode through the Select Text Area Only icon on the Options toolbar.

New document section

Start with Wizard sets Impress to start with the Presentation Wizard when opening a presentation with File > New > Presentation.

Settings section

Use background cache sets Impress to use the cache for displaying objects on the master page. This setting speeds up the display. Unmark this box if you want to display changing contents on the master page.

Copy when moving automatically creates a copy when you move, rotate or resize an object while holding down the Ctrl key. The original object will remain in its current position and size.

Objects always movable lets you move an object with the Rotate tool enabled. If this box is not marked, the Rotate tool can only be used to rotate an object.

Unit of measurement determines the unit of measurement for presentations.

Tab stops defines the spacing between tab stops.

Start presentation section

Always with current page specifies that a presentation starts with the current slide. Unmark this box to always start a presentation with the first page.

Compatibility section

The settings in this area are valid for the current document only.

Use printer metrics for document formatting applies printer metrics for printing and for formatting the display on the screen. If this box is


not checked, a printer-independent layout is used for screen display and printing.

Add spacing between paragraphs in the current document calculates the paragraph spacing in Impress exactly as Microsoft PowerPoint does. Microsoft PowerPoint adds the bottom spacing of a paragraph to the top spacing of the next paragraph to calculate the total spacing between both paragraphs. Impress normally uses only the larger of the two spacings.

View options

In the Options dialog box, click OpenOffice.org Impress > View.

Figure 201: Specifying view options for Impress

Rulers visible displays the rulers at the top and the left of the work area.

Guides when moving displays dotted guides that extend beyond the box containing the selected object and which cover the entire work area, helping you position the object when moving it. You can also use the Guides when moving icon on the Options toolbar.

All control points in Bézier editor displays the control points of all

Bézier points if you have previously selected a Bézier curve. If this box is not marked, only the control points of the selected Bézier points will be visible.

Contour of each individual object displays the contour line of each individual object when moving the object. This enables you to see if single objects conflict with other objects in the target position. If you do not mark this box, Impress displays only a square contour that includes all selected objects.

Grid options

The Grid page defines the grid settings for Impress. Using a grid helps you determine the exact position of your objects. You can also set this grid in line with the snap grid.


If you have activated the snap grid but wish to move or create individual objects without snap positions, you can press the Ctrl to deactivate the snap grid for as long as needed.

In the Options dialog box, click OpenOffice.org Impress > Grid.

Grid section

Snap to grid activates the “snap” function.

Visible grid displays grid points on the screen. These points will not display or print as part of a presentation.

Figure 202: Specifying grid options for Impress

Resolution section

Here you can set the unit of distance for the spacing between horizontal and vertical grid points and subdivisions (intermediate points) of the grid.

Synchronize axes changes the current grid settings symmetrically.

Snap section

To snap lines snaps the edge of a dragged object to the nearest snap line when you release the mouse button. You can also use the Snap to

Guides icon on the Options toolbar.

To the page margins aligns the contour of the graphic object to the nearest page margin. The cursor or a contour line of the graphics


object must be in the snap range. You can also use the Snap to Page

Margins icon on the Options toolbar.

To object frame aligns the contour of the graphic object to the border of the nearest graphic object. The cursor or a contour line of the graphics object must be in the snap range. You can also use the Snap

to Object Border icon on the Options toolbar.

To object points aligns the contour of the graphic object to the points of the nearest graphic object. The cursor or a contour line of the graphics object must be in the snap range. You can also use the Snap

to Object Points icon on the Options toolbar.

Snap range defines the snap distance between the mouse pointer and the object contour. Impress snaps to a snap point if the mouse pointer is nearer than the distance selected in the Snap range box.

Snap position section

When creating or moving objects restricts graphic objects vertically, horizontally or diagonally (45°) when creating or moving them. You can temporarily deactivate this setting by pressing the Shift key.

Extend edges creates a square based on the longer side of a rectangle when the Shift key is pressed before you release the mouse button.

This also applies to an ellipse (a circle will be created based on the longest diameter of the ellipse). When the Extend edges box is not marked, a square or a circle will be created based on the shorter side or diameter.

When rotating restricts the rotation of graphic objects within the rotation angle that you selected in the When rotating box. If you want to rotate an object outside the defined angle, press the Ctrl key when rotating. Release the key when the desired rotation angle is reached.

Point reduction defines the angle for point reduction. When working with polygons, you might find it useful to reduce their editing points.

Print options

In the Options dialog box, click OpenOffice.org Impress > Print.

See Chapter 10 (Printing, e-mailing, exporting, and saving slide shows) for more about the options on this page.


Figure 203: Specifying print options for Impress

Customizing the user interface

Customizing the menu font

If you want to change the menu font from that supplied by OOo to the system font for your operating system, do this:

1) Choose Tools > Options > OpenOffice.org > View.

2) Check Use system font for user interface and click OK.

Customizing menu content

You can customize menus in OpenOffice.org.

1) Choose Tools > Customize.

2) On the Customize dialog box, pick the Menus page (Figure 204).

3) In the Save In drop-down list, choose whether to save this changed menu for Impress or for a selected document.

4) In OpenOffice.org Impress Menus, select the menu you want to customize in the Menu drop-down list.

5) To customize the selected menu, click on the Menu or Modify buttons. You can also add commands to a menu by clicking on the

Add button. These actions are described in the following sections.

Use the up and down arrows next to the Entries list to move the selected menu item to a different position.


6) When you are done customizing menus, click OK to save your changes.

Figure 204. The Menus page of the Customize dialog box

Creating a new menu

In the Customize dialog, click New to display the dialog shown in

Figure 205.

1) Type a name for your new menu in the Menu name box.

2) Use the up and down arrow buttons to move the new menu into the required position on the menu bar.

3) Click OK to save.

The new menu now appears on the list of menus in the Customize dialog. (It will appear on the menu bar itself after you save your customizations.)

After creating a new menu, you need to add some commands to it, as

described in “Adding a command to a menu” on page 256.


Figure 205: Adding a new menu

Modifying existing menus

To modify an existing menu, select it in the Menu list and click the

Menu button to drop down a list of modifications: Move, Rename,

Delete. Not all of these modifications can be applied to all the entries in the Menu list. For example, Rename and Delete are not available for the supplied menus.

To move a menu (such as File), choose Menu > Move. A dialog similar

to the one shown in Figure 205 (but without the Menu name box)

opens. Use the up and down arrow buttons to move the menu into the required position.

To move submenus (such as File | Send), select the main menu (File) in the Menu list and then, in the Menu Content section of the dialog, select the submenu (Send) in the Entries list and use the arrow keys to move it up or down in the sequence. Submenus are easily identified in the Entries list by a small black triangle on the right hand side of the name.

In addition to renaming, you can specify a keyboard shortcut that allows you to select a menu command when you press Alt+ an underlined letter in a menu command.

1) Select a menu or menu entry.

2) Click the Menu button and select Rename.

3) Add a tilde (~) in front of the letter that you want to use as an accelerator. For example, to select the Save All command by pressing Alt+V, enter Sa~ve All .


Adding a command to a menu

You can add commands to the supplied menus and to menus you have created. On the Customize dialog, select the menu in the Menu list and click the Add button in the Menu Content section of the dialog.

On the Add Commands dialog, select a category and then the command, and click Add. The dialog remains open, so you can select several commands. When you have finished adding commands, click

Close. Back on the Customize dialog, you can use the up and down arrow buttons to arrange the commands in your preferred sequence.

Figure 206: Adding a command to a menu

Modifying menu entries

In addition to changing the sequence of entries on a menu or submenu, you can add submenus, rename or delete the entries, and add group separators.

To begin, select the menu or submenu in the Menu list near the top of the Customize page, then select the entry in the Entries list under

Menu Content. Click the Modify button and choose the required action from the drop-down list of actions.

Most of the actions should be self-explanatory. Begin a group adds a separator line after the highlighted entry.


Customizing toolbars

You can customize toolbars in several ways, including choosing which icons are visible and locking the position of a docked toolbar, as described in Chapter 1 (Introducing OpenOffice.org) of the Getting

Started guide. This section describes how to create new toolbars and add other icons (commands) to the list of those available on a toolbar.

To get to the toolbar customization dialog, do any of the following:

•

•

•

On the toolbar, click the arrow at the end of the toolbar and choose Customize Toolbar.

Choose View > Toolbars > Customize from the menu bar.

Choose Tools > Customize > Toolbars tab from the menu bar.

Figure 207. The Toolbars page of the Customize window

To customize toolbars:

1) In the Save In drop-down list, choose whether to save this changed toolbar for Impress or for a selected document.

2) In the OpenOffice.org Impress Toolbars section, select from the Toolbar drop-down list the toolbar that you want to customize.


3) Click the Toolbar button on the right to display a drop-down list of choices.

4) To display or hide commands, select or deselect the checkboxes in the Toolbar Content – Commands section.

5) To change the position of commands on a toolbar, select a command and click the big up and down arrows to the right of the lists.

6) You can create a new toolbar by clicking on the New button, or customize existing toolbars by clicking on the Toolbar or Modify buttons, and add commands to a toolbar by clicking on the Add button. These actions are described below.

7) When you are done customizing toolbars, click OK to save your changes.

Creating a new toolbar

To create a new toolbar:

1) Choose Tools > Customize > Toolbars from the menu bar.

2) Click New. On the Name dialog, type the new toolbar's name and choose from the Save In drop-down list where to save this changed menu: for the application (for example, Writer) or for a selected document.

The new toolbar now appears on the list of toolbars in the Customize dialog. After creating a new toolbar, you need to add some commands to it, as described below.

Adding a command to a toolbar

If the list of available buttons for a toolbar does not include all the commands you want on that toolbar, you can add commands. When you create a new toolbar, you need to add commands to it.

1) On the Toolbars page of the Customize dialog, select the toolbar in the Toolbar list and click the Add button in the Toolbar Content section of the dialog.


2) The Add Commands dialog is the same as for adding commands to menus. Select a category and then the command, and click Add.

The dialog remains open, so you can select several commands.

When you have finished adding commands, click Close. If you insert an item which does not have an associated icon, the toolbar will display the full name of the item: the next section describes how to choose an icon for a toolbar command.

3) Back on the Customize dialog, you can use the up and down arrow buttons to arrange the commands in your preferred sequence.

4) When you are done making changes, click OK to save.

Choosing icons for toolbar commands

Toolbar buttons usually have icons, not words, on them, but not all of the commands have associated icons.

To choose an icon for a command, select the command and click

Modify > Change icon. On the Change Icon dialog, you can scroll through the available icons, select one, and click OK to assign it to the command.

Figure 208: Change Icon dialog

To use a custom icon, create it in a graphics program and import it into

OOo by clicking the Import button on the Change Icon dialog. Custom icons must be 16 x 16 or 26 x 26 pixels in size and cannot contain more than 256 colors.


Customizing keyboard shortcuts

The Appendix to this book lists the default keyboard shortcuts supplied with Impress. You can change these defaults or add new shortcuts. You can assign shortcuts to standard Impress functions or your own macros and save them for use with Impress only, or with the entire

OpenOffice.org suite.

Caution

Be careful when reassigning your operating system’s or OOo’s predefined shortcut keys. Many key assignments are universally understood shortcuts, such as F1 for Help, and are always expected to provide certain results. Although you can easily reset the shortcut key assignments to the OOo defaults, changing some common shortcut keys can cause confusion, frustration and possible data loss or corruption, especially if other users share your computer.

As an example, suppose you wish to assign a shortcut key to easily insert a duplicate slide in your presentation. You could assign the

Insert key as a logical shortcut for this purpose, as described below:

1) Choose Tools > Customize.

2) On the Customize dialog box, pick the Keyboard page (Figure

209).

3) As the shortcut key assignment is only relevant with Impress, and not OpenOffice.org in general, select the Impress button (at the upper right corner of the Keyboard tab).

4) Next select Insert in the Category list and Duplicate Slide in the Function list.

5) Now select the shortcut key Insert in the Shortcut keys list and click the Modify button at the upper right.

6) Click OK to accept the change. Now the Insert shortcut key will insert a duplicate slide immediately after the currently selected slide.

Note

1) All existing shortcut keys for the currently selected

Function are listed in the Keys selection box. Since there was no currently assigned shortcut for the

Insert > Duplicate Slide function the Keys would first have had to Delete the existing

list was empty. If it had not been, and you wished to reassign a shortcut key combination that was already in use, you

Key .

2) Shortcut keys that are greyed-out in the listing on the

Customize dialog box, such as available for reassignment.

F1 and F10, are not


Figure 209: Customizing keyboard shortcuts

Saving changes to a file

Changes to the shortcut key assignments (and other configurations) can be saved in a keyboard configuration file for use at a later time, thus permitting you to create and apply different configurations as the need arises. To save keyboard shortcuts to a file:

1) After making your keyboard shortcut assignments, click the Save button near the bottom right of the Customize dialog box.

2) In the Save Keyboard Configuration dialog box, select All files from the Save as Type list.


3) Next enter a name for the keyboard configuration file in the

File name box, or select an existing file from the list. If you need to, browse to find a file from another location.

4) Click Save. A confirmation dialog box will appear if you are about to overwrite an existing file, otherwise there will be no feedback and the file will be saved.

Loading a saved keyboard configuration

To load a saved keyboard configuration file and replace your existing configuration, click the Load button near the bottom right of the

Customize dialog box, and then select the configuration file from the

Load Keyboard Configuration dialog box.

Resetting the shortcut keys

To reset all of the keyboard shortcuts to their default values, click the

Reset button near the bottom right of the Customize dialog box. Use this feature with care as no confirmation dialog box will be displayed; the defaults will be set without any further notice or user input.

Running macros from key combinations

You can also define shortcut key combinations that will run macros.

These shortcut keys are strictly user-defined; none are built in. For information on macros, see Chapter 13 (Getting started with macros) in the Getting Started guide.

Adding functionality with extensions

An extension is a package that can be installed into OpenOffice.org to add new functionality.

Although individual extensions can be found in different places, the official OpenOffice.org extension repository is at http://extensions.services.openoffice.org/ . Some extensions are free of charge; others are available for a fee. Check the descriptions to see what licenses and fees apply to the ones that interest you.

Installing extensions

To install an extension, follow these steps:

1) Download an extension and save it anywhere on your computer.


2) In OOo, select Tools > Extension Manager from the menu bar.

In the Extension Manager dialog box (Figure 210), click Add.

3) A file browser window opens. Find and select the extension you want to install and click Open. The extension begins installing.

You may be asked to accept a license agreement.

4) When the installation is complete, the extension is listed in the

Extension Manager dialog.

Tip

To get extensions that are listed in the repository, you can open the Extension Manager and click the Get more extensions

here link. You do not need to download them separately as in step 1 above.

Figure 210: Installing an extension

Note

To install a shared extension, you need write access to the

OpenOffice.org installation directory.

Using extensions

This section describes some of the more important and popular extensions to Impress. In each case, you need to first install the extension as described in the previous section.

Sun Presenter Console

Provides extra control over slide shows (presentations); for example, the presenter has ability to see the upcoming slide, the slide notes, and


a presentation timer—while the audience sees only the current slide.

The Presenter Console displays the elements in three easily changeable views:

•

•

•

The first view displays the current slide, including the effects, and the upcoming slide.

The second view shows the speaker's notes in large, clear, and scalable type, plus the current and upcoming slide.

The third view is a slide sorter view with the slide thumbnails.

From Sun Microsystems. Open source.

Note

The Presenter Console works only on an operating system that supports multiple displays.

Professional Template Pack II

Provides more than 120 templates for Writer, Calc, and Impress.

Available in several languages. After you have installed this extension, you will find the templates under File > New > Templates and

Documents. From Sun Microsystems. Freeware.

Sun Presentation Minimizer

Reduces the file size of the current presentation. Images are compressed, and data that is no longer needed is removed. Can optimize the image quality size. Presentations designed for screen or projector do not require the same high quality as presentations designed for print. From Sun Microsystems. Open source.

Template Changer

Adds two new items to the File > Templates menu that allow you to assign a new template to the current document or to a folder of documents. All styles and formatting will be loaded from that template and the document will behave as it was created using that template.

Open source.


Appendix

A

Keyboard Shortcuts

Introduction

You can use OpenOffice.org (OOo) without requiring a pointing device, such as a mouse or trackball, by using its built-in keyboard shortcuts.

Tasks as varied and complex as docking and un-docking toolbars and windows, or changing the size or position of objects can all be accomplished with only a keyboard. Although OOo has its own extensive set of keyboard shortcuts, each component provides others which are specific to its work.

For help with OOo’s keyboard shortcuts, or using OOo with a keyboard only, search the OOo Help using the “shortcut” or “accessibility” keywords.

In addition to using the built-in keyboard shortcuts (listed in this

Appendix), you can also define your own. You can assign shortcuts to standard Impress functions or your own macros and save them for use with Impress only, or with the entire OpenOffice.org suite.

To adapt shortcut keys to your needs, use the Customize dialog box as described in this section and in “Customizing keyborad shortcuts” in

Chapter 11 (Setting Up and Customizing Impress).

Function keys for Impress

Shortcut Keys

F2

F3

Ctrl+F3

Shift+F3

F4

F5

Ctrl+Shift+F5

F7

Ctrl+F7

F8

Ctrl+Shift+F8

F11

Effect

Select text tool

Ungroup

Exit group

Duplicate

Position and Size

View Slide Show

Navigator

Spell check

Thesaurus

Edit points

Fit text to frame

Styles and Formatting


Other shortcut keys for Impress

Shortcut Keys

Arrow key

Ctrl+Arrow key

Shift+drag

Ctrl+drag

(with Copy when moving option active)

Alt key

Effect

Move the selected object or the page view in the direction of the arrow.

Move the slide in the normal view.

Constrains the movement of the selected object horizontally or vertically.

Hold down Ctrl and drag an object to create a copy of the object.

Alt+click

Alt+Shift+click

Shift+click

Shift+drag

(when resizing)

Tab

Shift+Tab

Escape

Enter

Ctrl+Enter

Hold down Alt to draw or resize objects by dragging from the centre of the object outward.

Select the object behind the currently selected object.

Select the object in front of the currently selected object.

Select adjacent items or a text passage. Click at the start of a selection, move to the end of the selection, and then hold down Shift while you click.

Hold down Shift while dragging to resize an object to maintain the proportions of the object.

Select objects in the order in which they were created.

Select objects in the reverse order in which they were created.

Exit current mode.

Activate a place-holder object in a new presentation (only if the frame is selected).

Moves to the next text object on the slide.

If there are no text objects on the slide, or if you reached the last text object, a new slide is inserted after the current slide. The new slide uses the same layout as the current slide.

Appendix A Keyboard Shortcuts 267

Shortcut keys in the Normal View

Shortcut Keys

Plus(+) key

Minus(-) key

Times(×) key

(number pad)

Divide(÷) key

(number pad)

Shift+Ctrl+G

Shift+Ctrl+Alt+A

Ctrl+click

Effect

Zoom in.

Zoom out.

Fit page in window.

Zoom in on current selection.

Shift+Ctrl+K

Shift+Ctrl+K

Ctrl+Plus key

Shift+Ctrl+Plus key

Ctrl+Minus key

Shift+Ctrl+Minus key

Group selected objects.

Ungroup selected group.

Enter a group, so that you can edit the individual objects of the group. Click outside the group to return to the normal view.

Combine selected objects.

Split selected object. This combination only works on an object that was created by combining two or more objects.

Bring to Front.

Bring Forward.

Send Backward.

Send to Back.


Shortcut keys in slide shows

Shortcut Keys

Esc

Spacebar or Right arrow or

Down arrow or Page Down or

Enter or Return or N

Alt+Page Down

[number] + Enter

Effect

End presentation.

Play next effect (if any, else go to next slide).

Left arrow or Up arrow or

Page Up or Backspace or P

Alt+Page Up

Home

End

Ctrl+Page Up

Ctrl+Page Down

B or .

W or ,

Go to next slide without playing effects.

Type a number of a slide and press to go to the slide.

Enter

Play previous effect again. If no previous effect exists on this slide, show previous slide.

Go to the previous slide without playing effects.

Jump to first slide in the slide show.

Jump to the last slide in the slide show.

Go to the previous slide.

Go to the next slide.

Show black screen until next key or mouse wheel event.

Show white screen until next key or mouse wheel event.

Navigating in the Slide Sorter

Shortcut Keys

Escape

Arrow key

Spacebar

Effect

Moves the focus to the first slide.

Moves the focus to the next slide.

Makes the slide with the focus the current slide.

Appendix A Keyboard Shortcuts 269

Index

A accessibility 266 adding pictures 89 agenda, creating 185 alignment of text 68

Alignment toolbar 115 alignment tools 115 animation 120 animation effects applying 212 multiple 214 properties 214 removing 221 starting 213 appearance options 247 area fills bitmaps 145 colors 139 creating 139 formatting 138 gradients 140 hatching 143

Arrange toolbar 114 arrow styles 135, 137

Asian language support 106

Asian languages enabled 55

Asian typography 62, 69

Author field 83 autoabstract 186, 187

AutoLayout 54

B background adding objects and graphics 37 choosing 35

Bézier curve 250 bitmaps, creating and importing 147 black and white printing 230 blink 153 block arc 109 brochure printing 230 bulleted list 70

Bullets and Numbering dialog box 72

C cache 249 cell address 159

270 cell selection (spreadsheet) 160 certificate 242 chart

AutoLayout 163 choosing type 164 entering data 167 formatting 168 inserting 163 moving elements 171 resizing 171 circle pie 108 color adjustment 97 color options 246 colors, defining 139 compatibility options 249 connectors advantages 109 drawing 109 formatting 153 toolbar 106 contour lines 250 convert to 3D rotation object 111 copy when moving option 249

Create AutoAbstract dialog box 187

Create Style dialog box 44 crop 98 cross 109 cube 109 curve 137 curves toolbar 106

Custom Animation dialog box 213 custom slide show 206

Custom Slide Shows dialog box 206 cylinder 109

D date (fixed or variable) field 83 decimal point character 69 default formatting 35, 57 default settings 229

Define Custom Slide Show dialog box

207 deleting pictures 99 depth tool 112 digital signature 242

Drawing toolbar 105 drawing tools 105


duplicate 121

E e-mail attachment 241

Effect Options 219 encryption of PDF 236 expand slide 184 export directly as PDF 231 exporting to PDF 231

Extension Manager 47 extensions 262 extrusion on/off tool 111 eyedropper 37

F

FDF 233 fields 41 customizing 83 inserting 83 file name field 83 file, inserting 178

Fill Format mode 45 filters 95

Flash export 237 folded corner 109 font effects 64 font selection 63

Fontwork 122

Fontwork toolbar 124

Format Cells dialog box 162 formatting area fill 138 chart 168 connectors 153 spreadsheet cells 160 formatting lines and shapes 130 llnes 134 text 151

Formatting marks options 59 formatting pictures 93 formulas, inserting 178 frame 109 frame by frame animation 121 function keys 266

G

Gallery adding a theme 102 adding images 101 deleting images 102

Index displaying 91

Hide/Show button 92 themes 101 general options for Impress 248

Glue point toolbar 110 glue points custom 110 inserting 110 moving 110 gradients, creating 141 graphic filters 96 graphic styles 32 creating 43 new style from selection 43 graphics

3D tools 111 animation 120 convert to 3D rotation object 111 creating 105 duplicate 121 interaction 118 moving 131 resizing 132 rotating 133 graphics mode 96

Graphics Style dialog 62 graphics styles 128 graphics styles formatting text 58 grayscale mode 96 grayscale printing 228 grid 115 grid options 250 grid points, color 247 guides 250

H handles 39

Handout view 15, 198 handouts automatic layout options 199 creating 197 formatting 199 layout 198 print 15 printing 201 template 200 thumbnails 198, 200 hatching patterns, creating 143

Hide/Show button 92

HTML Export Wizard 238

271

hyperlink button 87 editing 87 inserting 85

I image map 99 image quality in PDF 232 indents and spacing 67

Insert OLE Object dialog box 176

Insert Picture dialog box 90 inserting pictures 89 interaction 118 interactions 221

K keyboard configuration 262 keyboard shortcuts 266 keyboard shortcuts, customizing 260

L

Layout pane 54 layout settings 190 lighting tool 112 line properties 135 line spacing 67 line styles 136 lines creating 108 formatting 130, 134

M macros 262 main Impress window 8 margin settings 190

Master Pages 32 master slides 25

Math formulas, inserting 173

Media Playback toolbar 174

Media Player 175 menu font, customizing 253 menus adding commands 256 creating 254 modifying 255 modifying entries 256 menus, customizing 253 modifying styles 44 moving pictures 93 music objects, inserting 173

N name and initials of user 246

Navigator 11, 17, 183 new slide 181 new style from selection 43 non-breaking hyphens 59 non-breaking spaces 59

Normal view 11 notes adding 193 automatic layout options 195 exporting to PDF 197 fields 195 formatting 193, 196 printing 196 text formatting 196

Notes Master 193

Notes view 12, 193 numbered list 70

O objects converting 117 objects always moveable option 249 octagon 108

OLE objects, inserting 173, 175 optional hyphen 59 orientation settings 190 outline copying and pasting 188 outline from Writer 186 outline level 71, 74, 76

Outline view 11, 186

OXT extension 47

P page number field 83

Page Setup dialog box 189, 195 page style 189 paper format settings 190 parallelogram 108 passwords for PDF 236 pasting unformatted text 57

PDF form 233

PDF export 231 image quality 232 initial view 233 quality 231 range of slides 232


PDF options 231 encryption 236 passwords 236 security 236 user interface 233

PDF/A-1 233 personal key 242 perspective tool 112

Picture toolbar 95 pictures

AutoLayout 90 color adjustment 97 crop 98 deleting 99 filters 95 formatting 93 inserting from a file 89 inserting from a scanner 91 inserting from Gallery 91 moving 93 resizing 93 rotating 94 transparency 97 pivot point for rotation 133 planning a presentation 17 polygon 108

Position and Size dialog box 40, 131, 134 position of text 65

PowerPoint format opening 244 save as 243 presentation backgrounds 20 designing 29 first slide 22 formatting 21 modifying 26 planning 17 title slide 22 transitions 20

Presentation Minimizer extension 264

Presentation Style dialog box 61 presentation styles 31

AutoLayout area 60

Presentation Wizard 18, 249

Presenter Console extension 263

Print dialog box 226 print file directly 226 print options 246, 252

Printer Options dialog box 227 printing black and white 230 brochure 230 default settings 229 grayscale 228 quality 228

Professional Template Pack extension

264

Q quality of printing 228 quick editing option 249

Quickstarter 18

R range selection (spreadsheet) 161

Rehearse Timings 209 remove manual formatting 35 resizing pictures 93 resolution options 251 ring 109 rotating pictures 94 rounded rectangle 108 rulers 250

S

Screen settings 190 security of PDF 236 settings options 249 shadows 148 shapes 106

3D 111 aligning 115 arranging 113 convert 117 creating 108 flipping 114 formatting 130 grouping 113 shared extension 263 shortcut keys 267

Show/Hide Slide icon 205

Slide Design dialog box 33 slide master 25 adding text 41 apply 33 author information 42 create 32 description 29 fields 41 loading additional 33

Index 273

modifying 34

Slide pop-up submenu 180 slide show custom 206 hide slides 205 organizing 203

Rehearse Timings 209 running 27 settings 203 timing of automatic slide changes 209 transitions 27, 222

Slide Sorter view 13 slide transition effects 235 slides adding text 25 adding to a presentation 181 animations 211 background, changing 190 copy and paste from another presentation 182 creating from an outline 186 deleting 185 duplicating 182 expanding 184 formatting 189 hide 26 inserting 22 inserting from other presentations

181 layouts 23 master 25, 29 modifying 25, 188 move 14 move between presentations 182 rename 26 renaming 185 select 14 slide master, applying 192 subdividing 184 summary slide 185 transitions 209

Slides pane 8

Slides Pane pop-up menu 180 snap grid 251 snap guides 116 snap options 251 snap position options 252 snap to grid 115 special characters 58 spreadsheet cell selection 160 cells 159 entering data 160 formatting cells 160

Formatting toolbar 157 inserting 156 moving 158 range 161 resizing 158 start with current page option 249 start with wizard option 249

Style dialog box 43 styles applying 45, 130 arrow 137 creating graphic styles 43 deleting 46 description 30

Fill Format mode 45 formatting text 58, 60 graphic styles 32 graphics 128 graphics styles 43 lines 136 modifying 44, 60 new style from selection 43 presentation styles 31 spreadsheet cell 160

Styles and Formatting window 31 updating from selection 44

Styles and Formatting window 31, 130 summary slide 185

Sun Presenter Console extension 263 surface tool 112

SWF export 237 symbols, inserting 58 synchronize axes 251 system font 253

T tab stops 69

Tasks pane 10

Template Changer extension 264

Template Management 48 templates create a template folder 51 create from a presentation 49 delete a template folder 51 deleting 51 exporting 52 from other sources 47


importing 52 installing using Extension Manager 47 modifying 50 moving 51 organizing 50 setting default template 48 supplied with OOo 46 using 46 text alignment 68 animation 153

Asian typography 69 bulleted or numbered list 70 character formatting 63 default formatting 57 formatting 60, 151 formatting pasted text 57 formatting using styles 60 indents and spacing 67 inserting 57 line spacing 67 outline level 71 paragraph formatting 66 pasting 57 position 65 selecting 62 tab stops 69 text animation 153, 220 text areas handles 39 modifying 38 position and size 40 rotation 40 text box auto-resizing 56

AutoLayout 54, 70 creating 54 deleting 56 graphics styles 60 moving 55 resizing 56 selecting text 62 vertical alignment of text 55 text box tool 54

Text Formatting toolbar 57, 63 themes 101 three-dimensional objects 111 tilt tools 112 time (fixed or variable) field 83 timing of automatic slide changes 209 title slide 22 toolbars 16 adding commands 258 choosing icons for commands 259 creating 258 toolbars, customizing 257 tooltips 22 transition effects applying 210 removing 211 transparency 97, 150 trapezoid 108 triangle 108

U unformatted text, pasting 57 unit of measurement 249 user data options 246 user interface, customizing 253

V vertical alignment of text 55 vertical text 106 video objects, inserting 173 view options 250 visible grid 115, 251

W web page export 238

Windows Metafile Format (WMF) 117

Workspace 10

Y yellow dot 108

Index 275