Combining Documents with OOo
A couple of weeks ago, the OpenOffice.org User's List featured another round of explaining to a former WordPerfect user why OpenOffice.org Writer didn't have a Reveal Codes feature that showed the raw encoding of the document for troubleshooting. This time, the thread was started by a poster who insisted that he needed the feature when he had to merge several documents into one. The discussion made me realize that, although I tend to talk about features in this column, sometimes work flow is more important. Often, the problem isn't the tools, it's how you use them. After lurking for most of the thread, I ended it with a suggestion about how to use the tools in OOo to combine documents much more efficiently than you could hope to do with Reveal Codes. What follows is an expanded version of my suggestion that reinforces, yet again, the advantages of using styles in many situations.
So, how should you go about formatting a document composed of several different original documents? Ideally, you would start by enforcing a company or project policy of using the same templates and encourage people to use styles all the time. However, that's not only building castles in the air, it's expecting to see your name and titles in the next release of Debrett's. In practice, at least three-quarters of any group are likely to use Writer as though it was a typewriter, ignoring styles and manually adding formatting as the whim occurs to them.
- Login or register to post comments
- Printer-friendly version
- 1431 reads
- PDF version
More in Tux Machines
- Highlights
- Front Page
- Latest Headlines
- Archive
- Recent comments
- All-Time Popular Stories
- Hot Topics
- New Members
digiKam 7.7.0 is releasedAfter three months of active maintenance and another bug triage, the digiKam team is proud to present version 7.7.0 of its open source digital photo manager. See below the list of most important features coming with this release. |
Dilution and Misuse of the "Linux" Brand
|
Samsung, Red Hat to Work on Linux Drivers for Future TechThe metaverse is expected to uproot system design as we know it, and Samsung is one of many hardware vendors re-imagining data center infrastructure in preparation for a parallel 3D world. Samsung is working on new memory technologies that provide faster bandwidth inside hardware for data to travel between CPUs, storage and other computing resources. The company also announced it was partnering with Red Hat to ensure these technologies have Linux compatibility. |
today's howtos
|
Recent comments
1 year 11 weeks ago
1 year 11 weeks ago
1 year 11 weeks ago
1 year 11 weeks ago
1 year 11 weeks ago
1 year 11 weeks ago
1 year 11 weeks ago
1 year 11 weeks ago
1 year 11 weeks ago
1 year 11 weeks ago