Setting Up OpenOffice.org

Perhaps more than other applications, OpenOffice.org behavior is governed to a large extent by the setup options. These are found primarily under Tools > Options, as well as Tools > AutoCorrect/AutoFormat, and Tools > Configure, and various other nooks and crannies throughout the product.

Through knowing those nooks and crannies, you can control a huge amount of program behavior when you know where to look. And this is where to look.

Be sure to check Turning Off Annoying Features on page 128 and Controlling Text Changes and AutoCompletion on page 121.

You don't need to understand every single feature to be proficient. However, if you know the stuff we cover in this chapter, you'll be a lot happierand you'll be the one answering your friends ' OpenOffice.org questions.

Note

Some of the program's options have different names than you might expect. For example, in order to "wrap" text in a spreadsheet cell , you need to select an option called "Line Break." In order to make the options clearer, we refer to them by their more conventional names . Instead of the four different terms that the program uses to describe the background of a presentation, for example, we just say "background," then direct you to the option with the non-traditional name .

Note

This chapter covers setup options for features you can use throughout the program. For application-specific features, check the setup information for the application.