In all modules you can save your documents as native OpenOffice.org files, OpenOffice.org templates, Microsoft files and StarOffice files.

The Navigator tool displays information about the contents of a document. It also lets you quickly jump to different elements. For example, you can use the Navigator to get a quick overview of all images included in the document. To open the Navigator, click Edit+Navigator or with F5. The elements listed in the Navigator vary according to the document loaded in Writer.

You can also navigate your files with the following shortcuts:

OpenOffice.org comes with a set of predefined templates, and you can find additional templates on the Internet. If you want to create your own templates, you need to determine what you want the document to look like and create the styles you need in that template.

For text documents, spreadsheets, presentations, and drawings, you can easily create a template from an existing document as follows:

There are three ways to create a new Writer document.

For example, to create a business letter, click File+Wizards+Letter. With the wizard's dialogs, you can create a basic document that uses a standard format.

Enter text in the document window as desired. Use the Formatting toolbar or the Format menu to adjust the appearance of the document. Use the File menu or the relevant buttons in the toolbar to print and save your document. With the options under Insert, add extra items to your document, such as a table, picture, or chart.

With OpenOffice.org you can customize the default settings with the Format menu.

Below is a list of the most popular options available in most modules:

If you are working with a very large document (such as a book), you might find it easier to manage the book with a master document, rather than keeping the book in a single file. A master document enables you to quickly apply formatting changes to a large document or to jump to each subdocument for editing.

A master document is a Writer document that serves as a container for multiple Writer files. You can maintain chapters or other subdocuments as individual files collected in the master document. Master documents are also useful if multiple people are working on a document. You can separate each person’s relevant part of the document into subdocuments, allowing multiple writers to work on their subdocuments at the same time without fear of overwriting each other’s work.

The OpenOffice.org help files contain more complete information about working with master documents. Look for the topic entitled Using Master Documents and Subdocuments.

In addition to being a full-featured word processor, Writer also functions as an HTML editor. Writer includes HTML tags that can be applied as you would any other style in a Writer document. You can view the document as it will appear online, or you can directly edit the HTML code.

If you prefer to edit HTML code directly, or if you want to see the HTML code created when you edited the HTML file as a Writer document, click View+HTML Source. In HTML Source mode, the Formatting and Styles list is not available. The first time you switch to HTML Source mode, you are prompted to save the file as HTML, if you have not already done so.

You can include tabular data in the Writer, Impress and Draw module. Insert basic tables directly into your document either with the following menus items or by using the toolbar:

To enter data, select a cell with your mouse pointer and begin typing. To move around cells, use the arrow keys. →| moves to the next cell, skipping over the contents of the cell and Shift+→| moves backwards.

You can use Table menu or the Table toolbar to modify the table.

Start OpenOffice.org and select File+New+Spreadsheet to create a new spreadsheet. Access the individual sheets by clicking the respective tabs at the bottom of the window.

Enter data in the cells as desired. To adjust appearance, either use the Formatting toolbar or the Format menu—or define styles. Use the File menu or the relevant buttons in the toolbar to print and save your document.

Calc comes with a few built-in cell and page styles to improve the appearance of your spreadsheets and reports. Although these built-in styles are adequate for many uses, you will probably find it useful to create styles for your own frequently-used formatting preferences.

Use OpenOffice.org Impress to create presentations for screen display or printing, such as slide shows or transparencies. If you have used other presentation software, you can move comfortably to Impress, which works very similarly to other presentation software.

Impress can open and save Microsoft Powerpoint presentations, which means you can exchange presentations with Powerpoint users, as long as you save your presentations in Powerpoint format.

The OpenOffice.org Novell Edition allows you to use 3D transitions for your slides. Access the available transitions by selecting Slide Show+Transitions.

You can either create a brand new presentation (without any preformatted slides) or use an existing template or presentation for your new document. Impress uses styles and templates the same way other OpenOffice.org modules do. A wizard leads you through the options available for creating new presentations.

OpenOffice.org includes a database module (Base). Use Base to design a database to store many different kinds of information, from a simple address book or recipe file to a sophisticated document management system.

Tables, forms, queries, and reports can be created manually or using convenient wizards. For example, the Table Wizard contains a number of common fields for business and personal use. A wizard guides you through the steps to create a new database.

OpenOffice.org Base comes with several predefined database fields to help you create a database. A wizard guides you through the steps to create a new database. The following steps are specific to creating an address book using predefined fields, but it should be easy to use the predefined fields for any of the built-in database options. The process for creating a database can be broken into several subprocesses:

Use OpenOffice.org Draw to create graphics and diagrams. You can save your drawings in today’s most common formats and import them into any application that lets you import graphics, including the other OpenOffice.org modules. You can also create Flash versions of your drawings.

The OpenOffice.org Novell Edition allows you to import Scalable Vector Graphics (*.svg) and WordPerfect Graphics (*.wpg). Select File+Open and use the Filter drop-down list to view which file formats can be opened.

To embed an existing Draw graphic into an OpenOffice.org document, select Insert+Object+OLE Object. Select Create from file and click Search to navigate to the Draw file to insert. If you insert a file as OLE object, you can easily edit the object later by double-clicking it.

It is usually difficult to include complex mathematical formulas in your documents. The OpenOffice.org Math equation editor lets you create formulas using operators, functions, and formatting assistants. You can then save those formulas as objects that can be imported into other documents. Math functions can be inserted into other OpenOffice.org documents like any other graphic object.

Using Math, you can enter your equation in three different ways:

Math is not a calculator. The functions it creates are graphical objects. Even if they are imported into Calc, these functions cannot be evaluated.