Module 6a · LibreOffice Writer: making documents 30 min

In Module 6 you saw that LibreOffice Writer replaces Word. This module puts your hands on the keyboard: create a document, format it, reopen your old Word files, save in the right format and print. The good news: almost every move is one you already make in Word. Same buttons, same shortcuts, same logic.

By the end of this module, you will:

• Create a new document from the Activities menu or the LibreOffice start screen
• Make text bold or italic, build headings and lists, and align paragraphs with the same buttons and shortcuts as Word (Ctrl+B, Ctrl+I, Ctrl+U)
• Open an old Word document: double-click in Files, File → Open, or the recent documents list
• Choose between .odt (Writer's home format) and .docx (for colleagues on Word), and answer the format dialog with confidence
• Print with Ctrl+P, check the preview and pick the office printer

Creating a new document

On Windows, you opened Word from the Start menu, then clicked "Blank document". On Linux the move is the same, with the Activities menu in place of the Start menu:

1. Click Activities in the top left corner of the screen (or press the Super key, the one with the Windows logo).
2. Type Writer. The LibreOffice Writer icon appears.
3. Press Enter. A blank page opens, ready for your text.

Another route: open LibreOffice itself (the suite icon, without "Writer" after it). You land on the start screen: your recent documents appear as thumbnails, like Word's start screen. Click Writer Document in the left column to start from a blank page.

One last case: the Files manager (your new Explorer). On Windows you may have used right-click → New → Word document inside a folder. On Linux that menu only appears if your Templates folder contains an empty document. The simplest habit: open Writer first, then save the document into the folder you want.

Typing and formatting: the same moves as in Word

Writer shows a menu bar (File, Edit, View and so on) with a toolbar just below it. It is the same idea as Word's ribbon, in one row. Every button you reach for is there: bold, italic, underline, colour, lists, alignment.

You want to…	In Word	In Writer
Bold, italic, underline	The three ribbon buttons, or Ctrl+B / I / U	The same three buttons on the toolbar, and the same shortcuts
A chapter heading	The "Styles" gallery on the ribbon (Heading 1, Heading 2 and so on)	The Paragraph Style list at the far left of the toolbar: pick "Heading 1", "Heading 2" and so on
A bulleted or numbered list	The ribbon's bullet and numbering buttons	The same buttons, on the toolbar
Align text	Left, centre, right, justified	The same four buttons, in the same order
Undo the last action	Ctrl+Z	Ctrl+Z, identical

For your headings, get into the habit of paragraph styles, the equivalent of Word's Styles gallery: click in the line, then pick "Heading 1" from the list at the left of the toolbar. The heading takes its size and colour in one go. And if you ever want a table of contents, Writer will build it from those headings.

Opening your old Word documents

Your .docx files open as they are. There is nothing to convert and nothing to install. Three routes:

• Double-click in Files: find report.docx in your folders and double-click it. The document opens in Writer, just as a double-click used to open Word on Windows.
• From Writer: File → Open (Ctrl+O). The same file picker idea as Word.
• Recent documents: File → Recent Documents, the equivalent of Word's "Recent" list. The LibreOffice start screen also shows these documents as thumbnails.

The document keeps its headings, tables, images and comments. You can edit it, then save it back as .docx: your colleague on Word will see no difference.

Saving in the right format: .odt and .docx

Word saves to .docx. Writer saves to .odt by default, its home format (it is also the format recommended across the French administration). Both formats keep all of your work. The question to ask: who will open this file?

• The document stays with you (notes, drafts, letters to print): keep .odt. Ctrl+S saves, as everywhere.
• The document goes to a colleague who works in Word: save it as .docx. Open File → Save As, then, below the file name, open the format list and choose Word 2007-365 (.docx).

When you save as .docx, Writer shows a small dialog: it asks which format to keep, with two buttons, "Use ODF Format!" and "Use Word 2007-365 Format!". Click "Use Word 2007-365 Format!": your file stays a real .docx, and your colleague will open it in Word without noticing a thing. The dialog simply confirms your choice; it does not signal a problem.

Printing

Ctrl+P, the same as Windows. Or File → Print. The print dialog opens:

1. Pick the office printer from the list, just as you did from Word.
2. Set the pages to print and the number of copies.
3. Click Print.

Before you send it, check the preview: File → Print Preview (Ctrl+Shift+O) shows the document exactly as it will come out, the equivalent of Word's print preview. Click Close Preview to return to your text.

You can now create, format, reopen, save and print a document. The quiz below runs through those five moves. In Module 6b, the same approach with Calc, the Excel replacement.