In general, all users must authenticate—unless Auto Login is enabled for a specific user. In this case, a particular user will be logged in automatically when the system starts. This can save some time, especially if a computer is used by a single person. It may impact account security. Auto Login can be enabled or disabled during installation or at any time using the YaST User and Group Management module. For more information, refer to Book “Start-Up”, Chapter 3 “Managing Users with YaST”.

If your computer is running in a network environment and you are not the only person using the machine, you are usually prompted to enter your user name and password when you start the system.

The GNOME desktop appears after you first log in. It displays a panel at the bottom showing the following elements (from left to right):

When you have finished using the computer, there are multiple ways to finish the session. Which one is right in a given situation depends on how long you will be away and whether you are worried about energy consumption, among other things.

Use GNOME Files (formerly known as Nautilus) to view and create directories and documents on your computer and in the network. You can also use GNOME Files to create CDs of your data.

You can open GNOME Files in multiple ways:

Figure 2.1: File Manager #

The elements of the GNOME Files window include the following:

To access CDs/DVDs or flash disks, insert or attach the medium. An icon for the medium is automatically created on the desktop. For many types of removable media, a GNOME Files window pops up automatically. If GNOME Files does not open, double-click the icon for that drive on the desktop to view the contents. In GNOME Files, you will see an item for the medium in the sidebar.

Warning: Unmount to Prevent Data Loss

Do not physically remove flash disks immediately after using them. Even when the system does not indicate that data is being written, the drive may not be finished with a previous operation.

On the desktop or in the sidebar of GNOME Files, right-click the icon for the medium and select Safely Remove Drive or Unmount.

There are multiple ways to search for files or directories. In all cases, the search will be performed on file and directory names. Searching by file size, modification date and other properties is not possible in the preinstalled graphical tools. Such searches are easier to do on the command line.

Copy and paste works the same as in other operating systems. First select the text, so that it appears highlighted, usually in blue. Then press Ctrl–C. Now move the keyboard focus to the right position. Finally, to insert the text, press Ctrl–V.

To copy or paste in the terminal, additionally press Shift together with the above key combinations.

An alternative way of using copy and paste is described in the following. First select the text. To paste the text, middle-click over the position where you want the text to be pasted. As soon as you make another selection, the text from the original selection will be replaced in the clipboard.

When copying information between programs, you must keep the source program open and paste the text before closing it. When a program closes, any content from that application that is on the clipboard is lost.

To surf the Internet or send and receive e-mail messages, you must have configured an Internet connection with YaST. Depending on your environment, in YaST select whether to use NetworkManager. In GNOME, you can then establish Internet connections with NetworkManager as described in Book “Reference”, Chapter 28 “Using NetworkManager”, Section 28.3 “Configuring Network Connections”.

For a list of criteria to help you decide whether to use NetworkManager, refer to Book “Reference”, Chapter 28 “Using NetworkManager”, Section 28.1 “Use Cases for NetworkManager”.

The GNOME desktop includes Firefox, a Mozilla*-based Web browser. You can start it by clicking Applications › Internet › Firefox.

You can type an address into the location bar at the top or click links in a page to move to different pages, like in any other Web browser.

For more information, see Chapter 16, Firefox: Browsing the Web.

For reading and managing your mail and events, use Evolution. Evolution is a groupware program that makes it easy to store, organize and retrieve your personal information.

Evolution seamlessly combines e-mail, a calendar, an address book, and a memo and task list in one easy-to-use application. With its extensive support for communications and data interchange standards, Evolution can work with existing corporate networks and applications, including Microsoft* Exchange.

To start Evolution, click Applications › Internet › Evolution.

The first time you start Evolution, it prompts you with a few questions to set up a mail account and import mail from an old mail client. Then it shows you how many new messages you have and lists upcoming appointments and tasks. The calendar, address book and mail tools are available in the shortcut bar on the left.

For more information, see Chapter 12, Evolution: E-Mailing and Calendaring.

For creating and editing documents, LibreOffice is installed with the GNOME desktop. LibreOffice is a complete set of office tools that can both read and save Microsoft Office file formats. LibreOffice has a word processor, a spreadsheet, a database, a drawing tool and a presentation program.

To start LibreOffice, click Applications › Office › LibreOffice.

For more information, see Chapter 8, LibreOffice: The Office Suite.

To see the state of the computer battery, check the battery icon in the right part of the panel. On certain events, such as a critically low battery state, GNOME will display notifications informing you about the event.

You can open the power settings via Applications › System Tools › Settings › Power.

For more information, see Section 3.3.2, “Configuring Power Settings”.

You can use the Archive Manager application (also known as File Roller) to create, view, modify or unpack an archive. An archive is a file that acts as a container for other files. An archive can contain many files, directories and subdirectories, usually in compressed form. Archive Manager supports common formats such as zip, tar.gz, tar.bz2, lzh, and rar. You can use Archive Manager to create, open and extract a compressed non-archive file.

To start Archive Manager, click Applications › Utilities › Archive Manager.

If you already have a compressed file, double-click the file name in GNOME Files to view the contents of the archive in Archive Manager.

Figure 2.2: Archive Manager #

You can take a snapshot of your screen or of an individual application window by using the Take Screenshots utility. Start it by pressing Print to take a screenshot of the entire desktop or by pressing Alt–Print to take a screenshot of the currently active window or dialog.

The screenshots are automatically saved to your ~/Pictures directory.

You can also use GIMP to take screenshots. In GIMP, click File › Create › Screenshot, select an area, choose a delay and then click Snap.

Documents that need to be shared or printed across platforms can be saved as PDF (Portable Document Format) files. Document Viewer (also known as Evince) can open PDF files and many similar file types, such as XPS, DjVu, or TIFF.

Note: Rare Display Issues

In rare cases, documents will not be displayed correctly in Document Viewer. This can happen, for example, with certain forms, animations or 3D images. In such cases, ask the authors of the file what viewer they recommend. However, in at least some cases the recommended viewer will not work on Linux.

Figure 2.3: Document Viewer #

To open Document Viewer, double-click a PDF file in a file manager window. Document Viewer will also open when you download a PDF file from a Web site. To open Document Viewer without a file, select Applications › Office › Document Viewer.

To view a PDF file in Document Viewer, click the cog wheel icon to open the menu and select Open. Now locate the desired PDF file and click Open.

Use the navigation icons at the top of the window or the thumbnails in the left panel to navigate through the document. If your PDF document provides bookmarks, you can access them in the left panel of the viewer.

When you connect to the Internet, the updater applet automatically checks whether software updates for your system are available. When important updates are available, you will receive a notification on your desktop.

For detailed information on how to install software updates with the updater applet and how to configure it, refer to the chapter about installing and removing software in Book “Start-Up”, Chapter 9 “Installing or Removing Software”, Section 9.4 “Keeping the System Up-to-date”.

Along with the applications described in this chapter for getting started, you can use many other applications on GNOME. Find detailed information about these applications in the other parts of this manual.

To learn more about GNOME and GNOME applications, see http://www.gnome.org.

To report bugs or add feature requests, go to http://bugzilla.gnome.org.

YaST is a desktop-independent system-wide tool to configure most aspects of your openSUSE Leap installation. For example, it lets you configure hardware settings, network devices and services, software management or virtualization. The settings dialog is a GNOME configuration tool and focuses on look and feel, personal settings and preferences of your GNOME desktop.

To access the settings dialog, click Applications › System Tools › Settings. The dialog is divided into the following three categories:

Figure 3.1: GNOME Settings Dialog #

To change some system-wide settings, the control center will prompt you for the root password and start YaST. This is mostly the case for administrator settings (including most of the hardware, the graphical user interface, Internet access, security settings, user administration, software installation and system updates and information). Follow the instructions in YaST to configure these settings. For information about using YaST, refer to the integrated YaST help texts or to the Book “Start-Up”.

This chapter focuses on individual settings you can change directly in the GNOME settings dialog, without having to use YaST.

The following sections introduce examples of how to configure some personal aspects of your GNOME desktop, like your languages used or desktop backgrounds.

In the following sections you will find examples of how to configure some hardware aspects of your GNOME desktop, including keyboard or mouse preferences, handling of removable drives (and other media) or screen resolution.

3.3.3 Modifying Keyboard Settings #

To modify keyboard settings (such as key autorepetition and the cursor blink rate), click Applications › System Tools › Settings › Keyboard.

Figure 3.2: Keyboard Settings Dialog #

• On the Typing tab, you can set some general keyboard preferences, such as enabling keyboard repeat with individual delay and speed options or enabling or disabling the blinking of the cursor and defining the speed.

• On the Shortcuts tab, you can set key combinations for the desktop.

  To edit a key combination, first click the row. To set a new key combination, hold it down. To disable a shortcut, press <— instead.

To configure keyboard accessibility options, refer to Section 4.4, “Mobility Impairments”. To configure your keyboard layout, refer to Section 3.2.2, “Configuring Language Settings”.

3.3.4 Configuring the Mouse and Touchpad #

To modify mouse and touchpad options, click Applications › System Tools › Settings › Mouse and Touchpad.

Figure 3.3: Mouse and Touchpad Settings Dialog #

• In the General section of the dialog, you can set the Primary button orientation (left or right) and the speed of the double-click.

• In the Mouse section of the dialog, use Pointer Speed to adjust the sensitivity of the mouse pointer.

• In the Touchpad section of the dialog, you can turn the touchpad on and off. Use Pointer Speed to adjust the sensitivity of the touchpad pointer. You can also disable the touchpad while typing and enable clicks by tapping the touchpad.

• To test your settings, click Test Your Settings and try the pointing device. Click Done when you are finished.

For configuration of mouse accessibility options, refer to the Section 4.4, “Mobility Impairments”.

3.3.6 Configuring Screens #

To specify resolution and orientation for your screen or to configure multiple screens, click Applications › System Tools › Settings › Displays.

Procedure 3.1: Changing the Settings for a Monitor #

1. To find the right monitor, look for the numbers displayed in the upper left corner of all monitors. To set options for a monitor, click the list item of the monitor. A new dialog appears.

2. If multiple monitors are attached to the computer, the left part of the dialog will allow you to choose how to use the monitor. You can choose between:

   Primary

   The screen that shows the panel and important messages.

   Secondary Display

   A monitor that expands the desktop of the primary monitor.

   Mirror

   A monitor that mirrors the image on the primary monitor. In terms of resolution, the lowest common denominator will be used.

   Turn Off

   A screen that is not used.

   To rotate the displayed image, use the buttons with the arrows pointing left and right. To mirror the displayed image, use the button with the double arrow icon.

   You can set a different resolution by changing the value next to Resolution. Not all resolutions provide a sharp and unstretched image. To find the best resolution for your monitor, refer to its manual.

3. When you are done, click Apply.

   The monitors will now readjust. This can take multiple seconds during which the screen can be black or distorted.

   Afterwards, a confirmation dialog will appear.

4. If the configuration looks correct, click Keep Changes.

   If the configuration is not what you hoped for, click Revert Settings or wait for 20 seconds. The changes will then be reverted.

Figure 3.4: Monitor Resolution Settings Dialog #

Procedure 3.2: Changing the Arrangement of Multiple Monitors #

If you are using multiple screens, set up how they are arranged, so you can use the mouse pointer properly across monitors.

1. Click Arrange Combined Displays.

2. To find the right monitor, look for the numbers displayed in the upper left corner of all monitors. Click and drag a monitor around to move it.

3. When you are done, click Apply.

4. If the configuration looks correct, click Keep Changes.

   If the configuration is not what you hoped for, click Revert Settings or wait for 20 seconds. The changes will then be reverted.

3.3.7 Configuring Sound Settings #

The Sound tool lets you manage sound devices and set the sound effects. In the top part of the dialog, you can select the general output volume or turn the sound off completely.

To open the sound settings, click Applications › System Tools › Settings › Sound.

Figure 3.5: Configuring Sound Settings #

3.3.7.1 Configuring Sound Devices #

Use the Output tab to select the device for sound output. Below the list, choose the sound device setting you prefer, for example balance.

Use the Input tab to set the input device volume or to mute the input temporarily. If you have more than one sound device, you can also select a default device for audio input in the Choose a device for sound input list.

3.3.7.2 Configuring Sound Effects #

Use the Sound Effects tab to configure whether and how you want sound to be played when message boxes appear.

Specify the volume at which the sound effects will be played under Alert volume. You can also turn the effects on and off.

Select the Alert Sound to use.

In the following sections, you will find examples of how to configure some system aspects of your GNOME desktop. These include preferred applications, changing your user password, and session sharing preferences.

To learn more about configuring assistive technologies, see Chapter 4, Assistive Technologies.

3.4.2 Setting Preferred Applications #

The Preferred Applications module allows you to change the default application for various common tasks such as browsing the Internet, sending mails or playing multimedia files.

Figure 3.6: Preferred Applications #

1. Click Applications › System Tools › Settings › Details.

2. Click Default Applications.

3. Select one of the available applications from the drop-down box. You can choose an application to handle Web, mail, calendar, music, videos or photographs.

3.4.3 Setting Session Sharing Preferences #

The Remote Desktop Preference dialog lets you share a GNOME desktop session between multiple users and set session-sharing preferences.

Important: Sharing Desktop Sessions Affects System Security

Sharing desktop sessions can be a security risk. Use the restriction options available.

Click Applications › System Tools › Settings › Sharing.

Before you can share anything, you need to turn on the switch in the upper part of the dialog. It can also help you if you quickly need to disable all sharing options.

• To share your public directory over the network, click Personal File Sharing and turn on Share Public Folder On This Network. You can also set a password.

• To share your desktop session with other users, click Screen Sharing and activate Remote View. To allow other users to control your screen, activate also Remote Control. You can also set a password.

• To enable logging in via SSH, click Remote Login.

All the sharing screens contain an address which you can give to other users, so they can reach you. To copy a sharing address, click it and select Copy. You can then paste it into an e-mail or messaging software.

To configure accessibility features, open the GNOME Settings dialog (for example using Applications › System Tools › Settings) and click Universal Access. Each assistive feature is enabled separately using this dialog.

If you need a more direct access to individual assistive features, check Always Show Universal Access Menu in the Universal Access dialog. A new menu will appear on the bottom panel.

In the Seeing section of the Universal Access dialog, you can enable features that help people with impaired vision.

In the Hearing section of the Universal Access dialog, you can enable features helping people with impaired hearing.

If the Visual Alerts are turned on, a window title or the entire screen is flashed when an alert sound occurs.

In the Typing and Pointing and Clicking sections of the Universal Access dialog, you can enable features that help people with mobility impairments.

You can find further information in the GNOME help, which is also available online at https://help.gnome.org/users/gnome-help/3.12/a11y.html.en.

You can connect to a network with wired and wireless connections. To view your network connection, check the icon in the right part of the main panel. If you click the icon, you can see more details in the menu. Click the connection name to see more details and access the settings.

To learn more about connecting to a network, see Book “Reference”, Chapter 28 “Using NetworkManager”.

Network browsing, be it SMB browsing for Windows shares or SLP browsing for remote services, relies heavily on the machine's ability to send broadcast messages to all clients in the network. These messages and the clients' replies to them enable your machine to detect any available shares or services.

For broadcasts to work effectively, your machine must be part of the same subnet as all other machines it is querying. If network browsing does not work on your machine or the detected shares and services do not meet your expectations, ensure that you are connected to the appropriate subnet.

To allow network browsing, your machine needs to keep several network ports open to send and receive network messages that provide details on the network and the availability of shares and services.

If you try to browse a network with a restrictive firewall running on your machine, GNOME Files warns you that your security restrictions are not allowing it to query the network.

Networking workstations can be set up to share directories. Typically, files and directories are marked to allow users remote access. These are called network shares. If your system is configured to access network shares, you can use your file manager to access these shares and browse them just as easily as if they were located on your local machine. Your level of access to the shared directories (whether read-only or write access, as well) is dependent on the permissions granted to you by the owner of the shares.

To access network shares, open GNOME Files and click Browse Network from the Places pane. GNOME Files displays the servers and networks that you can access. Double-click a server or network to access its shares. You might be required to authenticate to the server by providing a user name and password. Common network shares are SFTP-accessible resources (SSH File Transfer Protocol) or Windows shares.

Figure 5.1: Network File Browser #

Sharing and exchanging documents is a must-have in corporate environments. GNOME Files offers you file sharing, which makes your files and directories available to both Linux and Windows users.

5.4.2 Enabling Sharing for a Directory #

To configure file sharing for a directory:

1. Open GNOME Files.

2. Right-click a directory, then select Sharing Options from the context menu.

   

3. Select Share this folder.

4. If you want other people to be able to write to the directory, select Allow other people to write in this folder. To allow access for people without a user account check Guest Access.

5. Click Create Share.

6. If the directory does not already have the permissions that are required for sharing, a dialog appears. Click Add the permissions automatically.

The directory icon changes to indicate that the directory is now shared.

Important: Samba Domain Browsing and Firewalls

Samba domain browsing only works if your system's firewall is configured accordingly. Either disable the firewall entirely or assign the browsing interface to the internal firewall zone.

With your openSUSE Leap machine being an Active Directory client, you can browse, view and manipulate data located on Windows servers. The following examples are the most prominent ones:

To access your Windows data using GNOME Files, proceed as follows:

To create directories in your Windows user directory using GNOME Files, proceed as you would when creating a Linux directory.

Being part of a corporate network and authenticating against a Windows Active Directory server, you can access corporate resources such as printers. GNOME allows you to configure printing from your Linux client to a Windows network printer.

To configure a Windows network printer for use through your Linux workstation, proceed as follows:

To print to the Windows network printer configured above, select it from the list of available printers.

Before you can install a printer, you need to know the root password and have your printer information ready. Depending on how you connect the printer, you might also need the printer URI, TCP/IP address or host, and the driver for the printer. A number of common printer drivers ship with openSUSE Leap. If you cannot find a driver for the printer, check the printer manufacturer's Web site.

The installed printer appears in the Printers panel. You can now print to the printer from any application.

First schedule which data you want to back up and when to do it.

To restore a previous state of your data, proceed as follows:

LibreOffice consists of several application modules (subprograms), which are designed to interact with each other. They are listed in Table 8.1. A full description of each module is available in the online help, described in Section 8.10, “For More Information”.

To start LibreOffice click Applications › Office › LibreOffice.

The following chapters cover individual LibreOffice modules:

In the selection dialog, choose the module you want to open or which file type you want to create. If any LibreOffice application is open, you can start any of the other applications by clicking File › New › Name of Application.

You can also start individual LibreOffice modules from your main menu. As an alternative, use the command libreoffice and one of the options --writer, --calc, --impress, --draw or --base to start the respective module. Find more useful options with --help.

Before you start working with LibreOffice, you may be interested in changing some options from the preferences dialog. Click Tools › Options to open it. The most important ones are:

To learn more about configuring LibreOffice, see Section 8.7, “Changing the Global Settings”.

LibreOffice can work with documents, spreadsheets, presentations, and databases in many other formats, including Microsoft Office. They can be easily opened like other files and saved back to the original format. If you have problems with your documents, consider opening them in the original application and resaving them in an open format such as RTF for text documents.

In case of migration issues with spreadsheets, however, it is advisable to always save them as Excel files. Use the Excel format as an intermediate format. The CSV format can work, too, but you will lose all cell formatting. CSV sometimes also leads to incorrect cell type detection for spreadsheets.

You can save files, no matter in which LibreOffice format, with a password. Note that this offers limited protection only. For stronger protection, use encryption methods as described in Book “Security Guide”, Chapter 11 “Encrypting Partitions and Files”. To save a file with a password, select File › Save or File › Save As. In the dialog that opens, activate the Save with password check box and click OK. After you have typed and confirmed your password, your file will be saved. The next time a user opens the file, he will be prompted for the password.

To change the password, either overwrite the same file by selecting File › Save As or select File › Properties and click Change Password to access the password dialog.

You can digitally sign documents to protect them. For this you need a personal certificate, similar to an HTTPS certificate. You can either create a self-signed certificate or choose to get one from a Certificate Authority.

When applying a digital signature to a document, a kind of checksum is created from the document's content and your personal key. The checksum is stored together with the document.

When another person opens the document, the checksum will be generated again. The new checksum is then compared to the original checksum If both are equal, the application will signal that the document has not been changed in the meantime.

To add a certificate to LibreOffice, you need to use Firefox. Start Firefox by selecting Applications › Internet › Firefox. Go to the certificates preferences by opening the menu (the button with the three-lines icon), then select Preferences › Advanced › Certificates › View Certificates. Add your certificate by selecting Your Certificates and clicking Import and then locate your certificate.

To sign a document, first open it in LibreOffice. Then select File › Digital Signatures › Sign Document. Select the certificate you want to use for signing, then click OK.

openSUSE Leap allows you to access certificates from the certificate store. For more information, refer to Book “Security Guide”, Chapter 12 “Certificate Store”.

You can customize LibreOffice to best suit your needs and working style. Toolbars, menus, and key combinations can all be reconfigured to help you more quickly access the features you use the most. You can also assign macros to application events if you want specific actions to occur when those events take place. For example, if you always work with a specific spreadsheet, you can create a macro that opens the spreadsheet and assign the macro to the Start Application event.

This section contains simple, generic instructions for customizing your environment. The changes you make are effective immediately, so you can see if the changes are what you wanted and go back and modify them if they are not. See the LibreOffice help files for detailed instructions.

To access the customization dialog in any open LibreOffice module, select Tools › Customize.

Figure 8.1: Customization Dialog in Writer #

Note: Further Information

Click Help for more information about the options in the Customize dialog.

If you want to switch back to the original settings again, open the customization dialog, click the Toolbar drop-down box and select Restore Default Settings. Click Yes and Reset to proceed.

Global settings can be changed in any LibreOffice application by clicking Tools › Options on the menu bar. This opens the window shown in the figure below. A tree structure is used to display categories of settings.

Figure 8.2: The Options Window #

The settings categories that appear depend on the module you are working in. For example, if you are in Writer, the LibreOffice Writer category appears in the list, but the LibreOffice Calc category does not. The LibreOffice Base category appears in both Calc and Writer. The Module column in the table shows where each setting category is available.

The following table lists the settings categories along with a brief description of each category:

Important: Settings Apply Globally

All settings listed in the table apply globally for the specified applications. That means, they are used as defaults for every new document you create.

A template is a document containing only the styles—and content— that you want to appear in every document of that type. When a document is created or opened with the template, the styles are automatically applied to that document. Templates greatly enhance the use of LibreOffice by simplifying formatting tasks for a variety of different types of documents.

For example, in a word processor, you can write letters, memos, and reports, all of which look different and require different styles. Or, for example, for spreadsheets, you could use different cell styles or headings for certain types of spreadsheets. If you use templates for each of your document types, the styles you need for each document are always readily available.

LibreOffice comes with a set of predefined templates, and you can find additional templates on the Internet. For details, see Section 8.10, “For More Information”. If you want to create your own templates, this requires some up-front planning. You need to determine how you want the document to look so you can create the styles you need in that template.

A detailed explanation of templates is beyond the scope of this section. Procedure 8.6, “Creating LibreOffice Templates” only shows how to generate a template from an existing document.

Note: Converting Microsoft Word Templates

You can convert Microsoft Word templates like you would convert any other Word document. For more information, see Section 8.3.1, “Converting Documents to the LibreOffice Format”.

When exchanging documents with other people, it is sometimes useful to store metadata like the owner of the file, who it was received from, and a URL. LibreOffice lets you attach such metadata to the file. This helps you track metadata which you do not want to or cannot save in the content of the file. This feature is also the basis for later sorting, searching and retrieving your documents based on metadata.

As an example, we assume you want to set these properties to your file:

To attach such metadata to your document, proceed as follows:

LibreOffice contains extensive online help. In addition, a large community of users and developers support it. The following lists shows some places where you can go for additional information.

There are three ways to create a new Writer document.

For example, to create a business letter, click File › Wizards › Letter. Using the wizard's dialogs, you can easily create a basic document using a standard format. A sample wizard dialog is shown in Figure 9.1.

Figure 9.1: A LibreOffice Wizard #

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.

You can use Writer to edit documents created in a variety of other word processors. For example, you can import a Microsoft* Word* document, edit it, and save it again as a Microsoft Word document. If you use LibreOffice in an environment where you need to share documents with Microsoft Word users, you should have little or no trouble exchanging document files.

Most Microsoft Word documents can be opened in LibreOffice without issue. Formatting, fonts, and all other aspects of the document remain intact. However, very complex documents can require editing after opening. Complex documents are documents containing, for example, complicated tables, Microsoft Office macros, or unusual fonts and formatting.

LibreOffice can save many popular word processing formats. Documents created in LibreOffice and saved as Microsoft Word files can be opened in Microsoft Word.

The traditional way of formatting office documents is direct formatting. That means, you use a button, such as Bold, which sets a certain property (in this case, a bold typeface). With styles, you can bundle a set of properties (for example, font size and font weight) and give them a speaking name, such as Headline, first level. Using styles, rather than direct formatting has the following advantages:

For example, imagine that you emphasize text by selecting it and clicking the Bold button. Later, decide you want the emphasized text to be italicized. Now, you would need to find all bolded text and manually change it to italics. If you use a character style from the beginning, however, you only need to change the style from bold to italics once. All text that has been formatted with that style then changes from bold to italics.

LibreOffice can use styles for applying consistent formatting to various elements in a document. The following types of styles are available in Writer:

Text that is formatted with a menu option or toolbar button overrides any styles you have applied. For example, format a piece of text both with a character style and using the Bold button. Now, the text will be bold, no matter what is set in the style.

To remove all direct formatting, first select the appropriate text, then right-click it and choose Clear Direct Formatting.

Likewise, if you manually format paragraphs using Format › Paragraph, you can easily end up with inconsistent paragraph formatting. This is especially true if you copy and paste paragraphs from other documents with different formatting. However, if you apply paragraph styles, formatting remains consistent. If you change a style, the change is automatically applied to all paragraphs formatted with that style.

9.3.1 The Styles and Formatting Window #

The Styles and Formatting window is a versatile formatting tool for applying styles to text, paragraphs, pages, frames, and lists. To open this window, click Format › Styles and Formatting or press F11.

Figure 9.2: Styles and Formatting Window #

Tip: Docking And Undocking the Style and Formatting Window

By default, the Styles and Formatting window is a floating window. It opens in its own window that you can place anywhere on the screen.

To make it appear always in the same part of the Writer interface, you can dock the Styles and Formatting window. To do so, drag its titlebar to the left or right side of the main Writer window until a gray frame appears, then release the mouse button to position it there. To undock the window and make it appear as a floating window again, drag its icon bar to a different place.

The docking/undocking mechanism applies to some other windows in LibreOffice as well, including the Navigator.

LibreOffice comes with several predefined styles. You can use these styles as they are, modify them, or create new styles. Use the icons at the top of the window to display formatting styles for the most common elements like paragraphs, frames, pages or lists. Go on with the instructions below, to learn more about styles.

You can use Writer to work on large documents. Large documents can be either a single file or a collection of files assembled into a single document.

9.4.1 Navigating in Large Documents #

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 a document.

To open the Navigator, click View › Navigator or press F5. The elements listed in the Navigator vary according to the document loaded in Writer.

Figure 9.3: Navigator Tool in Writer #

Double-click an item in the Navigator to jump to that item in the document.

9.4.2 Using Master Documents #

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 users are working on a single document. You can separate each user’s section of the document into subdocuments collected in a master document, allowing multiple writers to work on their subdocuments at the same time without fear of overwriting others' work.

Procedure 9.6: Creating a Master Document #

1. Click New › Master Document.

   or

   Open an existing document and click File › Send › Create Master Document.

2. The Navigator window will open. In it, select Insert (), then choose File.

3. Select a file to add an existing file to the master document.

To enter some text directly into the master document, select Insert › Text.

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

Tip: Styles and Templates in Master Documents

The styles from all of your subdocuments are imported into the master document. To ensure that formatting is consistent throughout your master document, you should use the same template for each subdocument. Doing so is not mandatory. However, if subdocuments are formatted differently, you might need to do some reformatting to successfully bring subdocuments into the master document without creating inconsistencies. For example, if two documents imported into your master document include different styles with the same name, the master document will use the formatting specified for that style in the first document you import.

In addition to being a full-featured word processor, Writer also functions as an HTML editor. You can style HTML pages like any other document, but there are specific HTML Styles that help with creating good HTML. 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 edit 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.

To switch back from HTML Source mode to Web Layout, click View › HTML source again.

There are two ways to create a new Calc document:

Access the individual sheets by clicking the respective tabs at the bottom of the window.

Enter data in the cells as desired. To adjust the appearance, either use the Formatting toolbar or the Format menu—or define styles as described in Section 10.2, “Using Formatting and Styles in Calc”. 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.

To apply a style to specific cells, select the cells you want to format. Then double-click the style you want to apply in the Styles and Formatting window.

Sheets are a good method to organize your calculations. For example, if you have a business, accounting might be much clearer if you create a sheet for each month.

To insert a new sheet in your spreadsheet, do the following:

To rename a sheet, right-click a sheet in the sheet tab and select Rename Sheet. To rename, you can also double-click the sheet tab.

To delete the current sheet, select Edit › Sheet › Delete and confirm with Delete Sheets. It is possible to delete more than one sheet by holding the Shift key and selecting the sheets you want to delete in the sheet tab. Right-click and choose Delete Sheet and the same dialog appears. Confirm with Delete Sheets.

Conditional formatting is a useful feature to highlight certain values in your spreadsheet. For example, define a condition and if the condition is true, a style is applied to each cell that fulfills this condition.

Note: Enable AutoCalculate

Before you apply conditional formatting, choose Tools › Cell Contents › AutoCalculate. You should see a check mark in front of AutoCalculate.

Grouping a cell range helps to fold your spreadsheet into parts. This makes your spreadsheets more readable, as you can hide all the parts you are not currently interested in. It is possible to group rows or columns and nest groups in other groups.

To group a range, proceed as follows:

After grouping selected cells, a line indicating the grouped cell range appears in the upper-left margin. Fold or unfold the cell range with the + and - icons. The numbers at the top left of the margins display the depth of your groups and can be clicked too.

To ungroup a cell range, click into a cell which belongs to a group and select Data › Group and Outline › Ungroup. The line in the margin disappears. The innermost group is always deleted first.

If you have a spreadsheet with lots of data, scrolling makes your header usually disappear. LibreOffice can lock rows or columns or both, so they remain fixed as you scroll around.

To freeze a single row or a single column, proceed as follows:

It is also possible to freeze both rows and columns:

To unfreeze, select Window › Freeze. The check mark in the menu then disappears.

Use LibreOffice Impress to create presentations for screen display or printing. If you have used other presentation software, Impress makes it easy to switch. It works very similarly to other presentation software.

Impress can open and save Microsoft* PowerPoint* presentations. This means you can exchange presentations with PowerPoint* users, as long as you save your presentations in PowerPoint* format.

11.1.2 Using Master Pages #

Master pages give your presentation a consistent look by defining what fonts and other design elements are used. Impress uses two types of master pages:

Slide Master

Contains elements that appear on all slides. For example, you might want your company logo to appear in the same place on every slide. The slide master also determines the text formatting style for the heading and outline of every slide that uses that master page, as well as any information you want to appear in a header or footer.

Notes Master

Determines the formatting and appearance of the notes in your presentation.

11.1.2.1 Creating a Slide Master #

Impress comes with a collection of preformatted master pages. Eventually, many users will want to customize their presentations by creating their own slide masters.

1. Start Impress.

2. To create a new empty presentation, select File › New › Presentation.

3. Click View › Master › Slide Master.

   This opens the current slide master in Master View. The Master View toolbar appears.

4. Right-click the left-hand panel, then click New Master.

5. Edit the slide master until it has the desired look.

   A special feature of Master View is that you can edit outline styles by directly formatting the sample text on the slide.

6. To finish editing slide masters, in the Master View toolbar, click Close Master View. Alternatively, choose View › Normal.

Tip: Collect Slide Masters in a Template

When you have created all of the slide masters you want to use in your presentations, you can save them in an Impress template. Then, any time you want to create presentations that use those slide masters, open a new presentation with your template.

11.1.2.2 Applying a Slide Master #

Slide masters can be applied to selected slides or to all slides in the presentation.

1. Open your presentation.

2. (Optional) If you want to apply the slide master to multiple slides, but not to all slides. Select the slides that you want to use that slide master applied to.

   To select multiple slides, pressCtrl in the Slides Pane while clicking the slides you want to use.

3. In the Tasks Pane, open the Master Pages and click the master page you want to apply. The slide master is applied to the corresponding page(s).

   If you do not see the Task Pane, click View › Task Pane.

LibreOffice includes the 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 by using convenient wizards. For example, the Table Wizard contains several common fields for business and personal use. Databases created in Base can be used as data sources, such as when creating form letters.

It is beyond the scope of this document to detail database design with Base. More information can be found at the sources listed in Section 8.10, “For More Information”.

Use LibreOffice Draw to create graphics and diagrams. You can export your drawings to the most common vector graphics formats and import them into any application that lets you import graphics, including other LibreOffice modules. You can also create Adobe* Flash* (SWF) versions of your drawings.

To embed an existing Draw graphic into a LibreOffice 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. To make this task easier, the LibreOffice Math equation editor lets you create formulas using operators, functions, and formatting assistants. You can then save those formulas as an object that can be imported into other documents. Math functions can be inserted into other LibreOffice documents like any other graphic object.

Note: Math is For Creating Mathematical Formulas

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

To create a formula proceed as follows:

The result is shown in Figure 11.1, “Mathematical Formula in LibreOffice Math”:

Figure 11.1: Mathematical Formula in LibreOffice Math #

It is possible to include your formula in Writer, for example. To do so, proceed as follows:

To start Evolution, click Applications › Internet › Evolution.

The first time you start Evolution, it opens an assistant to help you set up e-mail accounts and import data from other applications.

The Evolution Account Assistant helps you provide all the required information.

Now that the first-run configuration has finished, you are ready to begin using Evolution. This section sums up the most important parts of the user interface.

Figure 12.1: Evolution Window #

Get more information about Evolution from the application help available via F1.

Find more information on the project home page https://wiki.gnome.org/Apps/Evolution.

Signing.  Attaching electronic signatures to pieces of information, such as e-mail messages or software to prove its origin. To keep someone else from writing messages using your name, and to protect both you and the people you send them to, you should sign your mails. Signatures help you check the sender of the messages you receive and distinguish authentic messages from malicious ones.

Software developers sign their software so that you can check the integrity. Even if you get the software from an unofficial server, you can verify the package with the signature.

Encryption.  You might also have sensitive information you want to protect from other parties. Encryption helps you transform data and make it unreadable for others. This is important for companies so they can protect internal information and their employees' privacy.

To exchange encrypted messages with other users, you must first generate your own pair of keys. It consists of two parts:

Important: Access to the Private Key

If others gain access to your private key, they can decrypt files and messages intended only for you. Never grant others access to your private key.

You can modify properties of existing OpenPGP or SSH keys.

Name (comment) <e-mail address>

Keys can be exported to text files. These files contain human-readable text at the beginning and at the end of a key. This format is called an ASCII-armored key.

To import keys:

You can also paste keys inside Passwords and Keys:

To export keys:

You can also export keys to the clipboard in an ASCII-armored block of text:

Signing another person's key means that you are giving trust to that person. Before signing a key, carefully check the key's fingerprint to ensure that the key really belongs to that person.

Trust is an indication of how sure you are of a person's ability to correctly extend the Web of trust. When there is a key that you have not signed, the validity of the key is determined from its signatures and how much you trust the people who made those signatures.

Passwords and Keys integrates with GNOME Files. You can encrypt, decrypt, sign, verify files, and import public keys from the file manager window without launching Passwords and Keys.

Note: Enabling File Manager Integration

The package nautilus-extension-seahorse has to be installed to enable file manager integration.

You can use password keyring preferences to create or remove keyrings, to set the default keyring for application passwords or to change the unlock password of a keyring. To create a new keyring, follow these steps:

To change the unlock password of an existing keyring, click the keyring in the Passwords tab and click Change Password. You need to provide the old password to be able to change it.

To change the default keyring for application passwords, click the keyring in the Passwords tab and click Set as Default.

You can keep your keys up-to-date by synchronizing keys periodically with remote keyservers. Synchronizing will ensure that you have the latest signatures made on all of your keys, so that the Web of trust will be effective.

Key Sharing is provided by DNS-SD, also known as Bonjour or Rendezvous. Enabling key sharing adds the local Passwords and Keys users' public key rings to the remote search dialog. Using these local key servers is generally faster than accessing remote servers.

To start Pidgin, select Applications › Internet › Pidgin.

To use Pidgin, you must already have accounts on the systems you want to use. For example, to use Pidgin for your AIM account, you must first have an AIM account. Once you have those accounts, set them up in the Pidgin Add Account dialog.

After an account is added, you can log in to that account by entering your password in the Pidgin login dialog.

Use the Accounts menu to view and enable or disable accounts that you have configured.

Use the Buddy List to manage your contacts, also known as buddies. You can add and remove buddies from your Buddy List. You can also organize your buddies in groups, so they are easy to find.

After your accounts are set up, all buddies who are online appear in your Buddy List. If you want buddies who are not online to appear in the Buddy List, click Buddies › Show › Offline Buddies.

Figure 14.1: Pidgin Buddy List #

To add a buddy to your Buddy List, click Buddies › Add Buddy, then enter the information about that buddy.

Note: Adding Contacts for Certain Protocols

For some protocols, you cannot add a buddy in the Pidgin interface. You must use the official client for those protocols if you want to add to your buddy list. After you have added a buddy in the protocol’s client, that buddy appears in your Buddy List.

To remove a buddy from the list of contacts, right-click the name of that buddy in the Buddy List and click Remove.