Writer Guide 24.8
Chapter 20,
Customizing Writer
This document is Copyright © 2024 by the LibreOffice Documentation Team. Contributors are listed below. This document may be distributed and/or modified under the terms of either the GNU General Public License (https://www.gnu.org/licenses/gpl.html), version 3 or later, or the Creative Commons Attribution License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), version 4.0 or later. All trademarks within this guide belong to their legitimate owners.
To this edition
|
Jean Hollis Weber |
|
|
To previous editions
|
Jean Hollis Weber |
Bruce Byfield |
Gillian Polack |
|
Cathy Crumbley |
John A Smith |
Ron Faile Jr. |
|
John M. Długosz |
Barbara Duprey |
Rafael Atias |
|
Kees Kriek |
|
|
Please direct any comments or suggestions about this document to the Documentation Team Forum at https://community.documentfoundation.org/c/documentation/loguides/ (registration is required) or send an email to: loguides@community.documentfoundation.org.
Note
Everything sent to a forum, including email addresses and any other personal information that is written in the message, is publicly archived and cannot be deleted. Emails sent to the forum are moderated.
Published November 2024. Based on LibreOffice 24.8 Community.
Other versions of LibreOffice may differ in appearance and functionality.
Some keystrokes and menu items are different on macOS from those used in Windows and Linux. The table below gives some common substitutions used in this document. For a detailed list, see LibreOffice Help.
|
Windows or Linux |
macOS equivalent |
Effect |
|
Tools > Options |
LibreOffice > Preferences |
Access setup options |
|
Right-click |
Control+click or right-click depending on computer setup |
Open a context menu |
|
Ctrl (Control) |
⌘ (Command) |
Used with other keys |
|
Alt |
⌥ (Option) or Alt |
Used with other keys |
|
F11 |
⌘+T |
Open Styles deck in Sidebar |
This chapter briefly describes some of the setup options found under Tools > Options (macOS: LibreOffice > Preferences) on the Menu bar in Writer. Additional options, and more details about the ones given here, are covered in the Help and in the Getting Started Guide. Several of the most relevant options are discussed in other chapters of this book, in the context of tasks where they are most applicable.
Tip
Many options are intended for power users and programmers. If you don’t understand what an option does, it is usually best to leave it on the default setting unless instructions in this book recommend changing the setting.
This chapter also describes some common customizations to menus, toolbars, and keyboard shortcuts, including adding new menus and toolbars and assigning macros to events. Other customizations are made easy by extensions that can be installed from the LibreOffice website or from other providers.
Note
Customizations to menus and toolbars can be saved in a template. To do so, first save them in a document and then save the document as a template as described in Chapter 10, Working with Templates. If you work on more than one project, you may like to have different menus and toolbars for each project.
This topic covers some of the settings that apply to all the components of LibreOffice (Writer, Calc, Impress, Draw, Math, and Base) and that are particularly important when using Writer.
Go to Tools > Options (LibreOffice > Preferences on macOS) and then click the marker (+ or triangle) by LibreOffice on the left-hand side. A list of pages drops down (Figure 1). Select an item in the list to display the relevant page on the right-hand side of the dialog.
At the top left of the Options dialog is a Search box, to assist in finding the page on which an option is located. The Reset button, located in the lower right of the Options dialog (not shown), resets the values on that page to the values that were in place when you opened the dialog.
Figure 1: Left side of Options dialog
In versions of LibreOffice other than US English, some field labels may be different from those shown in the illustrations.
Because Writer can use the name or initials stored in the LibreOffice – User Data page for several things, including document properties (‘created by’ and ‘last edited by’ information), the name of the author of comments and changes, and the sender address in email, make sure that the correct information appears here.
Fill in the form, or amend or delete any existing information. To keep user data from being part of the document’s properties, deselect Use data for document properties.
Tip
To have documents open at the page where the cursor is located when they were saved, select Use data for document properties on this page, and go to File > Properties for each document and select Apply user data on the General tab. Unless both of these settings are selected, the document opens at the first page.
Alternatively, select Load view position with the document even if it was saved by a different user on the Load/Save – General page (see page 1).
In the Cryptography section, you can set the preferred public key for OpenPGP encryption and digital signature. These preferred keys will be pre-selected in the key selection dialog when you sign or encrypt a document (see Chapter 7, Printing and Publishing).
Figure 2: User Data page
The options on the LibreOffice – View page affect how the document window looks and behaves. Set them to suit your personal preferences. For details, see the Help or the Getting Started Guide.
On the LibreOffice – Print page, set the print options to suit your default printer and your most common printing method.
In the Warnings section on the right side of the page, choose whether to be warned if the paper size or orientation specified in the document does not match the paper size or orientation available for your printer. Having these warnings turned on can be quite helpful, particularly when working with documents produced by people in other countries where the standard paper size is different from yours.
Figure 3: Choosing general printing options for all components
Tip
If printouts are incorrectly placed on the page or chopped off at the top, bottom, or sides, or the printer refuses to print, a likely cause is page size incompatibility.
On the LibreOffice – Paths page, you can change the location of files associated with, or used by, LibreOffice. For example, you can store documents by default somewhere other than My Documents, or store project templates in folders not in the supplied template paths. Multiple paths are possible. For more information, see the Getting Started Guide.
If a document contains fonts that are not on your system, LibreOffice will substitute fonts for those it does not find. To specify different fonts from the ones that the program chooses, use the LibreOffice – Fonts page to specify replacement fonts.
Tip
Liberation fonts (Serif, Sans, and Mono) are often good choices to substitute for Times, Arial, and Courier.
Note
The choices made here do not affect the default fonts in documents. To do that, see “Basic Fonts options” below. To change more than the basic fonts, create a new default template for Writer documents; see Chapter 10, Working with Templates.
Use the LibreOffice – Security page to choose security options for saving documents and for opening documents that contain macros.
Security Options and Warnings
Click the Options button to open a separate dialog with several options, including:
Remove personal information on saving
Ctrl-click required to open hyperlinks
For more information about these and the other security options, see the Help or the Getting Started Guide.
On the LibreOffice – Personalization page, you can change the overall appearance of LibreOffice by selecting a preinstalled theme. For details, see the Help or the Getting Started Guide.
Writing, editing, and (especially) page layout are often easier when the page margins (text boundaries), the boundaries of tables and sections, grid lines, and other features are visible. In addition, you might prefer to use colors that are different from LibreOffice’s defaults.
On the LibreOffice – Application Colors page (Figure 4), you can specify which user interface elements are visible and the colors used to display them.
To show or hide items such as text boundaries, select or deselect the boxes in the column to the left of the names of the elements.
To change the default colors for a specific element, click the down-arrow in the Color setting column by the name of the element and select a color from the drop-down list.
To save your color selections as a color scheme, click Save, type a name in the Save scheme dialog that opens, and then click OK.
Figure 4: Showing or hiding text, object, and table boundaries
Note
To change the color settings used in Track Changes mode, go to Tools > Options > LibreOffice Writer > Changes.
If the Options dialog is not already open, click Tools > Options. Click the expansion symbol (+ or triangle) to the left of Load/Save.
Figure 5: Choosing Load and Save options
Most of the choices on the Load/Save – General page (Figure 5) are familiar to users of other office suites. Some items of interest are described below.
Load user-specific settings with the document
Settings in File > Print > Options.
Spacing options for paragraphs before text tables.
Information about automatic updating for links, field functions, and charts.
Information about working with Asian character formats.
Settings for any data sources linked to a document.
Load printer settings with the document
Load view position with the document even if it was saved by a different user
Save AutoRecovery information every __ minutes
Edit document properties before saving
Always create backup copy
Save URLs relative to file system / to internet
Default File Format and ODF Settings
On the VBA Properties page, choose whether to keep any macros in Microsoft Office documents that are opened in LibreOffice. For details, see the Getting Started Guide.
On the Load/Save – Microsoft Office page, choose what to do when importing and exporting Microsoft Office OLE objects (linked or embedded objects or documents such as equations or spreadsheets): convert them into or from the corresponding LibreOffice OLE object or load and save them in their original format. For details, see the Getting Started Guide.
Choices made on the Load/Save – HTML Compatibility page affect HTML pages imported into LibreOffice and those exported from LibreOffice. For more information, see the Help and the Getting Started Guide.
Settings in the LibreOffice Writer section of the Options dialog determine how Writer documents look and behave while you are working on them. If the Options dialog is not already open, choose Tools > Options. Click the marker (+ or triangle) by LibreOffice Writer on the left side.
Figure 6: Choosing general options for Writer
The choices on the LibreOffice Writer – General page (Figure 6) affect the updating of links and fields, the units used for rulers and other measurements, and the default tab stop positions.
Automatically Update [Fields and Charts]
Update Links when Loading
Settings
Measurement unit
Tab stops
Tip
To avoid unwanted changes, do not use default tab settings. Instead, define tabs in paragraph styles or individual paragraphs (see Chapter 4, Formatting Text).
Word Count
Additional separators
Show standardized page count
Two pages of options set the defaults for viewing Writer documents: View (described here) and Formatting Aids (described below). View is a good page to check if, for example, you cannot see graphics on the screen.
Guides – Helplines While Moving
Display Fields
Hidden text
Hidden paragraphs
Display tracked changes
Tracked deletions in margin
Tooltips on tracked changes
Outline Folding
Show outline-folding buttons
Include sub levels
The other options should be self-explanatory. If not, please refer to the Help.
Figure 7: Choosing default View options for Writer
On the LibreOffice Writer – Formatting Aids page (Figure 8), select the desired options.
Layout Assistance – Math baseline alignment
Figure 8: Choosing default Formatting Aids options
Display Formatting
Protected Areas – Enable cursor
Direct Cursor
Note
The direct cursor feature can lead to many formatting oddities and is incompatible with rigorous use of styles.
Image – Anchor
Auto complete – Enclose with characters
Snap to grid automatically moves an object to the nearest gridlines. This can be very helpful when you are trying to align several objects such as graphics or tables.
On the LibreOffice Writer – Grid page (Figure 9), choose whether to enable this feature and what grid intervals to use. If the grid intervals (subdivisions) are too large, you may not have enough control in placing the objects.
Figure 9: Choosing Grid options for Writer
On the LibreOffice Writer – Basic Fonts (Western) page (Figure 10), choose the fonts and font sizes for the Default Paragraph Style, headings, lists, captions, and indexes. These choices are applied to new documents unless different settings are selected in the document itself or defined in the new document’s template.
To reset the values to the defaults when LibreOffice was installed, click the Default button.
If Asian and/or CTL have been activated in Languages, extra pages are provided for their font options.
Figure 10: Choosing basic (default) fonts
On the LibreOffice Writer – Print page, choose which items are printed with a Writer document by default. These options are in addition to the general options for all LibreOffice components on the LibreOffice – Print page (see page 1). To override any of these defaults when printing a specific document, choose File > Print, then use the options on the various pages of the Print dialog.
Figure 11: Choosing default Print options for Writer
Some considerations:
To save printer ink or toner when working on drafts, deselect some of the items in the Contents section.
The Print text in black option causes color text (but not graphics) to print as black on a color printer; on a black-and-white printer, this option causes color text to print as solid black instead of shades of gray (dithered).
By comparison, the Convert colors to grayscale option on the Options – LibreOffice – Print page (Figure 3), prints all text and graphics as grayscale on color printers. (On black-and-white printers, color in graphics normally prints as grayscale.)
On the LibreOffice Writer – Table page (Figure 18), specify the default behavior of tables. See the Help or Chapter 13, Tables, for more information.
Some considerations:
If most of your tables will require borders or headings, you may wish to select those options. If most of your tables are used for page layout, deselect Border and Heading.
Select Do not split to prevent tables from being split across pages.
Number recognition can be very useful if most of your tables contain numerical data. Writer will recognize dates or currency, for example, and format the numbers appropriately. However, if you want the numbers to remain as ordinary text, you may prefer to deselect this feature.
The Keyboard Handling section specifies the distances that cells move when you use keyboard shortcuts to move them and the size of rows and columns inserted using keyboard shortcuts. See the Help for more information.
The Behavior of rows/columns section specifies the effects that changes to rows or columns have on adjacent rows or columns and the entire table. You might need to test these selections to fully understand the effects.
Figure 12: Choosing default Table options
When preparing to track changes in Writer documents (described in Chapter 3, Working with Text: Advanced), use the LibreOffice Writer – Changes page (Figure 13) to choose the way changes to text and formatting are marked. Change bars show where a change has been made to a line of text and are formatted under Lines Changed.
See also Tracked deletions in margin under "View options" above.
Figure 13: Choosing options for comparing documents
The options on the LibreOffice Writer – Comparison page determine the level of detail used by the Compare Document feature (Edit > Track Changes > Compare Document), described in Chapter 3, Working with Text: Advanced.
Choose whether to compare word-by-word, character-by-character, or using an algorithm (Auto, which is the default). When By word or By character is selected, the random number choices are activated.
Figure 14: Choosing options for comparing documents
The settings on the LibreOffice Writer – Compatibility page (Figure 15) are used mainly when importing documents from Microsoft Word. If you are not sure about the effects of these settings, leave them as the defaults provided by LibreOffice or test them in a sample document. For information about settings that are not described below, see the Help. All settings selected will apply only to the current document, unless you select the Use as Default button at the bottom (not shown in the figure).
Figure 15: Choosing compatibility options
Add spacing between paragraphs and tables
Add paragraph and table spacing at top of first page and page breaks
Add paragraph and table spacing at bottom of table cells
LibreOffice can automatically insert captions for tables, pictures, frames, and OLE objects in a Writer document. To set this up, use the options on the LibreOffice Writer – AutoCaption page. Select the object you want to be automatically captioned (LibreOffice Writer Table in Figure 16). With the item highlighted, specify the characteristics of the caption.
The categories supplied for captions are Illustration, Table, Text, Drawing, and Figure. To use another name (for example, Photo) for the caption label, type it in the Category box.
Note
You may not want captions for every table, for example if you use tables for layout as well as for tables of data. You can always add captions to individual tables, graphics, or other objects (right-click > Insert Caption).
Figure 16: Setting up automatic captions
Information about numbering captions by chapter, character styles, frame styles, and other items on the AutoCaption page is given in other chapters in this book.
Writer can use a data source such as an address book to insert personal, address, and other information into form letters. These documents can be printed for mailing or they can be emailed through Writer. See Chapter 14, Mail Merge, for details.
Use the LibreOffice Writer – Mail Merge Email page to set up the user and server information for sending form letters by email. If you are not sure what information to put in any of the fields, consult your email program or your internet service provider.
You may need to do several things to get the language settings you want:
Install the required dictionaries.
Change some language and locale settings.
Choose spelling and grammar options.
Enable Language Tool.
LibreOffice automatically installs many language modules with the program. A language module can contain up to three submodules: spelling dictionary, hyphenation dictionary, and thesaurus. These are usually referred to as “dictionaries” in Writer.
To add other dictionaries, be sure you are connected to the Internet, and then choose Tools > Language > More Dictionaries Online on the Menu bar. LibreOffice will open your default web browser to a page containing links to additional dictionaries that you can install. Follow the prompts to select and install those required.
To change some details of the language and locale settings that LibreOffice uses for all documents or for specific documents, go to the Options dialog, click the expansion symbol (+ sign or triangle) by Languages and Locales, and choose General. On the right-hand side of the Languages and Locales – General page (Figure 17), change the settings as required. See the Help for details on all these options.
In the example shown, the user interface is set to English (USA), but English (Australia) has been chosen for the Locale, which influences settings for numbering, currency, and units of measure.
To apply the language settings to the current document only, instead of being the default for all new documents, select For the current document only.
Changes to the system input language normally affect text typed into a document after the change. To prevent this, select Ignore system input language; new text will then continue to follow the language of the document or the paragraph, not the system language.
If necessary, select the options to enable support for Asian languages (Chinese, Japanese, Korean) and support for CTL (complex text layout) languages such as Hindi, Thai, Hebrew, and Arabic. If either of these options is selected, the next time the Options dialog is opened, some extra pages will be listed under Language Settings. These pages are not discussed here.
Figure 17: Choosing language options
To change the options for checking spelling and grammar, use the Language Settings – Writing Aids page (Figure Figure 18).
Figure 18: Choosing languages, dictionaries, and options for checking spelling
Some considerations:
To over-ride the Check spelling as you type setting in a document, choose Tools > Automatic Spell Checking on the Menu bar or click the Toggle Automatic Spell Checking icon on the Standard toolbar, if visible.
To check grammar while typing, also enable Check spelling as you type.
When using a dictionary that includes words in all uppercase and words with numbers, select Check uppercase words and Check words with numbers.
To check text in headers, footers, frames, and tables when checking spelling, select Check special regions.
Here you can also select which of the user-defined (custom) dictionaries are active, add a new custom dictionary, edit dictionaries, and delete custom dictionaries. Dictionaries installed by the system cannot be deleted. For details on using the Available Language Modules and User-defined Dictionaries sections, please see the Help.
Tip
When checking spelling, words marked “Add to Dictionary” are added by default to the standard dictionary. Words marked “Ignore All” are added to the List of Ignored Words dictionary. See Chapter 2, Working with Text: Basics.
You can add a variety of custom (user-defined) dictionaries, including a dictionary of exceptions (words to be avoided, which will be marked as incorrect) or dictionaries of project-specific terms (words that will not be marked as incorrect). You can then select which, if any, of these custom dictionaries to use (in addition to a standard dictionary) when setting up a document.
For more information, see Writing Aids in the Help.
Language Tool is a multilingual grammar, style, and spelling checker provided by https://languagetool.org/. Its use is not described in this guide; please see the website for details.
If you have an API key for LanguageTool, you can activate the tool by selecting Enable LanguageTool in Languages and Locales > LanguageTool Server, then supply the requested information (Base URL, Username, and API Key).
LibreOffice can check sentences in many languages. These checkers are enabled by default if the language is the computer’s default language, and others can be added using the Extensions dialog (see page 1). The set of rules for the sentence checkers depends on the language.
On the Language Settings > English Sentence Checking page (which is now at the bottom of the list of options pages, not under Languages and Locales), you can choose which items are checked for, reported to you, or converted automatically. This menu is also found in the English dictionaries extension installed by default by LibreOffice (select Tools > Extensions, select English spelling dictionaries and click the Options button to reveal the menu). Select which of the optional features you wish to check (see Chapter 2, Working with Text: Basics).
After selecting the additional grammar checks, restart LibreOffice or reload the document for them to take effect.
You can add to and rearrange menus on the Menu bar, add commands to menus, and make other changes. You can also modify context (right-click) menus in a similar way.
To customize a menu, choose Tools > Customize. On the Customize dialog, go to the Menus tab (Figure 19) or the Context Menus tab.
Figure 19: The Menus tab of the Customize dialog
In the Scope drop-down list in the upper right of the Customize dialog, choose whether to apply the customized menu to all of LibreOffice Writer or only to a specific document.
In the Target drop-down list, select the menu to customize. The list includes the main menus and submenus. The commands on the selected menu are shown in the Assigned Commands list.
To add a command to the selected menu, click on a command in the Available Commands list and then click the large right arrow. To narrow the search, use the Search box on the top left or select the Category in the drop-down list. Use the up and down arrows on the right-hand side to move the command into the required position in the list.
To remove a command from the selected menu, click on it in the Assigned Commands list and then click the large left arrow.
To insert a separator or submenu, select the item directly before where you want the inserted item to appear, and use the commands in the Insert drop-down.
Figure 20: Insert drop-down
To rename a menu item, select it in the Assigned Commands list and choose Rename in the Modify drop-down.
Figure 21: Modify drop-down
When finished making changes, click OK to save them.
You might find a “Favorites” menu useful, or a menu collecting tools for a specific project.
To create a new menu:
On the Menus tab of the Customize dialog, click the symbol next to Target and select Add in the drop-down list (Figure 22) to display the New Menu dialog (Figure 23).
Figure 22: Location of command to add a new menu
Type a name for the new menu in the Menu name box.
Use the up and down arrow buttons to move the new menu into the required position on the Menu bar.
Click OK to save and return to the Customize dialog.
The new menu now appears on the list of menus in the Customize dialog. It will appear on the Menu bar itself after you save the customizations.
After creating a new menu, add some commands to it as described above for modifying a menu.
Figure 23: Adding a new menu
You can customize toolbars in several ways, including choosing which icons are visible and locking the position of a docked toolbar (as described in Chapter 1, Introducing Writer), and adding or deleting icons (commands) in the list of those available on a toolbar. You can also create new toolbars.
The procedures for creating and modifying a toolbar are similar to those for menus.
Choose Tools > Customize on the Menu bar.
On the Toolbars tab of the Customize dialog (Figure 24), in the Scope drop-down list on the upper right, choose whether to save this changed toolbar for Writer or for a selected document.
In the Target drop-down list, select the toolbar that you want to customize. The current toolbar content is displayed in the Assigned Commands list.
Select a command in the Available Commands list on the left. To narrow your search, use the Search box on the top left or choose a category in the drop-down list just below.
Click on the large right arrow to add the selected command to the Assigned Commands list for the toolbar (on the right). Use the up and down arrows in the far right to position the command in the toolbar.
To remove a command from a toolbar, select it in the Assigned Commands list on the right and click the large left arrow.
To show or hide a command assigned to a toolbar, select or clear the checkbox by its icon in the Assigned Commands list on the right.
To insert a separator, select the item directly before the separator is to appear, and choose Insert Separator in the Insert drop-down.
To rename a toolbar item, select it in the Assigned Commands list and choose Rename in the Modify drop-down.
Other choices on the Modify drop-down include Change Icon, Reset Icon, and Restore Default Command.
When all changes have been made, click OK to save them.
Figure 24: The Toolbars tab of the Customize dialog
To create a new toolbar:
Choose Tools > Customize on the Menu bar.
On the Toolbars tab of the Customize dialog, click the symbol next to Target and select Add in the list, to display the Name dialog.
On the Name dialog, type the new toolbar's name and choose in the Save In drop-down list where to save this new toolbar: for Writer or for a selected document.
The new toolbar now appears on the list of toolbars in the Customize dialog. After creating a new toolbar, you need to add some commands to it, as described above.
Toolbar buttons usually have icons, not words, on them, but not all of the commands have associated icons. If the command does not have an icon, you can choose an icon for it. To choose an icon, select the command in the list on the right, and click Modify > Change Icon. On the Change Icon dialog (Figure 25), scroll through the available icons, select one, and click OK to assign it to the command.
To use a custom icon, create it in a graphics program and import it into LibreOffice by clicking the Import button on the Change Icon dialog. Custom icons should be 24×24 pixels in size to achieve the best quality and should not contain more than 256 colors.
Figure 25: Change Icon dialog
By default, LibreOffice Writer’s commands are grouped in cascading menus and in toolbars filled with icons—the standard user interface described in Chapter 1. In addition, Writer provides other user interface variations, displaying contextual groups of commands and contents. These are described in Chapter 21, User Interface Variants.
You can switch between these user interfaces and the standard interface at any time.
In three variants (Tabbed, Tabbed Compact, and Groupedbar Compact), the area at the top of the workspace is divided into tabs, where each tab displays a set of icons grouped by context. The context can change depending on the object selected in the document, for example a table or an image.
After one of these variants has been selected (using View > User Interface), you can use the checkboxes on the Notebookbar tab of the Customize dialog (Figure 26) to show and hide the individual options on the various tabs that are provided in that user interface.
Use the Reset button to reset the selected configuration to the default settings.
Figure 26: The Notebookbar tab of the Customize dialog
In addition to the built-in keyboard shortcuts, you can define others. You can assign shortcuts to standard LibreOffice functions or your own macros and save them for use with Writer or with the entire LibreOffice suite.
To adapt shortcut keys to your needs, use the Keyboard tab of the Customize dialog (Figure 27).
Choose whether to have the shortcut key assignment available in all components of LibreOffice or only in Writer.
Select the desired shortcut key in the Shortcut Keys list at the top of the page.
Select the required function in the Category and Function lists.
Click the Assign button. The selection now appears in the Keys list on the lower right.
Click OK to accept the change.
Repeat as required.
Note
Shortcut keys that are grayed-out in the listing on the Customize dialog, such as F1 and F10, are not available for reassignment.
Figure 27: Defining keyboard shortcuts for applying styles
Changes to the shortcut key assignments can be saved in a keyboard configuration file for use at a later time, so you can create and apply different configurations as needed. To save keyboard shortcuts to a file:
After making keyboard shortcut assignments, click the Save button at the right of the Customize dialog (Figure 27).
On the Save Keyboard Configuration dialog, type a name for the keyboard configuration file in the File name box, or select an existing file from the list. Browse to the location where you want to save the file. (The file extension is .cfg for Configuration.)
Click Save. A confirmation dialog appears if you are about to overwrite an existing file, otherwise there will be no feedback and the file will be saved.
To load a saved keyboard configuration file and replace your existing configuration, click the Load button on the Customize dialog, and then select the configuration file on the Load Keyboard Configuration dialog.
To reset all of the keyboard shortcuts to their default values, click the Reset button on the Customize dialog. Use this feature with care; no confirmation dialog will be displayed.
In LibreOffice, when something happens, we say that an event occurred. For example, a document is opened, a key is pressed, or the mouse moved. You can associate a macro with an event, so the macro is run when the event occurs. For example, a common use is to assign the “open document” event to run a macro that performs certain setup tasks for the document.
To associate a macro with an event, use the Events tab of the Customize dialog. For more information, see the Getting Started Guide.
An extension is a package that can be installed into LibreOffice to add new functionality. Template sets, spelling dictionaries, clipart galleries, macros, and dialog libraries can be packaged as LibreOffice extensions. They can add new top-level menus, submenus, or toolbar icons. Extensions may also have their own settings.
Several extensions are shipped bundled with LibreOffice and are installed with the program. These can only be removed by changing the installation options. Others can be downloaded from various websites. The official extension repository is located at https://extensions.libreoffice.org/. These extensions are free of charge.
Some extensions from other sources are free of charge; others are available for a fee. Check the descriptions to see what licenses and fees apply to the ones that interest you.
To install an extension that is listed in the repository, follow these steps:
In LibreOffice, select Tools > Extensions on the Menu bar.
In the Extensions dialog (Figure 28), click Get more extensions online.
An internet browser window opens. Find and select the extension you want to install and download it to your computer.
After the extension is downloaded and saved, return to the Extensions dialog and click Add. Find and select the extension you want to install and click Open. The extension begins installing. You may be asked to accept a license agreement.
When the installation is complete, the extension is listed in the Extensions dialog.
To install an extension that is not listed in the repository, download the extension, then continue with step 4) above.
Click the Check for Updates button on the Extensions dialog to check for updates to installed extensions.
To remove (uninstall) an extension that you installed, select the extension in the Extensions dialog and click the Remove button.
To disable an extension without removing (uninstalling) it, select the extension in the main window of the Extensions dialog and click the Disable button, which then changes to Enable.
Figure 28: Using the Extensions dialog
LibreOffice supports PostScript (.pfb), TrueType (.ttf), and OpenType (.otf) font file formats. Other font formats may be supported by your operating system, but these formats may be limited in selection and quality.
If you have administration privileges, you can install additional fonts through your operating system; they will then be available for use by LibreOffice and will appear in Writer’s font lists.
In addition to proprietary fonts from sources like Adobe, hundreds of free-licensed fonts are available. You can use, share, and edit free-licensed fonts as you please. Most are available at no cost. Many are clones or near-variations of classic fonts, but some are original fonts.
Many Linux distributions include a few free-licensed fonts in their package repositories. Other places where you can find free-licensed fonts include The League of Moveable Type (https://www.theleagueofmoveabletype.com/) and the Font Library (https://fontlibrary.org/).
To add custom colors to a color palette, for example to exactly match a corporate color scheme, follow this procedure:
Insert any drawing object, such as a square, into any document.
Right-click on the object and choose Area in the context menu.
Go to the Color tab (Figure 29). Under Colors > Palette, choose which palette you wish to add the new color to. Under New, define the new color using RGB or Hex notation, or click the Pick button to select the color on the Pick a Color dialog (Figure 30).
Click Add in the lower left corner, enter a name for the new color in the pop-up dialog, and click OK (not shown in the illustration) to save.
Delete the drawing object from the document, if it is not needed.
Figure 29: Defining a new color
Figure 30: Defining a color by picking it from a color chart
Document themes collect various format selections into a set that can be applied and changed with two clicks. This feature is mainly for compatibility with Microsoft Office, through the import and export filter. Theme colors were implemented in LibreOffice Writer 7.6; font and format settings are planned for a later release.
LibreOffice supplies several sets of theme colors. To define your own set:
Choose Format > Theme on the Menu bar. In the Theme dialog (Figure 31), select a theme to use as a starting point and click Add.
In the Theme Color Edit dialog (Figure 32), name the new theme and select colors from any available palette.
Click OK to save the new theme, which will now appear in the Theme dialog.
See Chapter 6, Formatting Pages: Advanced, for instructions on using document themes.
Note
User-defined theme color sets are saved only in the document; to use them in other documents, you need to make a template.
Themes enhance compatibility with Microsoft Word. However, they are not yet part of ODF (OpenDocument Format), so you need to save the document in the ODF 1.3 Extended format to use them.
Figure 31: Theme dialog
Figure 32: Creating a new theme
