Writer Introduction

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Writer is a full featured word processor that is both user friendly and professional quality. Writer easily integrates with any Microsoft Word documents you may already have. This book section will begin by exploring the new features offered with OpenOffice 3 and then proceed to the necessary elements to a quick start with Writer. Progressive instruction in Writer and then a projects section will follow.

New Features in OpenOffice 3.1

New Features in OpenOffice 3.0

Of course there is the new look and feel which makes any new product enticing with bright icons and pleasing design. But there are also new features which enhance usability like the ability to read Microsoft Office 2008 formats such as .docx. This will allow you to interface with others who are still using those products.

The multiple pages feature is very slick. Down in the right hand cornet shows one page, two pages and multiple pages. Click on the two page and you can view two pages at the same time.

Combine that with the slider to quickly zoom in an out of Writer and you have some very handy tools when you are working, especially if you are using a bigger screen or dual screens. The slider works smooth and is useful to get the big picture at times.

Another new feature is the ability to place notes in your document. Just select Insert from the File Menu and choose Note and you can place a note in the margin.

The overall feel of Writer is smoother, faster which is nice to see. However, when copying images from an OpenOffice 2 file it crashed initially. There will certainly be some bugs that will get worked out.