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Besides OpenOffice.org Writer and OpenOffice.org Calc, OpenOffice.org also includes the modules Impress, Base, Draw, and Math. With these you can create presentations, design databases, draw up graphics and diagrams, and create mathematical formulas.
Use OpenOffice.org Impress to create presentations for screen display or printing, such as slide shows or transparencies. If you have used other presentation software, you can move comfortably to Impress, which works very similarly to other presentation software.
Impress can open and save Microsoft Powerpoint presentations. This means you can exchange presentations with Powerpoint users, as long as you save your presentations in Powerpoint format.
The Novell edition of OpenOffice.org allows you to use 3D transitions for your slides. Access the available transitions by selecting
+ .You can either create a new presentation from scratch (without any preformatted slides) or use an existing template or presentation for your new document. Impress uses styles and templates the same way other OpenOffice.org modules do. See Section 1.9, “Using Templates” for more information about templates. A wizard leads you through the available options for creating new presentations.
Start OpenOffice.org Impress directly or in OpenOffice.org, click
+ + .Select one of the options for creating a new presentation.
If you decide to create a presentation from a template, choose one of the templates from the drop-down list and click
.![]() |
From a variety of backgrounds and ready-made presentations, select a slide design. To create your own design, select
.Select an output medium. The output medium is the form the final presentation will take, such an overhead sheet, paper, or a screen slide show, among other choices.
Select
for a thumbnail showing your choices. If all options are set according to your wishes, click .If you want to use effects for slide transitions, select the
you want to use and specify the .Either use the default presentation type or choose
to specify the amount of time each page displays and the length of the pause between presentations.If all options are set according to your wishes, click
.The presentation opens, ready for editing.
Master pages give your presentation a consistent look by defining the way each slide looks, what fonts are used, and other graphical elements. Impress uses two types of master pages:
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.
Determines the formatting and appearance of the notes in your presentation.
Impress comes with a collection of preformatted master pages. Eventually, most users will want to customize their presentations by creating their own slide masters.
Start Impress, then create a new empty presentation.
Click
+ + .This opens the current slide master in
.Right-click the left-hand panel, then click
.Edit the slide master until it has the desired look.
Click
or + to return to .![]() | |
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. |
Slide masters can be applied to selected slides or to all slides in the presentation.
Open your presentation, then click
+ + .(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.
To select multiple slides, pressCtrl in the while clicking on the slides you want to use.
In the Tasks Pane, right-click the master page you want to apply.
If you do not see the
, click + .Apply the slide master by clicking one of the following:
Applies the selected slide master to all slides in the presentation.
Applies the selected slide master to the current slide, or to any slides you select before applying the slide master. For example, if you want to apply a different slide master to the first slide in a presentation, select that slide, then change to
and apply a slide master to that slide.