Customizing OpenOffice.org

You can customize OpenOffice.org to best suit your needs and working style. Toolbars, menus, and keyboard shortcuts 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 OpenOffice.org help files for detailed instructions.

To access the customization dialog in any open OpenOffice.org module, select Tools+Customize.

Figure 1.1. Customization Dialog in Writer

Customization Dialog in Writer

Procedure 1.1. Customizing Toolbars

  1. In the customization dialog, click the Toolbar tab.

  2. From the Toolbar drop-down list, select the toolbar you want to customize.

  3. Select the check boxes next to the commands you want to appear on the toolbar, and deselect the check boxes next to the commands you do not want to appear. A short description for each command is shown at the bottom of the dialog.

  4. With Save In, select whether to save your customized toolbar in the current OpenOffice.org module or in the current document. If you decide to save it in the OpenOffice.org module, the customized toolbar is used whenever you open that module. If you decide to save it together with the current document, the customized toolbar is used whenever you open that document.

  5. Repeat to customize additional toolbars.

  6. Click OK.

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

Procedure 1.2. Showing or Hiding Buttons in the Toolbar

  1. Click the arrow icon at the right edge of the toolbar you want to change.

  2. Click Visible Buttons to display a list of buttons.

  3. Select the buttons in the list to enable (check) or disable (uncheck) them.

Procedure 1.3. Customizing Menus

You can add or delete items from current menus, reorganize menus, and even create new menus.

  1. Click Tools+Customize+Menus.

  2. Select the menu you want to change, or click New to create a new menu.

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

  3. Modify, add, or delete menu items as desired.

  4. Click OK.

Procedure 1.4. Customizing Keyboard Shortcuts

You can reassign currently assigned keyboard shortcuts and assign new shortcuts to frequently used functions.

  1. Click Tools+Customize+Keyboard.

  2. Select the keys you want to assign to a shortcut.

  3. Select a Category and an appropriate function.

  4. Click Modify to assign the function to the key or Delete to remove an existing assignment.

    [Note]Further Information

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

  5. Click OK.

Procedure 1.5. Customizing Events

OpenOffice.org also provides ways to assign macros to events such as application startup or the saving of a document. The assigned macro runs automatically whenever the selected event occurs.

  1. Click Tools+Customize+Events.

  2. Select the event you want to change.

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

  3. Assign or remove macros for the selected event.

  4. Click OK.