EN/documentation/ooo3 user guides/getting started/applying styles

Getting Started with OpenOffice.org 3

Chapter 3. Using Styles and Templates

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• Applying styles
• Modifying styles
• Creating new (custom) styles
• Copying and moving styles
• Deleting styles
• Using a template to create a document
• Creating a template
• Editing a template
• Adding templates using the Extension Manager
• Setting a default template
• Associating a document with a different template
• Organizing templates
• Examples of style use

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OpenOffice.org provides several ways for you to select styles to apply.

Using the Styles and Formatting window

1. Click the Styles and Formatting icon File:Styles3Icon.png located at the left-hand end of the object bar, or click Format > Styles and Formatting, or press F11. The Styles and Formatting window shows the types of styles available for the OOo component you are using. You can move this window to a convenient position on the screen or dock it to an edge (hold down the Ctrl key and drag it by the title bar to where you want it docked).
2. Click on one of the icons at the top left of the Styles and Formatting window to display a list of styles in a particular category.
3. To apply an existing style (except for character styles), position the insertion point in the paragraph, frame, or page, and then double-click on the name of the style in one of these lists. To apply a character style, select the characters first.

At the bottom of the Styles and Formatting window is a dropdown list. In the figure below, the window shows Automatic, meaning the list includes only styles applied automatically by OOo. You can choose to show all styles or other groups of styles, for example only custom styles.

File:StylesFormatWindow2.png

The Styles and Formatting window for Writer, showing paragraph styles.

If you run into an issue where the Styles And Formatting window is locked into a fixed position over top of your document, and cannot be moved, rendering you unable to click anything behind it, the simple fix is to attempt to resize the window. Simply move to the edge of the Styles and Formatting window. When the mouse cursor changes, you can drag it to a new size, and the top of the window will appear again, allowing for movement.

Using Fill Format mode

Use Fill Format to apply a style to many different areas quickly without having to go back to the Styles and Formatting window and double-click every time. This method is quite useful when you need to format many scattered paragraphs, cells, or other items with the same style.

1. Open the Styles and Formatting window and select the style you want to apply.
2. Click the Fill Format mode icon File:FillFormatIcon.png.
3. To apply a paragraph, page, or frame style, hover the mouse over the paragraph, page, or frame and click. To apply a character style, hold down the mouse button while selecting the characters, Clicking on a word applies the character style for that word. Repeat step 3 until you made all the changes for that style.
4. To quit Fill Format mode, click the Fill Format mode icon again or press the Esc key.

When this mode is active, a right-click anywhere in the document undoes the last Fill Format action. Be careful not to accidentally right-click and thus undo actions you want to keep.

Using the Apply Style list

After you have used a style at least once in a document, the style name appears on the Apply Style list at the left-hand end of the Formatting toolbar, next to the Styles and Formatting icon.

You can open this list and click once on the style you want, or you can use the up and down arrow keys to move through the list and then press Enter to apply the highlighted style.

Select More... at the bottom of the list to open the Styles and Formatting window.

File:ApplyStyleList.png

The Apply Style list on the Formatting toolbar.

Using keyboard shortcuts

Some keyboard shortcuts for applying styles are predefined. For example, in Writer Control+0 applies the Text body style, Control+1 applies the Heading 1 style, and Control+2 applies the Heading 2 style. You can modify these shortcuts and create your own; see Chapter 14 (Customizing OpenOffice.org) for instructions.