Starting from the command line
You may want to start OOo from the command line (using the keyboard instead of the mouse). Why? Well, by using the command line, you have more control over what happens when OOo is started. For example, using the command line, you can tell Writer to load a document and print it immediately, or to start without showing the splash screen.
There is more than one way to start OOo from the command line, depending on whether a customized version or the standard download from the OpenOffice.org website has been installed.
If you installed using the download on the OpenOffice.org website, you can start Writer by typing at the command line:
- soffice -writer
or
- swriter
Writer will start and create a new document. Likewise, you can start other OOo components from the command line:
Type of document | Component | Command-line option |
---|---|---|
Text | Writer | -writer |
Spreadsheet | Calc | -calc |
Drawing | Draw | -draw |
Presentation | Impress | -impress |
Formula | Math | -math |
Web page | Writer | -web |
To see a list of options you can use when starting Writer at the command line, type:
- soffice -?
Below is a list of some of the more popular options.
Option | Description |
---|---|
-help | Get a complete list of options. |
-nologo | Do not show the startup screen. |
-show <odp-file> | Start presentation immediately. |
-view <documents ...> | Open documents in viewer (read-only) mode. |
-minimized | Start OOo minimized. |
-norestore | Suppress restart/restore after fatal errors. |
-invisible | No startup screen, no default document and no UI. This is useful for third-party applications that use functionality provided by OOo. |
If you have a customized version of OOo (such as the one provided by Linux Mandrake or Gentoo), you can start Writer by typing at the command line:
- oowriter
Although the command syntax differs, the effect is identical: it starts OOo with an empty Writer document. |
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