OpenOffice.org Help TNT: Tips'n'Tricks that somehow didn't make it to the help (yet).

You can write text in columns using any one of the following options:

• Set the page format to columns

• Insert a section with columns

  • Text fills all columns to the same height

  • Text fills first column, then flows into next column

• Use a multi-column table

• Use text frames or linked text frames

Each option has its own advantages and disadvantages.

Set the page format to columns

This looks like the most obvious choice if you need columns on several pages.

To apply columns to the current page style:

• Choose Format – Page – Columns.

This however changes the current page style, which most often will be the "Default" page style. If you want some other pages without columns, you must know or learn how to apply different page styles in the same document.

To define a new page style with columns:

1. Choose Format – Styles and Formatting to open the Styles and Formatting window.

2. Click the Page Styles button in the Styles and Formatting window.

3. Right-click the Default entry to open the context menu.

4. Choose New...

   
   

5. In the Page Style dialog, type the name of your new page style, for example, Two Columns.

6. In the Next Style list box, select the Two Columns style, or the Default style.

   Choosing the same style as next style will continue this page style for the following pages.

   Choosing another style as next style will define the current page style to span one page only.

7. On the Columns tab, select the columns options. Click OK.

8. Now you can apply the new Two Columns style to the current page range by double-clicking the Two Columns name in the Styles and Formatting window.

   For a definition of page ranges, see "The scope of page ranges" in the blog entry http://blogs.sun.com/oootnt/entry/changing_page_orientation

You see, the obvious and simple way to apply columns is simple only if you want to apply columns to the whole document. Otherwise it turns out to become a difficult multi step instruction. Fortunately, there are other ways to get columns that are much simpler to apply.

Insert a section with columns

To apply columns to a part of a page:

1. Choose Insert – Section.

2. Click the Columns tab page and set the options. Click Insert.

The checkbox "Evenly distribute contents to all columns" is enabled by default. The text will flow into the columns so that they all are filled to the same height. The whole section changes its height accordingly.

If you disable the checkbox, text flows into the first column of the section. The section grows down until it reaches the lower page margin. Only then the text will flow into the next column.

You can press the column break key, Ctrl+Shift+Return, to manually jump to the next column. This does the same for columns that the page break key, Ctrl+Return, does for pages.

Use a multi-column table

For some applications you may prefer to insert a multi-column table and enter your text into the cells.

The table offers some formatting features that you may prefer. For example, it is easy to drag-and-drop the cell and table borders to resize the columns. Different backgrounds to the cells are possible, and other options.

Use text frames or linked text frames

This is another option that can be helpful for newsletters, for example. You can read about linked frames in this blog entry: http://blogs.sun.com/oootnt/entry/text_boxes_in_writer_documents and of course the installed application Help has some helpful advice, too.

Tip: before you decide which method to use for your columns in a long document, you may want to test the results of all output options first. Some methods for columns will export to PDF or to HTML better than others.

OpenOffice.org contains many useful features designed to simplify your office tasks. One of those features is the quick and easy drawing of text tables.

Imagine you write a text and need a table with three columns, the first column narrow, the other two wide. You can start drawing that table without the need to reach for the mouse, search that icon, or drag the borders between the columns. Just enter a line like this:

+------+-----------------------+-------------------------+

The very moment that you press Enter at the end of this line, it gets converted into a table, where the plus characters are turned into vertical borders.

(Note that the html format has its own mind where the column borders should be. In Writer they are where you placed the plus characters.)

If that conversion doesn't happen, you might have disabled this feature in the past. Enable "Create table" in Tools - AutoCorrect - Options. Check that Format - AutoFormat - While Typing is enabled, too.

Start the initial line with some space characters to create a table that begins at some distance from the page margin.

While you are in the Tools - AutoCorrect - Options dialog, click the Help button to see what else is available that can automatically change your text.

Sometimes you want to place some text in your Writer document at a position out of normal margins and text lines. In Writer, you use either a graphical text box from the Drawing toolbar, or you use a text frame.

Text box

1. Click the Show Draw Functions icon on the Standard toolbar. This opens the Drawing toolbar at the bottom of the Writer window.

2. Click the T (Text box) icon.

3. Drag open a rectangle where you want the text box.

4. Start to enter your text.

Your text in the text box can be formatted like normal text. Pictures are not allowed inside a text box.

Text frame

1. Choose Insert - Frame. On the dialog, click OK.

2. You see a small standard frame centered between the left and right margins. While it shows the eight green handles, you can move and resize this frame. And you can set the properties for the frame as an object.

3. Click outside the frame to leave the selected object, then click inside the frame to enter text or insert pictures.

 Alternatively, first select the text that you want to see inside a frame, then choose Insert - Frame.

Linked frames

When you create a newsletter, you may want to use linked frames for your story. On page 1 of the newsletter, the text starts with a header and a first chapter, and on page 2 or 3 there is another frame with the remaining text.

1. Create the frames in your document.

2. Click the border of the first frame to select this frame. You see the Frames toolbar.

3. Click the Link frames icon.

4. Now click the next frame to connect the two frames.

Text will flow from the first frame to the second as needed. Only the last frame of a chain of linked frames resizes with the text, all other frames keep their size.

Text boxes and text frames can have borders or no borders, as you like. Open the object's context menu and set the properties. All these text boxes and frames export very well to PDF. When you save your document as html format, you may want to fine-tune the result. And first save the document in OpenDocument ODF format, because you will always lose some formatting when you save to other formats.