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1 – Digital Documentation

SESSION 1: CREATE AND APPLY STYLES IN THE DOCUMENT

SESSION 2: INSERT AND USE IMAGES
SESSION 3: CREATE AND USE TEMPLATE
SESSION 4: CREATE AND CUSTOMIZE TABLE OF CONTENTS
SESSION 5: IMPLEMENT MAIL MERGE

SESSION 1 : CREATE AND APPLY STYLES IN THE DOCUMENT

• There are two ways of creating an attractive digital document in Writer: manually formatting a
document or by applying styles.
• To avoid inconsistency in formatting and reduce time and effort in formatting a document, we
use Styles in Writer.
• A style is a collection of all formatting information, which you want to save and then apply on
the document. For example, following details of Font can be stored as a style with the name
‘Title style’. Size – 12 , Name – Bookman Old Style, Weight –Bold, Alignment – Left
• A style is a set of formats that you can apply to selected pages, text, frames, and other
elements in your document to quickly change their appearance.
• When you apply a style, you apply a whole group of formats at the same time.
• Styles are logical attributes. For example, you can define a set of font characteristics and call it
Title or Heading 1.
• Styles mean that you shift the emphasis from what the text looks like to what the text is.

Advantages of styles-
• Styles maintain consistency in a document.
• It makes formatting changes very fast- just change the style’s formatting features and it will be
instantly applied to all the places based on this style.
• The changes are easily replicable across all the objects with the same style. For example, you
may decide to change the indentation of all paragraphs, or change the font of all titles.

Types of styles-
OpenOffice.org supports the following types of styles:
✓ Page styles include margins, headers and footers, borders and backgrounds.
✓ Paragraph styles control all aspects of a paragraph’s appearance, such as text alignment,
tab stops, line spacing, and borders, and can include character formatting.
✓ Character styles affect selected text within a paragraph, such as the font and size of text, or
bold and italic formats.
✓ Frame styles are used to format graphic and text frames, including wrapping type, borders,
backgrounds, and columns.
✓ Numbering styles apply similar alignment, numbering or bullet characters, and fonts to
numbered or bulleted lists.
✓ Cell styles include fonts, alignment, borders, background, number formats (for example,
currency, date, number), and cell protection.
✓ Graphics styles in drawings and presentations include line, area, shadowing, transparency,
font, connectors, dimensioning, and other attributes.
✓ Presentation styles include attributes for font, indents, spacing, alignment, and tabs.
Styles and Formatting window-
All the styles related information and management happens through a special floating or dockable
window in Writer, known as Styles and Formatting window. It can be opened in 3 ways-
i) By the command Format → Styles and Formatting
ii) By clicking on Styles and Formatting button on Formatting toolbar
iii) By pressing F11 key

Writer provides six Style categories, which are as follows:

(a) Page –It defines basic page layout like page size, its margin, placement of header and footer,
footnote, borders and background. A document can have one or many page styles.
(b) Paragraph –A paragraph begins and ends by pressing Enter key. Paragraph formatting includes
tab stops, text alignment, line spacing and borders. Usually, it also includes Character styling
attributes.
(c) Character – This styling is used to work on block of letters, i.e. word(s) in the paragraph instead
of the whole paragraph. By using character styles, you can change the appearance of a part of a
paragraph without affecting the other part. Character styles allow changing the text colour, text
size, highlighting text and emphasizing it.
(d) Frame – using frames, a document can be organised in sections, so that each section of the
page can have a different appearance. Frames are like containers, which can hold text, graphics
and lists. Therefore, applying Frame Styles allows to format a frame by specifying its size, position,
border and how the text is placed around the picture.
(e) List – to style lists in a document, the Writer provides a separate category. It can be used to
style lists by putting numbering or bullets of a different kind or specify numeric format.
(f) Table – using tables, a large amount of information can be organised and presented effectively.
Table Style category allows to format a table by adding borders, using different text or border
colour(s), aligning text inside the table, having different patterns or text colour.

Applying styles
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 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 OpenOffice
component you are using.
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.
Using Fill Format mode
• Fill format mode is used 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.
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.
4) To quit Fill Format mode, click the Fill Format mode icon again or press the Esc key.

Creating New (Custom) Styles

There are 2 ways to create a new style-
1. Creating a new style from a selection
2. Dragging And Dropping To Create A Style

You can create a new style by copying an existing manual

format. This new style applies only to this document; it
will not be saved in the template.
1. Open the Styles and Formatting window and choose
the type of style you want to create.
2. In the document, select the item you want to save as a style.
3. In the Styles and Formatting window, click on the New Style from Selection icon.
4. In the Create Style dialog, type a name for the new style. The list shows the names of existing
custom styles of the selected type. Click OK to save the new style.

Dragging And Dropping To Create A Style

You can drag and drop a text selection into the Styles and Formatting window to create a new
style. If Paragraph Styles are active, the paragraph style will be added to the list. If Character Styles
are active, the character style will be added to the list.

Modifying Styles
Ways to modify styles-
• Updating a style from a selection
• Load or copy styles from another document or template
Any changes you make to a style are effective only in the current document.

Updating A Style From A Selection

1. Open the Styles and Formatting window.
2. In the document, select an item that has the format
you want to adopt as a style.
3. In the Styles and Formatting window, select the style
you want to, then long-click on the arrow next to the New Style from Selection icon and click on
Update Style.

Loading Styles From A Template Or Document

You can copy styles by loading them from a template or another document:
1. Open the document you want to copy styles into.
2. In the Styles and Formatting window, long-click on the arrow next to the New Style from
Selection icon, and then click on Load Styles.

3. On the Load Styles dialog , find and select the template you want to copy styles from.
4. Select the categories of styles to be copied. Select Overwrite if you want the styles being copied
to replace any styles of the same names in the document you are copying them into.
5. Click OK to copy the styles.

SESSION 2. INSERT AND USE IMAGES

Images - Introduction
✓ A picture is a digital image, which is representation of image in finite set of digital values 0 or 1,
known as pixels.
✓ These are stored in various types of graphics files with the file extension, such as GIF, JPG, JPEG,
PNG, BMP, etc.
✓ A document containing pictures is always easier to understand than a pure text document.
✓ Pictures have visual appeal, as our brain responds quickly to colors in comparison to any other
form of information.
✓ A picture can be a drawing, chart, photo, logo, graph, or single video frame.

Images can be added to a document in several ways: by inserting an image file, directly from a
graphics program or a scanner, or from the OOo Gallery.
• When the image is in a file stored on the computer, you can insert it into an Open Office
document using either of the following methods:
1. Drag and drop
2. Insert picture dialog
3. Inserting An Image From The Clipboard
4. Inserting An Image Using A Scanner
5. Inserting An Image From The Gallery

Inserting An Image File

There are 2 types of graphics that can be added to a document-
i) Drawing Objects – These include autoshapes, curves ,lines and graphic textart.
ii) Pictures – These are graphics that were created using specific programs or from other
files. It includes bitmap, scanned pics, photos and gallery pictures.
When the image is in a file stored on the computer, you can insert it into an OOo document using
either of the following methods:
➢ Drag and drop
1. Open a file browser window and locate the image you want to insert.
2. Drag the image into the Writer document and drop it where you want it to appear. A faint
vertical line marks where the image will be dropped. To link the file instead of embedding it, hold
down the Control+Shift keys while dragging the image.
➢ Insert Picture dialog
1. Click in the OOo document where you want the image to appear.
2. Choose Insert > Picture > From File from the menu bar.
3. On the Insert Picture dialog , navigate to the file to be inserted, select it, and click Open.
Note-
To see the Drawing toolbar click on, View → Toolbar → Drawing

Inserting An Image by linking

• If multiple copies of the same image are required to be inserted in the document, it is
beneficial to save the link of image instead of inserting the image.
• Inserting a link, stores its reference instead of the image itself, thereby reduces the size of the
document, because actual image is saved only once as a separate file along with the document.

Inserting a Drawing Object-

On the Drawing toolbar, click the shape you want. Drag the shape to the required size.
Change Fill Style / Fill Colour in an object-
Click on Format → Object → Area. From the Area tab, select fill style and a colour.
Insert Graphic TextArt-
From the Drawing toolbar, choose Fontwork Gallery. Double click the text art required. Resize it
accordingly.

Inserting An Image From The Clipboard

1. Open both the source document and the target document.
2. In the source document, select the image to be copied. (Ctrl +C)
3. Switch to the target document. Press Control+V to insert the image.

Inserting An Image From The Gallery

The Gallery provides a convenient way to group reusable objects such as graphics and sounds that
you can insert into your documents. By default, the Gallery is docked above the Writer workspace.
1. Choose Tools > Gallery from the menu bar.
2. To insert the picture, click and drag it from the Gallery into the Writer document. You can also
right-click on the picture and choose Insert>Copy.

Modifying An Image
• Using the Picture toolbar • Cropping
• Resizing • Rotating pictures

Using The Picture Toolbar

When you insert an image or select one already present in the document, the Picture toolbar
appears. You can set it to always be present (View > Toolbars > Picture).
Two other toolbars can be opened from this one: the Graphic Filter toolbar, and the Color toolbar.
From these three toolbars, you can apply small corrections to the graphic or obtain special effects.
Graphics mode
You can change color images to grayscale by selecting the image and then selecting Grayscale
from the Graphics mode list.
Flip vertically or horizontally
To flip an image vertically or horizontally, select the image, and then click the relevant icon.
Color
Use this toolbar to modify the individual RGB color components of the image (red, green, blue) as
well as the brightness, contrast, and gamma of the image
Transparency
Modify the percentage value in the Transparency box on the Picture toolbar to make the image
more transparent. This is particularly useful when creating a watermark or when wrapping the
image in the background.
Filters

Cropping Images
Cropping means removing a section from an image starting from its boundary. To start cropping
the image, right click on it and select Picture from the pop-up menu. In the Picture dialog box,
select the Crop page. Clicking on the Original Size button restores the original image size. In the
Crop page, you can control the following parameters:
• Keep scale / Keep image size
When Keep scale is selected (default), cropping the image does not change the scale of the
picture.
When Keep image size is selected, cropping produces enlargement (for positive cropping values),
shrinking (for negative cropping values), or distortion of the image so that the image size remains
constant.
• Left, Right, Top, and Bottom
The image is cropped by the amount entered in these boxes. For example, a value of 3cm in the
Left box cuts 3 cm from the left side of the picture.
• Width and Height
The Width and Height fields under either Scale or Image size change as you enter values in the
Left, Right, Top, and Bottom fields.

Resizing an Image
1. Click the picture, if necessary, to show the green resizing handles.
2. Position the pointer over one of the green resizing handles. The pointer changes shape giving a
graphical representation of the direction of the resizing.
3. Click and drag to resize the picture. Release the mouse button when satisfied with the new size.
Note-
❑ In the Type page of the Picture dialog box, select the Relative option to toggle between
percentage and actual dimension. For a scaled resizing, select the Keep ratio option. The
corner handles resize both the width and the height of the graphic object simultaneously, while
the other four handles only resize one dimension at a time.
❑ To retain the original proportions of the graphic, Shift+click one of the corner handles, then
drag. Be sure to release the mouse button before releasing the Shift key

Rotating a Picture
There is no option in OpenOffice Writer to rotate the image within a document. If you need to
rotate an image 90 degrees, we suggest rotating the image using an image editor or in any other
Open office components like Impress or Draw. Then, copy the picture back to Writer page.

Creating Drawing Objects

• Display the Drawing toolbar , by clicking View > Toolbars > Drawing

To use a drawing tool:

1. Select the tool from Drawing toolbar. The mouse pointer changes to a drawing-function pointer.
2. Move the cross-hair pointer to the place in the document where you want the graphic to appear
and then click-and-drag to create the drawing object. Release the mouse button.
3. To cancel the selected drawing function, press the Esc key or click on the Select icon (the arrow)
on the Drawing toolbar.
4. You can now change the properties (fill color, line type and weight, anchoring, and others) of the
drawing object using either the Drawing Object Properties toolbar or the choices and dialog boxes
reached by right-clicking on the drawing object.

To set the properties for a drawing object before you draw it:
1. On the Drawing toolbar , click the Select tool.
2. On the Drawing Object Properties toolbar, click on the icon for each property and select the
value you want for that property.
3. For more control, or to define new attributes, you can click on the Area or Line icons on the
toolbar to display detailed dialog boxes.
✓ The default you set applies to the current document and session.
✓ It is not retained when you close the document or close Writer, and it does not apply to any
other document you open.
✓ The defaults apply to all the drawing objects except text objects.

Resizing a Drawing Object

• Select Format > Object > Position and Size from the menu bar.
• Use the Position and Size dialog box to set the width and height independently.
• If the Keep ratio option is selected, then the two dimensions change so that the proportion is
maintained, allowing for a scaled resizing.
Grouping Drawing Objects
• Select one object, then hold down the Shift key and select the others you want to include in the
group. The bounding box expands to include all the selected objects.
• With the objects selected, hover the mouse pointer over one of the objects and choose Format
> Group > Group from the menu bar or right-click and choose Group > Group from the pop-up
menu.
• You cannot include an embedded or linked graphic in a group with drawing objects.

Positioning Image/Graphics Within The Text

Positioning of a graphic is controlled by four settings:
• When you add a graphic to a text document, you need to choose how to position it with
respect to the text and other graphics.
• Positioning of a graphic is controlled by four settings:
1. Arrangement refers to the placement of a graphic on an imaginary vertical axis. It controls how
graphics are stacked upon each other or relative to the text. It determines the position of the
current drawing with respect to other drawings or text. Its arrangement tools are - Bring to Front,
Forward One, Back One, Send to Back, To Foreground, To Background.
2. Alignment refers to the vertical or horizontal placement of a graphic in relation to the chosen
anchor point. An image can be aligned in six different styles – 3 horizontal and 3 vertical.
3. Anchoring refers to the reference point for graphics. This point could be the page, or frame
where the object is, a paragraph, or even a character. An image always has an anchor point. So
whenever a page, paragraph, character or frame is aligned, the anchored image moves with it.
4. Text wrapping It allows the placement of image in relation to text. Text Wrapping tools are
available under Drawing Object Properties Toolbar. There are six choices, namely Wrap
off, Page Wrap, Optimal Page Wrap, Wrap left, Wrap right, Wrap through.

SESSION : 3 CREATE AND USE TEMPLATE

• A template is a model that you use to create other documents.
• Templates can contain anything that regular documents can contain, such as text, graphics, a
set of styles, and user-specific setup information such as measurement units, language, the
default printer, and toolbar and menu customization.
• It can also contain predefined text, saving you from having to type it every time you create a
new document. For example, a letter template may contain your name, address and salutation.
• If you have not specified a default template, Open Office uses the blank template for that type
of document that is installed with Open Office.
• All documents in OpenOffice.org are based on templates.
• You can create a specific template for any document type (text, spreadsheet, drawing,
presentation).
• If you do not specify a template when you start a new document, then the document is based
on the default template for that type of document.

Steps to view & use sample templates:-

1. Go to File->New. Different types of templates will be displayed.
2. Select any of the templates by double-clicking on it.

Creating a Template
You can create your own templates in two ways: from a document, and using a wizard.

Creating A Template From A Document

1. Open a new or existing document of the type you want to make into a template (text document,
spreadsheet, drawing, presentation).
2. Add the content and styles that you want.
3. From the main menu, choose File > Templates > Save.

Template Dialog
1. In the New template field, type a name for the new template.
2. In the Categories list, click the category to which you want to assign the template.
3. Click OK to save the new template.
Templates can also contain predefined text, saving you from having to type it every time you
create a new document. For example, a letter template may contain your name, address and
salutation.

Creating a template using a wizard:

You can use wizards to create templates for letters, faxes, agendas, presentations, and Web pages.
The wizard guides you through a set of options.
1. From the main menu, choose File > Wizards >[type of template required]
2. Follow the instructions on the pages of the wizard.
3. In the last section of the wizard, you can specify the name and location for saving the template.
4. Finally, you have the option of creating a new document from your template immediately, or
manually changing the template.

Setting A Default Template

• If you create a document by choosing File > New > Text Document (or Spreadsheet,
Presentation, or Drawing) from the main menu, Open Office creates the document from the
Default template for that type of document. ‘
• You can, however, set a custom template to be the default. You can reset the default later if
you choose.
To set a custom template as the default:
1. From the main menu, choose File > Templates > Organize. The Template Management dialog
opens.
2. In the box on the left, select the folder containing the template that you want to set as the
default, then select the template.
3. Click the Commands button and choose Set As Default Template from the drop-down menu.

Resetting the default Template

To re-enable Open Office’s Default template for a document type as the default:
1. In the Template Management dialog, click any folder in the box on the left.
2. Click the Commands button and choose Reset Default Template from the drop-down menu.
The next time that you create a document by choosing File > New, the document will be created
from Open Office’s Default template for that document type.

SESSION 4. CREATE AND CUSTOMIZE TABLE OF CONTENTS

• A table is a grid, an arrangement of rectangles, or cells, in rows and column. You can use tables
to format all or part of your document into columns and rows. You need tables because they
are the best way to organize graphics, columns, headings and rows.
• Column- A column is a grouping of cells that run from the top to the bottom of a page.
• Rows- Row is a grouping of cells that run from the left to right of a page.
• Cell- The intersection point between a row and a column is a cell.

Table of Contents
❑ The Table of Contents (TOC) consists of headings and subheadings of a book or document.
❑ It includes titles or first level headings, such as chapter names and sometimes it even includes
2nd level headings and even 3rd level headings.
❑ It acts as a map for the users.
❑ It allows the users to find the information in the document using the chapter names and page
numbers.
❑ Characteristics of a good table of contents-
✓ It should be easy to read and simple to use.
✓ It should be organized and formatted properly.
✓ It must be accurate and easily accessible.
✓ It should be given after the title and copyright.

Creating Table of contents-

❑ Writer supports up to 10 levels of headings H1 to H10.
❑ Writer’s table of contents feature lets you build an automated table of contents from the
headings in your document.
❑ Before you start, make sure that the headings are styled consistently.
❑ For example, you can use the Heading 1 style for chapter titles and the Heading 2 and
Heading 3 styles for chapter subheadings.
❑ The correct ToC will be generated only if proper paragraph styling for headings is applied to
the document.
❑ Place the cursor where you want the table of contents to be inserted.
❑ Select Insert > Indexes and Tables > Indexes and Tables.
❑ Change nothing in the Insert Index/Table dialog. Click OK.
To update the table of contents -
❑ Place the cursor within the table of contents.
❑ Right-click and select Update Index/Table from the pop-up menu.

To set the table's basic attributes:

1. From the Type drop-down list in the Type and title area of the tab, select Table of Contents if it
isn't already selected.
2. From the drop-down list in the Create index/table area, select Entire document.
3. In the Create from area, check the Outline check box.
4. In the Create from area, clear the Index marks check box.
5. To protect the table of contents from being changed accidentally, check the Protected against
manual changes check box.

Protecting Against Manual Changes

▪ To protect the table of contents from being changed accidentally, check the Protected against
manual changes check box.
▪ If this box is checked, the table of contents can only be changed using the context menu or the
Insert Table/Index window.
▪ If the box isn't checked, the table of contents can be changed directly on the document page,
just like other text.

Changing The Number Of Levels

▪ By default, Writer evaluates 10 levels of headings when it builds the table of contents.
▪ To change the number of levels evaluated, enter the desired number in the Evaluate up to level
spin box.

Customisation of ToC
▪ Once the ToC is inserted, we can customise it according to our requirements.
▪ To do so, right click anywhere on the ToC and select Edit Index option from the popup menu.
▪ The Table of Contents dialog box has five tabs – Index, Entries, Styles, Columns and
Background.
▪ The changes made will be reflected in the Preview section of the dialog box.
▪ Index Tab: is active by default after opening the Table of Contents to insert the ToC.
▪ Entries Tab: contains options to set styles for various entries in the ToC.
▪ Styles Tab: contains options to apply the desired styles to the text of each level in the table of
contents.
▪ Columns Tab: contains options to set the number of columns that we want to have in our ToC.
▪ Background Tab: contains options to change the background of the ToC. The current
background color will be displayed in the Active Color window.

Assigning Custom Styles

Writer automatically assigns to the table of contents all paragraphs formatted with the default
heading styles (Heading 1, Heading 2, and so on).
To assign paragraphs formatted with custom styles, follow these steps:
1. In the Create from area, check the Additional Styles check box.
2. Click the (...) button to the right of the check box. The Assign Styles window opens.
3. In the Not applied column, click the style that you want to assign to the table of contents.
4. Use the >> button to move the selected style to the desired outline level. To move the style in
the opposite direction, use the << button.
5. Click OK to save your changes and return to the Index/Table tab. Or, click Cancel to return
without saving your changes.

Opening Writer's Table Of Contents Feature

Creating a quick table of contents is simple:
1. When you create your document, use the following paragraph styles for different heading levels
(such as chapter and section headings): Heading 1, Heading 2, and Heading 3. These are what will
appear in your table of contents. You can use more levels of headings, but the default setting is to
use only the first three levels in the table of contents.
2. Place the cursor where you want the table of contents to be inserted.
3. Select Insert > Indexes and Tables > Indexes and Tables.
4. Change nothing in the Insert Index/Table dialog. Click OK.

Using the Index/Table tab

Use the Index/Table tab, to set the table's attributes.

Using The Entries Tab

Use the Entries tab, pictured in Illustration 3 on page 4, to format the entries in the table of
contents. For each outline level, you can add and delete elements, such as chapter numbers, and
you can also apply character styles to individual elements.
The Structure line displays the elements for entries in that level. Each button on the Structure line
represents one element:
• The E# button represents the chapter number.
• The E button represents the entry text.
• The T button represents a tab stop.
• The # button represents the page number.
• The LS button represents the start of a hyperlink.
• The LE button represents the end of a hyperlink.
• Each white field on the Structure line represents a blank space.

Adding Elements
To add an element to the Structure line, follow these steps:
 ✓ 1. Place your cursor in the white field to the left of where you want to insert the element.
✓ 2. Click one of the five buttons that are just below the Structure line. A button representing
the new element appears on the Structure line.
✓ Note that if you insert a hyperlink, you must indicate both the beginning and end of the link.

Deleting Elements
✓ To delete an element from the Structure line, click the button that represents that element
and then press the Delete key on your keyboard.
✓ For example, to delete a tab stop, click the T button and then press the Delete key.

Using The Styles Tab

Use the Styles tab, to apply paragraph styles to the table of contents. You can apply a different
paragraph style to each outline level of the table. To apply a paragraph style to an outline level,
follow these steps:
1. In the Levels list box, select the desired outline level by clicking it.
2. In the Paragraph Styles list box, click the paragraph style that you want to apply.
3. Click the < button to apply the selected paragraph style to the selected outline level.

Using The Background Tab - Use the Background tab, to add color or a graphic to the table
background.
Adding Color - To add color to the background of the table of contents, simply click the desired
color in the color grid.

Adding A Graphic
To add a graphic to the background of the table of contents, follow these steps:
1. The Background tab displays the graphics options.
2. Click the Browse button. The Find Graphics window opens.
3. Find the graphic file that you want to use and then click the Open button.
4. In the Type area of the Background tab, choose how you want the background graphic to
appear:
● To position the graphic in a specific location in the background, select Position and then click the
desired location in the position grid.
● To stretch the graphic so that it fills the entire background area, select Area.
● To repeat the graphic across the entire background area, select Tile.

Deleting Color Or Graphics

To delete color or graphics from the table background, follow these steps:
1. From the As drop-down list, select Color.
2. Click No Fill on the color grid.

Saving The Table Of Contents

To save the table of contents so that the table appears in your document, click OK. The Insert
Index/Table window closes and the table of contents appears in your document.
Deleting A Table Of Contents
To delete the table of contents from a document:
1. Click anywhere in the table of contents and then right click. The context menu appears.
2. From the context menu, choose Delete Index/Table. Writer deletes the table of contents.
SESSION 5. IMPLEMENT MAIL MERGE
Mail Merge-
✓ Mail merge is a feature that enables users to send a similar letter or document to multiple
recipients.
✓ It can also be a quick way to take a list of people’s mailing addresses and generate labels or
envelopes with the address for a different person on each label or envelope.
✓ It’s essential for any person or organization that has a lot of clients, partners, parents and
children, or other people to communicate with.
✓ It is used to create a series of the same document and send it to multiple addresses.
✓ Eg:- To inform customers of a new product. In the document, the company information and
product information will be the same but the recipient information changes.
✓ 2 components of mail merge → Main document , Data Source
✓ Mail merge is the process of merging the main document with the mailing address of various
people.
✓ Main Document : It is the main document that contains the text that is to be send to all the
recipients.
✓ Data Source : It consists of a mailing list containing the contact details of all the recipients like
name, address, city, pin code, telephone number etc.

Method-
Open Writer and create the main document with proper details.
Tools→ Mail merge wizard

8 Steps of mail merge are :

a) Select starting document e) Adjust layout
b) Select document type f) Edit document
c) Insert address block g) Personalize document
d) Create salutation h) Save, print or send

Create a Mail Merge Document: Letter

1. Open a template, if you have one you want to use, or create a new Writer document.
2. Save the document with the appropriate name, with .odt or .ods extension.
3. Create the document.

To Make The Data Source And Entering Data

1. Choose File > New > Database.
2. Select the type of data: spreadsheet data, text file data, your particular type of address book,
or the type of database you’re using like Access or mySQL. It’s very important to select the right
type.
3. Click Next.
4. Save the database file with a proper name. The file will end in .odb and be stored in whatever
directory you choose. It doesn’t have to be in the same directory as the data.
When you’re done viewing your databases, press F4 again to hide the pane.

Merging The Data Source With Main Document

1. Open the letter you want to use.
2. Once you have the letter written out and you know what fields you need, you can delete the
specific data and insert the fields from the database instead.
Press F4. Click the + next to the database you want, then click the + next to Tables and the + next
to the table you want.
3. Now just drag the field you want into the letter, to the place you want it.
4. If you didn’t get it exactly where you want it, just select it, and cut and paste it to the place
where you want it. The easiest way to select a field is to click on the right side of it, hold down the
Shift key, and press the left keyboard key once. Then it’s selected and you can cut or copy.
5. Drag in all the other fields you want, the same way.

Printing Mailing Labels

To prepare mailing labels for printing:
● Choose File > New > Labels.
● On the Options tab, ensure that the Synchronize contents option is selected.
● On the Labels tab (), select the Database and Table. Select the Brand of labels to be used, and
then select the Type of label.
● If you are unable to identify your label product in the list, then you can define the labels you
have. Select the User setting in the Type selection box. Click on the Format tab of the Labels
dialog.

Removing Blank Lines From Labels

● First ensure that the label frames are showing the field contents (data source headings), rather
than their underlying field names. If this is not the case, then either press Ctrl+F9 or choose View >
Field Names to toggle the view.
● Next, ensure that you can see non-printing characters, such as paragraph marks, line breaks and
so on. If these are not already visible, choose View > Nonprinting Characters from the Menu bar,
or press Ctrl+F10, or click on the Nonprinting Characters icon () on the Standard toolbar.

Printing
● Choose File > Print. The message shown in appears. Click Yes to print.
● In the Mail Merge dialog (), you can choose to print all records or selected records. To select
records to be printed, use Ctrl+click to select individual records.
● Click OK to send the labels directly to the printer.
If you prefer to save the labels to a file, perhaps to allow some later editing such as changing the
typeface or paragraph format, then you should select File in the output section of the Mail Merge
dialog, rather than using the default Printer selection.

Note: When you open the output from merged labels, don’t click yes when
you see this message. Click No. If you click Yes accidentally, just close it
without saving, and reopening it, clicking No this time. You’ll see the
merged results.

Very short answer questions (1 Mark)

1. The mail merge wizard is available under Tools menu.
2. You cannot modify your document contents once the mail merge wizard has been started.
(True/False) - Ans. False
3. Which button is used to create a new address list in the mail merge wizard in the step insert
address block?
a) Create Data Source b) Select address List c) More d) None of these
4. The mail merge wizard has total 8 number of steps to complete the process.
5. Which of the following is the last step of the mail merge wizard?
a) Select the document b) Edit the document
c) Personalize document d) Save, Print or send
6. Which of following is not a component of the Office Suite?
(a) Writer (b) Impress (c) Internet Explorer (d) Base
7. The most widely used word processing software in late 1970s was_____________________.
(a) Word Perfect (b) Word (c) Word Star (d) Writer
ANSWER -: WORD STAR
8. Which of the following is the default extension of the writer file?
(a) .obt (b) .doc (c) .odt (d) .docx
9. The character style formats only character, not paragraph.
10. A table of contents is defined by heading arranged in a hierarchical fashion.

Answer the following-

1. What are the options available in the step select starting document?
Ans.: There are 5 options available in the steps to select the starting document.
1. Use the current document
2. Create a new document
3. Start from an existing document
4. Start from template
5. Start from recently saved starting document

2. What are the sub-steps involved in the insert block address step?
Ans.: Select or create an address list. Select the address block. Match the fields
Preview of exact record match

3. Write the steps to apply a style in a text?

Step 1: Select your Text / Paragraph / Heading Step 2: Click on Home Tab
Step 3: Click on Style Group Step 4: Select a Style which you want to apply

4. How to modify a picture?

Ans. Select the picture or drawing object you want to edit.
Click the editing option you would like to use on the Picture toolbar or the Drawing toolbar.
Position or size graphics exactly: On the Format menu, click Picture or AutoShape.
Then, enter your settings in the dialog box.

5. What are drawing object and write its properties?

A Drawing object describes visible content, such as a shape, bitmap, video, or a line of text.
Different types of drawings describe different types of content.
1. You can display it as an image by using a Drawing Image and an Image control.
2. You can use it with a Drawing Brush