Requirements

WRITER has everything you would expect from a modern, fully equipped word processor or desktop publisher.

It's simple enough for a quick memo, powerful enough to create complete books with contents, diagrams, indexes, etc. You're free to concentrate on your message - while WRITER makes it look great.

The Wizards takes all the hassle out of producing standard documents such as letters, faxes, agendas, minutes, or carrying out more complex tasks such as mail merges. You are of course free to create your own templates.

Trap typing mistakes on the fly with the AutoCorrect dictionary, which can check your spelling as you type.

AutoFormat takes care of the formatting as you write, leaving you free to concentrate on your message.

Make your documents freely available with WRITER's HTML export to the web, or publish in Portable Document Format (.pdf) to guarantee that what you write is what your reader sees.

CALC is the spreadsheet program you've always wanted. Newcomers find it intuitive and easy to learn; professional data miners and number crunchers will appreciate the comprehensive range of advanced functions.

Advanced DataPilot technology makes it easy to pull in raw data from corporate databases; cross-tabulate, summarise, and convert it into meaningful information.

Natural language formulas let you create formulas using words (e.g. "sales - costs").

The Intelligent Sum Button inserts a sum function or a subtotal automatically, depending on context.

Wizards guides you through choosing and using a comprehensive range of advanced spreadsheet functions.

Styles and Formatting makes it easy to apply flexible cell formatting options, including freely rotating contents, templates, backgrounds, borders, and many more. You can be your own spreadsheet expert thanks to templates with built-in functions, allowing you to concentrate on your real work.

IMPRESS is a truly outstanding tool for creating effective multimedia presentations. Your presentations will stand out with 2D and 3D clip art, special effects, animation, and high-impact drawing tools.

Master Pages simplify the task of preparing your materials.

A complete range of Views are supported: Drawing / Outline / Slides / Notes / Handouts to meet all the needs of presenters and audiences, plus an optional multi-pane view to put all the tools at your fingertips.

IMPRESS has a complete range of easy-to-use drawing and diagramming tools to spice up your presentation.

Slide show Animation and Effects bring your presentation to life. Fontworks provides stunning 2D and 3D images from text. Create lifelike 3D images with astounding speed and response.

DRAW - from a quick sketch to a complex plan, DRAW gives you the tools to communicate with graphics and diagrams.

'Park' your most commonly used drawing tools around your screen ready for single-click access.

Use Styles and Formatting to put all your graphics styles at your finger tips.

Manipulate objects, rotate in two or three dimensions; the 3D controller puts spheres, rings, cubes, etc. at your disposal.

Arrange objects: group, ungroup, regroup, and edit objects while grouped. Sophisticated rendering let you create photorealistic images with your own texture, lighting effects, transparency, perspective, and so on.

Smart connectors make short work of flowcharts, organisation charts, network diagrams, etc. Define your own 'glue points' for connectors to 'stick' to.

Use the picture Gallery for clipart; create your own art and add it to the Gallery.

Import graphics from all common formats (including BMP, GIF, JPEG, PNG, TIFF, and WMF).

New to Version 2, BASE enables you to manipulate database data seamlessly within Open Office. Create and modify tables, forms, queries, and reports, either using your own database or BASE’s own built-in HSQL database engine. BASE offers a choice of using Wizards, Design Views, or SQL Views for beginners, intermediate, and advanced users.

With BASE, you can:

• Create new tables for your data - and also change them as your needs change
• Maintain indexes on the tables to make data access faster
• View a table in an editing grid and add, change, and delete records
• Use the Report Wizard to produce impressive reports from your data
• Use the Form Wizard to create 'instant' database applications

Using BASE, you can not only browse your data, but also:

• Perform simple (single column) or complex (multi-column) sorts
• View subsets of your data with simple (one-click) or complex (logical query) filters
• Create powerful queries to show your data in new ways, including summaries and multi-table views

MATH is Open Office component for mathematical equations. It is most commonly used as an equation editor for text documents, but it can also be used with other types of documents or stand-alone. When used inside WRITER, the equation is treated as an object inside the text document. Similarly, one can also insert these into other Open Office programs like CALC and IMPRESS.

Using MATH, there are three main ways of entering a formula:

• Type markup in the equation editor.
• Right-click on the equation editor and select the symbol from the context menu.
• Select a symbol from the Selection toolbox.