Working with Headers and Footers

arun · Guest

Hi,

I started working with OO recently and i kind of got stuck in some areas. Don't know where i went wrong.

I imported the a couple of GIF/JPG images in the Header and Footer, did some formatting work and then saved the document. Again when i opened it, the image was gone and instead the path of the image was getting displayed in it.

Sometimes the images gets distorted when try to move it around while indenting. Even i undo the action, it doesn't work.

I defined my own Styles and created a template in OO. The next time that i opened the template, i was not able to update the Styles after a few attempts.

Has anyone come across these kind of situations? If so, what is the remedy?

Is there a way to do Grammar check in OO?

If i want to have different headers and footers for different pages, i find it difficult to do that as i have to manually define the page layouts. OO offers Page Styles like default, First Page, Left Page, Right Page and etc. but the layout for each page like the left indent, right indent, page size etc. is different from the other. This will affect the uniformity of my document. Is there a way to overcome this?

Will the Headers and Footers always be in the Editable mode?

Regards
Arun

The Liquidator · Posted: Thu Apr 17, 2003 5:18 am Post subject:

" I imported the a couple of GIF/JPG images in the Header and Footer, did some formatting work and then saved the document. Again when i opened it, the image was gone and instead the path of the image was getting displayed in it. "

Simplest things first. On the main toolbar to the left of the document there is a graphics on/off button. It may be set to off. Try clicking that and see if it works.

If not, If you open the navigator (top toolbar) you will see the various components of the document. By right clicking on the reference to the graphic, probably "graphic 1) and selecting "drag mode" you should select "insert as copy".

" I defined my own Styles and created a template in OO. The next time that i opened the template, i was not able to update the Styles after a few attempts."

I'm not sure what you mean by this. A style is something to be followed, although you can modify aspects of it, in the document in question. Can you give me an example of what you are trying to do here please?

" Is there a way to do Grammar check in OO? "

Sadly no. There isn't one in SO6 either.

" If i want to have different headers and footers for different pages"

Are you talking here about a multi-page template (say first page full letterhead and 2nd page continuation etc? OOo is excellent at this. It may sound complex at first.

Create new document. Set up page one as you want it. Then open the stylist . Hit the page styles icon and then the "new style from selection" icon. Give it a name (eg page 1). Then right click on the page and select "page". Select "organiser" and to start with select as "next" default page. Select OK. Hit return into page 2, you should see it as blank. Set it up as you want it then repeat the style creation as above. Call it, say "continuation".

Navigate back to page one and right click on the page. Under "next" select "continuation".

Then go to page 2 and do the same. The principle I am showing you here is that on every page you say what the next one (if any) will follow, instead of the awkward "section break" you use in Word (at least IMHO). So, if you want page 3 to be landscape, you select landscape as next from page 2.

Make sense?

When you have got the thing how you want it, save as OOo template format and it's there ready each time. Takes a while to get the hang of but once you have done it it's done for good.

If you want the header not to be editable, a good way would be to prepare it in OOo draw and then export to jpeg. You can then put the jpeg into the header area.

Hope all this helps

Ian

The Liquidator · Posted: Thu Apr 17, 2003 5:21 am Post subject:

On reviewing my last post I suspect by "updating styles" means that the changes you made to the styles have been lost.

The answer is to set up a blank document, set it up with all your styles in it, then delete all the text and then save as a template.

arun · Guest

Thx for the reply. It has really helped me , if not to the fullest, atleast a little to overcome the problems that i faced. Sorry i took a long time to reply back.

I have another query.

In MS-Word, say u have some text and if u try to insert an image or graphics between them, it works out fine. But iam not able to achieve that in OO. The image appears before the start of the text and not inbetween the text.

In MS-Word, u can align or wrap the text by the side of the image / graphic. In OO, iam not able to do that. Either the text appears before or after the image / graphic but not parallely. How do i overcome this Question

Regards
Arun

The Liquidator · Posted: Fri Apr 18, 2003 2:30 am Post subject:

Hi

That's because of differences in the anchoring systems - Word doesn't seem to have one whereas OOo is more formal. Word is more user-friendly though.

To start get your graphic into the document. Then right click on it so you get green blobs around it and select anchor. You will see 4 anchoring options. Their effects are fairly self-explanatory. I think to accomplish what you want you need to be anchoring "to character" but have a play. Also play around with wrap settings as well, accessible via the right click.

Ian

Arun · Guest

Hi,

The Liquidator · Posted: Fri Apr 18, 2003 3:05 pm Post subject:

Hi

Don't know about the hyperlinks question, as I've never had cause to use them.

So far as the graphic placement is concerned, yes, it's hardly the most straightforward thing you will do.

It will work as you are preparing the paragraph. If you have an existing piece of text, you can't so far as I know simply drag the graphic into place, and will have to hit return after the character immediately prior to where you want the graphic. Then put the graphic into position anchoring "to character". You can then go to the character immediately before, and hit delete to undo the return. Then hit the space bar to wrap the text under the graphic as the previous step will have hidden some of the text.

Not elegant, I know. If the documents need to be saved in Word format, and shared by Word users, I suspect as things are you will be better sticking with Word for this. This might not be faithfully reproduced in Word.

Anyone got an easier way?

Ian

ftack · Posted: Tue Apr 22, 2003 5:54 am Post subject:

I am not sure if I understood the problem correctly. First insert the graphic, set anchor mode to "character" and then the easiest way for me is to cut the graphic and paste it to the correct location. As alignment options there is baseline at top, center and at bottom.

Alternatively, if you achor the image to a paragraph, you can move it anywhere within the paragraph with the mouse. If you set wrap to page wrap, text will wrap around the graphic.

JohnV · Posted: Tue Apr 22, 2003 11:28 am Post subject:

Hi Ian,

I'm with ftack. I can insert a graphic in OOo and get all the same text wrap effects I see available in Word with no problem.

Are you two impliedly discussing how to set up a graphic in OOo so that it comes out the way you expect when saved in Word format. If not, what are we missing?

JohnV

The Liquidator · Posted: Tue Apr 22, 2003 3:53 pm Post subject:

Hi

The problem I discerned was that Arun wanted to achieve (but could not) something like:

"The cat sat on the mat. <Graphic> And Here it is.

I experimented with a template that I have in a document saved in a template. Simple "drag and drop" into place didn't work, I had to change the anchor of the graphic. If the text already existed, things were trickier.

Following your posts, I have revisted this, as there is a simpler way.

Import the graphic, whether you have already entered the text or not.

Irrespective of where it has appeared, right click and convert the anchor "to character"

Then drag the graphic so that the left hand line of the border of it is just to the right of the character after which you want it to appear.

With the graphic still highlighted, selaect "wrap" and choose "page". The text you have just covered will then appear immediately to the right of the graphic.

I have learned something today. I must play around with these things a bit more, time and the Wife permitting!

Ian

JohnV · Posted: Tue Apr 22, 2003 7:37 pm Post subject:

> ... time and the Wife permitting.
Now that could be an uphill battle. In my case, the Wife permits just as long as I don't try to teach her anything I've learned.

I discovered the Contour item on the Wrap menu and the Edit Contour item that some times appears, especially after using the Contour item. Strange beasty, the latter but if I did much with graphics I think I would want to spend some time figuring it out.

JohnV

slynch · Guest

Headers, footers, styles (and some fields) - these are the MAJOR weaknesses in OOo Writer that several people have been trying to get addressed for over a year now - see the efforts of Gareth Jones, Zaine Ridling, and Derek Shore to name three. Still, they're impossibly difficult and unreliable. Create a style/template? Open OOo and poof! it's gone! Damn, DAMN aggravating. And right now is the GOLDEN window of opportunity to get these kinks worked out now that Microsoft is being a dragon-ass on its MS Office 11 edition. In the meantime, I'm as frustrated as you. Check out the links at www.anova.org/ooo/

Curtz · Posted: Thu Apr 24, 2003 2:42 pm Post subject:

Styles gone? Styles are saved in the current document, as is the case in Word. I like the organizer in Word from where you can copy toolbars and styles, but nothing is lost.

Working with templates is not fun in OOo though. It is important to understand your tool but the tool could offer a little more assistance.

Aliby · Newbie Joined: 29 Apr 2003 Posts: 4 Location: South Africa

I find it rather difficult to compile a comprehensive report for a client when I only have the option to create Left-page and Right-page headers & footers. The first page need some details that are concruent with footers, but not the same footer as the rest of the document. Is there an option that is availablt to achieve this? Can it be introduced?

The Liquidator · Posted: Tue Apr 29, 2003 5:39 am Post subject:

Start page 1 and set it up how you want it. Then open the stylist and hit the page style tab. Then select "new style from selection" and in the resulting box, give it a name (say report page 1) Tthen right click on the page and select page. Hit the "organiser" tab.

Select the drop-down box entitled "next" and you can then select the page style for the next page. You will be wise to select default to begin with. You will then get a blank page 2. Set that up as you want it and repeat the above procedure ( give it the name report continuation?) . Then go back to page 1 and change the entry in the "next box" to the continuation sheet style. The idea is that as you proceed through the document any new page will be determined by what is in the "next box" for the page preceeding it.

It sounds long winded but if you then save as an OOo template you only have to do it once. I find the "next" function a rather smart way of changing from 1 page style to another. The main effort is in the initial setup.

Ian