# Office

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Ubuntu comes with a variety of software for performing office tasks such as word processing and publishing, spreadsheets, and presentations.

## Office suites

Several office suites are available with Ubuntu. An office suite is a collection of office applications which can be used together to accomplish a variety of tasks.

- OpenOffice.org is installed by default. It offers good compatibility with Microsoft Office and has many professional features.

- GNOME Office is an optional office suite, with an emphasis on simplicity and ease of use.

- KOffice is an office suite designed for KDE. It is very comprehensive and offers several novel features, including a high degree of integration between different applications in the suite.

Comparison of office suite features

Component | OpenOffice.org | GNOME Office | KOffice
--- | --- | --- | ---
Word Processor | X | X | X
Spreadsheet | X | X | X
Presentation Editor | X |  | X
Database | X | X | X
Drawing/Illustration Editor | X | X | X
Image Editor |  | X | X
Technical Diagram/Flowchart Editor |  | X | X
Project Planner |  | X | X
Formula Editor | X |  | X
Report Designer |  |  | X

An X denotes that the office suite has a particular feature.

## Getting help with OpenOffice

OpenOffice has many support options available.

- Official Documentation website

  Extremely comprehensive website which includes manuals, how-to guides, frequently asked questions and sample documents.

- Frequently-Asked Questions

  A collection of the most frequently asked questions about using OpenOffice.org.

## Desktop publishing and drawing applications

Desktop publishing (DTP) applications allow you to produce publications such as newsletters and leaflets.

- Scribus is a professional desktop publishing program.

  - For more information, see the Scribus website.

  - To start Scribus, choose &scribus;.

- OpenOffice.org Draw lets you produce everything from simple diagrams to 3D illustrations.

  - Draw is installed by default, and is part of the OpenOffice.org office suite.

  - To start Draw, press &openoffice-draw;.

- Inkscape is an advanced illustration editor.

  - For more information, see the Inkscape website.

  - To start Inkscape, choose &inkscape;.

## Finance applications

Finance applications allow you to track your spending and manage your bank accounts.

- GnuCash is a program to manage your personal or business finances.

  GnuCash lets you track bank accounts, stocks, income and expenses. As quick and intuitive as a checkbook register, it is based on professional accounting principles to ensure balanced books and accurate reports.

  - For more information, see the GnuCash website.

  - To start GnuCash, choose &gnucash;.

- HomeBank is an easy-to-use personal accounting application.

  It can help you to track spending across multiple bank accounts and is able to produce informative charts of income and expenditure.

  - For more information, see the HomeBank website.

  - To start HomeBank, choose &homebank;.

## Getting document templates

A template is a pre-formatted page in which the content, title and so on can be ﻿edited without further formatting. Many documents follow a set style and so it can be useful to have a template of a particular type of document. Many templates are available from the Internet.

- OpenOffice.org

  A collection of templates are available for download from the OpenOffice.org Samples and Templates website, and also from the OOExtras website and KDE-Files website.

  Most templates designed for Microsoft Office should also work. Microsoft Office templates are available from many different sources.

- Inkscape Vector Illustrator

  Various templates for use with Inkscape are available from the KDE-Files website

- KOffice

  A small selection of KOffice templates is available from the KDE-Files website.

- Scribus

  Install the scribus-template package for a selection of templates.

  Alternatively, some templates are available from the KDE-Files website.

## People cannot open documents which I have sent to them

If you have sent a document to someone but they are unable to open the document, it is likely that they are using Microsoft Office. Microsoft Office cannot currently open documents created in the default OpenOffice format, which is called OpenDocument.

You can save your documents in a different format so that Microsoft Office users can open them:

- Open a document in OpenOffice

- Press File Save As...

- Press File type and select a Microsoft format from the list. For example, choose Microsoft Word 97/2000/XP if you have a text document.

- Press Save and then send the file to people as normal.

To make Microsoft Office formats the default:

- Open an OpenOffice application and press Tools Options...

- Expand the Load/Save option in the column on the left and then select General.

- Under Default file format, select a type of document from Document type and select a Microsoft format from the Always save as option.

- Repeat this for different types of office document, such as spreadsheets and presentations, and then press OK. All new documents which you create from now on should be saved in one of the formats you chose.

## How can I create copies of my documents in PDF format?

The PDF format is commonly used to distribute documents to other people, and can be viewed on the vast majority of computers. PDF files cannot be edited, so your document is protected from alterations.

To output a copy of a document as a PDF file:

- Open your document and click Print (normally found under &print;).

- On the General tab, select the printer named Print to File from the list.

- Several options should appear beneath the list of printers. Select PDF as the Output Format and choose a filename and location for the PDF file.

- Press Print. A PDF file will be created in the location that you specified.

The procedure above will work in almost all programs on Ubuntu. In OpenOffice, however, the procedure is different:

- Open your document in OpenOffice and press File Export as PDF .

- In the window that appears, click Export.

- Choose a filename and location to save the PDF file and click Save.

## Finding clipart to use in documents

Clipart is a picture or drawing used to illustrate a document. Follow the instructions below to install and use a selection of clipart in OpenOffice.org:

- Install the openclipart-openoffice.org package from the universe repository. The package is very large, so it could take a long time to download and install it.

- Open an OpenOffice.org application and press Tools Gallery. A list of available clipart should appear.

- Browse the clipart until you find an item that you would like to use. To insert the item, either drag it into the document or right-click the item and press Insert Copy.