OpenOffice is a free office suite that offers a range of applications to complete daily work tasks from writing a simple letter or book through to using a spreadsheet and a presentation program. The software is available for Windows, Mac OS X and Linux platforms. The software is a successor to Sun StarOffice and is based on the same technology as MS Office.
The OpenOffice suite contains the following applications: Writer (Word processor), Calc (Spreadsheet program), Impress (Presentation package), Draw (Vector graphics and flowcharts), Base (Database) and Math. The components are designed to provide a competitive and versatile office environment that is used by millions of people around the world.
Create an Impress presentation in OpenOffice – step 1. To start, go to the File menu and select ‘Open’.
You can create an Impress presentation in two ways: by using the AutoPilot or by creating one from scratch. The latter option allows you to set backgrounds, the output medium, and various effects. You can also import data from an existing presentation.
Creating an Impress presentation with the AutoPilot consists of three steps: selecting an empty presentation, choosing a design and setting slide transitions. Once the process is completed, the presentation can be saved.
The next step is to insert text into the slide. Several options are available for this task, including the use of special symbols like arrows and bullets, changing font size with the Line and Filling bar or the Styles and Formatting window, and adding titles and subtitles to the slides.
To change the title of a slide, simply press the combination of the CAPS> key and the Tab> key. In addition to this, you can highlight and copy or cut and paste selected text by clicking the right mouse button.
Alternatively, you can use the mouse pointer to insert a slide in a different location on your computer screen and then click the ‘Create’ button in the Standard toolbar. The resulting presentation is then displayed on your screen.
With a little practice, you can make your presentations more interesting with the help of the many special effects and animations that are available for your slides. These can be useful for attracting attention and communicating your message in the most effective way possible.
For example, you can add a slideshow to your presentation and insert music files that play throughout the slide show. This is a great way to engage your audience with an audio experience and can be used in conjunction with other visual elements of the presentation, such as charts or graphs.
You can also add notes to your presentations in OpenOffice Impress. This helps you keep track of the most important points and ideas that you want to mention during your presentation. These can then be printed out after the presentation, and they can be shared with other people by clicking on a ‘Handout’ icon in the presentation.
If you want to print your presentation, you can do so by clicking on the printer symbol in the Standard toolbar or by adjusting the settings in the File menu. You can even decide whether all pages should be printed or only individual pages.