Word Processing-Help!

[cyravance]

I'm new at this writing thing, and it's fun, except for the word processing software part. I'm using OpenOffice, which is supposedly like MicrosoftWord. Why is this stuff so bloody difficult? I don't even know what to ask you guys, it's been making me crazy. Weird margins, some stupid blue bar thingy on the right that says "notes", that won't go away. Some stupid pop up bar that keeps coming up that gives me NO useful info at all.
When I 'save' a document, or try to transfer it, it saves, but 2 pages down. The first 2 blank pages have lines going across, what the fuck ARE these?
And forget about sending it anywhere, it sends all right, it sends a bunch of unintelligible symbols instead of what I wrote.
How the hell does anyone USE this shit?

 

[YoursSINSerely]

I'm new at this writing thing, and it's fun, except for the word processing software part. I'm using OpenOffice, which is supposedly like MicrosoftWord. Why is this stuff so bloody difficult? I don't even know what to ask you guys, it's been making me crazy. Weird margins, some stupid blue bar thingy on the right that says "notes", that won't go away. Some stupid pop up bar that keeps coming up that gives me NO useful info at all.
When I 'save' a document, or try to transfer it, it saves, but 2 pages down. The first 2 blank pages have lines going across, what the fuck ARE these?
And forget about sending it anywhere, it sends all right, it sends a bunch of unintelligible symbols instead of what I wrote.
How the hell does anyone USE this shit?

First off, I don't know the software and hopefully, some comes to your rescue real soon. It sounds like you have been hitting function keys or speed keys and don't even know it; i.e. ctrl S, will do a save in Word, and a ctrl P, will print; that sort of thing.

If you can turn on your codes somehow, that will at least let you see something that's going on and maybe you can put your cursor there and hit delete. If there is a help button, you should push it. Type in "codes" and see what kind of help you can get that way.

Don't get frustrated. It doesn't help. If you can copy anything over to Word, do it. Good luck and I hope someone comes along soon.

 

[CMatthews]

Relax Honey, use Windows Wordpad...

Click on "Start", "Programs", "Accessories", then "WordPad"

Microsoft WordPad is compatible with everything you want
to do in a very basic way.

Nurse! Nurse! Damn these nurses! Get your asses over here
and give my a bath, and take away this disgusting food on
the tray!

Carolyn

 

[Zeb_Carter]

I have used it in the past and never had the problems you describe. I am downloading it now, after I install it I'll see what I can tell you.

 

[Zeb_Carter]

Just installed version 3.1.1 and have none of the problems you have described.

Now did you download the stable version 3.1.1

or

The release candidate version 3.2 RC4?

Sorry I can't be more help...

Now I did use the save Icon and chose to save the file in Word format (.doc).

 

[Handley_Page]

I'm new at this writing thing, and it's fun, except for the word processing software part. I'm using OpenOffice, which is supposedly like Microsoft Word. Why is this stuff so bloody difficult? I don't even know what to ask you guys, it's been making me crazy. Weird margins, some stupid blue bar thingy on the right that says "notes", that won't go away. Some stupid pop up bar that keeps coming up that gives me NO useful info at all.
When I 'save' a document, or try to transfer it, it saves, but 2 pages down. The first 2 blank pages have lines going across, what the fuck ARE these?
And forget about sending it anywhere, it sends all right, it sends a bunch of unintelligible symbols instead of what I wrote.
How the hell does anyone USE this shit?

The first thing I'd suggest is read the manual.
Experiment with small bits; explore the help (ha ha) pages.
There's a book on it somewhere.

 

[cyravance]

Thanks guys!
This is what I get for being so technologically retarded. I'm gonna work at it a bit, see if I can get the hang of it.
Oh, for the good old days of pen and paper!

 

[TheeGoatPig]

Oh, for the good old days of pen and paper!

I am personally glad those days are over. I have terrible penmanship, my fingers always got tired and bruised from writing a lot, making changes was a dreadful task, and I have done over 95% of my creative writing since I got a computer with a word processor on it. I love the computer age (as far as writing goes), and I never want to go back!

 

[elfin_odalisque]

cyravance, I use MS Office so I'm no expert, but friends who use Open office love it.

If you go to or Google 'openoffice.org' you get a menu with the third option, "I need help with my openoffice.org". this takes you to a helpp site. Good luck.

 

[cyravance]

"It sounds like you have been hitting function keys or speed keys and don't even know it; i.e. ctrl S, will do a save in Word, and a ctrl P, will print; that sort of thing."

You know, THAT could be the problem. I use my little Acer notebook thing, it has that "fondley pad" mouse...very sensitive. Maybe I'll try getting a regular mouse.

 

[elfin_odalisque]

"It sounds like you have been hitting function keys or speed keys and don't even know it; i.e. ctrl S, will do a save in Word, and a ctrl P, will print; that sort of thing."

You know, THAT could be the problem. I use my little Acer notebook thing, it has that "fondley pad" mouse...very sensitive. Maybe I'll try getting a regular mouse.

Try a WIFI mouse. That has loads of function to control things. I had an Acer for years and loved it - never went without my USB mouse.

 

[3113]

So this is the first word processing program you've ever used? Because if you've used MS word, OpenOffice is pretty easy. But if you've used nothing before now, any word processing program is going to be difficult. Most of us have been using word processing programs for a long time and have adjusted from where they started out simple to now where they're very complicated.

If you haven't used MS word or any other such program then you've a steep learning curve. Start by going under Tools>Customize.

Now you'll have a list of what everything in the bar above means, and you'll be able to drag out what you don't want and drag in what you do want. If you simplify the tool bar the way you want it, with icons you need, that will help as you won't click on something accidentally.

Also, if you're seeing something you don't want to see, go under "view." Check or uncheck the thing you want to see/don't want to see.

Any of that help?

 

[elfin_odalisque]

So this is the first word processing program you've ever used? Because if you've used MS word, OpenOffice is pretty easy. But if you've used nothing before now, any word processing program is going to be difficult. Most of us have been using word processing programs for a long time and have adjusted from where they started out simple to now where they're very complicated.

If you haven't used MS word or any other such program then you've a steep learning curve. Start by going under Tools>Customize.

Now you'll have a list of what everything in the bar above means, and you'll be able to drag out what you don't want and drag in what you do want. If you simplify the tool bar the way you want it, with icons you need, that will help as you won't click on something accidentally.

Also, if you're seeing something you don't want to see, go under "view." Check or uncheck the thing you want to see/don't want to see.

Any of that help?

The SO wonders if you do discipline sessions.

 

[CopperSkink]

I use Openoffice for all my word processing needs, and it took some getting used to. First I had to shut off the annoying little light bulb that told me it had better ideas about how to spell or punctuate things than I did. Then I had to shut off the thing that decided every time I tried to make a "4-4-4" or something notation, it somehow knew I was simply inept at typing dates and would graciously replace it with 4/4/04, which of course gets me nowhere. The "help" section will point you in the right directions when you figure out what it is that bothers you.

The next thing you want to do when you're working is pay attention to the format you save in. The default for Openoffice is .odt which isn't compatable with anything on Earth. What you want is to hit "save as", which gives you a list of different formats to, obviously enough, save your document as. .txt and .rtf are available, though usually what you want is Word 6.0 which gives you .doc for trading between fellow authors and submitting to Literotica.

Also make sure your language is set. The bar to the left of "insert" (sometimes "over" for masochists) will give you a list of languages to work in for the sake of checking your spelling. But if you choose to say "Mum" or "arse" whilst you're in US English, it'll tell you you're doing it wrong. The attached dictionary isn't very large, but words can be added with a simple right-click.

Good luck, and happy open-source computing.