OpenOffice.org 2, Firefox, and Thunderbird for Windows All in One [Electronic resources]

1.

Choose Tools, Options

Select

Options from Draw's

Tools menu. The

Options dialog box appears. From this dialog box, you can change any of Draw's options as well as the options for the other OpenOffice.org programs.

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Often you'll work in one OpenOffice.org program and realize that you need to change an overall option. For example, if you want to print several kinds of OpenOffice.org documents to a file (instead of to your printer) to send to others via email, you can change the

OpenOffice.org option labeled

Print , from within Draw, to apply that setting to all OpenOffice.org programs.

2.

Change the Overall Options

Select any option in the

OpenOffice.org category to modify OpenOffice.org-wide settings such as pathnames. For example, if you don't like the pathname you see when you open or save a drawing to disk, click the

Paths option and change it to a different default file path.

If you're new to OpenOffice.org, consider leaving all the OpenOffice.org options "as is" until you familiarize yourself with how the OpenOffice.org programs work.

3.

Set General Options

Click the plus sign next to the

OpenOffice.org Draw option to display the four Draw-specific categories listed in Table 14.1 at the beginning of this task.

Click the

General options category; the dialog box changes to show options you can select to make changes to the general Draw options. The

Text objects section enables you to edit text objects with a single click rather than a double click, and enables you to choose whether to select a text object's outer area when clicked. The

Settings section describes how you want Draw to use its background cache when displaying objects in a drawing (without the cache, Draw runs more slowly, although on recent computers you'll hardly notice the difference). In addition, you can specify how you wish to handle copying and moving your drawings' objects, and you may also specify how you want to handle measurements and tab stops, such as in inches or metrically. The

Scale section shows the ratio of drawing size on your screen's rulers and how they relate to the actual printed drawing. The

Compatibility section enables you to determine if you want Draw to use a different layout for the screen and printed drawings (typically you'll leave this option unchecked).

4.

Change View Options

Click the

View options category under the

Drawing category; the dialog box changes to show options that handle Draw's onscreen display. The

Alternative display section determines how and when Draw shows elements such as text and images. If you choose to show placeholders only, Draw will not display actual text and graphics but rather will show placeholders for them to speed your screen's display. During the editing of a large drawing, you can often speed up the editing process by electing to show placeholders instead of actual text and graphics. When printing your drawings, of course, Draw will show the actual text and graphics on the drawings because the placeholders would be meaningless as artwork. If you choose not to show contours, the filled objects display without their fill. The

Display section enables you to determine how special elements such as the rulers are to show while you work within Draw.

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If you are new to Draw, perhaps it's best to accept Draw's default option settings. Read through them now to familiarize yourself with the terminology, however. Once you've created some drawings, you'll better understand how these options impact your work.

5.

Change Grid Options

Click to select the

Grid category under the

Drawing option category. The

Grid section enables you to determine whether to use the snap-to grid and whether to make the grid visible. The

Resolution section specifies the width between each grid point measurement (decrease the width for detailed drawings). If you click to check the

Synchronize axes option, when you change the X-axis, the Y-axis adjusts symmetrically at the same time, instead of changes to one axis not affecting the other. The

Snap section determines how you want to use the snap-to grid to align objects. If you create many freeform drawings, such as an artist might do with a drawing tablet attached to the computer, you'll want to turn off all snap-to items. If you create commercial drawings and some educational drawings showing relationships and textual backgrounds and layouts, you may wish to require that some objects move toward the closest snap-to grid for consistency and alignment of objects.

6.

Change Print Options and Click OK

Click to select the

Print category under the

Drawing option category. The

Quality section controls whether your drawings are printed by default in color or in a more efficient grayscale or black and white (saving color printer ink). The

Print section specifies what you want printed, such as the page name (if you've assigned one), date, time, or pages you've hidden within the drawing but may want to print. The

Page options section determines how you want your drawings to fit the final pagewhether they should take up the actual size specified by the ruler or whether you want Draw to shrink the drawings enough to fit on the current page. You can also specify whether you want to print on the front and back of the page as well as use the printer's own paper tray settings instead of the default settings. Click

OK .