Words Processing
Support Page

This web page is a supplement to the WorldU3A [support] list server. It will provide an ongoing source of discussion topics and links for words processing.

To comment on or contribute to this page use the support @ worldu3a.org list server

About this page

You might be wondering about the title of this page - 'Words Processing'; surely he meant 'Word Processing'! The title is an effort to try and project the purpose of this page. It is intended to talk about two things:

A look at the Links column on the right will show you something of our intent. One thing that the page is not intended to be is a 'rant' against Microsoft and its flag-ship product Office. Microsoft Office is a fine product that many of you use or have used and find very effective and efficient. However, given that most of us are retired, not all of us can afford or are prepared to pay the price for Office. For others, they simply don't need all the rich feature set and would be happy with something similar.

So, we intend to cover Microsoft Office AND its alternatives but also we intend to cover the more interesting subject of processing all those words. To make this site of value, we need your contributions; the page is being presented for you!

Peter

Red keyboardNew version of OpenOffice•org

From here on OpenOffice•org will be know as OOo. Sun Microsystems and OOo has just released Version 1.1.3 of OOo. You can download it from the OOo link on this page (approx. 45 Mb) or buy a pre-burnt CD from organisations like 8daysaweek, LinuxCD•org or Lankum•com.

The new version has a different way of installing spelling dictionaries, hyphernation lists and the theaurus. You will need to be on-line and have Writer (the word processor) open. From the File->AutoPilot menu choose the Install new dictionaries… option. This will guide you through the choice of dictionaries, hyphenation and thesaurus, then download and install your selection. You can edit the file dictionary.1st which is located in the C:\Program Files\ OpenOffice.org1.1.3\ share\dict\ooo directory. You can edit dictionary.1st with a text editor such as 'Notepad'.