INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY (402)

CLASS IX
DIGITAL DOCUMENTATION
In earlier days, manual typewriters were used for typing a document, which was replaced by
electronic typewriter and now a computer is used for this purpose. Word processing, data
processing, communication and presentation are the most common activities performed in
an office. Office productivity software is used to perform these activities effectively
A document is a paper with written contents and the process of preparing a document is
called documentation. Documentation is required to preserve the contents for a longer
period or to be used as evidence. The documents can be letters, reports, thesis,
manuscripts, legal documents, books, etc
A word processor is a computer application used for the production of printable material. In
the beginning WordStar was the most widely used word processing software but In ectronic
typewriter, it is possible to make changes in the content, make multiple copies with minor
changes.
LibreOffice is a free and open source software (FOSS), fully-featured office productivity
suite. Currently the versions of LibreOffice is 6.0 and above are available. It is available free
for downloading from the website www.libreoffice.org

Getting started with word processor – Writer

LibreOffice writer word processer several word processing software are available to prepare
the report. But we will prefer to use LibreOffice Writer, because it is free and an open
source software (FOSS) with rich features of word processing.

Parts of the Writer window

 Title bar: Title bar is located on the top of Writer window. It shows the title of the
currently opened document. The name of the document means the file name of the
document saved on the disk.
 Menu bar: It appears below the Title Bar. It shows the menu items File, Edit, View,
Insert, Format, Tables, Tools, Window and Help.
 Toolbars: The tool bar appears below Menu Bar. By default, the Standard Tool Bar and
Formatting Tool Bar will appear. The other tool bars can be activated by clicking on
‘View’ menu, and selecting the ‘Toolbars’ of submenu
 Standard toolbar: It contains commands in the form of icons.
 Formatting toolbar: It contains the various options for formatting a document. A
graphical representation of commands is shown in the form of icons.
 Status bar: This is positioned at the left bottom of the Writer window and displays the
number of pages, words, the language used, zooming, etc. It is located at the bottom
of the workspace

 Side bar: The Sidebar is located on the right side of the edit views of Writer, It contains
one or more panels, based on the current document context. Panels are organized
into decks.
Editing Document
Undo and Redo
Keyboard shortcut: Ctrl+Z, Copy option (CTRL+C) is used to make one or more copies of the
selected text whereas Cut option (CTRL+X) is used to move the selected text from one place
to another.
Moving and copying text
Cut and Paste: It is used to move a selected text from one place to another. • Select the text
and click on Edit → Cut option or press CTRL+X • Place the cursor where the text has to be
moved. Click on Edit → Paste option or press CTRL+V
Copy and Paste It is used to make a duplicate copy of selected text. Step 1: Select the text
and click on Edit→ Copy option or press CTRL+C Step 2: Place the cursor where the text has
to be duplicated. Click on Edit→Paste option or press CTRL+V

Find and Replace

This feature is used to search for a text and
replace it with other text.
• Select Edit → Find & Replace, the dialog box will
open.
• Type the text to find in the Find box.
• To change the text with different text, enter the
new text in the Replace box. For example, while
writing the paragraph the word ‘IT Job Fair’ was typed but it should be ‘National IT Job Fair’.
So let’s replace it

Spell Check and Grammar

While writing a report on paper, sometimes we may not remember the spelling of some
words. In this situation we refer to the books or confirm the spelling from teachers or parents.
Also while word processing a document, we may commit spelling mistake. In such cases, the
Writer helps us to correct the spelling. It also provides a grammar checker to check the
grammar of the sentence. It can be used separately or in combination with the spelling
checker. This is one of the important features of any word processing application
To check the spelling and grammar of the document (or selected text), select Tools → Spelling
and Grammar, or click the Spelling and Grammar button on the Standard toolbar
The Spelling and Grammar dialog opens.

Synonyms and Thesaurus

A word processor helps to look up synonyms (different words with the same meaning) and
antonyms (words with the opposite
meaning) in the thesaurus. The list of
synonyms can be accessed from a context
menu.
Right-click on a word and point to Synonyms
on the context menu. A submenu of
alternative words and phrases are displayed.
Click on a word or phrase in the submenu to
replace it with the highlighted word or
phrase in the document.

Formatting a document
Changing the appearance of the text to make it look more
attractive is called formatting. Formatting provides
documents a neat and more legible outlook. It makes a
document presentable. You can change Font type, size,
style (Bold, italics etc), color, etc
In Open Office writer, text for formatting can be done in several
ways:

 Using the format Menu

 Using formatting toolbar
 Using the Context Menu
 Using the Properties pane
 Using they keyboard shortcuts
Alignment
Alignment refers to the layout of text/graphics with respect to document margins. You can
left, right, center, justified-align the text/graphics in the document.

 Align Text Left places the text towards the left

margin, leaving a ragged right edge.
 Align Text Right places the text towards the right
margin, leaving a ragged left edge.
 Center-alignment places the text in the center of
the left and right margins.
 Justify-alignment places the text in such a way
that text is equally distributed across both the margins, and none of the edges of the
text appear ragged.

Indentation and Paragraph spacing

Indentation is the amount of spacing between the text and the page margins.
Paragraph indent is the spacing between a
paragraph and the left or right margins of
the page.
Paragraph spacing refers to the white space
between paragraphs or other objects such
as graphics or tables.
Line spacing is the space between lines of a
paragraph.

Changing Text Case

You can easily change the text case to
lowercase even if the caps lock is not on. You
can change the case of the typed text easily
by the following easily by the following
steps:

 Select the text whose case is to be

changed
 Click on the Format menu and then
click on Change case option
 A submenu appears. Select any of the
following cases
Superscript and Subscript
Sometimes, it is required to change the position of the selected text slightly above or below
the normal line of text. For this OpenOffice Writer provides Superscript and Subscript.
Superscript: It places the text slightly above the line of the text.
Subscript: It places the text slightly below the line of the text.
For example, in the date 5th July, the ‘th’ character appearing after 5 is in the
superscript case. In some situations, such as while writing scientific/chemical
formula, such O2, the character 2 is in the subscript case.
Now, in our example, change the 5th July to 5th July.
• To apply superscript: Select the text and select Format → Text → Superscript
• To apply subscript: Select the text and select Format → Text → Subscript

Bullets and Numbering

A list is defined as the number of connected items like names, or sentences, written or
printed consecutively, one below the other. A bullet is a small graphic symbol that marks an
item in a list.
You can assign the bullets or numbering to the list items in the document by using the
options on the Bullets and Numbering toolbar. You can also create a nested list by using the
buttons on the Bullets and Numbering toolbar.
Page Formatting
Page formatting means making changes in default setting of page. It includes setting of page
layout, size, orientation, margins.
Page styles control page properties (margins, page size, header and footer, among others).
However, unlike paragraphs, which can have directly applied properties, pages only have a
page style and no directly applied properties. Furthermore changing a page style may cause
the style of subsequent pages to change as well. This is because page styles are applied to
sections of a document and not on individual pages.

Margins
The Margins option lets you set the page margins. Page margin is the space between the
edge of the page and the document text on all four sides. There are four types of page
margins.

Orientation

Page Orientation is the property that determines the printing direction of text. Two types of
orientation are supported:
1. Portrait: When text is printed length wise.
2. Landscape: When text is printed width wise.
Border and Background
Different Borders can be applied to a page or a paragraph in OpenOffice Writer. Page
background and borders fill the area within the margins, including the header or footer (if
any). Follow these steps to border and background colour to a page or a paragraph-

 Select the paragraph to apply border background

 Click on Format Menu and select the Paragraph option.
 The paragraph dialog box appears
 Click on borders tab, and select the required border under line arrangement
 Now, click on the Background tab in paragraph dialog box
 Choose the colour option
 Click ok

Header/Footer and Page Number

In a multi-page document, it becomes necessary to add a header and footer to document
for more readability. Headers appear at the top of every page; footers appear at the bottom
of a page. Headers and footers are specified by page styles; therefore, all the pages with the
same page style will display the same header and footer.

To insert header in the document, select Insert → Header and Footer → Header
To insert footer in the document, select Insert →Header and Footer → Footer
You can give the document name or chapter name in the header section and page number
in the footer section.
To enter page numbers in the footer section, place the cursor in the footer section and
select Insert → Page Number.
Inserting Images
When you create a text document using LibreOffice Writer, you may want to include
some illustrations (images or graphics). Images in Writer are of three basic types:

 Image files, such as photos, drawings, and scanned images

 Diagrams created using LibreOffice’s drawing tools
 Charts created using LibreOffice’s Chart facility

Insert Image Dialog Box

To insert an image stored on your computer click the icon or use the Insert >
Image menu command.
On the Insert Image dialog, navigate to the file to be inserted, and select it. To preview
images tick the Preview option.

Inserting symbols
You can enter some special characters such as £, ±, ¤
in your document.
To insert a Special Character, choose the Insert ▸ Special
Character… menu.
It appears the "Special Characters" dialog.
Tables
A Table is an arrangement of text in the form of columns and rows. A table can be useful for
enhancing your document. A table consists of vertical columns and horizontal rows. The
intersection of a column and a row is known as a CELL. Tables organize information in rows
and columns. A table represents related numbers, information, or facts in an organized way.
Tables can also be used to list definitions, organize data and ideas, or record facts,
representing your school timetable, your mark sheet, and your teachers.
You can perform following tasks to change the layout of the table after you have inserted it
in your document.
• Adding a new row

• Adding a new column

• Deleting rows and columns

• Splitting cells
• Merging cells
• Changing column width and row height

Creating a table
The simplest way to create a table is, click the Table icon on the Standard toolbar. On the
drop-down graphic, choose the size of the table. To create the table, click on the cell
representing the last row of the last column that you want. Holding down the mouse button
over the Table icon will also display the graphic.
Another way to create a table is by using the Table dialog. Position the cursor where you
want to insert the table, then: Select Table → Insert Table from the Menu bar.
Inserting rows and columns
To insert one row or column in the table:
• Place the cursor in the row or column before or after which you want to add new rows or
columns.
• Click on the Rows Above or Rows Below icons in the Table
toolbar to insert one row above or below the selected one.
• Click on the Columns Left or Columns Right icons in the Table
toolbar to insert a column to the left or right of the selected one.
• Choose Insert → Rows Above/Below or Insert → Columns
Above/Below. Set number to define the number of rows or
columns to be inserted, and select the Position as Before or after.
• Click OK to close the dialog box.

Printing Document
To quickly print the document without any option, Click the Print icon. The entire document
will be sent to the default printer defined for your computer.

Print preview
It's always a good practice to preview a document before actually printing it. With preview
we can spot errors and thus avoid wasting time and paper. To open the preview window

press the icon from the Standard toolbar.

When we enter the preview window the Preview toolbar appears. Using this toolbar we can
control the viewing and navigate through the document.

Mail Merge
Mail Merge is a very important feature of word processor. It is used to create a series of
same documents with multiple addresses. Mail merge is the process of merging the main
document (letter or certificates) with the mailing address of various persons.
The main document is merged with the mailing address, hence the name mail merge. It is
used to send invitations, letters or to print certificates for several people. For example, if
you wish to inform your customers of a new product, then the company information and
information about the new product are the same in all the documents, but the recipient
information changes (first name, last name, address, greeting ...).
The word processor has a special feature of mail merge to accomplish this task in one
stroke. In mail merge two documents are created. One with the common contents is the
main document or form letter and other holding the address list is called the data source.
The form letter contains the actual information and variable names for the data which
varies in different letters. Data source contains values of the corresponding variables of the
main document. For example, the address of all the parents with respective time would be
stored in data source. Form letter consists of the main document and the data source.

Creating the data source

A data source is a set of mailing addresses in the form of a rows and columns generally
called database. The content of the database is in the form of data records. Each row is a
record of each person, which contains the various fields, such as name, address, pincode.

Main Document
It is the document that contains the text that you wish to send to all the recipients. To
perform Mail Merge, a Writer Document is required, you can create a new document or
work on existing one.

Merge Field
It is a data item, such as Name, Address, City, Pin, etc, which instructs the Writer where to
insert the data source in the main document.

Using Mail Merge:

1. Create a new document and type the letter to be sent to the multiple recipients.
2. To create multiple letters using Mail Merge Wizard, select Tool → Mail Merge
Wizard, as shown. A window will appear
3. Select Step1, ‘Select Starting document → Use the current document → Next’.
Click on the Next button move to the next step.
In Step 2, select the Document type → Letter → Next

In Step 3, click on the button “Select Address List”. The “Select Address List” window
will open, which will Select Main document -Select document type allow you to
create the recipient list.
4. Click on the Create button. After clicking on the Create button a New Address List
window will appear. In this window under the Address Information section you can
enter the information of the recipient
After clicking OK button, the Save As dialog box will appear, which will allow to save
the list of recipient in .CSV format