Applications : Writer - Tables

Shortcut Keys

Tables are a neat way of presenting data so lets create one, goto Page 5 and Click under the Heading 2 Shortcut Keys then on the Standard Toolbar Click the Table Icon and choose 2 x 1, to create a table that is has two columns and one row.

Your first table

Let put in some Writer Shortcut Keys.

Click in the first cell and type Command then Hit the Tab Key to move to the next cell (If you Hit Enter, you stay in the cell and the row become a line of text higher) and type Keys and then hit the Tab Key to start a new row, the cursor is now in the first cell of that row.

Type in Copy then tab then Ctrl+C then tab for next row.

Type in Cut then tab then Ctrl+X then tab for next row.

Type in Paste then tab then Ctrl+V then tab for next row.

Type in Save then tab then Ctrl+S.

Your table looks OK and a handy Table Toolbar has appeared at the bottom, but some of the shortcut keys need explaining, how will you remember Ctrl+X for Cut

Add column to the right.

Lets put an extra column to our table with info on these Shortcut Keys. Hover the Mouse across the Icons on the Table Toolbar to see what each one does and the 4th one in will put a column to the right of where the cursor is so Click on one of the right hand cells and then Click on the Columns Right Icon.

The Comments column

Click on the top cell of the new column and type Comments and then use the Down Arrow Key to move to the cell below.

This is the copy row so type in C is for Copy (I made the two C's bold) and Down Arrow to the cell below.

This is the cut row so how to remember X for Cut well think of X as an open pair of scissors so type in A pair of scissors and down to the next row.

This is the paste wow so V for Paste, why not P, its used for another command, can you guess??. I think of V as the tip on a tube of glue that sticks stuff together, so in this cell type in Tube of Glue.

Great only another 19 shortcuts to go, only kidding do the following, Copy my table below of more shortcut keys and Paste them below your table.

Basic FormattingCtrl+[B,I,U,D]Bold, Italic, Underline, Double Underline.
Clear Direct FormattingCtrl+MPut Manners on Bold Text.
UndoCtrl+ZZap that last action.
RedoCtrl+YSay Yes to the text.
Page BreakCtrl+EnterTo change styles: Insert»Manual Break.
Text BodyCtrl+ZeroEnter moves down two lines instead of one.
Headings 1 to 5Ctrl+[1-5]Control your Document with Headings
Goto PageCtrl+GG for Goto.
Find TextCtrl+FF for Find.
Find and ReplaceCtrl+HH for Hunt.
SuperscriptCtrl+Shift+PP in suPerscriPt.
SubscriptCtrl+Shift+BB in suBscript.
PrintCtrl+PP for Print.
LibreOffice HelpF1Opens in a Web Browser
Spell CheckF7Start to Proof Read.
StylesF11also Gallery and Navigation.
Numbered ListF12First 1 then 2.
Bulleted ListShift+F12Shift from numbers to bullets.
TableCtrl+F12Control your data with a table.

Print Preview shows that the copied table has no borders, even though it has borders on the web page, the columns don't match with your table and the font is different, it requires some Tweaking.

Two separate tables

First step is to Merge the copied table into your table. Use the Delete Key to make the copied table tip your table then Click on your table and then on the Menu Bar Click Table » Merge Tables, now the two become one.

Merge the two tables.

Next we will deal with the borders and use the same font for the entire table.

Select the entire table by moving the cursor to the top left hand corner, the cursor become an arrow pointing across the table.

Select the entire table.

On the Table Toolbar Click on the Border Icon and choose the last option which will give borders to all sides of each table cell, the very first option is no borders, Click on the next icon to choose the Border Style, ie Dotted Dashed Solid and while you have the Table selected change the Font Type.

Table Border

Now to make the Columns Match, hover the mouse at the Save Row the cursor becomes a double headed arrow and Drag Column One to meet with Column One of the Basic Formatting Row. Now its the one column and you can adjust it from anywhere in the table. Do the same for Column 2 on the save row Dragging it to met Column 2 on the Basic Formatting Row.

Adjust the columns

The Text is Column One and Two would look better Centre Aligned so bring the mouse over Row One Column One, it changes to an arrow pointing down and drag across to Column Two, this selects both columns, then Ctrl+E to centre the text.

Centre Align Text

Left Align text in Column 3 is fine but needs to be pushed away from the Left Hand Border so select that Column and Click on the Increase Indent Button, magic.

Indent Text

If the text has moved too far Right Click on the indents and drag both back to the right

To make the First Row Stand out Move the cursor to the left of Row One, it will change to a Black Arrow Pointing to Row One and Click and do Ctrl+E to Centre Align and a Ctrl+B to make them Bold

Select first row

We will add one more Shortcut Key to our table so Click on the Save Shortcut Ctrl+S row and in the Table Toolbar choose to add new row below

The Command is Save as and the Shortcut Key uses three fingers Ctrl+Shift+S and the Comment is Make a backup

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Add new row

If you are working on a large Document its a good idea at regular intervals to do a Save as (Ctrl+Shift+S) under a different name something like MyBigProjectVer2.odt. This acts as a backup, files can become corrupt, so don't keep saving the same file over and over again, also you may want to roll back on a major change in your document, so no probs, your MyBigProject.odt is still available. Then after you add more content do a Ctrl+S to save changes then a Ctrl+Shift+S to Save as MyBigProjectVer3.odt and continue with Ver3 happy that Ver2 is safe.

Writer has many more Shortcut Keys that you can see and configure, On the Menu Bar Click Customise and goto the Keyboard Tab you can also configure the Writer's Menus and Toolbars.