Introduction

OpenOffice.org is the most popular and full featured free and open office suite, containing

• Writer, a word processor
• Calc, a spreadsheet
• Impress, a presentations package
• Draw, a vector graphics program
• Base, a relational database
• Math, a maths notation program

It is cross-platform, working well on Linux, Mac, Windows, and almost anything else.



It contains many of the features of Microsoft Office and other office suites, but with a different philosophy that gives it some advantages. The program has an emphasis on using styles, something that can save a massive amount of time and effort, but which most computer users have not integrated into their work flow.

Visit them at www.openoffice.org.

Quick Reference Cards

O'Reilly have produced some excellent free quick reference cards for the various Microsoft Office 2003 programs. Using the same layout, we have created equivalent cards for OpenOffice.org.

In this way, new users who are familiar with Microsoft Office can quickly see the similarities and differences between the programs. Or you can download just the OpenOffice.org quick reference cards if you are not interested in Microsoft Office.

It would be especially helpful to show these cards to those familiar with earlier versions of Microsoft Office who are reluctant to migrate to the very different Office 2007. They may decide that migrating to OpenOffice.org is less disruptive.

The cards are suitable for individual use, or as a resource in training courses.

Download Writer Quick Reference Card	Download Calc Quick Reference Card	Download Impress Quick Reference Card
Download Word Quick Reference Card	Download Excel Quick Reference Card	Download Powerpoint Quick Reference Card

Manuals and Documentation

Excellent manuals and documentation are available from the OpenOffice.org Documentation Project (documentation.openoffice.org).

Some of the resources available here are:

• Frequently asked questions
• How tos
• Setup guide
• Tutorials
• Samples, Templates and Clipart
• A getting started guide
• Detailed user guides of each module
  

Training Courses

The best training programs I have discovered are at www.inpics.net. I have been using them very successfully in training programs over the last two or three years.

Besides courses on OpenOffice.org Writer, Calc, Impress and Base, they also have courses on Microsoft Office 2007 and 2003 that cover the same material.

I highly recommend them.