OpenOffice 3, Installing Dictionaries and Fonts

[Bruce]

I just installed OpenOffice 3.0 on my main Vector Linux machine. It
seems to load faster and has got a nice new zoom and two-page view
mode. In the bottom-right corner is slide-bar for zooming which
combined with the double-page view selector beside it allows viewing
of multiple pages. Very handy for layout.

BUT there was a major problem! This version came with NO spellcheck
dictionary (it may just be the Vector Linux package). And it didn't
have the fonts my wife uses. Under previous versions, I used File >
Wizards > Install new dictionaries > DicOOo.sxw, but this is not an
option in OOo 3.0 for either dictionaries or fonts.

OpenOffice Help is, once again, quite unhelpful but the new (and
improved) way of installing Dictionaries is to:

1. Visit the Extensions Repository for OpenOffice.org at
http://extensions.services.openoffice.org/ and search for the
dictionary you want. (I also installed some other useful extensions
talked about here:
http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/9-must-have-openoffice-extensions/ )
2. Download the dictionary you want. It is an .oxt file.
3. In OpenOffice.org: Tools > Extension Manager, then click Add and
point it at the downloaded .oxt file and install it.
4. Restart OpenOffice and go to Tools > Options > Language Settings >
Language and under Default Languages select the newly installed
dictionary. I

I'm now running the English Australian Dictionary which also includes
the US English thesaurus and the GB English hyphenation dictionary
http://extensions.services.openoffice.org/node/1232

Because FontOOo.sxw was also unavailable under Wizards I had to find a
new way of installing fonts. It ended up being fairly simple as well
and involved installing the package msttcorefonts which should be in
the repositories of the Linux distribution you are using.

msttcorefonts downloads and installs the Microsoft True Type Core
Fonts for the Web including: Andale Mono Arial Black Arial (Bold,
Italic, Bold Italic) Comic Sans MS (Bold) Courier New (Bold, Italic,
Bold Italic) Georgia (Bold, Italic, Bold Italic) Impact Times New
Roman (Bold, Italic, Bold Italic) Trebuchet (Bold, Italic, Bold
Italic) Verdana (Bold, Italic, Bold Italic) Webdings.

For me in Vector it went like this:
1. In Gslapt install msttcorefonts from the VL 'extra' repo. for the
Microsoft TrueType fonts.
2. The only font I now needed was Bitstrean Vera Serif, which I
googled and downloaded. After expanding the zip file I copied the
two .ttf files to /usr/share/fonts/TTF
3. On restarting OpenOffice.org and AbiWord, Vera Serif and all the
new TrueType fonts were on the font selection menu.

I put this up on the Vector Linux forum as well
http://forum.vectorlinux.com/index.php?topic=7855.0

I hope you find this helpful, because OpenOffice is becoming quite
widely used but it is simple things like this that turns new users
off.

Bruce

[Russell Butler]

Hi Bruce

You can also install fonts/printers by using the "spadmin" program - in
my gentoo installation in /opt/openoffice.org3/program/spadmin. This is
an old standing utility, but still available.

Regards

Russell

Maintainer Australian English Medical Dictionary
http://extensions.services.openoffice.org/project/AustralianMedicalDictionary

[Bruce]

Hello Russell,
are you really involved in maintaining the medical dictionary that I
also installed yesterday?

I had a look at spadmin, but it meant that the fonts were only
available to OpenOffice. This is where I use them the most of course,
but I think its nice to have them there for all the other programs as
well. This is what happens with msttcorefonts.

Thanks for the reply

Bruce


> Hi Bruce
>
> You can also install fonts/printers by using the "spadmin" program - in
> my gentoo installation in /opt/openoffice.org3/program/spadmin. This is
> an old standing utility, but still available.
>
> Regards
>
> Russell
>

> Maintainer Australian English Medical Dictionaryhttp://extensions.services.openoffice.org/project/AustralianMedicalDi...

[Russell Butler]

Bruce wrote:
> Hello Russell,
> are you really involved in maintaining the medical dictionary that I
> also installed yesterday?
>
> I had a look at spadmin, but it meant that the fonts were only
> available to OpenOffice. This is where I use them the most of course,
> but I think its nice to have them there for all the other programs as
> well. This is what happens with msttcorefonts.
>
> Thanks for the reply
> Bruce

Yes Bruce, the dictionary is my baby. a lot of the work comes from the
US lists which I have Australianised. I'd be interested in any feedback
when/if you get a chance to use it a bit.

I agree that spadmin is limited in that regard, though I found out about
it very early and have little use for "fancy" fonts elsewhere, so tend
to use it every time I do a major OOo update.

Regards

Russell
>