Sams Teach Yourself StarOffice® 5 for Linux in 24 Hours

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Hour 3: Using the Explorer and the Desktop

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Defining Parts of the Desktop


The Desktop is the main viewing area of the StarOffice window. When you first start StarOffice, it appears as shown in Figure 3.7. This section describes the icons on the Desktop and shows how you can use them to get started with StarOffice.

Figure 3.7
The StarOffice Desktop at startup.

The idea behind the Desktop (and behind the Explorer window and icon bars, for that matter) is that you can have immediate access to most tasks in StarOffice without having to remember which menu they're located on. Often, you never have to view a standard menu. You can just choose an icon or an item on the ever-present Start menu to initiate an action.

In the sections that follow, the icons and tools on the Desktop are described in more detail so that you can use them to start creating documents in Hour 7.

The Desktop Versus the Work Folder

Both the Desktop and the Work Folder in the Explorer window are places to store your work.

Normally, you store all your documents in the Work Folder. You can create subdirectories to organize your work and divide files into different types (such as spreadsheets and presentations).

However, some documents are always more active than others. Documents that you are working on from day-to-day are normally placed on the StarOffice Desktop so that they are only a click away when you start StarOffice. When a document is finished or less important than others, it can be moved back to the Work Folder for permanent storage, leaving the Desktop uncluttered for current projects.

In the sections that follow, you learn how to move files between these two areas of StarOffice.

The Desktop Icons

Several types of icons are included on the default StarOffice Desktop:

The StarOffice Desktop isn't just for these default files. On the Desktop you're actually seeing the contents of a special subdirectory on your Linux system. You can see this in the URL window of the function bar when you're viewing the Desktop. The following URL is displayed (with your username, of course):


file:///home/dtaylor/Office50/Desktop/

Because the Desktop is always quickly available by clicking on the Desktop icon in the lower-left of the status bar, storing your daily work files on the Desktop makes them easy to access.

Adding Your Documents to the Desktop

You can add any of your documents to the Desktop so that you can immediately find them. Just follow these steps:

1. Make sure on the View menu that both the Beamer and the Explorer windows are open.

2. In the Explorer window, open the Workplace folder.

3. Within the Explorer window, browse in the Beamer until you locate the work file that you want to move to the Desktop.

4. Click and drag the file's icon from the Beamer, dropping it on the Desktop (see Figure 3.8).

Figure 3.8
The StarOffice Desktop with a user file added.

Caution - When you move a file to the Desktop, you're moving the actual file to a different subdirectory. Use the same drag-and-drop procedure when you want to move the file off the Desktop. Deleting the file from the Desktop erases the file from your system.


Tip - When you drop an icon onto the Desktop, sometimes it doesn't appear on the Desktop even though the file has been moved. To refresh the Desktop display, choose the Display Details icon from the Object toolbar. When you choose the Display Icons icon on the toolbar, the new file appears on the Desktop.


You can add many files to your Desktop, arranging them to suit your work needs. You can even delete some of the help files on the Default Desktop and use the Help menu instead when you need to open an Online Help file. Figure 3.9 shows a sample Desktop with a collection of personal files.

Figure 3.9
The StarOffice Desktop with a collection of personal work files.

Removing a Document from the Desktop

The easiest way to move a document from the Desktop to a folder in your Workplace is to drag the icon from the Desktop to a folder in your Workplace (within the Explorer).

If you want to delete a file that's stored on your Desktop, another choice is to drag and drop the icon from the Desktop to the Recycle Bin icon in the Explorer window.

If you want to delete a file directly from the Desktop, however, you can follow these steps:

1. With the mouse pointer over the icon of the file that you want to delete, click the right mouse button. The pop-up menu shown in Figure 3.10 appears.

2. Choose Delete from the pop-up menu.

3. Use the Confirm Delete dialog box to confirm that you want to erase this item from the Desktop and from your filesystem. The icon and the file it represents are deleted.

Figure 3.10
A pop-up menu appears when you right-click on a Desktop icon.

Viewing Properties of an Item on the Desktop

The right-click menu that you just used to delete a Desktop icon has many other uses. The menu changes depending on the type of icon that you right-click. In general, however, the menu shown in the previous figure applies.

One of the things that you'll use the right-click menu for is to view the properties of a document on your Desktop--to see its size, its date of creation, and so on.

When you right-click on any Desktop icon, you can choose the Properties item from the pop-up menu. The dialog box in Figure 3.11 appears. Different types of files have slightly different dialog boxes.

From the Properties dialog box, you can view properties such as

Figure 3.11
The Properties dialog box tells you all about any file on your StarOffice Desktop.

In addition to the Properties item, you can see many other options on the right-click menu that you can explore to arrange the icons on your Desktop and work with your Desktop files.

Switching Between Documents and the Desktop

With all your key working documents stored on your StarOffice Desktop for easy access, you might be asking what makes the Desktop so convenient.

You can always switch to the Desktop by selecting it from the Window menu. The easier way, usually, is to click on the Desktop button on the left end of the Start bar (see Figure 3.12). Because this button is always visible, you're always just one click away from viewing all the files on your Desktop.

Figure 3.12
The Desktop button on the status bar means you're always just one click away from viewing the StarOffice Desktop.

Viewing Multiple Document Windows

When you have multiple documents open in StarOffice, you can display each one in a window smaller than the main StarOffice window so that parts of multiple documents are visible at the same time.

These floating windows each include a Status bar for the document in that window.

Use the small buttons on the upper-right corner of the document window to create a floating window while viewing a document. As with non-floating, full-sized windows, you can use the Windows menu or the buttons on the Start Bar to make any document visible.

Using the Start Menu

The Start menu is a great way to access many StarOffice features. Not only are menu items provided to start new documents of many types, but you can also use the Start menu to open recently edited documents (their names are saved and shown on the Documents submenu), just as you do in Microsoft Windows 98.

Bookmarks and Help files are also listed in separate submenus on the Start menu for quick access.

If you're using KDE on your Linux system, and you selected KDE Integration when you installed StarOffice, you have two other features available in the Start menu:

Sams Teach Yourself StarOffice® 5 for Linux in 24 Hours

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Hour 3: Using the Explorer and the Desktop

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