New User: Three Questions

users
#1

Yesterday I replaced OO.o with LO (-3.3.3) after using the former for more
than a decade. I have three questions for which I have not been able to find
answers:

   1.) When LO is invoked it displays a box of icons in the middle of the
application window. Where do I change the start up option so I see either a
blank window or a new writer document instead of this icon box?

   2.) I have many typefaces/fonts installed in /usr/share/fonts/ and the 18
subdirectries below that. All of them were available in OO.o (and my other
applicatons), but not in LO. What do I do to make all these fonts available
for use?

   3.) Does LO Calc have the ability to do date and time math? Specifically,
I'm recording time spent by a contractor on a project (start time and finish
time) and would like to calculate the number of hours between the two times.
Apparently it is not sufficient to subtract the value in the start time cell
from the value in the finish time cell. Perhaps I'm using a time format that
does not allow subtraction (e.g., 1:00.00 PM)?

Rich

#2

Hello Rich,

   Yesterday I replaced OO.o with LO (-3.3.3) after using the former for more
than a decade. I have three questions for which I have not been able to find
answers:

   1.) When LO is invoked it displays a box of icons in the middle of the
application window. Where do I change the start up option so I see either a
blank window or a new writer document instead of this icon box?

The box is the default when you open LibreOffice. If you want to start directly with writer, you can:
- start from a terminal with "swriter" (without the quotes)
- start from a menu entry, in my Linux box it is under "Office > LibreOffice Writer"
- double click an existing document.

   2.) I have many typefaces/fonts installed in /usr/share/fonts/ and the 18
subdirectries below that. All of them were available in OO.o (and my other
applicatons), but not in LO. What do I do to make all these fonts available
for use?

If you have them installed using the OS tools, then they should be available for use with LibO as well. I don't know, what you can try now. But maybe someone else has an idea.

   3.) Does LO Calc have the ability to do date and time math? Specifically,
I'm recording time spent by a contractor on a project (start time and finish
time) and would like to calculate the number of hours between the two times.
Apparently it is not sufficient to subtract the value in the start time cell
from the value in the finish time cell. Perhaps I'm using a time format that
does not allow subtraction (e.g., 1:00.00 PM)?

Yes, Calc has this ability. The time format should not matter. Can you check the format of your cells with the times? Or better, the cells, that will contain your results.
The format code should look like this:
[HH]:MM:SS
The square brackets around the HH indicate, that you can get more than 24 hours in total. Subtracting the start time from the end time should be sufficient.

Hope this helps.

Sigrid

#3

The box is the default when you open LibreOffice. If you want to start directly with writer, you can:
- start from a terminal with "swriter" (without the quotes)

Sigrid,

   I'll put this in the shell script rather than the default 'soffice' that
seemed to work (it did with OO.o).

If you have them installed using the OS tools, then they should be
available for use with LibO as well. I don't know, what you can try now.
But maybe someone else has an idea.

   Yes, they should all be recognized, but they're not. That's why I ask.
Perhaps someone else can help (off-list will work, too).

Yes, Calc has this ability. The time format should not matter. Can you
check the format of your cells with the times? Or better, the cells, that
will contain your results. The format code should look like this:
[HH]:MM:SS The square brackets around the HH indicate, that you can get
more than 24 hours in total. Subtracting the start time from the end time
should be sufficient.

   When I change the format of the duration cell to time (hh:mm), I now get
the proper value; it was user error on my part.

   The follow up question is how do I multiply the value of this cell by an
hourly rate (cell format numeric) to calculate the amount owed? Calc gets
upset trying to multiply a time (say 06:00) by a currency (say $20.00) to
produce a total currency value of $120.00.

Thanks,

Rich

#4

Are you using Windows? If so, I am certain there is a way, but I sidestep the issue by keeping an empty writer document on my desk top. I start that and click the "new document" at the upper left. I do have to choose where to save if different from the default. I thought this easier than fighting the run box as suggested elsewhere.

You can prefer to create a shortcut, giving the "item" the short cut wizard requests as a path to swriter.exe. On my 64 bit W7 machine it is
C:\Program Files (x86)\LibreOffice 3\program\swriter.exe
YMMV.

The answers given by others to your remaining questions are better than what I can come up with.

--David

#5

Not for the past 14 years.

Rich

#6

1.) When LO is invoked it displays a box of icons in the middle of the
application window. Where do I change the start up option so I see either
a
blank window or a new writer document instead of this icon box?

Are you using Windows?

No, he isn't. He wrote: ”I have many typefaces/fonts installed in
/usr/share/fonts/ and the 18
subdirectries below that”, which clearly indicates that his operating
system is one of the many Unix-like operating systems out there.

Regards

Johnny Rosenberg
ジョニー・ローゼンバーグ

#7

The link idea will still work with Linux. I have no clue about the Mac. I hate Apple worse than I hate Windows and Microsoft, but I cannot but think they have the same link idea that exists in Windows and Linux.
--David

#8

** Reply to message from David B Teague sr <davidbteague@comporium.net> on
Tue, 19 Jul 2011 10:56:27 -0400

>
> 1.) When LO is invoked it displays a box of icons in the middle of the
> application window. Where do I change the start up option so I see
> either a
> blank window or a new writer document instead of this icon box?

Are you using Windows? If so, I am certain there is a way, but I
sidestep the issue by keeping an empty writer document on my desk top. I
start that and click the "new document" at the upper left. I do have to
choose where to save if different from the default. I thought this
easier than fighting the run box as suggested elsewhere.

You can prefer to create a shortcut, giving the "item" the short cut
wizard requests as a path to swriter.exe. On my 64 bit W7 machine it is
C:\Program Files (x86)\LibreOffice 3\program\swriter.exe
YMMV.

The answers given by others to your remaining questions are better than
what I can come up with.

I know he isn't using Windows, but FYI, under Windows there is a folder in
your program list with icons for each of the functions, i.e. Writer, Calc,
etc. Just make a copy of the shortcut and put it on your desktop or quick
start bar.

#9

I had see that folder, but the use you suggest didn't occur to me. Thanks!
David

#10

** Reply to message from David B Teague sr <davidbteague@comporium.net> on
Tue, 19 Jul 2011 10:56:27 -0400

>
>   1.) When LO is invoked it displays a box of icons in the middle of the
> application window. Where do I change the start up option so I see
> either a
> blank window or a new writer document instead of this icon box?

Are you using Windows? If so, I am certain there is a way, but I
sidestep the issue by keeping an empty writer document on my desk top. I
start that and click the "new document" at the upper left. I do have to
choose where to save if different from the default. I thought this
easier than fighting the run box as suggested elsewhere.

You can prefer to create a shortcut, giving the "item" the short cut
wizard requests as a path to swriter.exe. On my 64 bit W7 machine it is
C:\Program Files (x86)\LibreOffice 3\program\swriter.exe
YMMV.

The answers given by others to your remaining questions are better than
what I can come up with.

I know he isn't using Windows, but FYI, under Windows there is a folder in
your program list with icons for each of the functions, i.e. Writer, Calc,
etc. Just make a copy of the shortcut and put it on your desktop or quick
start bar.

Well, that would work in just about the same way in most
GNU/Linux-distributions too. The icons are located in Programs →
Office in most Gnome based GNU/Linux-distributions, and probably
something like that in most KDE-/Xfce-/Lxde (etc)- based
GNU/Linux-distributions as well.

Kind regards

Johnny Rosenberg
ジョニー・ローゼンバーグ

#11

For Linux - Ubuntu - I went to the menu of Office and right clicked on the module of LO [Writer, Calc, etc.] and was given the choice of "Add this launcher to Panel" or "Add this launcher to Desktop" I choose "Desktop" and it placed an icon on the desktop for opening that module directly instead of opening the dialog box that list all the modules.

You can use something with Windows [not how with Win 7] by going to the Start Menu option of the LO module and do a copy/paste of the menu link to make a copy on the Windows desktop.

I always do that for the packages I use on a weekly or daily basis. I did with Win XP/Vista, or on my Ubuntu 10.04 desktop. I use GNOME be default, but I have dome something similar in KDE.

This should be something people should do by default for all the packages they use daily, IMO.

#12

Hi :slight_smile:
Ahah, another finesse then - right-click and choose "Copy to ..." and then
select "Desktop". Oddly because it's the desktop it makes a short-cut instead
of a copy.

Regards from
Tom :slight_smile:

#13

...
It would be helpful if you let us know which distro & version of that
distro you are using. It's also helpful if you can tell us what the font
type is; .ttf, .otf

You might try updating your font cache. On Ubuntu (and Fedora & others)
it is:

$ sudo fc-cache -f -v

Also test to see if the font(s) LO that isn't being picked up gets
picked up from a ~/.fonts folder instead. Copy a particular font that
you can easily recognize to there & then restart LO and see if the font
appears.

I'm sure that you already know that some fonts don't appear according to
the file name... examples:

AmericanTypewriter-Bold.otf
is actually: ITC American Typewriter
ANTQUA.TTF
is actually: Book Antiqua

etc. This has caught me off guard in the past, so if I can't find
American Typwriter, I open the font in either font viewer or fontforge
to find out what the actual font name is. Then check & yep, 'ITC
American Typewriter' is actually there.

#14

Am 19.07.2011 16:29, Rich Shepard wrote:

The follow up question is how do I multiply the value of this cell by an
hourly rate (cell format numeric) to calculate the amount owed? Calc gets
upset trying to multiply a time (say 06:00) by a currency (say $20.00) to
produce a total currency value of $120.00.

All dates and times in all spreadsheet programs are numbers in unit "Days".
Today is day #40743. 40743.75 is the same value as 2011-07-19 18:00

=X1*24 returns the time number in cell X1 in unit "Hours".
=X1*24*Y1 multiplies the hours with an hourly wage in Y1.

Hope this helps.
Andreas

#15

It would be helpful if you let us know which distro & version of that
distro you are using. It's also helpful if you can tell us what the font
type is; .ttf, .otf

   Sure. Slackware-13.1/32-bit.

[rshepard@salmo ~]$ ls /usr/share/fonts/
100dpi/ ISO8859-2/ PEX/ TrueType/ afms/ encodings/ local/
75dpi/ ISO8859-9/ Speedo/ Type1/ atmfonts/ fonts.cache-1 misc/
CID/ OTF/ TTF/ URW/ culmus/ fonts.cache-2 util/

You might try updating your font cache. On Ubuntu (and Fedora & others)
it is:

   Just did this; no change.

Also test to see if the font(s) LO that isn't being picked up gets picked
up from a ~/.fonts folder instead. Copy a particular font that you can
easily recognize to there & then restart LO and see if the font appears.

   I have no .fonts directory under ~/.

etc. This has caught me off guard in the past, so if I can't find American
Typwriter, I open the font in either font viewer or fontforge to find out
what the actual font name is. Then check & yep, 'ITC American Typewriter'
is actually there.

   I installed a bunch of fonts from a Bitstream cdrom I bought over a decade
ago, and all these fonts have been here for at least that long. My company
logotype is Baker Signet and that's not available in LO; the standard body
text is Bitstream Amerigo, and that is also not seen. Bitstream Charter is
seen, but none of the others. For example, LO shows URW Palladio Latin
(Italic), but not URW Palladio Roman (upright). Shrug. I don't recall having
this issue when I switched to OO.o when WordPerfect/Linux stopped working
when libc5 became libc6 and Novell dropped the application.

Thanks,

Rich

#16

It would be helpful if you let us know which distro & version of that
distro you are using. It's also helpful if you can tell us what the font
type is; .ttf, .otf

   Sure. Slackware-13.1/32-bit.

[rshepard@salmo ~]$ ls /usr/share/fonts/
100dpi/ ISO8859-2/ PEX/ TrueType/ afms/ encodings/ local/
75dpi/ ISO8859-9/ Speedo/ Type1/ atmfonts/ fonts.cache-1 misc/
CID/ OTF/ TTF/ URW/ culmus/ fonts.cache-2 util/

You might try updating your font cache. On Ubuntu (and Fedora & others)
it is:

   Just did this; no change.

Also test to see if the font(s) LO that isn't being picked up gets picked
up from a ~/.fonts folder instead. Copy a particular font that you can
easily recognize to there & then restart LO and see if the font appears.

   I have no .fonts directory under ~/.

You need to create it. LO will pick up a font in ~/.fonts, so it's easy
to use that for testing, or for having a personalized, non-system wide
font if you need it.

etc. This has caught me off guard in the past, so if I can't find American
Typwriter, I open the font in either font viewer or fontforge to find out
what the actual font name is. Then check & yep, 'ITC American Typewriter'
is actually there.

   I installed a bunch of fonts from a Bitstream cdrom I bought over a decade
ago, and all these fonts have been here for at least that long. My company
logotype is Baker Signet and that's not available in LO; the standard body
text is Bitstream Amerigo, and that is also not seen. Bitstream Charter is
seen, but none of the others. For example, LO shows URW Palladio Latin
(Italic), but not URW Palladio Roman (upright). Shrug. I don't recall having
this issue when I switched to OO.o when WordPerfect/Linux stopped working
when libc5 became libc6 and Novell dropped the application.

The question is: what type of fonts are they? My reason for asking is
that LO has some issues with opentype fonts:
https://bugs.freedesktop.org/show_bug.cgi?id=31821
amongst others:

<https://bugs.freedesktop.org/buglist.cgi?query_format=specific&order=relevance+desc&bug_status=open&product=LibreOffice&content=font>
...

#17

Andreas,

   It's not working for me here. Cell D3 contains '01:00:00 PM' and cell E3
contains '07:00:00 PM'. In cell F3 I have '=(E3*24)-(D3*24)' and the display
is 0.00. If cell F3 contains '=E3-D3' then F3 shows '06:00'. The display for
1-1/4 hours is '01:15' rather than 1.25. As soon as I put parentheses around
the cells the resulting display is '0.00'. Strange.

Rich

#18

Date sent: Tue, 19 Jul 2011 12:26:12 -0700 (PDT)

#19

Michael,

   Thank you. I did not find this formula in my search of the help files.

Rich

#20

You need to create it. LO will pick up a font in ~/.fonts, so it's easy to
use that for testing, or for having a personalized, non-system wide font
if you need it.

   Do I need a subdirectory of pointers to the font files if the system-wide
directory has what I need? If this is unique to LO, I'll do it.

The question is: what type of fonts are they? My reason for asking is that
LO has some issues with opentype fonts:

100dpi/ ISO8859-2/ PEX/ TrueType/ afms/ encodings/ local/
75dpi/ ISO8859-9/ Speedo/ Type1/ atmfonts/ fonts.cache-1 misc/
CID/ OTF/ TTF/ URW/ culmus/ fonts.cache-2 util/

   The posted URL ran off the right edge of the alpine window so I couldn't
past it in firefox.

Rich