[Solved] How-to go to Page #2 from #1? (I'm serious!)

[ardenlester00]

Hello, I'm new here and new to Open Office. I text-flowed two books through OO, but that was easy.

I've spent one and a half day trying to get OO to open the second page. In PageMaker and others, I could set-up a "Document" up front with how many pages, etc. On OO I can't get past the first page. (with the two books I did I just entered it all and it "flowed" seamlessly (and beautifully).

So, how do I open to the next one-page-at-a-time?

Thank you! Someday maybe I can help others.

[mgagnonlv]

Short answer: you don't. OpenOffice Write is a word processor like Word or WordPerfect, whereas PageMaker and QuarkXpress are publishing softwares.

Basically, Write opens with a single blank page. When you type enough text, it will create a second page, then a third page... You may want to set up your first page, your odd pages and your even pages differently via the page setup dialogues that appear in the side bar when you click F11, but you won't see them until you have types 3 pages of text.

Word processors have their limitations, but writing in them is much faster than writing from scratch in PageMaker.

[ardenlester00]

Hello,

thank you for your reply. If I understand you correctly I cannot insert a scanned document - and build each page in OOo one-at-a-time - one scanned document per page (I'm scanning 8 of my books to convert to pdf to put on my website for teachers, counselors, etc.)

Am I just out of luck using OOo for that task?

Thanks,

Dennis

[JohnV]

At the end of page 1 do Ctrl+Enter to force a new page?

Is this what you want?

[RoryOF]

You say

If I understand you correctly I cannot insert a scanned document - and build each page in OOo one-at-a-time - one scanned document per page (I'm scanning 8 of my books to convert to pdf to put on my website for teachers, counselors, etc.)

Are you intending to build a book of scanned page images, that is, an exact copy of an existing book? And then, from this collection of images, you intend to make a .pdf file, so that you effectively have a .pdf copy of the original book?

If this is what you are doing, I think there are better tools to do it.

[ardenlester00]

Hello Again,

You all gave me the answers I needed. I felt, (after 2 days of hitting the wall over something as simple as how to get to the next page in OOo) like a crazy man running down the street yelling "My pants are on fire" and rushing up to a party in a backyard to pour a Bud Lite on them. I really was panicking - my whole project was at risk - even my value as a human was at risk. (sigh!).

I got it solved by the simple solution - just scroll down with the cursor and it flows into the next page. I did a dozen or so pages, then saved them - now I can insert my scrolled pages from my books.

I work with a MacIntosh (10.5 Intel) I looked an looked and hit every button I could find - I have a "control" but I do not have an "enter". So I pushed "control" and hit every button on the keyboard (and on my coffee-maker) and could not get the page to turn. But, the scrolling down with the cursor does it for me. Today I will be a book-maker again - WHEW!

Thanks People,

Dennis

Thanks again

Dennis

[RoryOF]

As a maker of books, perhaps you will appreciate a pointer to the manuals

http://wiki.services.openoffice.org/wik ... ser_Guides

I have a "control" but I do not have an "enter".

"Enter" is "Return" on some Apple keyboards.

[lgusaas]

I work with a MacIntosh (10.5 Intel) I looked an looked and hit every button I could find - I have a "control" but I do not have an "enter". So I pushed "control" and hit every button on the keyboard (and on my coffee-maker) and could not get the page to turn.

On a Mac use "Command/Return".

[ardenlester00]

Chuckle - a "Return" is the same as an "Enter" - at first glance they appear opposites, don't they?

Re: book-making by entering scanned material into Open Office. It works - but only after a fashion. The same as Enter - Return. I tried it, it appears to work, but it is like mounting a wild horse - "Whoa!" So, I left OOo for InDesign on my other older Mac - and found it manageable - but still not the quality copy I want and a 100 page pdf was over 25 Megs.

I don't remember how I used to do it! (book-making from copying) What do sane people use? Google Books are scanning/pdf-ing books by the millions.

Dennis

[keme]

You could try some OCR software, which will turn images of written text into an editable text flow. That normally gives a better quality printout and smaller files.

I wouldn't call it a "sanity saver", though. OCR is hardly ever perfect, so be prepared to do some work on proofreading and layout fixes. (E.g.: Your text is reflowed, so if you don't insert page breaks in the proper places and make sure the text from each scanned page fits into one document page, you may need to recreate TOC and index sections.)

[RoryOF]

I think Indesign will be better adapted to your task. If the 100 page book comes out at 25MB, then you have 250KB per page. A little fiddling around with figures suggests to me that the resolution of your pdf image may be about 125dpi. For quality in your type you should be aiming for at least 300dpi, possibly 600dpi, with a consequent increase in file size. Are you scanning directly into OpenOffice and into Indesign? It might be better to scan to a file using your scanning application. That way you have better control of the scanning parameters. A scanning application which is scanning for OCR will typically use 200dpi. I think wou should certainlly be scanning at 300, if not 600dpi, for best type quality.

As keme says, OCR will give a better quality, but there is _MUCH_ more work. If you get 98% accuracy you will still have major corrections, besides careful proofing and reproofing. On the other hand, having OCRed the works you are well positioned to update them (new editions).