Documentation and "workbook" feature?

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dougshuck
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Documentation and "workbook" feature?

Post by dougshuck »

Hello

Before I ask my question I wanted to thank all of those involved in the creation, development and support of the Open Office Suite of Products!!! I know that this was and is a formidable undertaking and at times overwhelming and I for one applaud your efforts and dedication.

I have taken note that new documentation is underway, is that for 4.x.x and is there a targeted completion date or time frame? I was also wondering if there is any documentation that explain in detail the Integration of OpenOffice. Specifically, I am looking for documentation and tutorials that explore and explain how each of the elements of the Suite can be used together to create a master document. There are time that I have to create complex reports, proposals and even a thesis, where I need to integrate pages (documents, worksheets, drawings, charts, presentations, data, etc.. into a master document. Currently, I have to do this by copy&paste and that has its limitations. The concept of the "workbook" with some spreadsheet software address some of this need, but not all. BTW - is there a workbook type feature within Calc, so far I have not found it?

What I would like to be able to do is to create a master document (a master folder / workbook) where I could pull all of the associated data from each of OpenOffice applications together. I need the ability to actively embed and link spreadsheet tables into a "Writer" document, as well as Charts, Drawings, Database Reports or data elements, mathematical formulae and presentation slides. The ability to embed and link would allow for the master document to be updated dynamically or manually if any of the supporting (associated) sources were modified. This then becomes a "living document". What I have not yet been able to figure out yet is any of this possible with OpenOffice today, Ver, 4.0.1?

Thank you in advance for your time and consideration.

Best regards,
Doug
OpenOffice.Org 3.4.0 / Windows 7 Ultimate (64 bit)

Doug Shuck
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acknak
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Re: Documentation and "master" document (or "workbook") feat

Post by acknak »

I split your question off to its own topic since your question goes in a different direction.
(originally posted to http://forum.openoffice.org/en/forum/vi ... =5&t=63160)

Sorry, I'm not sure I understand exactly what you're looking for, but if it's something like the "workbook" document supported by MS Office, then no, OO has nothing like that.

You can embed objects, for example, a small section of a spreadsheet can be embedded in a Writer document by copy/paste a range of spreadsheet cells, but you can't make a hybrid document that collects several different stand-alone documents.

OO Writer does support something called a "master document" but this feature only works for text documents and the idea here is to collect sub-documents--chapters, for example--into a single main document.
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RoryOF
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Re: Documentation and "master" document (or "workbook") feat

Post by RoryOF »

I think you need to explore "content management". There is an existing extension that provides links from OpenOffice to Alfresco Content Management
http://extensions.openoffice.org/en/pro ... fresco-cms
I have a vague memory about another extension do do a similar task (different C.M.S.?) but haven't found it on a cursory search.
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dougshuck
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Re: Documentation and "master" document (or "workbook") feat

Post by dougshuck »

Hi acknak

I was afraid of that. :-( When I had MS Office I could create a workbook in Excel and then insert a Word document, graphics, and even link to data in Access. I could also take a table from Excel and embed it into my Word document and link it so that it would update the table when changed, and the list goes on. I was hoping that some of functionality was in OO.

Rory's suggestion about Alfresco sound interesting but regrettably I don't have a server at home, nor the money, to get into that solution. Though "Open Sourced" the Alfresco One is only FREE for 30 days. :-(

Getting back to the "documentation" for OO ver 4.x.x, is there any projected time frame for its release?

Thanks again for your assistance!

Doug
OpenOffice.Org 3.4.0 / Windows 7 Ultimate (64 bit)

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Hagar Delest
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Re: Documentation and "master" document (or "workbook") feat

Post by Hagar Delest »

LibreOffice 7.6.2.1 on Xubuntu 23.10 and 7.6.4.1 portable on Windows 10
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