OpenOffice 2: Default letter paper size

Monday, October 31st, 2005

I recently downloaded OpenOffice.org v2 and am quite happy with it. There are just two problems I’ve found so far.

One if that the cursor sometimes shows up wrong. For instance, I’ll be editing on a line, but the cursor will show up on the line below. Annoying, but not something I can’t live with. I’m sure they’ll fix it in v2.1.

Another problem, which isn’t a bug really, is that the default page size is set to Letter. Since I’m don’t live in America, this isn’t correct. Whenever I print a Letter page, I’ll have to cancel the job on the printer, walk back, change the papersize and print again.

Fortunatelly, it can be changed to A4, but it takes a little searching. The problem seems to be in the default template. The default template has its page size set to letter. To change the default template, follow these steps:

• Create a new document.
  File → New → Text document (or whatever you’d like to change the default template for).
• Change the document any way you like. Add styles, modify bullets, etc. Here are some nice improvements:
  • Change the default paper size:
    Format → Page → Format = A4.
  • Add numbers to headings:
    Tools → Outline numbering → Level = 1-10 → Number = 1, 2, 3...
• Now create a new template from the document:
  File → Templates → Save → Enter Filename → Save.
• Set the new template as the default:
  File → Templates → Organize → Double click My Templates → Select Filename → Commands → Set as default template.
• Done.