tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8544609315733972726.post-34191164590191293732007-12-18T08:07:00.001-07:002008-03-27T05:32:58.733-06:00<p>Suppose in Writer you have loosely-structured text from an OCR scan or from a log file, and you want to highlight just one column. In <a href="/search/label/openoffice.org%202.4">OpenOffice.org 2.4</a>, this is now directly possible.</p> <h3>Standard selection</h3> <img src="http://lh5.google.com/OOoNinja/R-uFNxZy4yI/AAAAAAAAAyQ/NAJp2RteJTI/s400/200712_ooo_writer_standard_selection.png" alt="OpenOffice.org open office writer standard selection mode" /> <p>Let's compare the new feature to standard selection mode, which OpenOffice.org has always supported. It is designed for selecting normal paragraphs, so it will not give the desired results for this task. We want the vertical column of vegetables, but notice standard selection mode selects barley and plum.</p> <h3>Block selection</h3> <p>Here is how to use block selection.</p> <ol> <li>Open a word processor document with your text</li> <li>On the status bar (at the very bottom of the window), click STD several times until it reads BLK. <a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://bp3.blogger.com/_1XYQfEGGEIw/R2frZ-wrZrI/AAAAAAAAACM/OqaGNYmyMuE/s1600-h/200712_writer_statusbar.png"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="http://bp3.blogger.com/_1XYQfEGGEIw/R2frZ-wrZrI/AAAAAAAAACM/OqaGNYmyMuE/s400/200712_writer_statusbar.png" alt="OpenOffice.org status bar" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5145339930870507186" border="0" /></a> </li> <li>Highlight the desired selection. In the example, start at the beginning of lettuce and continue through the end of pumpkin.</li> </ol> <img src="http://lh4.google.com/OOoNinja/R-uFNhZy4xI/AAAAAAAAAyI/t1rmE51w3X0/s400/200712_ooo_writer_block_selection.png" alt="OpenOffice.org open office 2.4 block rectangular selection" /> <p>Notice the nice rectangle. Any character with at least one pixel in the rectangle is included.</p> <h3>Keyboard shortcuts</h3> <p>Using the mouse is not required. There are actually three total ways to enable block selection mode, and two ways are accessible through the keyboard. Using only the keyboard, you may toggle selection modes through the menu Edit->Selection Mode.</p> <p>Also, Windows users can temporarily enable block selection mode by holding the ALT key while selecting with the mouse. (On Linux systems, the ALT+click combination is reserved for moving a window, so OpenOffice.org cannot use it.)</p> <h3>Alternative methods</h3> <p>In some situations, you can achieve the same effect using the menu option <b>Table -> Convert -> Text to Table</b>. In older versions of OpenOffice.org, the same option was <b>Tools -> Text <-> Table</b>.</p> <p>Also, OpenOffice.org allows multiple selections To use it, highlight one area normally. Then, highlight the second area using CTRL+click.</p> <h3>Microsoft Word 2003</h3> <p>For users going from Word 2003 to OpenOffice.org on Windows, there is no retraining. Word 2003 uses the same ALT+click method to enable block selection mode.</p> <h3>Further reading</h3> <ul> <li><a rel="external nofollow" href="http://qa.openoffice.org/issues/show_bug.cgi?id=1596">Issue 1596: Select rectangular region of text should be possible</a></li> <li><a rel="external nofollow" href="http://specs.openoffice.org/writer/selection_enhancement/Block_Selection_of_Text">Specification: Block Selection of Text</a></li> <li><a href="http://www.oooninja.com/2008/03/new-features-openofficeorg-240.html">New features in OpenOffice.org 2.4.0</a></li> </ul><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/8544609315733972726-3419116459019129373?l=www.oooninja.com'/></div>Andrew Zhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10108637160465346326noreply@blogger.com2