Copyright: Contents Copyright © 1992-1994 Serif Inc.


Contents
 mini Office Publisher Help Contents


 Welcome

Thank you for purchasing mini Office Publisher, Desktop Publishing Power Made Easy. We like to think you'll enjoy using it, and that you'll find it a great value.

If you have any problems (especially with printing), start by checking out the Troubleshooting section of this help file.

See also

Contents

Desktop Publishing Power Made Easy


Desktop Publishing Power Made Easy

mini Office Publisher is "Desktop Publishing Power made Easy". Despite the low price, mini Office Publisher rivals high-end desktop publishers in functionality and quality of output. It includes an unusually wide range of design features, and all the essential production functions needed for the most spectacular results you've ever achieved - including the highest quality colour work.

mini Office Publisher is also the easiest product in the DTP world, and as you get to know the package you'll find:

•	The ChangeBar. The key to the power of mini Office Publisher is the ChangeBar. The ChangeBar lets you visually adjust object properties interactively. Despite such power and flexibility, the ChangeBar is also the key to simplicity - it's a way of working that's so natural you'll wonder how you managed without it.

•	Import and Export. mini Office Publisher concentrates on features and ease-of-use for design and layout. mini Office Publisher imports fully formatted text files complete with styles from your word processor and automatically flows into your layout - no matter how complex. Significantly, you can go the other way too. You can select anything, copy it to the clipboard as a picture, and then paste it into your word processor. Great for logos, headings in fancy typefaces, or complete pages.

•	Integrated Word-Processing. mini Office Publisher works with your favourite WP package, or you can work entirely with WritePlus, the built-in word processor with a full complement of writing tools.

•	Full Colour printing. mini Office Publisher produces great results on everyday dot-matrix, ink-jet and laser printers, and the advanced colour production features mean that you can produce true commercial quality colour work - whatever desktop printer you use. mini Office Publisher can produce the ultra high resolution "colour separated" print files needed for both spot- and full-colour publications to be printed by your local printer, or for a colour ad you want to run.

•	Beyond Ease of Use. mini Office Publisher provides 2 user levels - Intro and Professional - which provide the appropriate level of features and "hand-holding" to suit complete novices, professional designers, and anyone in between. You choose. ToolHints, QuickHelp, Hints and Tips, and a variety of Assistants are some of the helpful features.

With a combination of functionality, simplicity and low price point, mini Office Publisher addresses the everyday needs of individuals and growing businesses, and a wide range of users within education, government, churches, associations, fund raising, training, design and print.


Credits

•	Clipart samples from Serif ArtPacks © Serif, Inc. & Paul Harris

•	TrueType font samples from Serif Font Collections © Serif, Inc.

•	Portions text import/export technology © Mastersoft, Inc.

•	Portions graphics import/export technology © Halcyon Software & AccuSoft Corp. & Access Softek, Inc. & Eastman Kodak Company.

•	International CorrectSpell™ English Spell Checker © 1993 by InfoSoft International, Inc. All rights reserved. Adapted from word list supplied by Houghton Mifflin Company. Based upon The American Heritage® Dictionary. Reproduction or disassembly of embodied algorithms or database prohibited.

•	International Hyphenator licensed from InfoSoft International, Inc. Copyright © 1993 by InfoSoft International, Inc. All rights reserved. Reproduction or disassembly of embodied computer programs or algorithms prohibited.

•	Portions electronic demonstrations developed using Animation Works Interactive and contains proprietary software of Gold Disk Inc.

Many thanks to all our contacts at these companies for their help and encouragement. mini Office Publisher would not have been possible if these companies had not shared our vision of low-cost Windows products.

mini Office Publisher was developed in C using Microsoft development tools including Windows 3.x and Windows 95 SDKs.


 Screen layout

Click on these pictures to get information on specific mini Office Publisher and WritePlus screen features.
Some of the features shown are only available in Professional Level.

See also

Contents


Control menu box

To exit mini Office Publisher, double-click on the control menu box.


Title bar

To move the mini Office Publisher window, move the
mouse cursor over the titlebar and drag.


Size button

To temporarily minimize the mini Office Publisher
window to an icon, click on the Minimize button.


Maximize button

To make the mini Office Publisher window cover
your whole screen, click on the Maximize button.


Rulers Intersection button

To move the rulers and their zero point move the
mouse cursor over the intersection button and drag.


Rulers

mini Office Publisher includes rulers to assist you when
arranging page elements. To create a ruler guide,
click or drag on a ruler when guide display is on.


Ruler highlight

The rulers are highlighted to show the
dimensions of the selected object


Hide button for the ToolBox

To hide the ToolBox, click on its Hide button. (To redisplay
the ToolBox, click on the Show/Hide ToolBox button on the
Status Bar at the bottom of the mini Office Publisher window.)


Title bar for the ToolBox

Displays the name of the selected tool. To
move the ToolBox, move the mouse cursor over
the title bar area and drag.


ToolBox Minimize

Click here to show or hide the ToolBox 3rd row.


Pointer tool

Click on this button to select the Pointer Tool. Then:

•	To select an object on the page, click on it (or
drag around several to form a group of objects).

•	To move an object or group, drag on it.

•	To copy an object or group, hold the CONTROL
key down and drag on it.

•	To size an object, select it and then drag on its
selection handles.


Free Line tool

To create a line at any angle,
click on this tool then drag on
the page or pasteboard area.


45 Degree Line tool

To create a line which is exactly horizontal,
exactly vertical, or exactly 45 degrees diagonal,
click on this tool then drag on the page or
pasteboard area.


Free text tool

This tool is used to manipulate Text Objects.

•	To edit existing text, click, double-click, or drag over the text.

•	To create a new text block, click, double-click, or drag over a blank
part of the page or pasteboard area.


Box tool

To create a box, click on this tool then
drag on the page or pasteboard area.


Round cornered Box tool

To create a round-cornered box, click on
this tool then drag on the page or
pasteboard area.


Oval tool

To create an oval, click on
this tool then drag on the page or
pasteboard area.


Frame tool

Frames are used for flowing text. To
create a frame, click on this tool then
drag on the page or pasteboard area.


Zoom tool

This tool changes the page view.

•	To zoom in on an area of the page or
pasteboard area, drag over that area.

•	To toggle zoom between fit-page view and the
last other view used, double-click over the page.


Rotate tool

Use this tool to rotate objects to any angle.

•	To select, move, and copy objects, use as the Pointer tool.

•	To rotate an object, move the mouse over a handle
of a selected object and then drag on the handle.


Crop tool

Use this tool to crop objects, so that you can only see part of them

•	To select, move, and copy objects, use as the Pointer tool.

•	To crop an object, move the mouse over a handle
of a selected object and then drag on the handle.


Import Picture Flyout

Use this flyout array of buttons to import various
pictures and OLE objects:

•	Import Picture.

•	Any OLE object.


Page area

The page area is where you build up the final
publication. You can have from 1 to 1000 pages
in a publication, each with its own layout up to
a maximum of 22" x 22".

Anything which overlaps your page is printed,
anything on the pasteboard is not - so you can
achieve "bleed" effects when necessary.


Pasteboard

The pasteboard is your 23" square workspace.
Use it to store objects before placing them on the
page. Each page has it's own pasteboard so you
can store the relevant objects for each page.


Previous Page button

Switches to the previous page of the publication. If you
were already at page 1, mini Office Publisher pops up the Pages dialog,
preset to insert a new page before page 1.

Double clicking switches to the first page of the publication.


Page Area

Shows which page you are currently on,
and how many there are in total in the publication
file. Double-click on it to popup the Pages dialog.


Next Page button

Switches to the next page of the publication. If you
were already at the last page, mini Office Publisher pops up the Pages dialog,
preset to insert a new page after the current last page.

Double clicking switches to the last page of the publication.


WritePlus button

Click on this button to edit a story with WritePlus.


Zoom Out button

Zooms out in steps (so you see more
of the page and pasteboard).


Current Zoom

Displays the current zoom level.
To change it, click on the number.


Zoom in button

Zoom in steps (so you can take
a closer look at the objects on display).


Actual Size button

Zooms the display to actual size.


Fit page button

Zooms the page area down to just
fit within the current window.


Facing pages button

Zooms the display to show two facing pages.


Snapping button

Enable or disable Snapping


Rulers button

Shows or hides the rulers.


Cleanup button

•	To toggle between normal display and a "Cleaned Up"
display (optionally omitting the title bar, menu bar and
so on), click on the CleanUp button in the StatusBar.

•	To establish exactly what does and doesn't get displayed,
double-click.


ToolBox button

Shows or hides the ToolBox.


ChangeBar button

Shows or hides the ChangeBar (and
associated Property Palette).


Panning button

Use this tool to drag the page around the mini Office Publisher window.


Status Editor button

Edit selected object's size, position and rotation.


HintLine

A display of helpful messages as you use the program.


Levels button

Click on this button to switch between Intro
and Professional levels.


Free text object

Create free text directly by clicking with the Text Tool. Then
move, resize and rotate by using other mouse tools and the
popup Change Bar and Property Palette.


Frame text object

Import text to automatically flow through frames. Quickly
format entire stories using your mouse and named Styles.
Change the column layout with the Change Bar and
Property Palette. Use WritePlus for editing.


Dropped capitals and other text effects

Create dropped capitals by wrapping text around text.
You can enhance pages with a variety of special text
effects using standard mini Office Publisher tools.


Text flow handle

Use this button to control where
text flows to after filling a frame.


Graphic object

Draw graphics using the Graphics Tools. Get
the right Line and Fill effect directly using
the popup Change Bar and Property Palette.


Control menu box

To exit WritePlus, double-click on the control menu box.


Title bar

Shows the story's title. You can change the
title by clicking on the Information button.


Maximize button

Click on this button to make the
WritePlus window fill the screen.


Style selector

Use this to change the Style of the current paragraph.


Bold button

Use this to make the selected text Bold.


Italic button

Use this to make the selected text Italic.


Underline button

Use this to underline the selected text.


Cut button

Use this to cut the selected text to the clipboard.


Copy button

Use this to copy the selected text to the clipboard.


Paste button

Use this to paste text from the clipboard into the story.


Undo button

Use this to undo the last change you made.


Find & replace button

Use this to find text in the story, and
to replace it with other text.


Spell checker button

Use this to check your story for spelling mistakes.


Style button

This hides and shows the Stylename Window.


Show paragraphs

This button hides or shows space, tab and paragraph characters.


Information button

This button tells you the stories word and character
count and also lets you change the story's title.


Help button

Clicking here, or pressing F1, brings up Help on WritePlus.


Stylename window

This window shows the styles for each paragraph.
You can also select paragraphs by clicking here.


Current style

This shows the style of the paragraph on the right.


Text window

You edit text here, using standard Windows cursoring controls.


Selected text

Select text by dragging with the mouse. You can then
manipulate it using the buttons at the top of the window.


Bold text

This Heading text is shown complete with its Bold styling.


Scroll bar

Use this to move around the story.


HintLine

The HintLine gives you onscreen help about the WritePlus controls.


OK button

Click on this when you are happy with your changes to the story.


Cancel button

Click on this to abandon your changes to the story.


Keyboard (overview)
 Keyboard

mini Office Publisher allows several forms of keyboard shortcuts.

•	Special functions mini Office Publisher has several special features which are accessed by holding down a special key while performing an operation. For example, if you hold down the SHIFT key whilst creating or sizing a box, the box will be constrained to a square. See below for a complete list of shortcuts.

•	Character access shortcuts Some more commonly used characters which are not accessible directly from your keyboard have special shortcuts for accessing them. For example if you press ALT + CONTROL + C whilst editing text, a copyright symbol is accessed.

•	Menus using the keyboard. Rather than using the mouse to click over menus, you can use ALT + CHARACTER, where character is the letter shown as underlined on the menu. For example ALT + E followed by ALT + I would select the Edit/Insert Object... dialog from the menus.

•	Menu shortcuts. Certain commonly used menus have quick single keystroke shortcuts. Menu entries which have a shortcut will have CTRL + CHARACTER on their right where character is the letter to be pressed simultaneously with CONTROL to perform the menu operation. For example CONTROL + S will do the File/Save operation.

See also:

Contents

Special functions

Character shortcuts


Special Keyboard Functions

mini Office Publisher has several special features which are accessed by holding down a special key while performing an operation.

Shift key

Control key

Escape key

Function keys

See also

Keyboard


Shift key

The SHIFT key in conjunction with other operations is used extensively in mini Office Publisher.

•	Moving: When you are moving an object in mini Office Publisher, if the SHIFT key is pressed, the movement will be constrained to the direction of the next movement (either left/right or up/down). Releasing and then pressing the SHIFT key again will allow the constrain direction to be switched.

•	Sizing and creating: When you create or size an object, if the SHIFT key is pressed the size will be constrained. For boxes, the constraint will give a square, for ovals, a circle, for lines, a 45 degree line and for pictures, the x-y ratio of the original picture is preserved.

•	Selecting objects: When you use the Pointer tool to select objects, if the SHIFT key is pressed, the object you select will be added to/taken from the mini Office Publisher group when you release the mouse button. You'll notice that if you hold the SHIFT key down, then press the mouse button down (but don't release) that the object which will be added to/subtracted from the group will be highlighted.

•	Selecting region of text: If the SHIFT key is held down, while cursoring within a text block, a region of text (shown in reverse) is selected.

•	Select All: If you have an object selected and you press the SHIFT key as you do the Edit/Select All operation, mini Office Publisher will select all objects of the same type as the object selected rather than all the objects on the page.

•	ToolBox: If the SHIFT key is pressed at the time you select one of the creator (Box, Line, Oval) tools, the tool will not automatically switch back to the Pointer after the object is created. This is useful if you want to draw a sequence of lines for example.

See also

Special keyboard functions

Pointer tool


Control key

The control key modifies the following mini Office Publisher operations:

•	Quick copy: If you move an object whilst the CONTROL key is pressed, mini Office Publisher will make and move a copy of the object, leaving the original unchanged.

•	Sizing and creating: When you paste or re-size a picture, if the CONTROL key is pressed the picture size will be constrained to be a multiple of its original size, or in the case of bitmap type pictures, the size will be constrained to sizes which produce good results on your currently selected printer in Windows.

•	Editing single text blocks: If you have the text tool selected and you double-click over a frame text block, while the CONTROL key is held down, the single text block, rather than the story to which it belongs, is loaded into WritePlus.

See also

Special keyboard functions

Pointer tool


Escape key

Pressing the ESCAPE key while in the middle of a sizing, moving or creation operation will abort the operation.

Pressing the ESCAPE key will allow the import of a text file to be aborted.

See also

Special keyboard functions

Pointer tool


Function keys

mini Office Publisher provides the following Function keys

•	F1 This is a shortcut for accessing the mini Office Publisher help. This is available at any time when the normal Help menu is available and is the equivalent of Help/Contents.

•	F2 When moving or dropping text into a frame which already contains text, the F2 will switch between the text block dropping before or after the highlighted block.

•	F3 This causes mini Office Publisher to delay most screen update operations until the key is released. For example, if you are editing a wrap outline whilst pressing the F3 key, any text will not reflow until after you release the key.

•	F4 If you are moving a block of frame text, then pressing F4 will make it become free text. Similarly, when moving free text over a frame, pressing F4 will make that text become a block within that frame.

•	F5 This swaps between the tool currently selected on the ToolBox and the tool which was previously selected.

See also

Special keyboard functions

Pointer tool


Character shortcuts

mini Office Publisher allows you to access certain characters using the following shortcuts. Remember that you can also use Edit/Character Map or use the Windows standard of pressing ALT + 0XXX where XXX is the reference number of the character you require - see your Microsoft Windows User's Guide for more details. Remember, if you require a symbol from a special font such as WingDings, you must select that font for your text as well as keying the character.

CONTROL+ALT+8	•	Bullet
CONTROL+/	†	Dagger
CONTROL+ALT+/	‡	Double dagger
CONTROL+ALT+=		Em-rule or dash
CONTROL+ALT+C	©	Copyright symbol
CONTROL+ALT+R	®	Registered symbol
CONTROL+ALT+T	™	Trademark symbol
CONTROL+[	'	Single open quote
CONTROL+]	'	Single close quote
CONTROL+ALT+[	"	Double open quote
CONTROL+ALT+]	"	Double close quote
CONTROL+ALT+,	' '	Comma space
CONTROL+ALT+1	'  '	Digit space
CONTROL+ALT+N	'   '	En-space
CONTROL+ALT+M	'    '	Em-space
CONTROL+ALT+2	''	Inch mark
CONTROL+ALT+'	'	Foot mark
See also

Keyboard

Insert Symbol

Character map


Screen and tools (overview)
 Tools

mini Office Publisher provides a number of tools to help you lay out your publication.

Standard Windows elements

The Page and Pasteboard Area

Layout tools

The Status Bar

The ToolBox

ChangeBar and Property Palettes

WritePlus

See also

Contents

Screen layout


Standard Windows elements

Some elements, such as the menu bar of the mini Office Publisher window are standard to virtually all Windows applications.

In brief, you can use the menus, title bar, maximize and minimize buttons, and scroll bars as you would with any other Windows application. For an explanation of the general operation of these elements, refer to your Microsoft Windows User's Guide or run Help/Windows Tutorial from within the Program Manager window.

The rest of this topic covers mini Office Publisher specific details related to the standard Windows elements of the mini Office Publisher screen.

Title bar

The title bar will show you the current mini Office Publisher working level and the name of the publication being edited. for example, if you are working on a publication called "MYWORK.PPP" and working at Intro Level, the Title bar would display, "mini Office Publisher Intro - MYWORK.PPP".

If the current publication is new and has not yet been saved to disk, the publication name will be shown as "UNTITLED".

The Title bar can be hidden as part of the CleanUp button settings.

Menu bar

The menu bar contains the main mini Office Publisher menus. These work in the usual way and can be accessed by clicking or dragging on a menu entry. See the Commands topic for details of the operation of each of the menu options.

Remember, QuickHelp or the HintLine will display information about a highlighted menu option if switched on.

The menu bar can be hidden as part of the CleanUp button settings.

Scroll bars

The Scroll bars are used to navigate around current page and the pasteboard. The Scroll bars can be shown or hidden using Tools/Preferences/General or as part of the CleanUp button settings.

See also

Tools


The Page and Pasteboard Area

Most of the mini Office Publisher display is taken up by a page or "artwork" area and a surrounding "pasteboard" area.

The page area is where you put page layout guides, and the text, graphics and pictures that you want to print. The pasteboard area is where you generally keep the ToolBox, and any text, graphics or pictures which are being prepared or waiting to be positioned on the page area.

The pasteboard is shared by all pages, this is very useful for copying objects between pages. Simply drag an object onto the pasteboard, change pages, and drag it from the pasteboard onto the new page. An object must be entirely on the pasteboard and not overlapping the page for it to be stored on the pasteboard rather than the current page.

This page and pasteboard arrangement is very convenient. In fact, it is an electronic equivalent of the system used by traditional graphic designers: they kept design tools and bits of text and graphics on a large pasteboard, and then carefully pasted final arrangements of text and graphics onto a page sized "artwork" sheet pinned down in the middle of the board.

The maximum page size that mini Office Publisher can handle is 22" x 22". In reality, you're likely to be limited to a far smaller size due to the capabilities of your desktop printer.

When printing, anything which overlaps your page is printed, anything on the pasteboard is not. Objects which partially overlap the page, known as "bleeds", will be printed in entirety. Only if the size of the desktop printer's page is insufficient will they be cropped.

Views

The page and pasteboard may be viewed at any zoom level between 10% and 400%. Generally the page and pasteboard will not fit on screen, so you will only see a portion at any one time.

Use the scroll bars or the Panning button to change the view area in order to see other parts of the page or pasteboard. Reduce the zoom to bring a larger portion of the page and pasteboard into view. Increase the zoom to see an area in more detail.

Page/Views/Page tells mini Office Publisher to automatically set the zoom so the whole page area can be seen. This is the view normally chosen when an "overview" of the page is required. Use the CleanUp button to remove other screen items to give an clean, uncluttered view.

The view can be controlled in several ways:

•	Using the Page/Views menu options.

•	Using the Zoom area on the Status Bar

•	Using the Zoom tool on the ToolBox

•	Using the Scroll bars.

•	Using the Panning button of the Status Bar.

See also

Tools

Panning

Screen layout


Layout tools (overview)
Layout tools

mini Office Publisher includes comprehensive layout tools for aiding the page design and make-up process. These tools provide help in achieving consistent, sizing and positioning of objects as well as acting as visual guidelines.

The tools are covered in three areas, Rulers, Guides and Snapping.

•	The mini Office Publisher rulers mimic the T-square used by the paste-up artist.

•	Guides are displayed as coloured lines, but do not appear on your prints.

•	By providing snapping, mini Office Publisher helps ensure that objects conform to the page geometry where required.

Typically when making up a page, you will first define your page structure, consisting of the basic page geometry, text frames and ruler guides. This basic structure indicates where text is to flow or objects are to be placed.

See also

Tools

Rulers

Guides

Snapping


Rulers

Rulers have several purposes:

•	To act as a measuring tool

•	To define a snap grid

•	To create guides

This topic covers the technical details of rulers.

Ruler units

The basic measurement unit used by the rulers is selected using Tools/Preferences/General... You can select independent measurement units for the horizontal and vertical rulers.

The rulers have labelled graduation marks consistent with the ruler measurement units.

The actual interval size of the ruler marks depends the current view; mini Office Publisher selects sensible increments for the ruler marks. To handle work where you want finer control or smaller snapping increments, you should increase the view zoom.

Moving rulers

The default position for rulers is along the top of the mini Office Publisher window, just below the menu bar and on the left edge of pasteboard area, but they can easily be moved to another part of the screen.

The rulers can be moved anywhere on your screen by dragging on the ruler intersection. You can move either the horizontal ruler, the vertical ruler or both.

Double-click on the ruler intersection and the rulers will move and set the "zero point" to the top left hand corner of the currently selected object. If the rulers have already been moved, double-clicking on the intersection will make the rulers jump back to the default position.

You can lock rulers, stopping them from being moved, by checking the Lock Rulers box of Page/Layout Tools... If the ruler intersection is blank, the rulers are currently locked.

When you move the rulers the zero point of the rulers changes too. If you want the zero point to remain unchanged (normally set to the top left of the page), hold the SHIFT key down when you drag.

To reset the zero point to match the current ruler intersection click on the intersection.

See also

Layout tools

Tools/Preferences/General...

Snapping

Guides

Screen layout


Rulers as a measuring tool

The most obvious role for Rulers is as a measuring tool. As you move the mouse pointer, ruler markers track the current position of the mouse on the horizontal and vertical rulers.

When an object on the page or pasteboard is selected, a highlight appears in each ruler, corresponding to the dimensions of the selected object.

See also

Rulers

Screen layout


Guides (overview)
Guides

Guides are useful as visual references and as snapping guides to aid alignment of objects. There are three types of guides, ruler guides, page margin and column guides, and frame margin and column guides.

Creating guides

To create page column and margin guides select Page/Page Setup...

To create ruler guides, move the mouse over one of the rulers and click or click and drag.

To create frames margin and column guides, use the Frame tool of the ToolBox. Use Page/Frame Setup... to change the basic layout of the frame margins and columns.

Moving and deleting guides

To move guides, simply select the Pointer tool and then drag the guide. You do not select guides before moving as you do with objects. Instead, check that mini Office Publisher displays the guide movement cursor (PO) and then drag.

If mini Office Publisher does not display the guide movement cursor, it may be for one of two reasons:

•	The mouse is over a selected object. Deselect and try again.

•	You have locked the guides. Select Page/Layout Tools...  and uncheck the Lock guides or Lock frames check boxes as appropriate.

To delete ruler guides simply drag them off the page area. You cannot delete an page and frame guides except by changing the number of columns using Page/Page Setup... or Page/Frame Setup...

Locking guides

You can lock the ruler and page guides, frame position and guides on a page against accidental adjustment by checking the lock boxes of Page/Layout Tools...

See also

Layout tools

Screen layout


Snapping (overview)
Snapping

When snapping is on, an object being moved, sized or created, snaps using the currently displayed layout tools to form a snapping grid.

Use Page/Snapping or the Snap on/off shortcut button of the Status Bar to set the snapping status to on or off.

Snapping grid

The snapping grid can be made up of:

•	Ruler increments and ruler guides

•	Page margin and column guides

•	Frame margin and column guides.

To snap to rulers only, for example, use Page/Display to turn off the display of guides and frames.

When snapping occurs

In order for objects to snap to guides, the objects must be close to the guide. The rule is that if an object is moved to within two ruler increments of a guide, it will snap to it.

Snapping occurs as an object is dragged, not when the object is released and will occur when:

•	Moving an object. The handle nearest the mouse pointer will snap as the object is moved.

•	Sizing an object. The handle being dragged to alter the size of the object will snap as the handle is moved.

•	Creating an object. Both the start point and the end points of the drag will snap.

See also

Layout tools


Status bar (overview)
The Status Bar

The Status Bar provides a powerful array of shortcuts and functions.

Page area

WritePlus button

Zoom area

Shortcut buttons

Panning button

Status Editor button

HintLine

Level button

See also

Tools

Screen layout


Page area

The Page area is to the left of the Status Bar.

The centre of the Page area displays the current page number and total number of pages in the publication. Clicking in the centre area is a shortcut for Page/Go to or Leave Master Page. Double clicking in the centre area is a shortcut for Page/Pages... This lets you go to, add, copy or delete pages.

On either side of this display there are icons for stepping through the pages of your publication. Click on the right arrow to move one page forward or the left arrow to move one page backward. Double click to go to the first or last page respectively.

See also

Status bar

Screen layout

Pages...


WritePlus button (status bar)
WritePlus button

Selecting the WritePlus button in the Status Bar opens WritePlus, the mini Office Publisher word processing add-on.

If a text object or frame is selected, the story containing that text is loaded into WritePlus.

If no text or frame is selected then the Story Manager is displayed, allowing a choice of which story of the current publication is to be edited.

If the current publication does not contain any stories, because it has no text frames, the WritePlus button will start WritePlus with a blank display, ready to type a new story which will be placed on the page when WritePlus is closed.

See also

Status bar

Screen layout

WritePlus

Text objects


Zoom area (status bar)
Zoom area

The Zoom area of the Status Bar displays the current view zoom percentage. Clicking on this number brings up the Custom Zoom dialog, which allows any value up to 400% to be entered for the current zoom. Double-clicking will redisplay the current page.

On the left of the zoom area is the Zoom Out button. Clicking on the Zoom Out button will reduce the current zoom to approximately two thirds of its current value.

To the right of current zoom value display, is the Zoom In button. Clicking on the Zoom In button will increase the current zoom by approximately half.

To the right of the Zoom Up button are three common Page/View shortcuts. From right to left these access Actual, Page and Facing Pages views.

See also

Status bar

Screen layout

Views


Shortcut buttons (status bar)
Shortcut buttons

The centre of the Status Bar has five buttons known as shortcut buttons, from left to right:

•	The Snapping button toggles the snapping status between on and off

•	The Show/Hide Rulers button toggles the display of the mini Office Publisher rulers between on and off.

•	The CleanUp button toggles between normal view and your preferred CleanUp view. Click to switch between normal and Clean Up views. Double-click to set the screen elements to be displayed in CleanUp view.

•	The Show/Hide ToolBox button toggles the display of the ToolBox between on and off.

•	The Show/Hide ChangeBar button toggles the display of the ChangeBar between on and off.

See also

Status bar

Screen layout

Snapping

Rulers

ToolBox

ChangeBar


Panning button (status bar)
Panning button

The Status Bar contains a Panning button, which allows you to visually scroll horizontally and vertically without using the scroll bars. This is especially helpful if you are zoomed in on your publication or do not have the Scroll bars displayed.

Click the Panning button and drag the hand cursor on the page or pasteboard area to scroll to the desired position.

See also

Status bar

Screen layout


Status editor button (status bar)
Status Editor button

The Status Editor button is found in the Status Bar, just to the left of the HintLine. It displays the status editor dialog which allows the size, position and rotation of the currently selected object to be set by entering numerical values. This allows ultra-precise values to be entered in 0.001 inch and 0.01 degree increments.

See also

Status bar

Screen layout

Object basics


HintLine (status bar)
HintLine

The right hand side of the Status Bar provides several functions:

•	HintLine. If QuickHelp is not switched on, the HintLine will display helpful information. Watch as you move the mouse cursor over the menu bar, rulers, Status Bar, ToolBox, ChangeBar or Property Palette.

•	Progress bar. mini Office Publisher displays a progress bar when performing time consuming operations such as importing, rotating, and printing.

•	Object and cursor position. When mini Office Publisher is not displaying HintLine messages, the HintLine area is used to display information about the cursor position and about the size and position of any selected object.

•	Font name. mini Office Publisher displays the full name of the highlighted font in the HintLine area when selecting fonts from the Font property of the ChangeBar.

Clicking in the HintLine area brings up or hides QuickHelp.

See also

Status bar

Screen layout


PagePlus Level button (status bar)
Level button

The Level button allows you to switch between the two working levels of mini Office Publisher. You can also change levels using Tools/Level. The two working levels of mini Office Publisher are Intro and Professional.

Intro Level

At Intro Level, mini Office Publisher is designed to give you the essential DTP features with maximum simplicity and help. At this level, mini Office Publisher serves as an ideal introduction for those unfamiliar with DTP and Windows. Find the ChangeBar and ToolBox and notice how the yellow QuickHelp window updates as you move the mouse pointer around the screen. QuickHelp gives you an instant hint about each element or button within mini Office Publisher so use it to explore in more detail.

Professional Level

Professional Level gives you the full set of power DTP tools available in mini Office Publisher. At this level mini Office Publisher behaves like a typical high-end DTP, but is still much easier to use. The QuickHelp has been replaced by the HintLine to save screen space. Check out the extra buttons on the Status Bar. There are shortcuts for customising the screen display and a button to access the Status Editor for super-fine object positioning.

See the Getting Started manual for information on working with mini Office Publisher at different levels.

See also

Status bar

Screen layout


ToolBox (overview)
The ToolBox

The ToolBox provides a variety of mouse driven tools for creating, selecting and directly manipulating text, graphics and pictures.

General

Pointer tool

Line tool

45 degree Line tool

Text tool

Box tool

Rounded Box tool

Oval tool

Frame tool

Zoom tool

Crop tool

Rotate tool

Import Picture

See also

Tools

Screen layout


ToolBox (general)
ToolBox overview

The ToolBox provides a variety of mouse driven tools for creating, selecting and directly manipulating text, graphics and pictures.

To select a tool, ready for use, click on the button representing the tool you require. Look at QuickHelp, the HintLine or use ToolHints to help you to recognise the tools.

When you select a tool the ToolBox title bar changes to reflect the name of the selected tool and the selected tool button is pushed down.

When you move the mouse cursor over the page or pasteboard area the cursor display will change to remind you of the currently selected tool and mini Office Publisher will respond to click, double-click, and drag, as appropriate for the currently selected tool.

The object creation tools will automatically be deselected, and the Pointer tool reselected, after the object has been created on the page or pasteboard. To create multiple objects, without needing to reselect the tool, hold the SHIFT key down as you select the tool.

The F5 key will toggle between the current tool and the one previously selected.

Use Tools/Preferences/General... or the Show/Hide ToolBox shortcut button on the Status Bar to display or hide the ToolBox.

Title bar

The Title bar of the ToolBox states the name of the selected tool, the ToolBox can be moved by dragging on its Title bar.

Clicking on the Show/Hide third row button on the right of the Title bar allows the third row of the ToolBox to be hidden. If it is already hidden, clicking on this button will redisplay the third row.

Hide the ToolBox by clicking on the Close button on the top left of the Title bar. To show the ToolBox use the Show/Hide ToolBox button of the Status Bar.

See also

ToolBox


Pointer tool

The pointer tool is the most commonly used and most flexible tool. It has a wide range of uses.

Selecting objects and groups

Moving and copying object and groups

Sizing objects

Modifying a text wrap outline

Quick access to menu dialogs and WritePlus

Creating and moving ruler guides

See also

ToolBox

Object basics


Selecting objects and groups (pointer tool)
Selecting objects and groups

Objects are selected with the Pointer tool. A selected object is shown by eight small black rectangles, or handles. If you have switched the wrap outline on, using Tools/Wrap Settings... or the ChangeBar, a dotted Wrap Outline will also be displayed. Normally, only one object is selected at any one time. When more than one object is selected, this is referred to as a "group of objects" or just "group".

To select a single object, irrespective of the type of object, move the mouse cursor over the object and click. If objects overlap you may find that the first time you click, mini Office Publisher does not select the object you want; simply click repeatedly until the right object is selected.

When objects overlap, mini Office Publisher cycles through the overlapping objects each time the Pointer tool is clicked. In particular, if you click over frame text, you will first select the frame text object rather than the frame. Click again to select the frame.

Objects or groups are selected so that the next operation carried out, will apply to that object or group. For example to make a line red, you select the line object and then use the menus or ChangeBar to change its colour.

Selecting a group

If you drag over one or more objects, completely enclosing the area their handles would cover if displayed, you will create a group selection consisting of the objects you have dragged over. Remember that the handles of a text block often cover a wider area than the text itself.

As you drag, the group select area is shown by a dotted box known as "the marquee select". When a group is selected, each object in the group is displayed with its handles in grey instead of black. The objects included in the selected group are displayed showing eight grey handles.

You can add or remove objects to and from a group by holding the SHIFT key down and clicking over an object. If the object is not already in the group, it will be added. If the object is already in the group, it will be removed.

If you hold the SHIFT key and click without releasing, then as you move the mouse over objects, mini Office Publisher will highlight the object that will be added or removed to the group if the mouse button is released at that position.

A group will remain selected until a different object or group is selected.

See also

Pointer tool

Special functions


Moving and copying object and groups (pointer tool)
Moving and copying object and groups

Objects are moved with the Pointer tool. To move an object or group selection, drag the mouse over the selection. Avoiding the black handles when trying to move single objects, as the handles are used for sizing operations.

If mini Office Publisher displays a no-entry cursor ( [image]), when trying to move a selection then one of the following applies.

•	The object is a frame, and frames are currently locked:
Select Page/Layout Tools... and uncheck Lock frames.

•	The selection is a group, and the group includes frame text:
To move frame text you must either move the frame to move all the text in the frame, or move individual frame text blocks. they cannot be moved as part of a group.

See the Moving text blocks topic for details of special considerations when moving text.

Constraining a move

In some circumstances it is very useful to be able to constrain the move to be only in the vertical or horizontal direction.

After you've started moving, press the SHIFT key. The move will be constrained to either horizontal or vertical depending on your next movement. If you want to constrain in the other direction, stop moving the mouse and then release and then press the SHIFT key again.

Copying objects and groups

Copying is done in the same way as moving, except that you press the CONTROL key before you start dragging the mouse.

Press the control key and start to drag the objects. You can release the control key as soon as the drag has been started and if desired press the shift key so as the copy of objects is dragged to a new horizontal or vertical position as desired.

When the mouse is released, the copy of the object or group is placed at the mouse cursor position.

See also

Pointer tool

Moving text blocks

Special functions


Sizing objects (pointer tool)
Sizing objects

Objects are sized with the Pointer tool. Sizing an object is similar to moving it, except that the mouse cursor must be over a handle before you drag. Groups of objects cannot be sized. The objects in the group must be sized individually.

As the mouse cursor moves over a handle, it displays one of the resize cursors ( [image] [image] ...).

If the mouse cursor does not change to one of the resize cursors, and no-entry cursor ( [image]) when you try to drag, one of the following applies.

•	The object is rotated. Unrotate the object temporarily by using the Rotate tool and double-clicking on the object. Resize as necessary using the Pointer tool, then reselect the Rotate tool and double-click on the object again to reinstate the original rotate effect.

•	The object is a frame, and frames are currently locked:
Select Page/Layout Tools... and uncheck Lock frames.

Constraining a size operation

When you size an object you may be able to constrain the sizing operation.

The actual effect of constraining depends on the type of object being sized. Using the SHIFT key the following constrains are possible:

•	A line object can be constrained to 45 degree angles.

•	A box object can be constrained to a square

•	An oval object can be constrained to a circle

•	An imported picture can be constrained to maintain the original aspect ratio (ratio of height to width).

To constrain an object as listed above, hold down the SHIFT key after you've started sizing. If you hold down the SHIFT key before you start sizing, a group select will be made. When the object is in position, release the mouse followed by releasing the SHIFT key..

Using the CONTROL key the following constrains are possible:

•	An imported bitmap type picture can be constrained to a "printer optimized" size. These sizes avoid poor quality (known as the Moiré effect) when using pictures which have already been dithered or half-toned.

•	An imported draw-type or vector picture can be constrained to a multiple of the original specified drawing size. This does not work for all vector type picture files.

To constrain a picture as described above, hold the CONTROL key down after you start the resize. If you hold the CONTROl key before you start sizing, a copy of the object will be made. When the object is in position, release the mouse followed by releasing the CONTROL key.

See also

Pointer tool

Special functions


Modifying a text wrap outline (pointer tool)
Modifying a text wrap outline

mini Office Publisher allows you to wrap text around an object automatically. If Wrap Outside or Wrap Inside is on for any object, the object is given a dotted "Wrap Outline". The Wrap Outline shows the area around which text will wrap. The Pointer tool is used to adjust the shape of the Wrap outline.

If you move the mouse over the Wrap Outline, the Wrap Outline edit cursor ( [image]) is displayed.

•	Click on any part of the dotted line to add a new "node" or control point to divide the outline into more sections..

•	Drag on a line (space between two nodes) to move the line.

See also

Pointer tool

Wrapping text around objects


Quick access to menu dialogs and WritePlus (pointer tool)
Quick access to menu dialogs and WritePlus

Double-clicking with the Pointer tool is a shortcut for accessing many of the menu dialogs and WritePlus. The shortcut accessed depends on the position of the mouse cursor:

•	Over line and box objects accesses the dialogs found in the graphics menu.

•	Over text accesses WritePlus

•	Over text frames accesses the Frame setup... dialog

•	Over blank areas of the page accesses the Page setup... dialog.

•	Over blank areas of the pasteboard accesses the general Preferences... dialog.

See also

Pointer tool


Line tool

The Line tool is used for creating straight lines starting and ending at any position on the page and pasteboard. Select the tool and drag on the page and pasteboard to create a line which starts where the drag started and ends where the drag finishes.

Holding the SHIFT key down while using the line tool will constrain the angle of the created line to 45 degree increments.

The line style and colour can be changed using the Graphics menu or the ChangeBar

See also

ToolBox

45 degree Line tool

Graphics objects

Shift key


45 Degree line tool

The 45 Degree line tool is used for creating standard straight lines. Typically it used for creating horizontal and vertical lines. Select the tool and drag on the page and pasteboard to create a line which starts where the drag started and ends where the drag finishes. The angle of the line created is constrained to 45 degree increments.

The line style and colour can be changed using the Graphics menu or the ChangeBar

See also

ToolBox

Line tool

Graphics objects


Text tool

The Text tool is used for both creating and editing text. When the Text tool is selected, the cursor changes to the standard I-beam cursor. If the I-beam cursor is used over a blank area of the page or pasteboard then a text creation operation is carried out. If the text tool is used over existing text or text frames then an editing operation is carried out. The Text tool remains selected until you select a different tool.

Creating Text

Editing Text

When a text object is selected, you can change its attributes using the Text menu and the ChangeBar.

See Also

ToolBox

Text objects

Frame objects


Creating Text

The text tool can create text in five slightly different ways:

•	Click over a blank area of the page or pasteboard to create a new free text object at the cursor position. The text is created with a default text width or measure. The I-beam cursor is place directly on the page, ready for text to be entered.

•	Click and drag over a blank area of the page or pasteboard to create a new free text object at the cursor position. The text width or measure of the text object is set to the width of the drag. The I-beam cursor is place directly on the page, ready for text to be entered.

•	Double-click over a blank area of the page or pasteboard to create a new free text object at the cursor position. WritePlus is started ready for text to be entered. When you close WritePlus, the text is created at a default text width or measure on the page or pasteboard.

•	Click over a blank text frame to create frame text in that frame. The I-beam cursor is placed directly on the page at the top of the frame, ready for text to be entered. If the frame is part of a frame sequence and is not the first frame of the sequence, you will be allowed to "unlink" the frame from the sequence so that text can be entered into the frame.

•	Double-clicking over a blank frame will start WritePlus and load all the story text in the frame sequence, containing that frame. If the story contains no text, then WritePlus will be started with a blank display, ready for the story to be typed. On closing WritePlus, the story text will be flowed into the frame sequence, your current page will automatically change to the page with the frame containing the last text currently in the story.

See Also

Text tool

Text objects

Frame objects


Editing ( text tool)
Editing with the Text Tool

The text tool can edit text in four slightly different ways:

•	Click or drag over an existing free or frame text object.
The I-beam cursor is inserted at the click position or a range of text selected, ready for the text to be edited.

•	Double-click over an existing free or frame text object.
WritePlus is started and the free text object or the story containing the frame text is displayed ready for editing. The I-beam cursor is inserted in WritePlus, at the click position, ready for the text to be edited.
If you want to save time and just edit a single frame text object rather than the entire story, hold the CONTROL key down and double-click over the frame text object.

•	Click over a frame which is the last frame containing text in its frame sequence.
The I-beam cursor is placed after the last text already in the frame.

•	Double-click over a frame which is part of a frame sequence containing story text.
WritePlus is started with a blank display I-beam cursor is placed after the last text already in the frame or at the top of the empty frame respectively.

See Also

Text tool

Text objects

Frame objects


Box tool

The Box tool is used for creating boxes at any position on the page and pasteboard. Select the tool and drag on the page and pasteboard to create a box which starts where the drag started and ends where the drag finishes.

Holding the SHIFT key down while using the box tool will constrain the box to a square shape. The box style and colour can be changed using the Graphics menu or the ChangeBar

See also

ToolBox

Graphics objects

Shift key


Rounded Box tool

The Rounded Box tool is used for creating rounded boxes at any position on the page and pasteboard. Select the tool and drag on the page and pasteboard to create a box which starts where the drag started and ends where the drag finishes.

Holding the SHIFT key down while using the rounded box tool will constrain the box to a square shape.

Both rounded boxes and squared boxes can later be altered to have rounded corners of any radius using the options on the Graphics menu or using the ChangeBar.

See also

ToolBox

Graphics objects

Shift key


Oval tool

The Oval tool is used for creating ovals at any position on the page and pasteboard. Select the tool and drag on the page and pasteboard to create an oval which starts where the drag started and ends where the drag finishes.

Holding the SHIFT key down while using the oval tool will constrain the oval to a circle. The oval style and colour can be changed using the Graphics menu or the ChangeBar.

See also

ToolBox

Graphics objects

Shift key


Frame tool

The Frame tool is used for creating text frames at any position on the page and pasteboard. Select the tool and drag on the page and pasteboard to create a text frame.

If the currently selected object is a text frame which is the last of a frame sequence, the new frame will be automatically added to the frame sequence.

In all other cases, the newly created frame will be the first of a new frame sequence, and the Frame Assistant will appear, giving options for placing text into the frame.

You can import a word-processor file, use WritePlus to type your own text, type directly into the frame on the page or, select the Add more frames button to clear the frame assistant, leaving the Frame tool selected, ready to create more frames.

If you do not want to enter text or create more frames at this moment, click on the Cancel button to clear the Frame Assistant.

Text attributes can be changed with the Text menu or by using the ChangeBar.

See Also

ToolBox

Frame objects


Zoom tool

The zoom tool allows you to change the magnification of your current view. Three ways of changing the magnification are available using the Zoom tool:

•	Drag to fill the screen with the dragged area. A small drag gives a large magnification, a large drag give a small magnification.

•	Drag while holding down the SHIFT key to fill the dragged area with the current screen, hence decreasing the magnification.

•	Double click with the Zoom tool to toggle the magnification between the fit-page view and the last view used.

The range of magnification available is 10% to 400%.

See also

ToolBox

Views


Crop tool

Two key points about the Crop tool are:

•	For convenience, this tool can do many things that the Pointer tool can do, except for resizing.

•	This tool cannot operate directly on some objects. In these cases you can use simple techniques to operate indirectly instead.

Using the Crop tool as a pointer tool

When the mouse cursor display is the combined Pointer/Crop cursor ( [image]), the behaviour of these tools is the same as for the Pointer tool.

When the mouse is positioned over a handle of an object, the mouse cursor changes to just the Crop and is ready to behave as a Crop tool.

If the mouse cursor stays as the combined pointer tool, the object cannot be cropped. See When objects won't crop below.

Using the Crop tool

To reduce the visible area of an object, select it then drag inwards on any handle.

Select a previously cropped object and drag on centre area of the object to scroll the visible portion of the object within the crop area. The hand cursor is displayed to indicate that you can scroll the cropped object.

Double-click on a cropped object to switch off any cropping. Double-click on an uncropped object to switch its last crop area back on.

When objects won't crop

Sometimes you'll find that an object cannot be cropped. The work arounds for different object types for achieving a crop follow.

•	Single Frames and their text. Select the frame and then Tools/Convert to Picture. This converts the text frame into a picture which can be cropped. This will only work if the frame is a single frame, not a part of a frame sequence.
Remember that once you have changed a frame into the picture format it will no longer flow text.

•	Frame text objects. Either treat as explained above for a frame, or drag an individual block out to drop it as free text, then crop the free text.

•	Group selections. Either crop the individual objects or treat as explained above for a frame.

•	Previously Rotated objects. You can't crop a rotated object. What you can do is rotate, then use Tools/Convert to Picture and then crop the picture object.

See also

ToolBox


Rotate tool

Two key points about the Rotate tool:

•	For convenience, this tool can do many things that the Pointer tool can do, except for resizing.

•	Τhis tool cannot operate directly on some objects. In these cases you can use simple techniques to operate indirectly instead.

Using Rotate tool as a pointer tool

When the mouse cursor display is the combined Pointer/Rotate cursor, the behavior of these tools is the same as for the Pointer tool.

When the mouse is positioned over a handle of an object, the mouse cursor changes to just the Rotate and is ready to behave as a Rotate tool as appropriate.

If the mouse cursor stays as the combined pointer tool, the object cannot be rotated. See When objects won't rotate below.

Using the Rotate tool

To rotate an object around its top left handle, select the object and drag on the bottom right handle. The mouse cursor displays the rotate cursor.

You can constrain the rotation to 45 degree angles by holding the SHIFT key after you've started rotating. When the object is in position, release the mouse followed by releasing the SHIFT key..

Double click on a rotated object to switch off the rotation. Double-click on an unrotated object to switch its last rotation back on.

When objects won't rotate

Sometimes you'll find that an object cannot be rotated. The work arounds for different object types for achieving a rotate follow.

•	Single Frames and their text. Select the frame and then Tools/Convert to Picture. This converts the text frame into a picture which can be rotated. This will only work if the frame is a single frame, not a part of a frame sequence.
Remember that once you have changed a frame into the picture format it will no longer flow text.

•	Frame text objects. Either treat as explained above for a frame, or drag an individual block out to drop it as free text, then rotate the free text.

•	Group selections. Either rotate the individual objects or treat as explained above for a frame.

•	Previously Cropped objects. You can't rotate a cropped object. What you can do is crop, then use Tools/Convert to Picture and then rotate the picture object.

See also

ToolBox


Import Picture

Click on this tool to display the Import Picture Flyout. The flyout provides shortcuts for creating picture objects.

Import picture flyout

•	Import Picture button. This is a shortcut for the Other Pictures button of the Picture Assistant accessed by File/Import Picture...

•	Import OLE button. This is a shortcut for Edit/Insert Object... menu entry.

See also

ToolBox

Picture objects


ChangeBar and property palettes (overview)
ChangeBar and Property Palettes

The ChangeBar is a floating window containing tools that let you directly manipulate a selected object by using your mouse. You can control object properties such as text font, text colour, line type or line colour. In fact, the ChangeBar lets you alter all the object properties that can be found on the text and graphics menus plus providing easy access to other commonly used functions.

At the Intro Level of mini Office Publisher, a simplified form of the ChangeBar is displayed. Switch to Professional Level to see the full ChangeBar.

The ChangeBar operates similarly for all object types, the shortcuts on the bottom row and the tools on the property palette switch according to the type of the object selected.

Any change made using the ChangeBar will affect the currently selected object or range of text. If you have no object selected then the ChangeBar gives the name of the publication and other publication related shortcut buttons.

See the Pictures and the ChangeBar section for options available if a picture is selected.

See the Frames and the ChangeBar section for options available if a frame is selected.

See the ChangeBar with no Object selected section for options available if a frame is selected.

Using the ChangeBar

Changes that are variable, such as text size, are controlled by first picking the "property" you want from the "Property Palette" and then changing it through use of the edit window or the slider. Only one property from the Property Palette is available for changing at a time and it is referred to as the "current property".

Changes that are not variable, for example, Bold on/off for text, are controlled by clicking on shortcut buttons along the bottom of the ChangeBar. All fixed value change buttons are available all the time for a given object type and are not affected by the property palette.

As you use the ChangeBar, changes are instantly applied to the selected object. If you make changes using the edit window or slider, the changes are not confirmed until you click on the OK button (check mark), or start a new operation. You can undo any changes just made by clicking on the Cancel button (x-mark).

A detailed description of all the controls found on the ChangeBar follows.

ChangeBar controls

Pictures and the ChangeBar

Frames and the ChangeBar

ChangeBar with no object selected

See also

Tools

Screen layout


ChangeBar Controls

This section covers each of the ChangeBar controls. The controls are covered counterclockwise from the Wrap Flyout button through to the shortcut buttons.

Wrap Flyout button

Clicking on this button displays the Wrap Flyout which has shortcuts for arranging overlapping objects. Click on one of the flyout buttons to change the setting for the selected object.

Double-clicking on any of the flyout buttons is a shortcut for accessing the dialog which contains a control for the option.

Wrap buttons

The first three buttons in the Wrap Flyout change the wrap setting of an object.

For all objects the first button sets the same status as Wrap Off. The second button sets the same status as Wrap Outside. The third sets the status as Text Will Wrap for text, while for all other objects it sets the status as Wrap Inside.

The Wrap Flyout button changes to indicate the wrap setting of the selected object.

Front/Back buttons

The next pair of buttons control the layering of the selected object. The fourth button on the flyout is a shortcut for Edit/Send to Back, the fifth a shortcut for Edit/Bring to Front.

Property Palette Flyout button

Clicking on the Property Palette Flyout button flies out the Property Palette, a palette of variable properties available for the selected object type. Clicking on one of the palette's property buttons makes that the current property and removes the flyout.

The icon on the Property Palette Flyout button indicates which property is currently selected.

See Property Palette for further details of the palette and the available properties.

Cancel button

The Cancel button (X-mark) is displayed at the top right of the ChangeBar when the properties of the object have been changed.

Clicking on the Cancel button abandons changes made since the X-mark first appeared.

Object OK buttons

The Object OK button is displayed at the top right of the ChangeBar when the properties of the object have been changed.

An Object OK cursor is also displayed if you move the mouse cursor over the page area. Clicking the Object OK button or clicking anywhere on the page with the Object OK cursor accepts the changes and in the case of frame text, the text is reflowed.

You don't have to use this button or click on the page to accept changes. If you select from the menus or ToolBox it is assumed you want to accept the changes.

Style OK button

If you have a text, line, box or oval object selected and you've made changes using the ChangeBar the Style OK button (red check mark) is displayed next to the Cancel button at the top right.

If you click on the Style OK button, mini Office Publisher displays the AutoApply dialog with three options:

•	Do not alter the style. Selecting this provides exactly the same result as clicking on the Object OK button.

•	Update all objects that have this style. Selecting this provides a shortcut for selecting the Text/Text Styles/Update menu command after having changed the object.

•	Create a new style from this object. Selecting this provides exactly the same result as selecting the Text/Text Styles/Palette... menu command and clicking on the Create a new style button.

If the selected object has a [No Style] setting, mini Office Publisher greys out the Update style... button and pre-selects the Create a new style from this object option.

Double-clicking on the Style OK button is the equivalent of selecting the Update all objects that have this style option of the AutoApply dialog. If the selected object has [No Style], then double-clicking is the same as the Create a new style... option.

Title bar

The title bar of the ChangeBar states the type of object selected. You can move the ChangeBar around on screen by dragging on its title bar.

You can hide the ChangeBar by clicking on the Close Button at the top left of the title bar. To show it again, use the Show/Hide ChangeBar button of the Status Bar or select Tools/Preferences/General... and check the ChangeBar box.

Edit Window (combo-box)

The edit window on the ChangeBar allows you to select the value for the current property.

The edit window combines:

•	The display of the current value

•	The typing of a new value

•	A drop down list of preset values

If the value in the edit window is highlighted, it can be edited directly using the keyboard. To enter a new value, type it in and then press ENTER or click the Object OK button.

At the right hand side of the edit window is a drop-down list button. Click to see a scrolling list of property values. Click on a list entry to select it. The values in the list are often only a selection from the values you could set. For example, when the current property is Size, for a text object, the list may include 10.0 point, 12.0 point and so on - but you can type in any value in tenths from 4 to 120 points.

Slider

In operation, the slider is similar to a Scroll bar but is used to change the value of the current property.

Change the current property of a selected object by dragging the middle button or clicking on the gray area behind it for coarse control. For fine control click on the arrow buttons at either end of the slider.

Shortcut buttons

The shortcut buttons change depending on the type of the currently selected object.

Double-clicking on any of the shortcut buttons is a shortcut for accessing the dialog which contain a control for that shortcut.

The shortcut button available for each type of object are covered later.

ChangeBar limits

To ensure that the ChangeBar can be used for fine control of property values, the range of values you can select from the edit windows and slider are deliberately more limited than the range available for the same properties being set through menus or dialogs. For example, the Size property for text is limited to the range 4 to 120 points, but the Text/Character... dialog allows up to 250 points. if you need values outside of the ChangeBar limits, use the entries in the menus to alter the equivalent property or double-click on the property to bring access a dialog containing that property.

See also

ChangeBar and property palettes

Named styles


Property palette (general)
Property Palette

If you click on the Property Palette Flyout button of the ChangeBar the Property palette appears.

Clicking on one of the palette's property buttons makes that the "current property" and hides the palette. If the palette has been "torn off" from the ChangeBar, it remains visible.

Double-clicking on any of the property buttons is a shortcut for accessing the dialog which contain a control for that property.

Title bar and tearing off

The title bar of the Property Palette displays the name of the current property. Drag on the title bar of the Property Palette to "tear off" the palette. When torn off, the palette remains displayed even when you click on a property button.

If the palette is currently torn off, click on the Close Button at its top left to remove it. Alternatively, click on the Property Palette Flyout button on the ChangeBar to snap the palette back next to the ChangeBar and click once more to hide it.

Properties available

The properties on the property palette and the shortcut buttons at the bottom of the ChangeBar change depending on the type of the currently selected object.

See also

ChangeBar and property palettes

Screen layout


Text and the ChangeBar

This topic details the ChangeBar and Property Palette properties available if text is selected.

Shortcut buttons

Shortcuts are for the text styles available from the Text/Font Style menu entry. Any combination of styles can be selected. The styles available are:

•	Bold

•	Italic

•	Outline

•	Underline

•	Strikethrough

If a style that is not available for the current font is selected, it will be ignored.

Double-clicking on any of the shortcut buttons is a shortcut for accessing the dialog which contains a control for that shortcut.

Palette properties

Double-clicking on any of the property buttons is a shortcut for accessing the dialog which contains a control for that property.

•	Style. Apply text style. A style applies to the whole text block, even if just a range of text is highlighted.

•	Colour. Change the text colour.

•	Tint. Change the text tint.

•	Pattern Type Change the text pattern. Due to printer and printer driver limitations, some patterns do not display or print in true WYSIWYG form. Check the print out of patterns on your printer, and note the results before use.

•	Font. Change font.

•	Size. Change the text size.

•	Width. Change the text width.

•	Slant Angle. Change the text slant angle.

•	Alignment. Change the text alignment to one of the following: Align Left, Align Right, Centre, Justify, Force Justify.

•	Leading. Change leading or distance from one text baseline to the next. The baseline is the line on which a line of text appears to sit.

•	Letter Spacing. Change the inter-letter spacing (manual kerning).

•	Advance. Change the position of a character, or set of characters, in relation to their baseline. The change is measured in points and a negative value moves the selected text upwards.

See also

ChangeBar and property palettes

Screen layout


Graphics and the ChangeBar

This topic details the ChangeBar and Property Palette properties available if a graphic is selected.

Shortcut buttons

The shortcuts allow the line thickness to easily be set to preset values.

Double-clicking on any of the shortcut buttons is a shortcut for accessing the dialog which contains a control for that shortcut.

Palette Properties

The palette varies slightly according to precisely what type of graphic is selected. Specifically:

•	If a line is selected, fill and round corner properties are not available.

•	If an oval is selected, the round corner property is not available.

•	If a box is selected, all graphic properties are available.

Double-clicking on any of the property buttons is a shortcut for accessing the dialog which contains a control for that property.

•	Style. Apply a graphic style.

•	Line colour. Change the line colour.

•	Line tint. Change the line tint.

•	Line type. Change the line type.

•	Line thickness. Change the line weight or thickness.

•	Line pattern. Change the line pattern. You should generally leave the Line pattern as solid if the Line type is not solid. Due to printer and printer driver limitations, some patterns do not display or print in true WYSIWYG form. Check the print out of patterns on your printer, and note the results before use.

•	Fill colour. Change the fill colour.

•	Fill tint. Change the fill tint.

•	Fill pattern Change the fill pattern. Due to limitations, all patterns do not display or print in true WYSIWYG form. Check the print out of patterns on your printer, and note the results before use.

•	Corners. Give a rectangle rounded corners. This option is removed if the currently selected object is a line or oval. The value is in points and defines the radius of the corner arc.

See also

ChangeBar and property palettes

Screen layout


Pictures and the ChangeBar

This topic details the ChangeBar and Property Palette properties available if a picture is selected.

Palette properties

In mini Office Publisher, a picture automatically has a box graphic behind it of the same dimensions as the picture. The Property Palette has the properties for changing the box part of a picture as well as the actual picture part.

There is only one picture specific property, the rest are identical to the palette properties for a graphic and are not repeated here.

•	Information. Shows the picture type and source.

See also

ChangeBar and property palettes

Graphics and the ChangeBar

Screen layout


Frames and the ChangeBar

This topic details the ChangeBar and Property Palette properties available if a frame is selected.

Shortcut buttons

The shortcut buttons are buttons for selecting a one, two or three column frame, and for locating the previous frame and next frames in the frame sequence.

Double-clicking on any of the first three shortcut buttons is a shortcut for accessing the dialog which contains a control for that shortcut. Double-clicking on the previous frame button takes you to the first frame, double-clicking on the next frame button takes you to the last frame.

Palette properties

In mini Office Publisher, a frame automatically has a box graphic behind it of the same dimensions as the picture. The Property Palette has the properties for changing the box part of a frame as well as the actual frame part.

There is only one frame specific property, the rest are identical to the palette properties for a graphic and are not repeated here.

•	Information. Shows the position of the frame in its frame sequence, and the name of the story which uses the frame. If the story name is ended with an ellipsis, the story has text which has not been flowed into a frame as yet.

See also

ChangeBar and property palettes

Graphics and the ChangeBar

Screen layout


ChangeBar with no Object selected

When there is no object selected, the ChangeBar contains some useful publication related shortcuts as well as displaying the publication name and number of pages in the publication.

Shortcut buttons

From right to left the buttons are shortcuts for:

•	File/Open

•	File/Save

•	File/Print...

•	Help/Contents

These shortcut buttons behave exactly like the menu commands shown.

See also

ChangeBar and property palettes

Screen layout


Close button

Click here to hide the ChangeBar


Titlebar

Shows the type of the object selected.
Drag to move the ChangeBar.


Maximize ChangeBar

Click to show or hide the ChangeBar's bottom line.


Current value

Displays the current value of the
selected property, or information.


Slider

Drag to change the current value.


Property Palette

Click to show or hide the palette.


Close button

Click to hide the Property Palette.


Titlebar

Shows the name of the current property.
Drag to tear-off the palette.


Style property


Colour property


Shade property


Pattern property


Text font property


Text size property


Text width property


Text slant angle property


Alignment property

One of: left, right, centre, justify, force justify.


Leading property

(Space between lines.)


Letterspacing property

(Space between letters.)


Advance property

(Moves characters up and down
from the text baseline.)


Bold text


Italic text


Outline text


Underline text


Strikethrough text


Wrap flyout button

Controls how text wraps around objects:
Wrap off, Wrap outside, Text will wrap/Wrap inside,
Send to back, Bring to front.


Line colour property


Line shade property


Line type property


Line weight property


Line pattern property


Fill colour property


Fill shade property


Fill pattern property


Rounded corners property


Picture colour property


Picture shade property


Information about the selected object


I Column frame


2 Column frame


3 Column frame


Got to previous frame


Go to next frame


Flip picture vertically


Flip picture horizontally


No line


1pt line weight


4pt line weight


6pt line weight


12pt line weight


File/Open Publication


File/Save


File/Print


Help/Help Contents


WritePlus (overview)
WritePlus

WritePlus is the integrated word processor built in to mini Office Publisher. It provides a fast, easy way to create, edit and proof text.

WritePlus introduction

WritePlus window

Starting WritePlus

Creating and editing text

Proofing tools

Story Manager

See also

Tools

Screen layout

Text objects

Frame objects


WritePlus introduction

WritePlus is the integrated word processor built in to mini Office Publisher. It provides a fast, easy way to create, edit and proof text.

WritePlus is designed to let you focus upon text content rather than presentation; what your text says rather than what it looks like. Even so, it provides a visual style display for keeping track of how the final text will look.

There's a full complement of writing tools built into WritePlus. Spell Checking, Find & Replace, and Word Count are all directly available from the WritePlus ToolBar, so it's not necessary to use an external word processor in conjunction with mini Office Publisher.

This Help assumes that you will be using mini Office Publisher at Professional level. Some of the functions mentioned are not available at Intro level but don't worry, the basics remain the same. You can change level by clicking on the Level button

Ease-of-Use

Just like mini Office Publisher, WritePlus is designed to be very easy to learn and use. The familiar yellow help areas from mini Office Publisher are present, so you'll have no trouble finding out the functions of the various buttons and interface areas.

HintLine and ToolHints

At the bottom left of the WritePlus window is a yellow HintLine. Watch the HintLine as you move the mouse around WritePlus: you'll see a quick on-line description of each area. For a helpful description of the function of each button on the WritePlus ToolBar, pause the mouse cursor over a button for a few seconds. Just like in mini Office Publisher, a yellow ToolHint will appear to describe the function of the button.

See also

WritePlus


WritePlus window
The WritePlus Window

The ToolBar at the top of the window contains a selection of tools for working with WritePlus. It's divided into four distinct areas. The first area contains tools for applying text styles and formatting, the second area gives access to the Windows clipboard, the third area contains proofing tools, and the fourth area deals with display options and information.

For an exact description of each button on the ToolBar, explore using ToolHints. Hold the mouse cursor over a button and wait a second for the ToolHint to appear.

Customizing the display

The WritePlus window is easily customizable. It can be resized and moved like any normal window to suit your method of working. For intensive text editing, it's usual to use WritePlus maximized to full screen (click the maximize button).

The Stylename window, left of the text entry window can be turned on and off using the Stylenames button on the WritePlus ToolBar. Turn it on if you need to see the named text style applied to each paragraph, off if you need maximum working area.

The Show/Hide Paras button allows you to turn on and off display of space, tab and paragraph characters.

See also

WritePlus


Starting WritePlus

WritePlus is designed to be easily accessible from many areas of operation within mini Office Publisher. It can be started in the following ways:

•	By clicking the WritePlus button on the Status bar within mini Office Publisher

•	By double-clicking on any free text, frame text or text frame with the pointer tool

•	By double-clicking on any free text, frame text or text frame using the text tool

•	By double-clicking on a blank page or pasteboard area with the text tool

•	By selecting Start WritePlus from the Frame Assistant

These operations have different effects if you have free text, frame text or no object selected.

Free text

Free text is simple, it's handled as a single block. Double-clicking on a free text block or starting WritePlus with a free text block selected will only edit that block. If you double-click with the text tool on a blank area of the page or pasteboard, a new block of free text will be created.

Frame text

Text located within a frame or group of connected frames is dealt with as a "story". You can have any number of different stories within a publication. Take a newspaper for example; it has many different stories covering many different topics.

If you have a frame or a block of frame text selected, starting WritePlus from it's button or from an Assistant will mean that the selected story will be opened within WritePlus.

If you start WritePlus with no text selected, the Story Manager will open. It's designed to allow you to either edit a previously created story or create a new one.

Closing and updating

To close WritePlus, use the buttons at the bottom right-hand corner of the window. The Accept changes (green check mark) button will close WritePlus, accept the changes and update mini Office Publisher with any text you've edited or created. The Cancel changes (red x-mark) button will close WritePlus and ignore any changes that you made.

You can also use the standard Windows control box to close WritePlus. If you do, you will be asked if you want to update or abandon changes.

See also

WritePlus

Story manager

Text objects

Frame objects


Creating & editing text (writeplus)
Creating and Editing Text

WritePlus is designed for fast text editing and creation so it uses standard Windows cursoring controls for moving through the text. If you're familiar with using standard Windows accessories like Write or Notepad you'll immediately be familiar with WritePlus.

Click on the text entry window to select an insertion point and click and drag to select text for editing.

If you want to end a line at a specific position without creating a new paragraph or insert blank lines, press the CONTROL key and hit RETURN.

WritePlus can be used to insert special characters using the mini Office Publisher character shortcuts.

Using the clipboard

WritePlus can cut, copy and paste text using the Windows clipboard. Use the cut, copy and paste buttons from the WritePlus ToolBar or use Windows shortcut keys to move a selection of text to and from the clipboard. This is useful for editing text within a story or for moving text between stories or between WritePlus and other Windows applications.

Using styles

WritePlus allows you to apply a named text style to a paragraph, multiple paragraphs or an entire story.

WritePlus works with paragraphs blocks so to create a new paragraph, hit the RETURN key twice. This will allow a different named style to be applied to each block.

The Style list box at the top left of the WritePlus window is used to change the style of text in a paragraph.

To change the text style of a paragraph in WritePlus:

•	Place the insertion point cursor anywhere in the paragraph you wish to change. You do not need to highlight any text.

•	Click on the down arrow next to the styles list with the style name displayed. A list of styles is displayed.

•	Select a style from the list. The list will automatically disappear when a style is selected. The paragraph will immediately change to the selected style without asking for confirmation.

To apply a style to multiple paragraphs:

•	Drag down the Stylename window to select the blocks, then choose a text style from the list box.

To apply a style to the entire story:

•	Double-click on the Stylename window to select all the text, then choose a text style from the list box.

If you've customized the display by turning off the Stylenames window, you can still apply a named text style to a paragraph by selecting and choosing a style from the styles list box. You'll still be able to check which styles are used, because the styles list box displays the style of the currently selected block and WritePlus provides a visual approximation of a style in the text entry window.

Bold, Italic, Underline

WritePlus can be used to apply bold, italic and underline formatting to any text selection. Select an area of text then use the appropriate formatting button from the WritePlus ToolBar.

Undo

If you make a mistake and need to undo your last action in WritePlus, click the Undo button from the ToolBar.

See also

WritePlus

Style defaults

Named styles


Proofing tools (writeplus)
Proofing Tools

WritePlus provides a full compliment of proofing tools which can be invaluable during the writing process. There are tools for searching for and replacing text, correcting mistakes and suggesting alternative words.

Find & Replace

Find & Replace is used to search for and change text within a story or within all the stories in a publication. It's invaluable if you need to change a word or definition which you've used throughout a story or publication. It's directly accessible from the WritePlus ToolBar by clicking the Find & Replace button.

For more information on using Find & Replace, see the Find & Replace topic.

Spell Check

WritePlus gives you access to the mini Office Publisher Spell Check dialog. It allows you to check the spelling of all the stories in a publication, a single story or a single word. It can be used to check spelling as a final editing process or, with the QuickSpell option, to give an instant check. To check spelling, click on the Spell Check button on the WritePlus ToolBar.

For more information on using Spell Check, see the Spell Check topic.

Information

The Information button on the WritePlus ToolBar is used to check or alter the title of the story and also gives word and character count information for that story.

See also

WritePlus


Story manager (writeplus)
Story Manager

The mini Office Publisher Story Manager comes into play when you have more than one story in your publication. A story is text located within a frame or group of selected frames. If you invoke WritePlus (by clicking on the WritePlus button) without a frame selected, the Story Manager pops up and asks you which story you want to edit.

To edit a previously created story, double-click on the story name. If you decide to create a new story, WritePlus will create it as "untitled". The title can be changed at any time using the Information button, far right on the WritePlus ToolBar. For maximum flexibility, WritePlus allows you to create multiple stories with the same title.

If you have a frame selected when you click on the WritePlus button, the Story Manager assumes that's the one you want to work on and loads it into WritePlus directly.

See also

WritePlus

Text objects

Frame objects

WritePlus button


Menus and commands (overview)
 Menus and Commands

This topic indexes the mini Office Publisher menus.

File, Edit, Page, Text, Graphics, Tools, Help

This Help describes all of the commands, including those only available in mini Office Publisher Professional Level. You can change levels using Level button.

See also

Contents


File

Commands for opening, saving
and printing publications...

New

Open Publication...

Open Template...

Revert

Save

Save As...

AutoSave

Import Picture

Import Text...

Export As Picture...

Printer Setup

Print...

Exit


File menu

Commands for opening, saving and printing publications...

New

Open Publication...

Open Template...

Revert

Save

Save As...

AutoSave

Import Picture

Import Text...

Export As Picture...

Printer Setup

Print...

Exit

See also

Menus and commands


New publication (file menu)
New (Ctrl+N)

File/New displays the StartUp assistant which allows you to begin a new piece of work. The StartUp assistant gives options to work from a blank page, a mini Office Publisher template, an existing mini Office Publisher publication, or view the electronic Introduction to mini Office Publisher demonstration.

If the publication you are currently working on hasn't been saved since the last change was made to it, mini Office Publisher will ask you if you want to save the current publication before continuing. If the StartUp assistant has been switched off, by checking the Don't show Assistant again box, selecting File/New will go directly to a blank page, ready to start a new publication from scratch.

See also

File menu

Publications


Open Publicaton (file menu)
Open Publication... (Ctrl+O)

File/Open Publication... displays a standard Windows filing dialog which allows you to open an existing mini Office Publisher publication.

A list of mini Office Publisher publications (*.PPP) in the current directory is displayed.

If you select " mini Office Publisher Templates" from the List Files of Type box, the publication list is updated to show any mini Office Publisher templates (*.PPT) which are present in the template directory. A preview of the selected publication will be displayed, if the selected publication was saved with the Save Preview option checked.

See also

File menu

Publications

Templates


Open Template (file menu)
Open Template...

File/Open Template... displays a dialog showing a list of available templates in the current template category. A preview of the selected template will be displayed, if the selected template was saved with the Save Preview option checked.

Different template categories are selected using the Category box.

When a template is opened the publication name is automatically set to "Untitled" ready for the user to specify a name when the publication is saved.

See also

File menu

Templates

Publications


Revert publication (file menu)
Revert

File/Revert undoes (or abandons) all changes you've made to the current publication since it was last saved.

See also

File menu

Undo

Publications


Save publication (file menu)
Save (Ctrl+S)

File/Save saves the current publication.

If the publication name is "Untitled", the Save As... dialog is displayed, allowing the user to specify the file name for the publication.

See also

File menu

Publications


Save as (file menu)
Save As...

File/Save As... displays a dialog allowing the current publication to be saved in the selected directory with the name specified. Change the publication name, directory and drive to specify where you want to save your publication. There is no need to specify a file extension. mini Office Publisher will fill in the filename extension automatically.

The Preview option must be checked if you wish to be able to display a "preview" when opening the publication.

Select "Template" as the type if you wish to save the current publication as a template for future use.

See also

File menu

Publications

Templates


Autosave publication (file menu)
AutoSave

AutoSave is a feature where mini Office Publisher saves a "hidden" backup of your publication at timed intervals. If your work is unexpectedly interrupted before you save your document, through a power failure for example, then you will have the opportunity to restore the last "autosaved" copy of your document the next time that mini Office Publisher is started.

This menu option allows you to set the time interval between each autosave, in minutes or to switch autosave off.

The autosave interval setting can be saved permanently by checking the Preferences option of Save Settings...

See also

File menu

Publications


Import picture (file menu)
Import Picture...

File/Import Picture... displays the Picture assistant which allows easy import of pictures from a number of different sources.

If the Picture assistant has been switched off, by checking the Don't show Assistant again box, selecting File/Import Picture... will display a sub-menu, allowing the source of the picture to be specified. The sources available are:

Photo CD...

Scanner...

Other Pictures...

See also

File menu

Fonts & pictures


Photo CD

This option will display the "Gallery" of a Kodak Photo CD, if one is currently connected to your PC. Use the Next and Previous buttons to find the desired picture and then click OK.

A dialog allowing the specification of the resolution and colour format of the picture is displayed. At higher resolutions the pictures are very large and cumbersome to work with, we suggest that the higher resolutions not be used unless absolutely necessary. In most situations the "768x512" resolution will give good results.

If mini Office Publisher is unable to locate a Kodak Photo CD on your PC, the Import Picture... dialog is displayed. If this happens even though you do have a CD-ROM drive, you can help mini Office Publisher find it by editing the line CD_Drive= in the [PagePlus 3.0] section of PP.INI. For example if your CD-ROM is on drive F:, the line should read:

[PagePlus 3.0]

CD_Drive=F:

If you wish to import a Kodak Photo CD picture without using the gallery, select Import Picture/Others... and set the List Files of Type to Kodak Photo CD.

See also

Import picture


Scanner
Scanner...

File/Scanner.. allows pictures to be scanned directly into mini Office Publisher by using the TWAIN standard. When you select this option a dialog box will appear. The appearance and operation will vary from installation to installation as it is controlled by the software supplied with the scanner. See the documentation supplied with your scanner for operating instructions.

If you have more than one TWAIN compatible scanner installed on your PC then you may need to select which source you wish to scan with. You can select a different source to scan by using Tools/Defaults/Scanner Source...

If you do not have a TWAIN compatible scanner installed, this option will not be available.

See also

Import picture


Import picture other
Import Picture/Other...

This option allows pictures of many formats to be imported into your publication.

Select the type of picture you wish to import using the List Files of Type box. A list of available pictures is displayed and when a picture is highlighted, a preview will be displayed. You can import a picture without having to wait for the preview by double clicking on the picture name.

After highlighting the desired picture, press OK, the dialog disappears and the mouse pointer changes to the picture paste cursor. Click to drop the picture at a default size or drag to set the size.

There is a shortcut button for accessing this dialog on the Import Picture Flyout button of the ToolBox.

See also

Import picture


Import text (file menu)
Import Text

File/Import Text imports a word processor text file into your publication.

Select the type of text file you wish to import from the List Files of Type box. A list of files of that type in the current directory is displayed. Select a file and press OK to bring the text into your publication. The text will be placed in the currently selected frame, or a new frame will be created if one does not exist.

Ignore returns is not normally checked, but if you import text and find that new lines occur at incorrect places, try checking the Ignore Returns option before importing. This specifies that single carriage return characters contained within the word processor files are to be ignored and is required for word processors which place excessive carriage returns in text.

If the Retain Format option is not checked, any formatting commands contained in the word processor file are ignored. A default style based on the current default text is automatically created and applied to each block of the imported text. The properties of all the imported text can easily be altered by modifying one paragraph and then selecting Tools/Update Story.

If the Retain Format option is checked, mini Office Publisher will preserve the formatting information specified in the word-processor text file. Most standard commands such as styles, font, and paragraph indents are accurately preserved, but take care when importing more complex text, such as text containing aligned tabular material.

Basic font style information such as Bold or Italic will be preserved, even if the Retain Format option is not checked.

See also

File menu

How a story flows through a sequence of frames


Export as picture (file menu)
Export As Picture

File/Export as Picture exports all the objects on the pasteboard and page, or alternatively just the currently selected object(s), as a picture in the specified picture file format. This function is very useful for generating logos and pictures which are to be placed in to publications created in other application such as a word-processor.

Select the picture type you wish to create from the List files of type box, then select the drive, directory, and file name for the picture.

The Resolution and Colour options are only available for bitmap type pictures. Remember that the higher the resolution the larger the resulting picture file. Note, there is little point in generating colour pictures if you are printing to a monochrome printer.

See also

File menu


Printer setup (file menu)
Printer Setup...

File/Printer Setup... displays the standard Windows printer setup dialog.

Typically, printer setup is used to select which printer to print to, if more than one is installed, the paper size for the printer and the orientation of the printer's page.

See your Microsoft Windows User's Guide for a detailed discussion of the printer setup dialog.

See also

File menu


Print (file menu)
Print... (Ctrl+P)

File/Print... displays a dialog box providing options for selecting which part of the publication file to print and how to print it.

In general, you will simply want to select the page range to be printed, the number of copies and press OK. The pages will be printed in colour on a colour printer or in shades of gray on a black and white printer.

Before printing check that your printer page size is set to the correct size. If you wish to select a different printer then use the Setup... button to access the printer setup for the currently selected printer.

Checking the Print to File box will specify that the printing data is sent to a disk file rather than to the selected printer connection. This is normally used when generating PostScript print files which are to be sent to a commercial bureau in order to get high resolution output.

Checking the Colour Separate box will enable the Colour... button and specify that colour separations are to be printed. The controls in the Colour... dialog are used to specify colour separation options.

Pressing the Options button will display the Options... dialog.

See also

File menu


Print options (file menu)
Print Options

The Print Options dialog is reached from the Print dialog. It sets various printer options.

Scale to percentage

Allows a "custom" scaling percentage to be specified. The default for this is 100% or normal size. To scale your work to be printed at a larger size, specify a larger value and to scale down, specify a smaller value.

Reduce to fit

When Reduce to fit is selected, artwork is automatically reduced in size, if necessary, to fit neatly on the printed page.

Thumbnails

Thumbnails allows you to print multiple pages at a reduced size on each printed sheet.

Specify the number of thumbnails per sheet in the value box. mini Office Publisher will print each page of the publication at a reduced size, with the specified number of small pages or "thumbnails" neatly positioned on each printed sheet.

Print As Booklet

This option is most commonly used when creating a "half-size" booklet. Two pages of the publication are printed on each sheet of paper, with the pages being printed in the booklet sequence. The printed sheets should be copied in pairs or commercially printed to produce "double sided" sheets. These sheets can then be collated and bound at their centre to produce a booklet, with all the pages in the correct sequence.

The printer page size must be twice the artwork page size before using this option.

For example to create a booklet from letter size paper, the mini Office Publisher page size should be set to half-letter (4.25" x 8") and the publication pages created in ascending numerical order. The finished publication is then printed on letter size paper with the Print as booklet option checked.

This option saves the user from calculating how to position and collate pairs of pages on a single larger page and allows auto page numbering to be used to number the booklet pages.

Print Crop Marks

Checking the Print Crop Marks box, this will cause small markers to be generated on the printed page which mark the page dimensions of the artwork.

Crop Marks requires that the printer page size be at least 1" x 1" larger than the actual artwork being printed. This will ensure that they will be entirely visible on the final print. For PostScript printing, the Windows printer driver normally has some "Extra" type page sizes which can be used when using standard artwork paper sizes.

Suppress Pictures

Checking the suppress pictures box will cause pictures in the printed publication to be printed as hair line place holder boxes.

This has two uses, to speed up printing when doing quick proofs and to leave markers for pictures which are to manually added at a later stage of the production process.

Tile: overlap

This option allows large or enlarged pages to be print using multiple sheets of paper. Each section or tile is printed on a single sheet of paper; the various tiles can then be joined to form the complete page.

This option is used for printing at larger sizes than the maximum paper size of your printer, typically for creating banners and posters.

In order to simplify arrangement of the tiles and to allow for printer margins, an overlap value can be specified. the default value of 0.5" is generally sufficient.

Print File Information

Checking the Print File Information box will cause information such as the time, date, and publication name to be printed below the actual artwork of the page.

File information requires that the printer page size be at least 1" x 1" larger than the actual artwork being printed. This will ensure that they will be entirely visible on the final print. For PostScript printing, the Windows printer driver normally has some "Extra" type page sizes which can be used when using standard artwork paper sizes.

Include OPI Comments

This option only applies to the production of PostScript print files for use with an OPI server. For those interested...

The Open Prepress Interface (OPI) is a set of PostScript language comment conventions that allow mini Office Publisher to pass layout information about imported bitmap images to an OPI compatible system.

OPI comments describe the placement, size, rotation and cropping of imported bitmap pictures so as the OPI server can insert high-quality pictures before printing the page(s).

See also

Print


Print Colour

The Print Colour dialog is reached from the Print dialog, when the Colour Separate box is checked. It controls Spot and Process colour separation.

Process colour separation type

This option selects "Process" as the colour separation type and is only available if the currently selected Windows printer is a PostScript printer.

Normally, process colour output gives you four sheets or "separations" per publication page, one each for the cyan, magenta, yellow, and black ink components of the objects on the page.

Only the colour separations that are selected in the Colours used list will be printed. You can select or deselect a colour by clicking on it, or choose all the colours using the Print all button.

Spot colour separation type

This option selects "Spot" as the colour separation type.

Spot colour output gives you one sheet or "separation" for each colour used on each publication page. The Colours used list shows how many separation will be produced for each page.

Only the colour separations that are selected in the Colours used list will be printed. You can select or deselect a colour by clicking on it, or choose all the colours using the Print all button.

Auto Trapping

Auto trapping is used to reduce the alignment problems that occur when printing using several colour separations. In brief, if you have two different coloured objects which overlap, they will appear on different printing plates. Because printing presses can never exactly align the multiple printing plates, a small "gap" can be left at the edge where the two objects overlap.

Auto trapping tries to reduce this error by making the edges where the objects overlap very slightly intersect. The auto-trapping values can be adjusted in the Settings... dialog, but typically the default values will suffice.

OverPrint Black

This option causes the black component of objects being printed using colour separations to be printed on top of the other colours. This may sound strange, but because black ink is very dark, it can be printed on top of other colours without affecting its own colour. This reduces "trapping" errors as there is no "edge" between a black object and the object it overlaps.

Because of this, the thin white "gaps" normally caused by trapping problems will not occur with black objects.

This is especially useful when printing fine black text on coloured tint backgrounds, as it is notoriously difficult to prevent trapping problems if the black is not overprinted.

Overprint black should always be checked unless specifically instructed otherwise.

Note that the overprint black setting does not affect how imported vector pictures are colour separated.

Paper Type

The Paper Type list box provides a quick and easy way for selecting the "technical" settings associated with process colour separation printing. By selecting the appropriate paper type on to which your printer will print your work, the complicated screen angle and screen frequency settings are automatically set.

If you are a printing expert and require different settings to any of the standard paper type settings we supply, select the Custom paper type and adjust the values in the Settings dialog.

See also

Print


Print settings
Colour Print Settings

This dialog is reached from the Print Colour dialog. It gives experts fine control over colour printing.

Trapping

These settings adjust the trapping values used when the Auto Trapping option is checked. Generally, these values should be left unaltered unless specifically instructed otherwise.

The Graphic Trap Value controls the maximum trapping adjustment that can be applied to a graphic (lines and boxes) as a percentage of the smallest dimension of the graphic. For example, it would be incorrect to apply a large trap value to a very thin line, this option prevents this.

The Graphic Max Trap controls the maximum trapping adjustment that can be applied to a graphic (lines and boxes) in points.

The Text Trap Value controls the maximum trapping adjustment that can be applied to text which is larger than the Text Threshold in points.

The Text Threshold controls the minimum size of text to which trapping adjustments will be made. Due to the "fine detail" of small text, only larger text should have trapping adjustments applied.

Paper Type Settings

These options allow you to view the screen angles and frequencies for process colour separations. If the Paper Type has been set to Custom, the values can be modified.

Black Ink

These two settings affect the amount of black in used when printing colour bitmap pictures using process colour separations. The precise workings require a good technical knowledge of bitmap pictures and process colour. Generally, these values should be left unaltered unless specifically instructed otherwise.

The Generation Rate controls how much black ink is generated from the red, green and blue components of the pixels of the picture.

The Removal Rate controls how much cyan, magenta and yellow ink is removed as a result of the black which has been generated.

Ink Correction

Ink correction is used to try and adjust ink colours to take account of ink impurities, and the difference between screen and output colours.

Generally, these values should be left unaltered unless specifically instructed otherwise.

See also

Print Colour


Exit pageplus (file menu)
Exit

This command exits mini Office Publisher.

Selecting this command is the same as selecting Control menu/Close or double-clicking on the window close icon.

If your current publication has not been saved, you will be given the option of saving your changes before exiting.

See also

File menu


Edit

Commands for cutting, pasting,
and arranging objects on the page.

Undo

Cut

Copy

Paste

Paste Special...

Paste Format

Clear

Object

Insert Object...

Character Map

Bring to Front

Send to Back

Align Items...

Select All


Edit menu

Commands for cutting, pasting, and arranging objects on the page.

Undo

Cut

Copy

Paste

Paste Special...

Paste Format

Clear

Object

Insert Object...

Character Map

Bring to Front

Send to Back

Align Items...

Select All

See also

Menus and commands


Undo (edit menu)
Undo (Ctrl+Z)

Edit/Undo undoes the most recent change to the current publication on the page or pasteboard.

Undo is greyed out when not available.

See also

Edit menu

Revert publication


Cut (edit menu)
Cut (Ctrl+X)

Edit/Cut removes the selected object or group of objects from the page or pasteboard and places a copy on to the Windows clipboard.

Objects are placed on the clipboard in multiple formats, the mini Office Publisher object format as well as other general formats which can be pasted into other applications.

See also

Edit menu

Copy

Paste


Copy (edit menu)
Copy (Ctrl+C)

Edit/Copy copies the selected object, or group of objects, to the Windows clipboard.

Objects are placed on the clipboard in multiple formats, the mini Office Publisher object format as well as other general formats which can be pasted into other applications.

See also

Edit menu

Cut

Paste


Paste (edit menu)
Paste (Ctrl+V)

Edit/Paste pastes a copy of the contents of the Windows clipboard on to the current page.

The Windows clipboard can contain different formats of the same object (e.g. Picture, Bitmap, OLE, ...). If you want to paste a particular format, use Edit/Paste Special...

Paste will always select the mini Office Publisher format from the clipboard if it is available.

If there is a text block on the clipboard and a text block selected in a frame, the clipboard text block is pasted into the frame immediately after the selected text block.

If the SHIFT key is held down when you paste, the text block will be inserted before the selected text block.

See also

Edit menu

Cut

Copy

Paste Special...


Paste special (edit menu)
Paste Special...

Edit/Paste Special... allows you to choose which format will be pasted from the Windows clipboard.

A dialog is displayed that lists all the formats currently available on the clipboard (e.g. Picture, Bitmap, OLE, ...). Select the format you require and press OK to paste.

See also

Edit menu

Cut

Copy

Paste


Paste format (edit menu)
Paste Format

Edit/Paste Format pastes or applies the properties of the mini Office Publisher object currently on the Window clipboard to the currently selected object. If the objects are of differing types (e.g. text on clipboard, line selected on page), the properties of the object on page will be matched as best possible to those of the object on the clipboard.

Paste Format is only available when a mini Office Publisher object has been copied to the Windows clipboard.

See also

Edit menu

Copy

Paste

Paste Special...


Clear (edit menu)
Clear (Del)

Edit/Clear clears or deletes the selected object or group of objects. The objects are not copied to the Windows clipboard. If you make a mistake and accidentally delete a required object, select Edit/Undo immediately.

See also

Edit menu

Cut

Undo


Object (edit menu)
Object...

Edit/Object is the standard OLE Object menu command. It changes according to the type of the selected object:

•	If no OLE object is selected, this option is greyed out.

•	If an OLE object is selected which provides a single action, this option is renamed to invoke that action.

•	If an OLE object is selected which provides several actions, this option leads to a submenu which lists the actions.

See the Microsoft Windows User's Guide for more information about OLE.

See also

Edit menu

OLE objects


Insert object (edit menu)
Insert Object...

Edit/Insert Object... displays the standard Windows Insert OLE object dialog.

Highlight the type of OLE object you wish to create from the list of all "OLE Servers" available on your computer.

Press OK and the mouse pointer will change to the picture paste cursor. Click to create the picture at a default size or drag to set the size.

The OLE program selected will then start and you can create your piece of work.

The OLE button on the Import Picture flyout button of the ToolBox is a shortcut accessing this dialog.

See the Microsoft Windows User's Guide for further details on using OLE

See also

Edit menu

OLE objects


Character map (edit menu)
Character Map

Edit/Character Map starts the Character Map utility which allows you to visually select special characters such as "scissors" symbols, from special fonts such as WingDings.

In Character Map, select the font containing the special characters, double-click on the characters and press the Copy button to put those characters onto the clipboard.

Switch back to mini Office Publisher and select Edit/Paste to insert the characters into your publication. You should have the text cursor correctly positioned in the text block being edited.

Note, the special characters will be pasted at a default size so you may need to change the size after they are pasted.

See also

Edit menu

Insert Symbol

Edit/Paste


Send to back (edit menu)
Send to Back (Ctrl+B)

Edit/Send to Back changes the layering of the selected object so that it is at the back or underneath all other objects on the current page or pasteboard.

There is a convenient Send to Back shortcut button on the Wrap flyout of the ChangeBar.

See also

Edit menu


Bring to front (edit menu)
Bring to Front (Ctrl+F)

Edit/Bring to Front changes the layering of the selected object so it is in front or on top of all other objects on the current page or pasteboard.

There is a convenient Bring to Front shortcut button on the Wrap flyout of the ChangeBar.

See also

Edit menu


Align items (edit menu)
Align Items...

Edit/Align Items... allows you to align all the objects within a selected group relative to each other. If a group of objects is not currently selected then this option is not available

A dialog box is displayed providing alignment options. Select the type of alignment you want, horizontal and vertical alignment can be done together and then press OK.

For example, if you choose Left, then each object in the group will have its left edge aligned with the left edge of the leftmost object.

Finally, you can also select Centre for either axis. For example, if you choose centre for both, then all the objects will be centreed on the same point.

See also

Edit menu


Select all (edit menu)
Select All (Ctrl+A)

Edit/Select All selects all the objects on the current page and the pasteboard as a group.

If you have an object selected and you press SHIFT as you select Select All, all objects of the same type on the current page and pasteboard will be selected. This can be useful if, for example, you want to select all your graphic lines as a group and change their line weight.

See also

Edit menu


Page

Commands for changing pages
and controlling layout tools...

Views

Layout Tools...

Display

Snapping

Frame Setup...

Columns

Page Setup...

Size

Orientation

Pages...

Go to / Leave Master Page

Master Page Objects


Page menu

Commands for changing pages and controlling layout tools...

Views

Layout Tools...

Display

Snapping

Frame Setup...

Columns

Page Setup...

Size

Orientation

Pages...

Go to / Leave Master Page

Master Page Objects

See also

Menus and commands


Views (page menu)
Views

Page/Views contains various options to change the zoom percentage at which your page is displayed.

Views/Page

Automatically sets the zoom percentage and re-centres the page display so that the current page is fully visible.

Views/Actual

Sets the zoom percentage to 100% leaving the centre of the screen displaying the same part of the page.

Views/50%, 75%, and 200%

These options behave in a similar manner to Views/Actual, setting the zoom percentage to the value shown and leaving the centre of the screen displaying the same part of the page.

If you wish to change view to view a specific portion of the page, use the Zoom tool of the ToolBox. There are several view shortcut buttons in the "Zoom" area of the Status Bar.

Views/Facing Pages

Changes the zoom percentage and cleans the screen display to leave an uncluttered view of the current page and the next page.

Click on the left and right arrow buttons of the Facing Pages dialog to move between pages while in the Facing Pages view.

Click on the middle of the facing pages dialog to exit the facing pages view and return to the previous view.

See also

Page menu

Zoom tool

Zoom area

Pages


Layout tools (page menu)
Layout Tools...

Page/Layout Tools displays a dialog to control the use of the mini Office Publisher page layout aids.

Most of the options are also available via the Display and Snapping menu commands or as shortcut buttons on the Status Bar.

The Layout tools settings can be saved permanently by checking the Preferences option of Tools/Save Settings...

See also

Page menu

Shortcut buttons


Display (page menu)
Display

Page/Display lists the various layout aids with a check mark beside the ones currently displayed. Select an item to toggle its display setting between on and off.

See also

Page menu

Layout tools

Shortcut buttons


Snapping (page menu)
Snapping

If Page/Snapping is checked, snapping is currently switched on. Select to toggle the current snapping status between on and off.

See also

Page menu

Layout tools

Shortcut buttons

Snapping guides


Frame setup (page menu)
Frame Setup...

Page/Frame Setup... displays a dialog for editing the currently selected frame's margins and columns.

If the frame has two or more columns, each column can have different "Column Blinds" (top and bottom column margins). When a frame is created, the position of all the column blinds is set to the top and bottom frame margin values.

If the column blinds of a frame have been individually moved by dragging them with the Pointer tool, the Custom column blinds option is available and checked. If you uncheck this option and press OK, the column blinds will be reset to the top and bottom margins specified. If the option is left checked, they are left unchanged.

You can also change the columns value via the Page/Frame Columns side-pull menu or using the ChangeBar.

See also

Page menu

Frame objects


Frame columns (page menu)
Frame Columns

Page/Frame Columns changes the number of columns in the currently selected frame via an easy access side-pull menu.

The Page/Columns/Custom... command will display the Frame Setup dialog.

See also

Page menu


Page setup (page menu)
Page Setup...

Page/Page Setup... displays a dialog for modifying the page dimensions, margins, columns, and page numbering system. The Page Setup settings can be saved as defaults for new publications by checking the Page Size and Margins option of Save Settings...

Dimensions

Select one of the standard page sizes from the Page Size list box or create a "Custom" page size by entering values into the Width and Height entry boxes. Select Wide for landscape orientation or Tall for portrait orientation.

Margins

Set the page margins as required by entering values in the Left, Right, Top, and Bottom entry boxes.

To set different margins for left and right hand pages, see the Double sided and Mirror margins entries.

Columns

Set the number of columns and the column gap or gutter (distance between adjacent columns), by entering values into the Number and Gap entry boxes.

Delete ruler guides

Checking this option will cause all the ruler guides on the current page to be deleted.

Double sided / Mirror Margins

These options should be used as part of the initial publication setup, before any new pages have been added to the new publication.

Double sided, use two master pages should be selected if you wish to use a different master page for left and right hand pages.

Mirror margins should be selected if you wish the left and right hand pages to have opposite left and right margins.

For example, using two master pages, a typical booklet can have the page number on the right side of left hand pages and on the left side of right hand pages. And using mirrored margins, pages can have a wider right margin on the left hand pages and a wider left margin on the right hand pages.

Select the Numbers button to access the Numbering dialog.

See also

Page menu

Pages


Numbers (page menu)
Numbers...

This option allows you to set the number style and page number at which the publication begins.

Select the numbering style requested and the page number to be used for the first page of the publication.

See also

Page menu

Insert page number


Size (page menu)
Size

Page/Size displays a list of commonly used page sizes via an easy access side-pull menu.

The Custom... option displays the Page Setup... dialog.

See also

Page menu

Page Setup...

Pages


Orientation (page menu)
Orientation

Page/Orientation changes the orientation of the current page. Select Wide for landscape orientation or Tall for portrait orientation.

See also

Page menu

Page Setup...


Pages (page menu)
Pages...

Page/Pages... brings up a dialog for adding and removing pages.

There is a shortcut for accessing the Pages... dialog on the Status Bar. If you double-click on the middle of the "Page area" or if you click on the forward or backward page buttons and a page needs to be added in the direction being paged, the Pages... dialog will appear.

Add blank page

Adds one or more blank pages with the same size and guides as an existing page in the current publication.

Click on the Add blank page(s) option, enter the number of blank pages wanted, the number of the page with the setup to be copied, and the number of the page after which the blank pages are to be inserted.

If your publication has Double sided specified in the page setup dialog, then left and right blank pages will be added as appropriate.

Add copy

Adds one or more copies of an existing page in the current publication.

Click on the Add copy option, enter the number of pages to add, the page to be copied, and the number of the page after which the copies are to be inserted.

Remove

To remove pages from your document, select Remove pages and then specify the range of pages you wish to remove.

Go to

To go to a particular page in your publication, select Go to page and then enter the page number you want.

See also

Page menu

Status Bar

Pages


Go to / leave master page (page menu)
Go to / Leave Master Page

This option will allow you to edit the Master page(s) for the current publication.

To return to the publication page, select Page/Leave Master Page or click on the middle of the page area of the Status Bar.

If Double sided is specified in the page setup of the current publication then the left or right master page will be selected as appropriate. While editing master pages you can switch between the left and right master pages by clicking on the left and right arrows of the Page area of the Status Bar. On leaving master pages the nearest left or right publication page will be selected, dependent on whether the left or right master page was last selected.

See also

Page menu

Master pages

Page area


Master page objects (page menu)
Master Page Objects

This option is used to control whether master page objects are shown on the current page. By default, the option is checked meaning master page objects are shown.

Select this option if you do not want the master page objects on the current page. For example, you may not want a page number, header, or footer on a "new chapter" page.

See also

Page menu

Master pages


Text

Commands for altering text properties.

Character...

Font Style

Size

Width

Colour

Shading

Spacing...

Align(text)

Leading

Tracking

Tabs & Indents

Kern

Insert Symbol

Insert Hyphen / Delete Hyphen

Insert Page Number

Text Style


Text Menu

Commands for altering text properties.

Character...

Font Style

Size

Width

Colour

Shading

Spacing...

Align(text)

Leading

Tracking

Tabs & Indents

Kern

Insert Symbol

Insert Hyphen / Delete Hyphen

Insert Page Number

Text Style

See also

Menus and commands

Text objects

Frame objects


Character (text menu)
Character...

Text/Character brings up a dialog with options to change the formatting of text.

Font

The font list box contains a complete list of all the fonts available to select from. The currently selected font will be used to display the text in the Sample box at the bottom right.

Font style

The font style list box contains a list of options for changing the font style (bold, italic ...) of text. Only the font styles available will be displayed. For example, a script typeface will rarely have a bold font style available.

Case

The drop-down case selection box gives the choice between:

•	Normal - leaving the case of text unaltered

•	Small Caps - all capitalized but at a reduced size

•	All Caps - making all text capitalized

The Small caps option reduces the size of the capital letters to approximately the same size as lower case letters would be.

Size

The size list box gives selection of commonly used values and also allows entry of any value for text size up to 250 points. There are 72 points in an inch. A capital letter at a size of 250 points is about 3" high.

Width

The width list box gives a selection of commonly used values and also allows entry of any specific value.

If the Absolute box is not checked, the width is specified as a percentage of the current size of the text. This is the normal method, meaning that the width relative to the size of text, is not altered when the text size is changed.

If the Absolute box is checked, the width is specified in points. This is used less often and means that the text will keep the same width even if the text size is increased or decreased.

When the width of text is increased above 100%, text is said to be expanded, and when the width is decreased to less than 100%, text is said to be condensed. Expanding and condensing text slightly is extremely useful for making text fit to specific areas, most commonly when creating headlines or fitting headings within columns.

Colour

Changes the colour of text via a list box containing all the colours defined in the mini Office Publisher colour palette. See Tools/Defaults/Colours... for information on adding and removing colours from the mini Office Publisher colour palette.

Tint

The tint list box gives a selection of commonly used values and also allows entry of any value for the text tint percentage.

Setting the tint below 100% reduces the brightness or intensity of the text.

Pattern (Character dialog)

The pattern list box shows all the available patterns for text.

Patterns work particularly well with the Outline text effect. It is good practice to check printed output from your printer before using patterned text because the reproduction of patterns when printed varies from printer to printer.

Effects(Character dialog)

Allows you to Strikethrough (put a line through the middle), underline, and select an Outline form of text.

Slant

The slant list box gives a selection of commonly used values and also allows entry of the number of degrees by which text is to be slanted. Slant values can be positive or negative by up to 45 degrees.

See also

Text menu

Text objects


Font style (text menu)
Font Style

Text/Font Style displays a list of font styles (bold, italic ...) for text via an easy access side-pull menu.

The Custom... command displays the Character... dialog.

If a font does not have all font styles installed in Windows, then the unavailable font styles will have no effect if selected. For example, a script typeface will rarely have a bold font style available.

See also

Text menu


Size (text menu)
Size

Text/Size displays a list of commonly used text size values via an easy access side-pull menu.

The Custom... command displays the Character... dialog.

See also

Text menu

Character...


Width (text menu)
Width

Text/Width displays a list of commonly used text width values via an easy access side-pull menu.

When the width of text is increased above 100%, text is said to be expanded, and when the width is decreased to less than 100%, text is said to be condensed. Expanding and condensing text slightly is extremely useful for making text fit to specific areas, most commonly when creating headlines or fitting headings within columns.

The Custom... command displays the Character... dialog.

See also

Text menu

Character...


Colour (text menu)
Colour

Text/Colour displays a list of commonly used text colours in an easy access side-pull menu.

The Custom... command displays the Character... dialog.

See also

Text menu

Character...


Shading (text menu)
Shading

Text//Shading displays a list of commonly used tints and patterns for text in an easy access side-pull menu.

The Custom... command displays the Character... dialog.

See also

Text menu

Character...


Spacing (text menu)
Spacing...

Text/Spacing... displays a dialog combining all the text properties that control the paragraph, line and inter-letter spacing of text.

Align

Controls the alignment of text within the text width, also known as the text measure.

•	A paragraph of left aligned text will have all lines flush with the left edge of the text measure, with a ragged appearance on the right side of the text measure.

•	A paragraph of right aligned text will have all lines flush with the right edge of the text measure, with a ragged appearance on the left side of the text measure.

•	A paragraph of centre aligned text will have a ragged appearance on both the left and right sides of the text measure.

•	A paragraph of justified text will have all lines except the last line, flush with both the left and right edges of the text measure, with the last line of the paragraph being aligned to the left.

•	A paragraph of force justified text will have all lines flush with both the left and right edges of the text measure. This is used less often, typically when a line of text needs to be spread over a wide text measure by using very large spaces between the words.

Letter space

The Letter space option controls the spacing between letters. It is measured as a percentage of the text size, with negative values moving the letters closer together and positive ones moving them apart.

Letter spacing is often used to squeeze an extra word onto a line or make headlines more distinctive.

Leading

Controls the distance between the baseline of one line of text and the baseline of the next line of text and is sometimes referred to as line spacing.

If the Absolute box is not checked, the leading value is specified as a percentage of the text size. This is the normal method, meaning that the relative amount of space between lines does not change when the text size is changed.

For plain text the leading is normally set to about 120% to give a small gap between each line. To obtain double spaced lines a value of 200% is used.

If the Absolute box is checked, the leading value is specified in points. This is used less often and means that the distance from one line of text to the next will be the same even if the text size is increased or decreased.

Paragraph spacing

Controls the extra space, in addition to the leading value, between the last line of one paragraph and the first line of the next.

A value of zero means no extra space, the same value as the leading value will give a blank line space after each paragraph.

Space above

Controls the extra space, in addition to the leading and paragraph values, between the first line of the current text block and the last line of the previous text block.

This value is also set automatically when dragging a text block up or down inside a frame with the Pointer tool.

Auto pair kerning

Auto pair kerning has an effect when two adjacent characters look over or under spaced due to the shape of the characters, and is used to reduce or increase the space between the pair of characters.

For example the letters 'A' and 'V' look over spaced when placed adjacent 'A V' to each other.

Typically this effect is only noticeable on larger text and the most detailed attention is applied to kerning when creating headlines or text logos.

Auto pair kerning is normally switched on by default with the above value set to around 16 points, meaning that only larger text is automatically kerned and small less noticeable text is left unaltered.

Auto pair kerning will only have an effect on text which uses a TrueType font containing "pair kerning" information.

Auto hyphenation

Auto hyphenation is where a line which is going to be overly ragged or have overly large word spaces is automatically recognized and corrected.

By splitting the last word of a line between this line and the start of the next, using a hyphen, this overly ragged or spaced appearance can be reduced.

By default, auto hyphenation is normally enabled but can be switched off where required using this option.

Keep as free text

When a text block is moved over a frame, mini Office Publisher assumes that you want to insert that text into the story at the chosen position in the frame.

If you want text to overlap a frame but not be part of the story in the frame, check the Keep as free text option before moving it over the frame.

There is a shortcut key for setting Keep as free text, by pressing the F4 key while moving a block of text, the Keep as free text setting for that text block can be toggled.

Hyphenation

Minimum word length is the minimum number of characters that a word must have before it is considered valid to hyphenate the word at the end of a line.

Minimum prefix is the number of letters that the first part of a hyphenated word must contain when a word is split by auto hyphenation.

Minimum suffix is the number of letters that the second part of a hyphenated word must contain when a word is split by auto hyphenation.

The Hot zone value only effects the hyphenation of left, right and centre aligned text. The hot zone value specifies the amount of spare space at the end of each line which is considered acceptable. If the amount of spare space exceeds this value, then auto hyphenation will try to split words, to reduce the spare space.

The value is specified as a percentage of the text size so that is relative to the current text size.

Word spacing

The word spacing values are all specified as a percentage of text size so as to be relative to the current text size.

Minimum space specifies how small inter-word spaces can be made before a word must be placed on the next line.

Optimum space is used when text is aligned left, right, or centre and specifies the ideal size of inter-word spaces. Word spaces will be made as close as possible to the optimum, but ensuring that the line is ended within the hot zone area.

Maximum space specifies how large inter-word spaces can be made before the line is considered to have overly large inter-word spaces. If a line will end with over large spaces then hyphenation will be used if enabled and a valid hyphenation position is found.

Select the Advanced button for access to extended options

See also

Text menu

Advanced


Advanced spacing
Advanced

This dialog is accessed from the Spacing dialog. It gives access to the parameters used by mini Office Publisher to determine the exact method by which line endings are calculated. There are two sets of values which have an effect, those concerned with the behaviour of automatic hyphenation and those concerned with inter-word spacing.

Normally these settings are left at their defaults, but have been made accessible for more advanced or experienced typographers.

See also

Spacing


Align (text menu)
Align

Text/Align displays a list of text alignment options in an easy access side-pull menu.

See Text/Spacing... for a complete explanation of the text align options.

See also

Text menu

Text/Spacing...


Leading (text menu)
Leading

Text/Leading displays a list of commonly used leading values in an easy access side-pull menu.

The Custom... command displays the Spacing... dialog.

See also

Text menu

Text/Spacing...


Tracking (text menu)
Tracking

The Page/Tracking menu displays a set of commonly used letter spacing values in an easy access side-pull menu.

Selecting the tracking options sets the text letter spacing value.

The Custom... command displays the Spacing... dialog.

See also

Text menu

Text/spacing...


Tabs and indents (text menu)
Tabs & Indents

This dialog allows the first line, left and right indents, and tab position, alignment and leader types to be specified. Values for indents and tab positions can be altered dynamically using the Tab ruler or manually by entering values into the relevant entry boxes.

Left and right indents can be applied to a region within a text block; whereas any changes to tabs will apply to the entire text block.

Tab ruler

The tab ruler displays the positions and types of all defined tabs, default tabs and the positions of the left, right, and first line indents. The right indent value is normally left at zero, and so the right indent marker also serves to display the text measure of the selected text block.

If the right indent marker, or some of the tab positions are not visible, the ruler can be scrolled left or right using the arrows at either end.

As you can see, the indents are marked by small triangles, the defined tabs by vertical arrows and the default tabs by small dots.

You can adjust the positions of the indents and defined tabs by dragging on the markers and you can add tabs by clicking on the ruler bar. Clicking on a tab marker, selects and highlight that tab.

Default Tabs

All text blocks are created with a default set of tabs, spaced at half inch intervals, across the entire text measure. The spacing of the default tabs can be modified by editing the Defaults entry value.

Note that the default tabs are only inserted after the right most user defined tab position.

Creating and Deleting Tabs

Tabs are created by clicking on the tab ruler, a new tab will appear at the position specified. By defaults a newly created tab is selected and its properties can be altered by changing the Position value, the Tab Type, and the Tab Leader entries.

To delete a tab, drag the appropriate tab marker downwards so that it is no longer over the ruler and release the mouse.

If you wish to start from scratch, you can delete all currently defined tabs by selecting Clear all.

Modifying Tabs

The Position, Tab Type, and Tab Leader controls will only effect the currently selected tab marker. Select a tab marker by clicking with the mouse positioned over it.

Note that there is a Decimal alignment option which will result in the text in tabs being aligned such that the decimal points of the text are placed at the tab position.

If no tab marker is currently selected then modifying these values will set the position and type for new tabs.

Indents

The values for the first line, left and right indents can be specified by dragging the indent markers of the tab ruler or by entering values into the entry boxes.

The first line indent can be given a negative value, which when combined with a positive left indent value gives the effect of the entire paragraph other than the first line being indented.

See also

Text menu

Frame objects


Kern (text menu)
Kern

Text/Kern is normally used where two adjacent characters look over or under spaced due to the shape of the characters, and is used to reduce or increase the space between the pair of characters.

For example the letters 'A' and 'V' look over-spaced when placed adjacent 'A V' to each other.

Typically this effect is only noticeable on larger text and the most detailed attention is applied to kerning when creating headlines or text logos.

This menu displays a side pull giving options to vary the amount of kerning between the characters to the immediate left and right of the text cursor by a small amount.

This feature is more convenient if used via the keyboard shortcuts.

•	CTRL + ALT + '+' for increased space or positive kerning.

•	CTRL + ALT + '-' for reduced space or negative kerning.

Custom... will display a dialog allowing any kern value to be entered. The kern value is specified as a percentage of the text size.

Kern is greyed when there is no flashing text caret.

See also

Text menu

Text spacing


Insert symbol (text menu)
Insert Symbol

This gives easy access to some of the more common symbols which are not available directly from the key tops. The selected symbol will be entered at the current text caret position.

If you need a different symbol to those listed use Text/Character map...

See also

Text menu

Insert page number

Insert hyphen

Text/Character map...


Insert hyphen/delete hyphen (text menu)
Insert Hyphen / Delete Hyphen

This option inserts, or deletes, a user specified hyphen point at the text cursor position.

If a word contains a user specified hyphen point then only this point will be considered for hyphenation, auto hyphenation points will be ignored.

If you wish to ensure that a word is never hyphenated by auto hyphenation, insert a user specified hyphen on the first character of the word.

See also

Text Menu

Insert Symbol

Insert page number


Insert page number (text menu)
Insert Page Number

This option will automatically insert the page number of the current page at the text caret position. While editing text the page number will be displayed as a '#' symbol, but will be updated to show the correct number after the text has been edited.

The page number will be inserted using the page number style specified for the current publication the page setup.

See also

Text Menu

Insert Symbol

Numbers


Text style (text menu)
Text Style

The Text/Text Style menu manages the styles which govern text formatting.

Update

Selecting this menu entry updates the "named style" of the current object with any changes that have been made to the current object. Because the definition of the "named style" has changed, all objects that use this style will also change.

For example, if you have a number of text blocks with the style "body text" in your publication and you want to make them all bigger. Select one of the "body text" blocks and change it to the desired size. Now choose Text/Styles/Update, and the other text blocks will be updated.

You can also use the AutoApply feature of the ChangeBar to update styles or Tools/Update Story.

Styles name list

This gives easy access to the most recently created text styles, which can be applied to the currently selected text block by selecting the appropriate entry.

Palette...

This displays the style palette dialog for creating, modifying, and removing styles. This dialog also lets you create and save style sheets containing various sets of styles.

See Tools/Defaults/Styles... for information on creating, editing and saving style sheets.

See also

Text Menu

Named styles

AutoApply

Tools/Update Story


Graphics

Commands for changing graphics pictures,
and the graphic properties of frames...

Line...

Type

Weight

Colour

Shading

Corners

Fill...

Colour

Shading

Graphics Style


Graphics menu

Commands for changing graphics pictures, and the graphic properties of frames...

Line...

Type

Weight

Colour

Shading

Corners

Fill...

Colour

Shading

Graphics Style

See also

Menus and commands

Graphics Objects

Picture objects


Line (graphics menu)
Line...

Graphic/Line... displays a dialog combining all the line properties including Corner Styles and Corner Radius for the lines around boxes and ovals.

Pattern

The pattern list box shows all the available patterns for line graphics.

It is good practice to check printed output from your printer before using patterned lines as the reproduction of patterns when printed varies from printer to printer.

Colour

Changes the colour of line graphics via a list box containing all of the colours defined in the mini Office Publisher colour palette.

See Tools/Defaults/Colours... for information on adding and removing colours from the mini Office Publisher colour palette.

Tint

The tint list box gives a selection of commonly used values and also allows entry of any value for the line tint percentage.

Setting the tint below 100% reduces the brightness or intensity of the line

Line Type

The line type list box gives a selection of single and double, solid, and dashed line effects.

Weight

The weight list box gives a selection of commonly used values and also allows entry of any value for line weight or width.

Setting the weight to zero for a graphic switches the line part of a graphic off resulting in a borderless panel.

Corner Radius

This option is not available when a plain line is selected. It specifies the radius of the corners of boxes whose corner style has been altered. A value of zero will give square corners.

Corner Styles

This option is not available when a plain line is selected. It specifies the styles of the corners of boxes, rounded, inverted rounded square or inverted square.

Different corners can be given different styles or they can all be kept the same by checking the Keep all corners the same box.

See also

Graphics menu


Line type (graphics menu)
Type

Graphic/Type displays a list of commonly used line types in an easy access side-pull menu.

The Custom... command displays the Line... dialog.

See also

Graphics menu

Line...


Line weight (graphics menu)
Weight

Graphic/Weight displays a list of commonly used line weight values in an easy access side-pull menu.

The Custom... command displays the Line... dialog.

See also

Graphics menu

Line...


Line colour (graphics menu)
Colour

Graphic/Colour displays a list of commonly used line colours in an easy access side-pull menu.

The Custom... command displays the Line... dialog.

See also

Graphics menu

Line...


Line shading (graphics menu)
Shading

Graphic/Shading displays a list of tints and patterns for line graphics via an easy access side-pull menu.

The Custom... command will display the Line... dialog.

See also

Graphics menu

Line...


Corners (graphics menu)
Corners

This menu option displays a basic set of corner values in an easy access side-pull menu. Custom... accesses Line... dialog.

See also

Graphics menu

Line...


Fill (graphics menu)
Fill...

Graphic/Fill... displays a dialog combining all the graphic fill properties.

Pattern

The pattern list box shows all the available patterns for the graphic fill.

It is good practice to check printed output from your printer before using patterned fills. The patterns, when printed, vary from printer to printer.

Colour

Changes the colour of the graphic fill via a list box containing all the colours defined in the mini Office Publisher colour palette. See Tools/Defaults/Colours... for information on adding and removing colours from the mini Office Publisher colour palette.

Tint

The tint list box gives a selection of commonly used values and also allows entry of any value for the graphic fill tint percentage.

Setting the tint below 100% reduces the brightness or intensity of the fill.

See also

Graphics menu


FiIl colour (graphics menu)
Colour

Graphic/Colour displays a list of commonly used graphic fill colours in an easy access side-pull menu.

See also

Graphics menu

Fill...


Fill shading (graphics menu)
Shading

Graphic/Shading displays a list of tints and patterns for the graphic fill via an easy access side-pull menu.

The Custom... command displays the Fill... dialog.

See also

Graphics menu

Fill...


Styles dialogs

There are three different Styles dialogs which all work in pretty much the same way.

Text/Styles and Text Defaults

Graphics/Styles and Graphics Defaults

Styles Palette and Style Defaults

See also

Menus and commands

Named styles


Graphics style (graphics menu)
Graphics Style

The Graphics/Style menu controls the styles that govern the appearance of graphics.

Update

Selecting this menu entry updates the "named style" of the current object with any changes that have been made to the current object. Because the definition of the "named style" has changed, all objects that use this style will also change.

Styles name list

This gives easy access to the most recently created graphic styles, which can be applied to the currently selected graphic by selecting the appropriate entry.

Palette...

This displays the style palette dialog for creating, modifying, and removing styles. This dialog also lets you create and save style sheets containing various sets of styles. See Tools/Defaults/Styles... for information on creating, editing and saving style sheets.

See also

Graphics menu

Named styles


Tools

General program tools and
options.

Find & Replace

Check Spelling

Fonts & Pictures...

Wrap Settings

Convert to Picture

Update Story

Defaults

Preferences

Save Settings...

Level


Tools Menu

General program tools and options.

Find & Replace

Check Spelling

Fonts & Pictures...

Wrap Settings

Convert to Picture

Update Story

Defaults

Preferences

Save Settings...

Level

See also

Menus and commands


Find & replace (tools menu)
Find & Replace

Tools/Find & Replace displays the Find & Replace dialog which allows you to search text for whole words or parts of words including uppercase and lowercase letters.

Type the text you are searching for in the Find box and if required, the replace text in the Replace With box.

To search just the story containing the currently selected text frame, block or region, select Check this story only.

To search all the stories within your publication select Check all stories.

If Find & Replace was started from inside WritePlus, options for searching from the text cursor position onwards and for searching just a selected region of text are available.

Select Match Whole Word Only to find complete words only, which match the find text.

Select Match Case to find words which match the find text and which have exactly the same case for each letter of the find text.

To start the search click on the Find Next button. When the find text is found WritePlus displays the find text highlighted. The Replace and Replace All buttons of the Find & Replace dialog become available.

To replace the found text with the replace text click on the Replace button. If you want to replace all occurrences of the find text, with the replace text, click on the Replace All button.

The Find & Replace will continue until the "No more occurrences found" message is displayed. To exit the Find & Replace dialog click on the Close button. To save any alterations made to the last story searched, close WritePlus in the normal way.

See also

Tools menu

WritePlus

Text objects


Check spelling (tools menu)
Check Spelling

Tools/Check Spelling displays the Check Spelling dialog which allows you to spell check entire publications stories or single words.

To spell check just the story containing the currently selected text frame, block or region, select Check this story only.

To spell check all the stories within your publication select Check all stories.

If Check Spelling was started from inside WritePlus, options for spell checking from the text cursor position onwards and for spell checking just a selected region of text are available.

To start the spell check, click on the Start button. When a problem is found WritePlus displays the problem word highlighted and the Check Spelling correction dialog is displayed. spell checking will continue until the Close button is press or until the spell check is completed. To save any alterations made to the last story spell checked, close WritePlus in the normal way.

The correction dialog shows the problem word at the top in the Word box. The Change To: entry box displays the problem word and can be edited for manually correcting the problem word.

The Suggestions box displays a list of suggestions for correcting the problem word.

There are a number of alternatives when a problem word is found:

•	The Change button will replace the problem word with the word or words that are in the Change To: box.

•	The Change All button will replace the problem word and any other occurrences of that word which are encountered, with the word or words that are in the Change To: box.

•	The Ignore button skips, leaving the text unaltered, the problem word and the spell check will continue.

•	The Ignore All button skips, leaving the text unaltered, the problem word and will skip any other occurrence of that word that are encountered.

•	The Suggest button will replace the problem word with the currently highlighted of the suggestions box. You can also double-click on a word in the suggestions list as a shortcut for the Suggest button.

•	The Add button will add the problem word to your user defined dictionary. These means that any other occurrences of this word will not be highlighted as problem words because they are now found in the user defined dictionary.

•	The Close button will end the spell check at the current point.

QuickSpell

Selecting the QuickSpell button expands the Check Spelling dialog to enable a simple word check to be performed.

Click on the QuickSpell button, type word into the Word box and click on the Spell button. the message box at the bottom of the dialog will report on whether the word is found in the dictionary and if not, will show a list of suggested alternatives.

Options

Selecting the Options button displays the Spell Options dialog which lists several controls for altering the exact behaviour of Spell Check.

Repeated words

When checked, the spell checker will ignore words repeated one after another and not highlight them as problem words.

Words with numbers

When checked, the spell checker will ignore words that include numbers in them and not highlight them as problem words.

Words with initial capitals

When checked, the spell checker will ignore words that begin with a capital letter and not highlight them as problem words.

ALL-CAPITAL words

When checked, the spell checker will ignore words that consist entirely of capital letters and not highlight them as problem words.

See also

Tools menu

WritePlus

Text objects

Find & replace


Fonts & pictures (tools menu)
Fonts & Pictures...

Tools/Fonts & Pictures... displays a dialog that lists the fonts and pictures used in your publication and shows if the pictures are linked to external picture files, or embedded within the document.

If you are copying a publication to take to a different computer, you should check that the fonts used in the publication are available on the new computer. The font used are listed in the Fonts section of the dialog. If you click on a font, its type is displayed (whether it is a TrueType, Printer, or System font). You should take particular care with printer dependent fonts, as the new machine may be using a different printer driver.

It is recommended that you use only TrueType fonts. This is because TrueType fonts are the Windows standard fonts.

When you import a picture mini Office Publisher will either embed or link (inserts a reference to the original picture file) the picture data. If the picture is linked, when you copy the publication, you should also copy the graphic files linked to the publication. These are shown in the Pictures section. The full pathname where the picture is stored is displayed when you click on the listed pictures.

Note you can control whether pictures are linked or embedded into publications using the settings in Tools/Preferences/Picture...

See also

Tools menu

External publication resources

Import picture


Wrap settings (tools menu)
Wrap Settings

Tools/Wrap Settings displays the Wrap Settings dialog which allows you to control the text wrap values for the selected object.

The text wrap settings control what will happen when text overlaps other objects on the page.

For non-text objects the options are:

•	Wrap off meaning that text which overlaps the object will not wrap around the object.

•	Wrap outside meaning that text which overlaps the object will wrap around the outside of the object, provided that the wrap setting of the text object is Text will wrap.

•	Wrap inside meaning that text which overlaps the object will wrap so that it fills the inside of the object, provided that the wrap setting of the text object is Text will wrap.

For text objects the options are:

•	Wrap off meaning that this text will not wrap around any objects, even if the objects are set to Wrap outside.

•	Wrap outside meaning that text which overlaps this text object will wrap around the outside of this text object, provided that the wrap setting of the other text object is Text will wrap.

•	Text will wrap meaning that this text object will wrap around other objects, provided that the wrap setting of the other object is Wrap outside or Wrap inside.

The Standoff settings allow a border or standoff value to be set for the wrap outside and wrap inside settings. This controls how close to the edge of the object, the text which is wrapping, will be. You can also use the Pointer tool off the ToolBox to adjust the outline around which any text will wrap provided that the selected object is set to wrap outside or wrap inside.

See the Capital effects topic for ideas on using text wrap including instructions on how do a large "dropped capital".

See also

Tools menu

Modifying a text wrap outline

Capital effects


Convert to picture (tools menu)
Convert to Picture

Tools/Convert to Picture deletes the selected object or group and replaces it with a picture representation. It has many practical uses.

•	When you need to combine objects into a permanent group; for example to create a logo from multiple text, graphic and picture objects which can then be sized, positioned and rotated as a single object.

•	To rotate an object that normally cannot be rotated e.g. a text frame and the text it contains.

•	To convert text to a picture which can then be scaled to be larger than 250 points.

•	To create a composite shape from multiple graphics. See the Designer's Gallery for an example.

Remember that Convert to Picture is a one-way process so any objects which are converted will no longer exist as separate editable objects.

See also

Tools menu

Picture objects


Update story (tools menu)
Update Story

Selecting this menu entry updates the named style of the selected text object with any changes that have been made to that text. This change affects all text that use this style.

For example, if you have a number of text objects, all using the named style "body text" in your publication and you want to increase their size. Select one of the "body text" blocks and change it to the desired size. Now choose Tools/Update Story, and the rest of the text will change to this size too.

You can also use the AutoApply feature from the red check mark on the ChangeBar to update named styles from a selected object.

See also

Tools menu

Named styles


Defaults (tools menu)
Defaults

These menu options control the default state that objects are in when you first create them.

Text Defaults...

Graphic Defaults...

Frame Defaults...

Colour Defaults...

Style Defaults...

Scanner Defaults

See also

Tools menu


Text defaults
Text Defaults...

When you create text in your publication, it will have default properties for font, size, colour, alignment, etc. The Text Defaults dialog allows you to change these defaults.

The easiest way to set these is to create some text and then alter the properties using the Text menu and ChangeBar. When you are happy with the text, select Tools/Defaults/Text..., choose Set default from selected object and press OK.

All new text created in the current publication will now use these settings. If the selected object option is greyed, a text object is not currently selected.

If selected style is chosen, a list of the currently defined named text styles is displayed. Select a named style and press OK. The selected style option is greyed if there are no text styles defined.

Choosing selected values lets you set the defaults by setting values using the Character..., Spacing..., or Tabs... dialogs. Select the appropriate button for the dialog desired and use it as described in the text menu section.

When you are finished adjusting the settings select OK and these values will now be the default text settings.

If you want to permanently save your current text defaults so they are used when creating new publications, check the Object Defaults and Colour Table box of the Tools/Save Settings... dialog.

See also

Defaults

Text menu

ChangeBar

Text objects


Graphic defaults
Graphic Defaults...

When you create a graphic in your publication, it will have default properties for line and fill colour, tint, pattern etc. The Graphic Defaults dialog allows you to change these defaults.

The easiest way to set these is to create a box graphic and then alter the line and fill properties using the Graphics menu and ChangeBar. When you are happy with the settings, select Tools/Defaults/Graphics..., choose Set default from selected object and press OK.

All new graphics created in the current publication will now use these settings. If the selected object option is greyed, a graphic object is not currently selected.

If selected style is chosen, a list of the currently defined named graphic styles is displayed. Select a named style and press OK. The selected style option is greyed if there are no text styles defined.

Choosing selected values lets you set the defaults by setting values using the Line... and Fill... dialogs. Select the appropriate button for the dialog desired and use it as described in the graphics menu section.

When you are finished adjusting the settings select OK and these values will now be the default graphics settings.

If you want to permanently save your current graphics defaults so they are used when creating new publications, check the Object Defaults and Colour Table box of the Tools/Save Settings... dialog.

See also

Defaults

Graphics menu

ChangeBar

Graphics Objects


Frame defaults
Frame Defaults...

Tools/Defaults/Frame Defaults displays a dialog that allows you to control the default margin and column settings for new frames.

Set margins as required by entering values in the Left, Right, Top, and Bottom entry boxes.

Set the number of columns and the column gap (distance between the columns), by entering the required number and width in the column and column gap entry boxes.

All new frames created in the current publication will now be created with these settings.

If you want to permanently save your current text defaults so they are used when creating new publications, check the Object Defaults and Colour Table box of the Tools/Save Settings... dialog.

See also

Defaults

Frame setup

Frame objects


Colour defaults
Colour Defaults...

This displays the Edit Colours dialog, used for adding, removing, or modifying colours in the mini Office Publisher colour palette

Select the Create a new colour button to make a new colour and add it to the palette. Selecting Create a new colour brings up the Custom Colour Selector dialog explained below.

Select the Modify the selected colour button to edit the colour or name. This button brings up the Custom Colour Selector dialog explained below.

Select the Remove selected colour button to remove the selected colour from the palette.

If you want to permanently save your colour palette so it is available when new publications are created, check the Object Defaults and Colour Table box of the Tools/Save Settings... dialog.

See also

Defaults

Custom Colour Selector


Custom Colour Selector

This dialog allows you to create, and change, colours graphically or by using numerical values.

To graphically change colours, click and move the mouse over the large Colours panel box.

Dragging the triangular of the Brightness bar up and down changes the brightness of the colour selected in the colour panel.

Alternatively, you can type in values for the components of a colour. To do this, select which Colour model is to be used and enter the values in to the appropriate entry boxes.

mini Office Publisher supports three colour models for manually defining colours. These are RGB (red, green blue), CMYK (cyan, magenta, yellow, black) and HSL (hue, saturation, luminosity).

For all colour models, the values are in the range of 0 to 255.

Below the selectors, there is a sample of the colour you've chosen. When you have specified the required colour, enter a name for the colour and press OK. The colour will now appear in the colour palette and can be used in your publication.

See also

Colour defaults


Style defaults
Style Defaults...

The Style Palette allows styles to be created, modified, removed, and stylesheets containing new "sets" of styles to be loaded into or saved from the current publication.

Select the Create a new style button to make a new text or graphics style or the Modify the selected style button edit the style currently selected in the Names styles list. These option expand the dialog to include buttons for altering the attributes of the style. See the relevant entries of the Text and Graphics menu sections for details on using attribute dialog boxes.

Select the Remove selected style(s) button to delete a style from the Style Palette.

Select the Open a style sheet button to load a style sheet that you've previously created. A style sheet refers to the full set of defined named styles used by a publication.

Select the Save styles as style sheet button if you want to save the named styles defined in your current publication as a style sheet so as it can be loaded and used with other publications.

The Open and Save style sheet options bring up a standard file system dialog for specifying the name and directory for the style sheet to be opened or saved.

See also

Defaults

Named styles


Scanner Defaults

The scanner defaults dialog need only be used if you have more than one TWAIN compliant scanner installed on your PC. It is used to specify which scanner source to access when using the Scanner button of the Picture assistant for importing scanned pictures directly into mini Office Publisher.

See also

Defaults

Scanner


Preferences (tools menu)
Preferences

To permanently save all your preference settings described below, so they are used when creating new publications, check the Preferences box of the Tools/Save Settings... dialog.

General Preferences

Picture preferences

Ease of Use

See also

Tools menu


General Preferences

Tools/Preferences/General Preferences brings up a dialog with various options.

Horizontal Units and Vertical Units

The Units boxes allow independent units for the horizontal and vertical rulers to be specified. The units specified here alter the units displayed on the mini Office Publisher Rulers as well as the units used for entering values such as page dimensions and margins.

Note that you can enter values different from the current units settings by entering the value required followed by the correct abbreviation for the unit type to be used:

•	"i" - inches

•	"cm" - centimetres

•	"mm" - millimetres

•	"p" - points

•	"pp" - picas

•	"d" - didots

•	"cd" - ciceros

ChangeBar, ToolBox, Scroll bars and Status Bar

These options control whether these elements are displayed on the working screen. Some of these options can be set using the shortcut buttons on the Status Bar.

Smart Quotes

Check this option if you want mini Office Publisher to automatically convert inch and foot ("and ') to true open and close quotation symbols. The smart quotes setting will affect all text typed, pasted from the clipboard or imported from word-processor files.

If smart quotes are enabled, any inch or foot mark which is typed or imported, where the character to the left of the cursor is space or a bracket symbol, is automatically converted to the true double or single open quote symbol. All other inch and foot symbols typed are converted to the appropriate double or single close quote symbol.

MetaFiles on clipboard

This option controls whether a Windows MetaFile (Picture) version of the objects will be placed on the clipboard. This option may want to be disabled to reduce memory requirements when large bitmap pictures are being copied and pasted from the clipboard.

Don't overset text

If this option is checked, mini Office Publisher will "squeeze" single words in to their text measure, resulting in the inter-letter spacing being reduced.

Use exact colours

This option only applies to PCs with a 256 colour display. If the Use exact colours option is not checked, mini Office Publisher will approximate all colours to one of the solid 256 colours when displaying text and graphics.

If Use exact colours is checked, mini Office Publisher will use solid colours when possible but will dither colours if none of the 256 colours closely match the colour required.

Language

This option is used to set the language that is used when spell checking and when performing automatic hyphenation with the current document.

See also

Preferences


Picture preferences

Tools/Preferences/Picture Preferences brings up a dialog with picture-specific options.

Link/Embed options

When you import a picture, mini Office Publisher can either embed or link (inserts a reference to the original picture file) the picture data. These settings control whether an imported picture will be linked or embedded. If a picture is linked, then the original picture file must be present for the publication to be printed.

•	Always link pictures will mean that any imported pictures will be linked to the original picture file.

•	Embed if smaller than will mean that pictures whose file size is less than the value entered will be embedded and larger picture will be linked.

•	Always embed pictures will mean that all pictures are embedded inside the publication file. This can make publication files very large and cumbersome, especially if large pictures are being used.

Display options

•	High resolution will cause pictures to be displayed in mini Office Publisher using all the full amount of original picture data. This gives the most accurate representation of the picture but can slow display speed considerably, especially when large pictures are being used.

•	If Fast display bitmap is selected then the picture will be displayed using a smaller amount of data in order to speed up the display. The lower the value for the maximum graphic size, the faster, but less accurate, the display.

•	The Store fast display bitmap option controls whether the smaller fast display form of the picture is stored in the publication file when it is saved to disk. Checking this option will mean that publication files will display faster when loaded, but will occupy a larger amount of disk space.

Display Unrotated Pictures as a box

When checked, all unrotated pictures will be displayed using a very fast outline box display.

Display Rotated Pictures as a box

When checked, all rotated pictures will be displayed using a very fast outline box display.

See also

Preferences


Ease of use preferences
Ease of Use

Tools/Preferences/Ease of Use brings up a dialog with various options to control the mini Office Publisher online helpers.

Assistant

Controls whether the various assistants used within mini Office Publisher are switched on or off. To switch an assistant on, check the appropriate option.

Tips

The "Daily tips" box controls whether a daily tip will be displayed each time mini Office Publisher is started. Daily Tips are a variety of useful tips on mini Office Publisher, DTP and life in general. To switch on daily tips, check this option.

The Fun Tips box controls whether less serious and hopefully more comical tips are included in the daily tips. To switch Fun Tips on, check this option.

The Event Tips box controls whether Event Tips are to be displayed. Event Tips are ones which appear when the user first performs a specific operation. For example the first time a group of objects is selected a tip about groups will be displayed. To switch Event Tips on, check this option.

The Reset button resets all Event Tips, this means they will appear when the specific operations are performed, even if they had already be triggered previously.

Help

Check the QuickHelp box to switch on the display of the QuickHelp window.

Check the ToolHints box to switch on the display of ToolHints.

Check the PageHints box to switch on the display of any PageHints which have been placed within the publication.

Check the Yellow Help box if you want the QuickHelp and ToolHints to be displayed in a more noticeable yellow as opposed to grey.

See also

Preferences


Save settings (tools menu)
Save Settings...

The Save Settings dialog allows you to save changes permanently so that the same settings are available next time mini Office Publisher is started or a new publication created.

Check the Preferences to save all settings controlled by the Tool/Preferences dialogs.

Check the Page Size and Margins box to save the current page size and margins.

Check the Object Defaults and Colour Table to save the current default settings for text, graphics and frames, and the contents of the mini Office Publisher colour palette.

Check the Object Styles to save all the currently defined text and graphics named styles.

If the Save these settings on Exit box is checked, the selected options will be saved when mini Office Publisher is exited or when a new publication is created

The current settings will always be saved when you OK the dialog.

See also

Tools menu


PagePlus level
Level

Tools/Level is used to switch between the mini Office Publisher Intro and Professional Levels of operation. The current level can also be changed by clicking on the Level button on the right hand corner of the Status Bar

See also

Tools menu

Level


Help

The help menus give access
to the various help and learning
aids of mini Office Publisher.

On-line Help

Hints and Tips...

Insert PageHint


Help Menu

The help menus give access to the various help and learning aids of mini Office Publisher.

On-line Help

Hints and Tips...

Insert PageHint

See also

Menus and commands

HintLine


On-line Help

The mini Office Publisher on-line help uses the standard Windows help system. You are reading mini Office Publisher help now. The help text contains reference information in an easy to use form. The material is indexed and can be searched using the Search function.

Select Help/Contents to access the help entries, working from the main subject titles. This is the same as clicking on the Contents button above.

Select Help/Search for Help on... to quickly access the search function of the windows help system. This is the same as clicking on the Search button above.

Select Help/Index to quickly access the areas of the help system via an easy to use index. This is the same as clicking on the Index button above.

See also

Help menu


Hints and tips (help menu)
Hints and Tips...

This option displays the Hints and Tips dialog, which allows you to step through the hints and tips messages.

See also

Help menu


Insert pagehint (help menu)
Insert PageHint

PageHints are notes that you can stick to your publication at any position on any page. They're basically the electronic equivalent of those yellow sticky notes that you see dotted around, except better - you can have four different types of PageHint.

Type the text into the text window, and select View Hint for a preview and click the OK button to finalize it. Choose the type of PageHint by selecting one of the icons from the bottom of the dialog.

See also

Help menu


Objects (overview)
 Objects

This section discusses the different types of files and objects that mini Office Publisher deals with.

Publication

Publications

Templates

Named styles

Master pages

Page

Pages

Object basics

Text objects

Frame objects

Graphics objects

Picture objects

Special effects

(On your page you'll also see Ruler guides and page margins and column guides. These elements are non-printing layout aids which are used to aid object sizing and positioning. They are discussed further in the Tools section.)

See also

Contents


Publications (overview)
Publications

A publication file contains all the details of a single document. Most of the work you do with mini Office Publisher will be to modify the contents of a publication file.

Working with publications

The publication commands are located in the File menu. New calls up the StartUp Assistant to create a new publication, Open Publication... loads an existing publication and Open Template... creates a new publication from a template file. Templates save time by providing an initial setup tailored to a particular kind of publication, for example a newsletter.

The changes you make to publications are temporary. The Save option saves them permanently to disk; use Revert if you want to go back to the last version saved - if you've made a mistake you can't undo, for example. mini Office Publisher also has an AutoSave option, which quietly updates a hidden copy of your publication as you work on it. mini Office Publisher uses AutoSave to recover your work after power cuts or major crashes.

Publication contents

Publication files contain:

•	Pages - up to 1000 per publication, containing frames, text, graphics and pictures.

•	External publication resources - references to external fonts and pictures used

•	Publication setup

A new, untitled publication file consists of:

•	A blank page with the default page setup.

•	Default publication setup

•	No external publication resources

See also

Objects

Templates

File menu


Publication setup

The publication setup consists of settings you make using the Tools/Defaults and Page/Setup... menu options.

•	Default style for new frames, text and graphics. When you create a new object (frame, text or graphic) it will be given a set of initial (default) properties according to settings you've made using Tools/Defaults/Text..., Tools/Defaults/Graphics... and Tools/Defaults/Frames....

•	Default page setup. This is the settings given to newly created pages, and is changed by using Page/Page Setup... and Tools/Save Settings...

•	Palette of named colours (red, blue, etc.). You can add, remove and edit your named colours using Tools/Defaults/Colours.

•	Palette of named styles (body, headline, etc.). You can add, remove and edit your named styles using Tools/Defaults/Styles.

The publication setup is part of the current publication file. If you save a file, the publication setup is saved with it. If you change the publication setup as you work on the publication, all these changes will automatically be saved when you save the file.

See also

Publications

Default publication setup

Tools/Defaults


Default publication setup

You can set the publication setup to be used whenever you start a new publication file (using File/New).

To change the default publication setup:

•	Select File/New. This is not strictly necessary, but is recommended. Selecting File/New ensures that you start off with the current default setup.

•	Change the default formats of new text objects using Tools/Defaults/Text Defaults....

•	Change the default formats of new graphic objects using Tools/Defaults/Graphic Defaults....

•	Change the default formats of new frame objects using Tools/Defaults/Frame Defaults....

•	Change your named colours using Tools/Defaults/Colour Defaults.

•	Change your named styles using Tools/Defaults/Style Defaults.

•	Select Page/Setup... and change your page setup.

•	Select Tools/Save Settings.

See also

Publications

Tools/Defaults

Page/Setup...

Tools/Save Settings


External publication resources

Each publication maintains a list of publication resources. These are references to external resources used by the mini Office Publisher publication, and which are not included as part of the publication file.

If you copy a publication file to a new location (e.g. to transfer the file to another PC) you must also copy any resources used.

Resources are one of two types:

•	Fonts. For example, TrueType fonts in your Windows directory.

•	Imported pictures. For example, a TIFF image brought into the document using File/Import Picture. Pictures are kept as external references, to avoid the large increase in file size that occurs when a picture is included.

OLE objects, or pictures brought in via the clipboard (using Edit/Paste) are saved (or "embedded") as part of the publication so they are not normally an external resource.

If you wish, you can convert an imported picture to an embedded one:

•	Import the picture. It is now an external resource.

•	Cut the picture to the clipboard using Edit/Cut.

•	Use Edit/Paste Special... to bring back to the page.

The "Picture" or "DIB bitmap" copy will now be embedded in the publication file. Remember this can make your file much larger.

You can see what publication resources are used by selecting Tools/Fonts & Pictures...

If you use Windows MetaFiles (by importing a WMF or doing a Paste Special... of the Picture format) you need to be aware that these files may also use external resources - your Windows system fonts - which are not listed in the Fonts & Pictures dialog. This usually applies only if the image contains text. This does not apply to the ArtPack images and samples: they either do not contain text, or the text has been drawn as a graphic.

See also

Publications

Paste Special...

Tools/Fonts & Pictures...


Templates (overview)
Templates

A template establishes a starting setup for a specific type of publication - for example for a newsletter or brochure. mini Office Publisher includes a series of professionally designed template files that are included with mini Office Publisher (they're installable as an option - if you want to use a template but haven't installed them yet, simply rerun the install now).

You don't have to be a graphics design expert to use a template - that's one of the main reasons we provided the templates - but you should be familiar with the basics of using mini Office Publisher.

For a step-by-step guide to choosing, opening and customizing a template, see the Using Templates section of Getting Started.

What is a template for?

Using the supplied templates

Creating templates

See also

Objects


What is a template for?

A template can be created, and/or opened, to establish a starting setup for one or more of several aspects of a publication including:

•	Page layout(s). A general purpose grid, or a specific single or multi-page pre-designed solution for, say, a Letter-size, 3-fold brochure or a corporate newsletter.

•	Content. Some content will be intended for the final publication (typically drawn graphics, column dividing rules or clipart samples). Other elements (the text and pictures) will be placeholders for you to replace.

•	Styles. A set of text and graphic styles appropriate to the elements in the template publication.

•	Colour palette. A designer palette of naturally matching colours.

•	PageHints. Pop-up notes containing instructions and tips on using a template.

After opening a template you can of course modify any aspect of the publication to personalize it to your particular needs.

Using the supplied templates

When you open a template, mini Office Publisher automatically opens an untitled copy so that the original is left intact and can be used repeatedly no matter what you do to your publication. In other words, after you've opened a template, when you next select File/Save, mini Office Publisher will ask for a new publication filename.

See also

Templates

Open Template...


Using the supplied templates

When you open a template, mini Office Publisher automatically opens an untitled copy so that the original is left intact and can be used repeatedly no matter what you do to your publication. In other words, after you've opened a template, when you next select File/Save, mini Office Publisher will ask for a new publication filename.

Template sizes

Templates page sizes are either nonstandard or based on a letter (8.5" x 11") paper size, with a 0.5" left, right, top, and bottom margin. This gives a "user" area of 7.5" x 10".

If you wish to modify a template for use on a different paper size, you should set the margins of the new page size so that the 7.5" x 10" user area is centred in the page.

Alternatively, you may want to change the page size for the template and move or resize the template elements as desired.

Layouts

In most cases a template includes one or more layouts intended as the basis for a publication.

If after opening a template you can see it has more than one page (look at the Status Bar), check out the other pages.

Some times a template will include variations of the layout of the first page and you are expected to select one of the available layouts.

Other times a template file is intended to be used as the basis of a multi-page publication and includes a cover page, and continuation sheets.

Content placeholders

Placeholder text is just sample text for use at the design stage before the final text is available or relevant. It's the same in each template to help you focus on the template design rather than on the content.

Obviously, all pictures can be considered placeholders, but where no default picture is considered appropriate the area the picture is supposed to fit in is represented by a standard balloon picture. Space for your corporate or personal logo is shown by a standard logo symbol.

Styles and colour palette

A template contains its own set of named styles and its own colour palette. These have been designed to complement each other, and are an integral part of the template design.

After opening a template, apply the styles and colours to your own imported text, graphics, and pictures.

You can of course modify or expand on the styles or colour palette to suit your own tastes. Any elements which use the styles/colours you modify will automatically be updated.

Printing

The templates are designed to produce publications that can be printed using your desktop printer.

Many of the templates make extensive use of colour. In general they will still print out fine using a monochrome printer, but if you find this is not the case, simply redefine the colours used in the template and save your modified version as a new template.

Some templates are intended as the basis of publications for commercial printing. There are no hard and fast rules, but, for example, you may want higher quality for your business cards and stationery.

PageHints

PageHints are notes that you can put on a page (using Help/Insert PageHint) to leave a comment to yourself or others. Many templates already contain PageHints designed to give instructions, ideas and advice for working with a particular template. It's a good idea to check out all the PageHints within a template before you begin to use it.

See also

Templates

Open Template...


Creating templates

If you have a publication that you want to keep as a template, then simply select File/Save As... and click on the Template option within the Save As... dialog. We recommend not overwriting the original template files.

Content placeholders

In case you want to use the sample placeholder text in your own templates, it is stored in SAMPLE.WRI, which is supplied with mini Office Publisher in the SAMPLES directory. The standard balloon picture placeholder and logo placeholders are in the same directory, called PICTURE.WMF and LOGO.WMF respectively.

See also

Templates

File/Save As...


Styles (overview)
Named Styles

One key aim of Desktop Publishing design is consistency of text and graphic formats within a publication. To help ensure this kind of consistency, mini Office Publisher supports "Named Styles".

You don't have to use named styles, but mini Office Publisher makes it especially easy to do so. You've already seen how to apply formatting to text and graphics. The styles options allow you to give those changes a name (such as "mystyle") which can then be applied to another object as one command. mini Office Publisher styles give the following major benefits:

•	It's quicker to apply a named style than to apply the separate formatting commands in turn to each object you want to look the same.

•	If you apply a named style to many objects in your publication that you want to look the same way, it is very easy to change your mind about how they look. The named style can be updated, which changes all the objects using this style. If you don't have styles, this is laborious: you'd have to select each object in turn and change it!

•	mini Office Publisher lets you use named styles for both text and graphics, and maintains two sets of styles per publication. You can even apply graphic styles to frames and pictures to change their background and border.

•	mini Office Publisher styles can be saved as "style sheets" so you can use them with other publications. This makes it easy to create and reuse the "house" styles.

Creating styles

The easiest way to set up a style is to create an object of the appropriate type (i.e. text or graphic), give it the attributes you desire, and then create the style from it using the TickBox on the ToolBox.

See also

Objects

Styles dialogs

ToolBox


Master pages (overview)
Master pages

Consider if you have any repeating elements in your publication. Usually this is the case if you want a header, footer, or page number (type in the text, and use Text/Insert Page Number for an automatic page number). Or perhaps you want to print a coloured background on every page.

Place all these elements on a "master" page, and they will automatically be displayed on every page of your publication. The master page acts like a background to your current page, and you can change this background at any time simply by modifying the master page. If, for a particular page, you don't want the background to show, use the Page/Master Page Objects option.

You switch between your current page and the master page using Page/Go to Master Page or by clicking on the page number in the page area on the Status Bar.

Left and right pages

If your design calls for slightly different page layout for the left and right pages of your publication, you can specify double-sided publications in the Page/Page Setup... dialog which automatically creates two master pages: one for left-hand pages, and one for right-hand pages. To view your facing pages use the facing page view button on the Status Bar.

See also

Objects

Page/Master Page Objects

Page/Go to Master Page

Page/Page Setup...


Pages (overview)
Pages

Pages are the basic unit of the publication; they hold the text, graphics and pictures that eventually get printed. In mini Office Publisher, each page has its own basic page setup, ruler guides, and content. (In contrast with pages in a word processed document. With word processors, the layout and content of any given page is largely the result of document level formatting and automatic text flow.)

Selecting pages

Use Page/Page... or the Page Area of the Status Bar to switch between pages. You can jump the next or previous page, the first or last page, or any page by number.

Adding, deleting and copying pages

Use Page/Page... menu option. New pages can be blank, or a copy of the current page or any other page. You can also create a page by double-clicking in the Page Area of the Status Bar

Import text to create new pages automatically as needed to contain a text file.

See Master pages to find out how to make objects repeat on every page.

Page Setup

To change the size, margins and other basic setup of the current page select Page/Page Setup...

When you create new pages, they can be created with the same specification as your current page or any other page or your publication. You can change the setup on a page by page basis, so you can, for example, mix different sized pages in the same publication.

When you create a new file, the initial page setup is set according to the default page setup, which is the page setup last saved under Tools/Save Settings...

See also

Objects

Page/Page...

Page/Page Setup...

Master pages


Object Basics

The different types of mini Office Publisher object have a lot in common. This section covers operations that work in a similar manner on all objects.

Display of objects

Create and select

Move, resize, rotate, crop

Modify properties

Align, and layer

Wrapping text around objects

Changing your mind

As you perform any of the above actions, you can change your mind during the operation, or after it has been completed. If you've finished the change, use Edit/Undo which will undo the last operation. If you've started the operation, you can abandon it by hitting the ESC key.

See also

Objects


Display of objects

Objects are generally displayed in WYSIWYG (what you see is what you get) form. Within the resolution and colour limitations of your screen, this means the screen gives you a good representation of your page.

When an object is selected, eight small black rectangles, known as handles, are displayed around the object and when an object is part of a selected group, eight gray handles are displayed. In addition, the rulers are drawn with a white indent which shows the width and depth of the object (or overall width and depth of a group).

Wire-frame display

Some operations will temporarily display objects as a wire-frame or outline. This is faster and is sometimes more convenient because the object does not obscure objects underneath.

When creating, moving, sizing, or rotating, a wire-frame display may be used. Generally, a wire-frame is used if you drag quickly, whereas the WYSIWYG form is used if you pause between the click and the move of the drag.

Picture display

mini Office Publisher has extra options for controlling the accuracy of the display of pictures. This is because picture objects can be very large and time consuming to display.

As a default, mini Office Publisher displays pictures using a clear and yet quick method. The options for controlling picture display are found in the Picture Preferences dialog and allow the user to select between High Resolution (accurate but slower), Fast display bitmap (the recommended compromise between speed and accuracy), and Display as a box (very quick but non-WYSIWYG).

Master page objects display

If you've placed objects on your master page(s), these will be displayed but cannot be selected. If you want to select the object (to change or move it), you must first go to the master page by using Page/Go to Master Page or clicking on the page area on the Status Bar. If you want to hide the master page objects for the current page, use the Page/Master Page Objects option.

See also

Object basics


Create and select objects

mini Office Publisher objects are all created and selected in the same ways.

•	To create an object directly in mini Office Publisher:
Click or drag with the appropriate object creator tool over the page or pasteboard area. The tool will revert to the Pointer tool.

•	To create multiple objects of the same type:
Shift-click when selecting the object creator tool. Continue as above, and the tool will not revert after creating an object.

The last object that you create becomes the currently selected object, and is "live" for any changes you want to make to it. If you want to change how another item looks, you must first select it.

•	To select an object:
Click on an object (anywhere within the rectangle enclosing the object) with the Pointer tool. If objects overlap, keep the mouse pointer still and click repeatedly to select each overlapping object in turn. If you have text in a frame, the text is selected first, then the frame. (If you cannot select an object, it may be a master page item. Go to the Master page to select it.)

•	To select a group (multiple objects):
Drag the Pointer tool to form a box around the objects. Drag wide around text objects as their selection area can be much wider than the text itself. (Don't start the drag over another object or it will get moved instead.)
Or press SHIFT and click with the Pointer tool, to add and remove them from the current group selection.

See also

Object basics

Pointer tool


Move, resize, rotate, crop objects

•	To move an object or group:
Drag with the Pointer tool (visual) or use the Status Editor on the Status Bar (numeric). After you've started moving the object/group with the Pointer tool, you can press the SHIFT key to constrain the movement to horizontal or vertical only.

•	To copy an object or group:
You can copy an object or group by following the above procedure for moving while pressing the CONTROL key. This is a convenient shortcut for copy and paste.

•	To size a selected object:
Drag with the Pointer tool on a handle (visual) or use the Status Editor on the Status Bar (numeric). After you've started resizing the object with the Pointer tool, you can press the SHIFT key to constrain the size. (This maintains the aspect ratio of pictures, and keeps rectangles square, and ovals circular.)

•	To rotate a selected object:
Drag with the Rotate tool on a handle (visual) or use the Status Editor on the Status Bar (numeric). After you've started rotating the object with the Rotate tool, you can press the SHIFT key to get 45 degree steps.

•	To crop a selected object:
Drag with the Crop tool on a handle. Once an object is cropped, you can drag over the object (as if you were trying to move it) to change the cropped area.

Watch the mouse cursor when performing the above operations. You'll notice that the cursor changes as it moves close to a handle to indicate the possible operation. If the cursor doesn't change, you'll know that the operation is not allowed.

See also

Object basics

Pointer tool

Status Editor

Rotate tool

Crop tool


Modify properties (objects)
Modify properties

Before you can change how an object or group looks you must first make sure it is selected, as discussed in the Create and select topic.

•	To modify individual properties of a selected object:
Select from the relevant menu (Text or Graphics), or use the ChangeBar. You can also double-click on the buttons in the ChangeBar to access various dialogs instead of using the menus.

•	To apply a named style to a selected object or group:
Use the Style property with the ChangeBar or select Text/Text Style or Graphics/Graphics Style.

•	To apply formatting of one object to others without using named styles:
Copy the source object to the Windows clipboard, then select the target object(s) and select Edit/Paste Format.

•	To modify one or a few properties of a group:
Select from the Text or Graphics menu.

•	To update all other objects with the same style name as a selected object, to match the selected object:
Select Text/Text Style/Update or Graphics/Graphics Style/Update.

You can also double-click with the Pointer tool on any object to pop-up an appropriate dialog or function. Frames and text pop-up WritePlus. Graphics pop-up the Line or Fill dialogs. Pictures pop-up the Import Picture dialog. OLE objects pop-up the application that created them. (Note: double-clicking with the Text tool on text, pops-up WritePlus too.)

See also

Object basics

Styles dialogs

Text menu

Graphics menu

ChangeBar


Align, and layer objects
Align and layer objects

Aligning objects

•	To align an object to guides or rulers:
Ensure that the Status Bar snapping button is on (or select Page/Snapping) and make sure that rulers or guides are displayed. Then move or resize the object.

•	To align one object to another object:
Group the objects, then select Edit/Align Items... or double-click on the group.

Layering objects

As you create (overlapping) objects, you'll notice that the most recently created object obscures the earlier ones, and is considered to be "in front" of the others. You can change the order of the objects by using the layering options.

•	To bring a selected object to the front (on top):
Use Edit/Bring to Front or click on the button shortcut in the ChangeBar Wrap Flyout.

•	To send the selected object to the back (underneath):
Use Edit/Send to Back or click on the button shortcut in the ChangeBar Wrap Flyout.

The extent to which one object obscures another overlapping object is also affected by the colour of that object. You can apply a wide range of colours to lines and fills, and these colours (including White) are opaque. You can also apply Clear, which is transparent and allows the object underneath to show through.

See also

Object basics

Edit menu


Wrapping text around objects

You can make text wrap around a picture or other object by using the text wrap options of mini Office Publisher. When you specify an object to cause a wrap effect, a dotted wrap outline is created. You can modify the shape of the wrap outline to control exactly where text will flow. You can also make text flow inside or outside this shape.

The wrap effect consists of the text which is wrapping, and the object which is being wrapped around (or inside).

•	To switch Wrap Outside on for the selected picture or graphic:
Select Wrap Outside from Tools/Wrap Settings... or click on the button shortcut in the ChangeBar Wrap Flyout.

•	To switch Wrap Inside on for the selected picture or graphic:
Select Wrap Inside from Tools/Wrap Settings... or click on the button shortcut in the ChangeBar Wrap Flyout.

•	To switch Wrap Outside on for a block of text:
You can also use the wrap options to make text flow around another text block, or single text character (such as a drop capital). Select Wrap Outside from Tools/Wrap Settings... or click on the button shortcut in the ChangeBar Wrap Flyout.

•	To make sure that your selected text will wrap around objects:
The default for frame text is that text wrap is already on. In most cases, you will not need to use this option. Select Text will wrap from Tools/Wrap Settings... or click on the button shortcut in the ChangeBar Wrap Flyout

If you select the option from the dialog, you will also want to specify irregular (a shape) or square wrap and the standoff (the distance left between the text and the outline). Double-clicking on the wrap buttons in the Wrap Flyout will pop-up this Wrap Settings dialog.

Choosing Wrap Outside or Wrap Inside from the ChangeBar gives you an irregular wrap shape. When you choose irregular wrap (from the ChangeBar or Wrap Settings dialog) mini Office Publisher creates an appropriate shape.

•	For frames, text blocks, pictures, and square cornered box graphics, the outline is a rectangle.

•	For pictures, round-cornered box graphics, oval graphics, and line graphics, the outline automatically follows the item's shape. You can edit the wrap outline to create any shape you want.

To modify the wrap outline of a selected object with a wrap outline displayed, use the Pointer tool. Position the tip of the Pointer tool over the wrap outline and click (to add nodes) and drag (to move nodes or sides). You'll see the cursor changing shape to indicate that editing is possible.

Hold down the F3 key to modify a wrap outline extensively while avoiding screen redisplays

See also

Object basics

Tools/Wrap Settings...

Modifying a text wrap outline

ChangeBar


Text objects (overview)
Text Objects

Text objects are used for small pieces of text which do not need to flow. Headlines, captions, flashes and special effects are often text objects.

Text blocks

Editing text

WritePlus

Operating on selected text

Free versus frame text

Moving text blocks

See also

Objects

Frame objects

Special effects


Text blocks

mini Office Publisher deals with all text as rectangular objects called text blocks which typically consist of a single paragraph of text.

•	To create a new text block:
Click or drag with the Text tool over the page or pasteboard. You can also double-click to start WritePlus, which allows you to create one or more text blocks.

Text blocks generally behave like all mini Office Publisher objects. One difference between text blocks and other objects is that they can change size automatically, e.g. a text block's depth automatically grows or shrinks as required to exactly accommodate the text when:

•	Text is added or removed.

•	Text formatting is changed.

The way the text looks is controlled by the options in the Text menu, or using the ChangeBar.

See also

Text objects

Text menu

ChangeBar

WritePlus


Editing text

A block can contain a few words, or several paragraphs. Text can be edited using standard Windows conventions.

•	To place an insertion point in text:
Click with the Text tool over the text.

•	To select a range of text:
Drag with the Text tool over the text.

Double-clicking with the text tool starts WritePlus which allows you to quickly type larger amounts of text.

See also

Text objects

Text tool

WritePlus


WritePlus and text

Whenever you double-click with the text tool WritePlus is started. If you double-click on a blank area (or empty frame), it allows you to create new text. If you double-click on an existing free text block or frame text, WritePlus loads up the text for you to edit. (For frames, WritePlus loads the entire story, or all the text in the linked frames.)

WritePlus gives you an easy to use, button based, word processor for creating larger amounts of text. It includes a variety of writing tools including spelling, word count and so on.

See also

Text objects


Operating on selected text

The ability to edit text means that there is more than one meaning of the term "selection". In general, the availability and effect of operations depend on what is selected.

•	A text block may be selected (the block displays handles). In this case, operations affect the whole text block.

•	A blinking insertion point may be displayed. In this case, operations that make sense for an insertion point (e.g. pressing the DELETE key to delete the character to the right) affect the text at the insertion point. Other operations (e.g. changing colour) affect the whole text block.

•	A range of text may be selected. In this case, operations that make sense for a range of text (e.g. pressing the DELETE key or changing colour) affect the selected text. Other operations (e.g. applying a style) affect the whole text block.

See also

Text objects


Free versus frame text

Text blocks can be either "free" or "frame" text blocks, depending on whether they are placed directly on a page or in a text frame. Typically frame text is used for larger amounts of text that you want to flow into columns and pages, while free text is used for small blocks of text used as headlines, captions, or decorative text.

•	You can type or paste text in as either free or frame text.

•	Imported text is always brought on to the page as frame text.

•	You can drag any text block to become free or frame text as you prefer.

The key question is what do you want to do with a given text block:

•	Do you want to look after layout of the text block yourself?

•	Or do you want mini Office Publisher to automatically look after flowing the text block into a layout?

mini Office Publisher leaves free text blocks alone. You can manipulate free text blocks independently of any underlying layout or other text blocks, and you can resize, rotate, and crop them, and generally treat the text block as a graphical object.

mini Office Publisher automatically flows frame text blocks, one after another, into a specific layout, established by column guides within a linked sequence of frame objects. Flowing consists of automatically moving and resizing frame text blocks so their position and width correspond to the layout. The sequence of frame text blocks is referred to as a "story".

See also

Text objects

Free text

Frame text


Free text

Creating free text blocks

Click, or drag with the Text tool over a blank part of the page or pasteboard. You can also double-click to start WritePlus, which allows you to create one or more text blocks.

Sizing free text blocks

You control the column width (or measure) of a new free text block by the way you create it:

•	Click to create a block with the default column width.

•	Drag to set a specific width.

With the Pointer tool selected, you can drag on the various handles of a free text block for different effects:

•	Top handles. Drag to change the vertical start position of the block (like a move).

•	Side handles. Drag to change the column width (measure) for the free text block to wrap into.

•	Bottom middle handle. Drag to directly modify the leading (line spacing) of the block. This is the visual way of adjusting the values in the Text/Spacing... dialog.

See also

Free versus frame text

Text objects

Frame objects

Pointer tool


Frame text

Creating frame text blocks

•	To create a new frame text block:
Click with the Text tool over a blank part of a frame.
You can also double-click to start WritePlus, which allows you to create one or more text blocks, or edit existing text in the frame.

•	To create a frame:
Drag with the Frame tool over a page.

Sizing frame text blocks

Frame text blocks automatically flow to the width of the frame columns into which they pour.

With the Pointer tool selected, you can drag on the various handles of a frame text block for different effects:

•	Top middle handle. Drag to change the vertical start position of the block. This is the visual way of adjusting the values in the Text/Spacing... dialog. See Moving text blocks below for more details.

•	Any side handle. Drag inwards change the left or right indents of the frame text block. Drag outwards to reset the indents to zero. The upper left handle changes the first line indent. This is the visual way of adjusting the values in the Text/Tabs & Indents... dialog.

•	Bottom middle handle. Drag to directly modify the leading (line spacing) of the block. This is the visual way of adjusting the values in the Text/Spacing... dialog.

Note that if you have selected a part block (see the next topic) the indents and leading adjustment may be disabled.

Part and whole frame text blocks

When a frame text block is broken over a column boundary, the original "whole" block is split into two or more temporary "part" blocks.

Whenever text is reformatted, mini Office Publisher puts part blocks back together into their original whole state, then reflows and rebreaks as necessary.

See also

Free versus frame text

Text objects

Frame objects

Pointer tool


Moving text blocks

In general, a block will be either frame text or free text purely as a result of where you decide to drop the block at any given time.

As you move a text block around, inside and outside frames, mini Office Publisher changes the mouse cursor display to reflect what will happen if you drop the text block at that point.

Specifically, mini Office Publisher displays and behaves in one of three ways:

 flow before, or [image] flow after, cursor

This means that you are dragging a text block over a frame and the block will be inserted in the frame as story text. mini Office Publisher highlights the text block that the dragged block will be inserted before or after. When you release the block, it is inserted into the frame's story text and then reflowed as appropriate. To toggle the before/after action, hold down the F2 key while you release the block.

 object move cursor

If mini Office Publisher displays the general object move cursor, the text is not going to be inserted in story text (usually because it is either not over a frame or has its Keep as Free Text property set - see below). When you release the block it drops exactly where you've put it as free text. To tell mini Office Publisher to treat a text block as free text until further notice, select Text/Spacing... and click on the Keep as Free Text check box in the Spacing dialog. Moving the block and holding down the F4 key as you drop it has the same effect. To reverse this, simply repeat.

 move up/down cursor.

If you move a block of frame text up or down, mini Office Publisher displays the move up/down cursor. When you release the block you will have set the gap between it and whatever was above it.

•	If a column blind (column top margin) was above it, mini Office Publisher will move the column blind down to match where you move the top of the block down to. Any movement above the column blind will be ignored.

•	If another frame text block was above the moved block, you will have directly set the Space Above setting of the Text/Spacing dialog for the moved block. If you move the top of the block, above the bottom of a preceding block, you reset the Space Above setting to zero.

See also

Text objects


Frame objects (overview)
Frame objects

mini Office Publisher provides frames for flowing text. A frame is effectively a mini-page. Frames generally behave like all mini Office Publisher objects, and you can select, resize and move them. On the other hand, they can also contain text, referred to as "story" text.

Frames and stories

Putting text into a frame

Frame setup and layout

How a story flows through a sequence of frames

How text flows through a sequence of pages

Linking frames

Frames as graphics

See also

Objects

Text objects


Frames and stories

mini Office Publisher provides frames for flowing text. A frame is effectively a mini-page, with:

•	Margins and column guides

•	Preceding and following frames

•	Text that flows through the frame (from the previous frame and on to the next).

Frames generally behave like all mini Office Publisher objects, and you can select, resize and move them. You can also use the Graphic/Line... and Graphic/Fill... options to change how they look. On the other hand, they can also contain text, referred to as "story" text. This means:

•	When you move a frame, its story text moves with it.

•	When you resize a frame, its story text reflows to the new dimensions.

•	The method for selecting a frame varies depending on whether there is text there or not. If you click on an empty frame (or over an empty part of the frame) the frame is selected immediately. If there is text under the Pointer, it is selected first. Just click again to select the frame itself.

•	The frame margins and column guides become visible when you select the frame. You can then drag on these guides to adjust the frame layout.

•	When selected, a frame includes a Link button at the bottom right which allows you to import text files or control how the frame's story flows to following frames.

You add frames to a page just like any other object.

•	To create a frame:
Drag with the Frame tool over the page or pasteboard.

See also

Frame objects

Frame tool


Putting text into a frame

You can put text into a frame in one of five ways:

•	WritePlus word processor. Select a frame, then double-click on it, to start WritePlus. This gives you the mini Office Publisher integrated word processor which you can use to type in and proof large amounts of text. (If the frame already contains text, it is automatically loaded into WritePlus for editing.)

•	Importing. Select a frame, then double-click on its Link button, or select File/Import Text... to import text. (If the frame already contains text, mini Office Publisher lets you replace it, or append the new text file to it.)

•	Typing. Click for an insertion point with the Text tool to type text straight into a frame.

•	Pasting. Click to select an insertion point at which to paste the text.
Select a frame text block with the Pointer tool, to paste text into a new block flowing immediately after the selected block.

•	Dropping. Drop a text block over a frame to insert it into the frame's story text as explained in the previous topic.

See also

Frame objects

WritePlus

File/Import Text...

Text tool

Pointer tool


Frame setup and layout

The frame layout controls how text will flow in the frame. The frame can contain multiple columns, and the top and bottom of each frame (column blinds) can be adjusted to give varying column depths. The column widths, gutter (gap between columns) and the margins can also be adjusted to give varying column widths.

•	To change the number of columns:
Use Page/Frame Setup... or click on one of the shortcut buttons on the ChangeBar. Double-clicking on the shortcut button will pop-up the Frame Setup dialog.

•	To change the frame layout:
Select Page/Frame Setup... or (for visual adjustment) drag on the frame guides (columns, margins or column blinds) with the Pointer tool.

•	To navigate from frame to frame:
Click on the Previous Frame and Next Frame buttons on the ChangeBar to select the previous, or next, frame in the current sequence. Double-clicking will take you to the first, or last, frame respectively.

See also

Frame objects

Page/Frame Setup...

ChangeBar


How a story flows through a sequence of frames

Frames belong in linked sequences. You can have just one frame on its own, or you can have many frames.

The story associated with a given frame sequence flows through the first frame on to the next and keeps flowing into frames in the link sequence.

A key difference from a word processor is that mini Office Publisher does not normally add or remove frames according to the amount of text. The text simply flows until the text runs out (and some frames are left empty), or the frames run out (and some text is left over).

If there is still more text to go after filling the last frame, mini Office Publisher stores it behind the scenes in the publication file, remembering that it is remaining story text for the frame sequence. Then if you later add more frames or reduce the size of text in a frame, the rest of the story text is flowed in.

If the text runs out before the last frame, you have some empty frames. These frames will be filled with text if you add more text to the story, or if you increase the size of the story text.

mini Office Publisher maintains information about multiple linked frame sequences, and allows you to flow several stories in the same publication. When you click on the WritePlus button on the Status Bar, with no text or frame selected, you get the Story Manager dialog. This allows you to choose which of the mini Office Publisher story files you want to edit.

Story and sequence information

When a frame is selected (and the Information property of the Property Palette is selected), the ChangeBar displays sequence and story information for the frame which shows:

•	Where this frame is in a sequence of frames (e.g. "Frame 3 of 5").

•	The name of the file last imported into the frame sequence. If no text file has been imported (i.e. the text was typed in, pasted in, or dragged in), the file name displays as "untitled". (You can change the title of your story using the Information button in WritePlus.)

•	If there is still more text to flow after the last frame, the file name is followed by an ellipsis (...).

See also

Frame objects

Property Palette


How text flows through a sequence of pages

If you want to create a simple document with just one story running from page to page, use File/Import Text... with no frame selected. mini Office Publisher automatically adds frames matching the underlying page layouts you've set up. Autoflow will also add pages as needed, until all your text has been imported.

If you wish, mini Office Publisher can have many independent frame sequences. By placing frames anywhere in any order you can build up newspaper or newsletter style publications with many stories flowing from one page to another.

See also

Frame objects

File/Import Text...


Linking frames

You can link a sequence of empty frames, then import the text. Alternatively, you can import the text into a single frame, then create and link additional frames into which the text automatically flows. If when you create a frame, you have a frame currently selected then the two frames are automatically linked. So, if you want the frames to be linked make sure the first frame is selected before creating a new one with the Frame tool. If you want a frame on its own (not linked in a sequence) just make sure that another frame is not selected. (Remember, when you create an object (such as a frame) it is automatically selected as the current object.)

When frames are automatically created by autoflow after File/Import Text... they are also automatically linked.

To reorder the links between existing frames, you use the Link button which appears on the bottom right of a frame when it is selected.

•	To break the link from the selected frame to the next frame(s):
Click on the frame Link button, then click on a blank area of the page or pasteboard.

•	To link the selected frame to another frame as the next frame:
Click on the frame Link button, then click on the frame to be linked to. Only empty frames are valid frames to link to.

•	To unlink the selected frame from the current sequence (make it the first frame in a new sequence):
Click on the frame Link button, then click on the current frame. This makes it the first frame in a new sequence (and you'll need to import or create a new story).

If you click on the frame's Link button, and then change your mind, simply click on the Link button again to abandon any link changes. Remember to watch the cursor which changes to indicate the above operations.

See also

Frame objects

Frame tool

File/Import Text...


Frames as graphics

Frames have an associated box graphic - it's just that its default setting is set to be invisible - a zero weight line and a clear fill.

•	To modify the graphic associated with a selected frame:
Select from Graphics/Line... and Graphics/Fill... menu options, or use the ChangeBar.

•	Just like a graphic, you can also make text wrap around a frame:
Select Wrap outside from Tools/Wrap Settings... or click on the button shortcut in the ChangeBar Wrap Flyout. This gives the frame a wrap outline, which will cause other text (for example, in an overlapping frame) to avoid the frame.

See also

Frame objects

Graphics menu

Tools/Wrap Settings...

Modifying a text wrap outline


Graphic objects (overview)
Graphics Objects

mini Office Publisher provides support for simple graphics drawn directly with mini Office Publisher graphic tools. (Remember, mini Office Publisher refers to imported graphics as pictures.) The graphics tools are:

Line tool

45 Degree line tool

Box tool

Rounded box tool

Oval tool

To create a graphic, select one of the Graphic tools and then drag over the page or pasteboard.

Apart from lines, all graphics have both a line and fill part which can be modified independently.

You can also change corner properties using the ChangeBar (degree of rounding) or selecting the Graphics/Line... option. The corners can be specified as round, square or angled. Round and square corners can go inwards or outwards.

See also

Objects

Graphics and the ChangeBar


Picture objects (overview)
Picture Objects

mini Office Publisher deals with all pictures as rectangular picture objects. These include imported draw-type (vector) or paint-type (bitmap) files, items pasted in from the Windows clipboard, and OLE objects from other Windows applications.

Picture information

Pictures as graphics

Size of pictures

OLE objects

Converting object(s) to pictures

See also

Objects


Picture information

When a picture is selected (and the Information property of the Property Palette is selected), the ChangeBar displays the following:

•	The file name, or the name of the OLE application that it was created in, or clipboard if it was pasted in.

•	The type of picture: vector, bitmap or OLE.

See also

Picture objects

ChangeBar


Pictures as graphics

Pictures are dealt with as rectangular objects. Many draw-type pictures actually only draw on to parts of the rectangular area - the rest is left transparent.

A picture object has an associated background box graphic (set by default to be invisible - a zero weight line and a clear fill). This can be used to set the appearance of the transparent areas or to set a line border around the picture.

•	To modify the graphic associated with a selected picture:
Select from Graphics/Line... and Graphics/Fill... menu options, or use the ChangeBar.

See also

Picture objects

Graphics/Line...

Graphics/Fill...


Size of pictures

There's a little more to sizing of pictures than meets the eye...

Part of the process of pasting in or importing a picture is that you get a cross-hair mouse cursor displayed, to let you put the picture where you like and control its size. You can drag to define an area that you want the picture to be sized to. Or, you can click, to let mini Office Publisher place the picture at the normal size, using any size information available in the file or clipboard item being pasted:

•	If it can, mini Office Publisher sizes the picture to its correct size.

•	If mini Office Publisher cannot determine the correct size for a paint-type (bitmap) picture, mini Office Publisher pastes it in at a reasonable "printer constrained size".

•	If mini Office Publisher cannot determine the correct size for a draw-type (vector) picture, it pastes it in at a default size.

You can tell in advance what size mini Office Publisher thinks the picture should be because mini Office Publisher puts the white indents in the rulers. If you don't want this size, drag instead.

You can of course resize pictures as you require, after it has been placed.

•	To modify the size of the selected picture:
Drag on a handle with the Pointer tool selected. Hold down the SHIFT key to constrain sizing to the original aspect ratio, or the CONTROL key to constrain to sizes that print without risk of moiré patterns (bitmap pictures) or to sizes that are multiples of the original size (vector pictures).

See also

Picture objects

Pointer tool


OLE objects (overview)
OLE objects

OLE (Object Linking and Embedding) is a major feature of Windows (see the Microsoft Windows User's Guide). It's also a major feature of mini Office Publisher, which works with a range of Add-Ons which use OLE to provide additional features to mini Office Publisher.

The key points about OLE are:

•	OLE objects behave like pictures.

•	Some applications are OLE containers.
mini Office Publisher is an OLE container. You can paste in OLE objects.

•	Some applications are OLE servers.
Mini Office Draw is an OLE servers. It creates OLE objects for pasting into an OLE container such as mini Office Publisher.

•	When you want to edit an OLE object, simply double-click on it with the Pointer tool.

•	As an OLE object usually behaves much like a picture, you can do anything (rotate, crop), that you can do with a picture.

•	Some OLE objects are not intended as printable pictures.
They can be anything from macro buttons to sound objects. Double-clicking on them typically does not make them editable but instead invokes a macro operation, or makes a sound, or whatever has been defined by the OLE server.

See also

Picture objects


Converting objects to pictures

Using Tools/Convert to Picture you can convert a mini Office Publisher object (such as a box, or piece of free text) or a group of mini Office Publisher objects into a picture object instead. (Note: this function deletes the mini Office Publisher object or group of objects.)

The picture is a vector image (Windows MetaFile or WMF) and can be resized as needed.

You can use this function to create a text item, convert it to a picture, then resize it to the equivalent of very large point sizes (the normal mini Office Publisher limit is 250 points). Or you can create a logo, or design effect, convert it to a picture and easily reuse and resize it throughout your publication.

See also

Picture objects

Tools/Convert to Picture


Special effects (overview)
Special effects

mini Office Publisher includes a very wide range of tools and object properties which can be used to create many unique, personal effects. Eye-catching headlines, unique text effects and stunning logos can be quickly and easily created within mini Office Publisher. Many of the effects shown are designed by using a combination of features and show how flexible a product mini Office Publisher is.

Capital effects

Shadow and colour effects

For additional special effects, try using mini Office Draw.

See also

Objects


Capital effects

Having a specially formatted first letter in a paragraph is a common and attractive effect.

To create a dropped capital:

•	Put the initial capital in one free text block on its own, and the rest of the paragraph as a separate text block.

•	Format the main block of frame text as required.

•	Format the initial cap as required.

•	Set the status of the capital to Wrap outside using Tools/Wrap Settings... Then edit the wrap outline to the desired wrap shape.

Typically, the wrap shape is left as the default rectangle. To have the text follow the shape automatically select the initial cap and convert it to a picture using Tools/Convert to Picture. Set the status of capital to Wrap outside and Irregular using Tools/Wrap Settings...

•	Make sure the paragraph text is set as Text will wrap.

•	Position the capital at the start of the frame text with the top of the letter aligned with the top of the first line of text in the paragraph block.

The paragraph will now wrap around your dropped capital.

Other capital ideas

•	Create a raised capital by using the same approach as used for a dropped capital, but position the large initial so that it's baseline is level with the baseline of the paragraph text.

•	Use one of the initial capital effects described above, then place a border behind the capital and set a fill.

•	Use one of the initial capital effects described above, then add a mini Office Publisher imported picture, either behind or in front of the initial capital.

•	You can use a mini Office Publisher graphic, or imported picture with an initial cap. Alternatively, you may have a picture of a fancy character that you could use instead of an actual character.

See also

Special effects

Modifying a text wrap outline


Shadow and Colour Effects

In mini Office Publisher you can add a shadow of any size, colour, tint and rotation to any object.

The most common effect on this theme is to create a dropped shadow, usually black. A particularly attractive combination is to set front text to Outline style (use Text/Font Style) and White interior (use Text/Colour) and shadow text to Gray or Black (use Text/Colour and/or Text/Shading).

To create a dropped shadow:

•	Select the object to be shadowed.

•	Use control-drag to copy the object, and position slightly offset from original object.

•	Use Edit/Send to Back to put the copy behind the original.

•	Set the colour of the copy to black (or other colour).

Multiple shadows

You can create a number of variations on shadow effects. One is to create multiple copies, each moved slightly further away from the original, and each of a progressively lower tint. If you want to get adventurous, you can add in other systematic changes in position, size or rotation.

Reversed text (or other colour variations)

To create this effect, create and format the text as required, then create a line of appropriate size and colour, layer it behind the text, and set the text colour to White (or whatever other colour/shading you want to use).

See also

Special effects


Printing (overview)
 Printing

Depending on your equipment and requirements, printing is usually a very simple step, consisting of establishing a correct Printer Setup... then selecting File/Print...

If you want to use commercial printing, things are more complex. Read the Production Issues chapter of the mini Office Publisher Owner's Handbook for comprehensive coverage of everything involved.

See also

Contents

Pattern display and printing

Common printing problems

File/Printer setup

File/Print...


Pattern display and printing

Due to a limitation of Windows itself (not mini Office Publisher), patterns do not display in WYSIWYG form. Simply print out a pattern on your printer, and note the result - all mini Office Publisher patterns will come out the same as this sample. If you change to a higher resolution printer, the stripes will become finer.

See also

Printing


Support and troubleshooting (overview)
 Support and troubleshooting

Why is troubleshooting necessary?

mini Office Publisher and other products (including the Install program) are extensively tested before release. Fundamental problems (such as Install failing, or frequent "crashes" in an application) are generally the result of hardware or software incompatibilities on a specific system. These incompatibilities are usually the result of inappropriate setup of a system, not the use of a specific product. The proliferation of third-party products which run alongside Windows makes setup a complex issue.

These applications require Windows 3.1 or higher, and require a correctly configured PC setup, especially for display and printing. As a result, they may be less tolerant than many other applications: do not be misled if the system is OK running other applications.

If you do have a problem

Some of the most common problems are easy for you to solve yourself. Try reading through the following topics:

•	Common printing problems

•	Non-printer problems

•	Other problems

•	System setup troubleshooting

You should also read the file PPREADME.WRI, which you will find in the PROGRAM subdirectory of the mini Office Publisher installation. This file covers late breaking news, which may include problems discovered too late to be discussed here.

Getting support

If you can't fix it yourself, don't worry - we're here to help. For support and advice please call:

UK: 01625 850871 or Fax: 01625 879962

Web: www.europress.co.uk

We'll do our best to sort it out.

See also

Contents


Common printing problems

Printing problems can be caused by a number of things such as using an incorrect or out of date printer driver, or having the wrong options set for your printer. Some of the more common faults are listed here with suggestions for fixing the problem.

Problem

Some or all of the text on your mini Office Publisher page will not print to your laser printer.

Change your printer option Print TrueType as graphics so that the option is checked. To set the option, select Control Panel/Printers and then highlight your printer driver and choose Setup. You may have to chose Options (depending on your exact printer driver) before you find the option.

Problem

The Printer and Printer Setup... options in the File menu of mini Office Publisher are 'greyed out'.

You may have omitted to select a printer in your Windows setup. If you have not selected a printer then select your printer now in the Windows Control Panel and Set As the Default Printer

Alternatively, see the Windows printer driver problems topic.

Problem

An error such as 'General Protection fault...' or 'An internal error...' is displayed while printing from mini Office Publisher.

See the Windows printer driver problems topic.

Problem

The printed output produced by mini Office Publisher is unreadable or bears no resemblance to the document on screen.

See the Windows printer driver problems topic.

Problem

When I Spot Colour Separate my document, bitmap pictures do not colour separate.

mini Office Publisher does not Spot colour separate bitmap images. If you need the images to be separated, then you will have to use the Process Colour separation feature. For more details on Process Colour separations, see the mini Office Publisher Owner's Handbook.

Problem

When I print documents which have a rotated picture overlapping other objects, a white square background overprints the other objects.

Due to the limitations of most Windows printer drivers, it is not possible to mask an irregular shaped object. This means that the object is "contained" in a square shape. There is therefore no solution to this problem. Note that this is not a problem when using a PostScript printer driver, as the irregular shaped mask is supported.

See also

Support and troubleshooting

Windows printer driver problems


Windows printer driver problems

Printing problems are generally caused by using an incorrect or out of date Windows printer driver. It is important that you use the Windows printer driver designed specifically for your printer. As a rule you should not use drivers setup to emulate another printer, and not choose a driver that seems to work with your printer (e.g. do not select an EPSON dot-matrix printer driver to use with your STAR printer).

Checking your printer driver version

If you have upgraded from Microsoft Windows V3.0 to V3.1 you must check that you are now using the Windows V3.1 driver for your printer. It is normally quite easy to check this by looking at the About option under Control Panel/Printers and then Setup. The printer driver should say that it is for Windows V3.1.

We recommend that you always use the driver supplied with your Windows system rather than using the driver provided by the manufacturer of the printer.

Changing your printer driver

If you cannot find your printer listed in the Control Panel/Printers list of printers then you should look on Windows Disk 7 for your printer driver.

To locate a printer driver on Windows Disk 7:

•	Select Add in the Printers section of Control Panel

•	Select 'Install unlisted or updated Printer' and press Install

•	Insert Windows Disk 7 and press Enter to view the list of available printers.

See also

Common printing problems


Non-printer problems

The following are common problems that have nothing to do with printing.

Problem

When I import a text file into mini Office Publisher, each line of text instead of each paragraph of text is assigned to a text block.

Some word processors save each line of text with a carriage return at the end of each line. To change the way mini Office Publisher treats the end of line, change the Ignore Returns option on the "Import Text" dialog box and try importing the text again.

Problem

All my TrueType fonts do not appear in the mini Office Publisher font list but other Windows fonts do.

mini Office Publisher obtains its list of available fonts via the Windows printer driver. If you are using an out of date or faulty printer driver the TrueType fonts may not show in mini Office Publisher. Install the correct printer driver to correct the problem.

Problem

When trying to "Export" from mini Office Publisher as an Encapsulated PostScript file, the message "Cannot find PSCRIPT.DRV" is displayed.

mini Office Publisher requires the Windows PostScript printer driver when it creates an EPS file. Regardless of whether you have a PostScript printer, you still need to install an appropriate driver into Windows. In the Control Panel under Printers, install a PostScript printer driver such as the "Agfa 9000 Series PS"

Problem

When I try to launch an OLE server such as TypePlus from mini Office Publisher, the message "Cannot register as OLE server is displayed"

This error can be caused by any of the following:

•	There are two REG.DAT files installed in your Windows system

•	The REG.DAT file is write-protected

•	The REG.DAT file has become corrupted

To correct the problem, follow these instructions:

•	Check to see if there are two REG.DAT files in your Windows system (if there are two files, one is probably in the WINDOWS directory, while the other is likely to be in the WINDOWS\SYSTEM directory). There should only be one copy of this file in your Windows System; it should be in the WINDOWS directory. If there is a REG.DAT file in your WINDOWS\SYSTEM directory, then delete it.

•	If the REG.DAT file is write-protected you must change its attributes to 'write allowed' (see the ATTRIB command in your Dos manual for further information)

•	If the REG.DAT file in your WINDOWS directory is corrupt, it must be deleted. Once you have deleted it, applications will then be able to register themselves correctly and no further problems should occur.

Problem

mini Office Publisher gives General Protection Faults, Potentially Serious Internal Errors and generally misbehaves.

See the Other problems topic.

See also

Support and troubleshooting

Other problems


Other problems

If you reply YES to any of the following questions, then you may need to look at your system configuration in more detail.

•	Is your basic DOS setup different to that recommended for Windows?

•	Are you using a non-standard disk cache utility as a replacement for Smartdrv supplied with Windows?

•	Are you using a "shell" which replaces Program Manager (such as Norton Desktop)?

•	Are you using a third-party memory manager (such as QEMM386)?

•	Are you using a third-party display driver for your screen (i.e. NOT a standard Windows driver)?

•	Are you using third-party drivers for additional hardware (printer, network, mouse, scanner)?

If any of the above apply, you should see System Setup Troubleshooting for guidelines on the general approach to finding the cause of a problem.

See also

Support and troubleshooting

System Setup Troubleshooting


System Setup Troubleshooting

The Microsoft Windows operating environment is a complicated matter and problems can occur if your PC is not setup correctly or is using old or non-standard device drivers etc.

If you understand terms such as config.sys and autoexec.bat then you may be able to resolve system setup problems by following the guidelines below. If you don't understand these terms then you should contact Microsoft technical support if you think your problem is related to Windows.

Troubleshooting

In brief, the idea is to simplify your PC's setup, see if the problem is no longer present, and then incrementally restore your PC's original setup, testing to see which component makes the problem re-occur. Please follow our recommendations carefully and always work from a "system" floppy disk, rather than modifying the system files on your hard disk.

For the purposes of this section it is assumed that you are using Windows 3.1 and MS DOS 3.1 or higher, installed in their default directories. If your system is different to this then you'll need to make appropriate corrections/adjustments to the recommendations and suggestions.

Change to a standard display driver

Are you using one of the standard VGA display drivers, as supplied with your original Windows disks? Use the "Windows Setup" icon in the main program group to check. If you are using a third party VGA driver, switch to using one of the standard drivers now.

Remove special hardware

Do you have any "special" hardware installed in your PC such as network cards, scanner cards or other interfaces? If so then remove whatever you can, check with the suppliers that any which you leave do not require any special settings to work correctly with Windows and that there are no conflicts between any of the interface cards. For the purposes of fault diagnosis we recommend you remove all that you can without rendering your PC inoperative.

Boot from a clean floppy disk

Create a clean "system" floppy disk with a CONFIG.SYS and AUTOEXEC.BAT as shown below:

AUTOEXEC.BAT:

C:\WINDOWS\SMARTDRV.EXE a- b-

PATH=C:\;C:\DOS;C:\WINDOWS

SET TEMP=C:\WINDOWS\TEMP

PROMPT $P$G

CONFIG.SYS:

FILES=50

BUFFERS=20

DEVICE=C:\WINDOWS\HIMEM.SYS

Re-boot your PC using this system floppy disk.

Has the problem gone away?

After following the above steps, check to see if you get the problem you did earlier. If the problem is no longer present then you should gradually change back your PC's setup, checking at each stage to see what makes the problem appear again. This is time consuming, but is the simplest way to find what component of your system is causing the problem.

For further help contact technical support as appropriate.

See also

Support and troubleshooting


 Instructions for using help

This Windows Help file describes mini Office Publisher in detail; it contains a lot of information. To make getting at the information easier we've provided several ways to navigate through it. You can:

•	Visit every topic in turn by clicking on the Browse arrow buttons above.

•	Search for keywords by clicking on the Search button above.

•	Look up topics using the Index button above. Every topic is in the Index.

•	Keep Help visible by choosing Always on Top from Help's Help menu. This is especially useful if you want to refer to Help while using the mini Office Publisher window maximized.

•	Get more information on using Help by pressing F1 or click on How to Use Help from the Help menu.

At the bottom of every topic you will find a section called See Also, which consists of double-underlined links. Clicking on a link will takes you to another, related topic.

See also

Contents


Help index
Index

45 degree Line tool

-A-

Advanced spacing

Align items

Align text

Align and layer objects

Autosave publication

-B-

Box tool

Bring to front

-C-

Capital effects

ChangeBar and property palettes

ChangeBar controls

ChangeBar with no object selected

Character map

Character shortcuts

Character

Check spelling

Clear

Colour defaults

Colour text

Common printing problems

Contents

Control key

Convert to picture

Converting objects to pictures

Copy

Corners

Create and select objects

Creating & editing text

Creating templates

Creating text

Credits

Crop tool

Custom colour selector

Cut

-D-

Default publication setup

Defaults

Delete hyphen

Desktop Publishing Power Made Easy

Display of objects

Display

-E-

Ease of use preferences

Edit menu

Editing text

Editing with the text tool

Escape key

Exit

Export as picture

External publication resources

-F-

FiIl colour

File menu

Fill shading

Fill

Find & replace

Font style

Fonts & pictures

Frame columns

Frame defaults...

Frame objects

Frame setup and layout

Frame setup

Frame text

Frame tool

Frames and stories

Frames and the changebar

Frames as graphics

Free text

Free versus frame text

Function keys

-G-

General preferences

Go to / Leave Master Page

Graphic defaults

Graphics and the changebar

Graphics menu

Graphics objects

Graphics style

Guides

-H-

Help menu

Help on help

HintLine

Hints and tips

How a story flows through a sequence of Frames

How text flows through a sequence of Pages

Hyphens

-I-

Import other

Import picture flyout

Import picture

Import text

Insert hyphen/delete hyphen

Insert object

Insert page number

Insert pagehint

Insert pages

Insert symbol

Instructions for using help

-K-

Kern

Keyboard

-L-

Layout tools

Layout tools...

Leading

Level button

Line colour

Line shading

Line tool

Line type

Line weight

Line

Linking frames

-M-

Master page objects

Master pages

Menus and commands

Modify properties

Modifying a text wrap outline

Move, resize, rotate, crop objects

Moving and copying object and groups

Moving text blocks

-N-

Named styles

New publication

Non-printer problems

Numbers

-O-

Object basics

Object...

Objects

OLE objects

On-line help

Open publicaton...

Open template...

Operating on selected text

Orientation

Other problems

Oval tool

-P-

Page and pasteboard area

Page area

Page menu

Page setup

Pages

Panning button

Paste format

Paste special...

Paste

Pattern display and printing

Photo CD

Picture information

Picture objects

Picture preferences

Pictures and the changebar

Pictures as graphics

Pointer tool

Preferences

Print colour

Print options

Print settings

Print

Printer setup

Printing

Proofing tools

Publication setup

Publications

Putting text into a frame

-Q-

Quick access to menu dialogs and WritePlus

-R-

Revert publication

Rotate tool

Rounded box tool

Rulers

-S-

Save as...

Save publication

Save settings

Scanner defaults

Scanner...

Screen layout

Select all

Selecting objects and groups

Send to back

Shading text

Shadow and colour effects

Shift key

Shortcut buttons

Size of pictures

Size text

Size

Sizing objects

Snapping (page menu)

Snapping

Spacing

Special effects

Special keyboard functions

Standard Windows elements

Starting WritePlus

Status bar

Status editor button

Story manager

Style defaults

Styles

Style dialogs

Support and troubleshooting

System setup troubleshooting

-T-

Tabs and indents

Templates

Text and the changebar

Text blocks

Text defaults

Text menu

Text objects

Text style

Text tool

ToolBox overview

ToolBox

Tools Menu

Tools

Tracking

Troubleshooting

-U-

Undo

Update story

Using the supplied templates

-V-

Views

-W-

What is a template for?

Width (text)

Windows printer driver problems

Wrap settings

Wrapping text around objects

WritePlus

WritePlus and text

WritePlus button

WritePlus overview

WritePlus window

-Z-

Zoom area

Zoom tool