In this first part of our guide, we look into what we need to consider when we first want to start using Impress. This guide goes over the very basics of the initial configuration.
So you’ve installed LibreOffice and noticed this funny looking program called Impress. One of your questions might be, “what is Impress anyway?”
Impress is actually a piece of software that can create slideshows. You might have heard of PowerPoint at some point. Well, Impress is actually an open source equivalent to that program. It also happens to be free and open source as well. So, a download and an install later, you actually have the power to create your very own slide shows! Of course, before we begin, there are a few things to consider before we start building our slide show.
Initial Screen
When you first open Impress, you’ll be shown this screen. This is fine if you are a returning user or have already made your initial configurations through other pieces of software. If you’ve already set your name and other pieces of initial meta-data, you are actually ready for the next part of this guide already. If not, keep reading.
First, hit the “Cancel” button (as highlighted in the screen shot). We’re not actually creating our first slideshow in this guide, so this is going to end up being unnecessary for what we want to do.
Setting Your Language Preferences
The first thing we want to do is set our language preferences. If you happen to be an American citizen in the US and don’t intend on showing your presentation to anyone outside of the US, then you can actually skip this step. If you happen to live in another country like Canada, the UK, Australia, or New Zealand, then this step is going to be necessary. Additionally, if English isn’t your preferred language at all, this step is going to be just as important.
First, we need to click on “Tools” in the menu bar. Next, we want to hover our mouse over “Language”. From there, we want to hover over “For All Text”. In the final sub-menu, you’ll want to click on “More…”
Note: My preferred language is present in the menu’s. This is because I have set my language preference in a previous guide. Let’s just pretend that this option isn’t in there and move on for the sake of learning because it wouldn’t even be there if this is the first program I started.
Now, under “Languages Of” in the pop-up window, you’ll first want to click on the drop down menu next to “Locale Setting”. From there, you can choose your language of choice.
Next, we’re going to want to look under “Default Languages for Documents”. We can choose from a few different character sets, but for me, I’m just going to stick with what’s next to “Western” and select my language of preference (Canadian English).
After that, if I’m happy, I can just click on the “OK” button. Our language preferences have been set!
Setting Up User Meta-Data Preferences (Optional)
This next part is optional, but if you want your name or your company to appear in the meta-data of documents, this might be a step you want to take.
First, we want to click on “Tools” in the menu bar. From there, we want to click on “Options” (as highlighted in the above screen shot).
From there, we can add any meta-data we want. This information can appear in saved files that this program produces. When you are done adding in your preferences, just hit the “OK” button and you’ll be ready to go.
Congratulations, you are now ready to start working with Impress!
Guide Navigation
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