Network Administration & Consulting Services

Office vs Sun OpenOffice.org: a few shortcuts ...

Posted Saturday, 29 September 2007 by Misha Hanin

Sometimes, little things can improve productivity. Those things that let you save a little bit of time here and there, a few minutes every day.

Do you remember the Microsoft Office Manager?

That little window that would float around on the screen or that could be left on one of its edges.

Gestionnaire Microsoft Office

Unfortunately, after Microsoft Office 2003 came out, that tool was no longer available.

And yet, it only took one click to launch Word, or even better, to access your scheduling program or an e-mail in Outlook.

The idea was obviously interesting because it can now be found implemented in OpenOffice.org.

Démarrage rapide de OpenOffice.org

Compared to the Microsoft Office Manager, the OpenOffice.org tool may be accessed through a scroll-down menu, but can not be placed on the Desktop. And as for launching a program, it only takes a right click on an icon in the system tray, and then a click on the name of the chosen application.

This feature corresponds more or less to the use of a shortcut installed through the “Add to Start Menu” function in Windows. To launch a Microsoft Office Suite program associated with this type of shortcut, you just need to click on the Start button, and then click on the shortcut.

In both cases, the result is altogether less efficient than what Microsoft Office Manager used to do.

A short question: “How many clicks do you need to make to write a new e-mail?”

English translation of the French article “Microsoft Office vs Sun OpenOffice.org : petits raccourcis ...” byAndrew Kovacs, Ph. D.