Welcome to the spoken tutorial on Creating Newsletters.
In this tutorial, we will learn how to:
Create newsletters in LibreOffice Writer
Use column break option
Check the word count
We will also learn to add the following to the newsletter:
Image and Banner Text animation and Watermark
This tutorial is recorded using Ubuntu Linux OS version 18.04 and LibreOffice Suite version 6.3.5
The files used in this tutorial are provided to you in the Code files link on this tutorial page.
Please download and extract the file.
Make a copy and then use it for practising.
Newsletters are publications which get circulated regularly to its subscribers
It is used to communicate latest news, new ideas and events
Newsletters usually have multi-column format
This makes it easier for the reader to look at different sections
A Newsletter can be created very easily using LibreOffice Writer.
This makes reading of articles easier and faster.
Open the file Newsletter.odt
The same is available in the Code files link for practice.
We will now learn how to insert columns in our document.
In the Sidebar deck click on the Page icon.
Click on the Styles gear icon to open the Page Style dialog box.
Click on the Columns tab.
Under Settings, select the 2 columns with equal size icon.
Under Width and Spacing, Autowidth gets checked and Spacing is 0.5cm.
Click on the Apply button and then on the OK button.
Close the Sidebar deck.
Observe that our document changes into 2 columns format.
Alternatively we can add columns by clicking on the Format menu. And then on the Columns option.
Now let us insert an image into our newsletter.
Place the cursor at the end of column 2 and press Enter thrice.
Click on the Gallery icon in the Sidebar.
Below the button New theme, we can see various theme folders.
I will select the Computers folder.
Then select Computer-Laptop-Black from the list. Right-click and select the Insert option.
Alternatively we can also drag-and-drop the image.
Close the Sidebar deck.
The inserted image fits the width of column 2 into which it was inserted.
Resize the image as shown.
So this is how we can add an image to the newsletter column.
Next, we will learn about the Column break option.
I will keep the cursor at the beginning of the fourth paragraph.
Now click on the Insert menu in the menu bar and then on More Breaks. From the sub-menu select Manual Break.
Insert break dialog box opens up.
Under the section Type, select the Column break option and click on the OK button.
We can see that the paragraph shifted to the second column of the page.
Repeat the above steps for the last paragraph also.
We see that the paragraph is now in page 2 of the newsletter.
Next we will learn how to highlight a portion of the article in a different colour.
Select the paragraph on page 2 by dragging the cursor along the text.
In the Formatting toolbar, click on the Highlight color icon drop-down.
From the Color palette box, select any color of your choice. I will select Light Lime 3.
Click anywhere else to deselect the text.
Observe that the background color of that text portion has changed as per our selection.
Next we will learn how to add Banners to the newsletter.
Scroll up and place the cursor at the end of column 2 on page 1.
Now, locate the Stars and Banners icon in the Drawing toolbar. Click on the down arrow to expand the options.
We see different shapes to choose from. Let us select Horizontal scroll.
Come to column 2.
Hold the left mouse button and drag the shape in the empty space of column 2. Click anywhere else to deselect the shape.
Now let’s move the newly added banner to the beginning of the document.
First go to page 1 and place the cursor before the word FOSS in column 1.
Now press Enter key four times.
Repeat the process for column 2 also.
Come back to the banner and click on it to select it.
Now drag and place it in the empty space in between columns 1 and 2.
Inside the banner we can type any text of our choice.
Double-click inside the banner and type, “This is a newsletter.”
Now press Ctrl+A keys to select the full text.
Centre-align it, increase the font size to 16, make the text bold.
Now click anywhere else to deselect the banner.
We can even add effects to our newsletter.
I will demonstrate how to do so.
Select the heading FOSS.
Now go to the Format menu and select Character.
Character dialog box opens up Click on the Font Effects tab.
Under the Relief or Effects section, check the Blinking option. And click on the OK button.
We can see that the word FOSS is blinking.
This effect is useful to draw the attention of the reader of the digital newsletter.
Now let’s learn how to add a watermark.
Watermark is used to indicate that the document is to be treated in a special way.
For example- Confidential, Private, etc.
Let me demonstrate how to add a watermark.
Go to the Format menu in the menu bar and select the Watermark option.
Watermark dialog box opens up.
In the Text field, type “For internal circulation”.
Increase the transparency to 70 % and change the color to Light Red 3. Then click on the OK button.
We can see our Watermark is added to the newsletter.
Lastly, we will learn about the Word count feature in Writer.
Word count feature helps to maintain word count in a document.
It helps us to know the number of words in the document which we typed.
It also counts pages, paragraphs, lines, and characters.
Select the last paragraph which we had highlighted earlier.
Observe the word count that is displayed in the Status bar.
Click on Word and Character count in the Status bar.
The Word Count dialog box opens up.
It shows the word count for the current selection. And also for the whole document as well.
It also shows the total count of Characters including spaces and excluding spaces.
Close the Word Count dialog box by clicking on the Close button.
Save all the changes and close the file.
This brings us to the end of this tutorial. Let us summarize.
In this tutorial, we learnt how to: Create newsletters in LibreOffice Writer
Use Column break option
Check the word count
We also learnt to add the following to the newsletter: Image and Banner, Text animation and Watermark
As an assignment Open Newsletter practice.odt file provided to you in the Code files link
Use 3 column option format Add a Banner and type the text Spoken Tutorial in it
The video at the following link summarises the spoken tutorial project Please download and watch it.
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The Spoken Tutorial project is funded by MHRD Govt of India
This tutorial was originally contributed by DesiCrew Solutions Pvt. Ltd. in 2011.
This is Pratik Kamble along with the Spoken Tutorial team from IIT Bombay signing off. Thank you for watching.