Wikipedia:How to draw a diagram with OpenOffice.org Writer

This tutorial aims to instruct a beginner on the basic principles of vector graphics. There are several important free vector graphics programs about that allow you to do very fancy things but this tutorial is not going to use them. Instead you will be shown how to use the drawing tools that come with OpenOffice.org Writer.

The reason for this is because there is a similar tutorial for Microsoft Word. I felt jealous. MS Word costs hundreds of dollars while OpenOffice.org is free and open source.

Getting Started

Open OpenOffice.org Writer program.

Right click on any toolbar and then choose configure...

Click on New

Goto the toolbar you have just created and right click on it and choose Customise...

In the functions area choose category Drawing.

Drag and drop the buttons you want.

Notice the green little boxes at the "corners" of the shape, these are called handles and allow you to resize the shape bigger or smaller.

Right click on the object then choose Area. A dialog will open that will be very helpful in changing the attributes of the shape.

Using a combination of tools you can make any shape you desire.

See also: Wikipedia:Graphics tutorials