LibreOffice-Suite-Writer-6.3/C3/Creating-Newsletters/English

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Title: Creating Newsletters

Author: Pratik Kamble

Novice Reviewer: Nikita and Pooja

Domain Reviewer: Praveen and Nancy

Keywords: Create newsletters, Column break option, Add image, Add banner, Animated text, word count


Visual Cue Narration
Slide: Title Welcome to the spoken tutorial on Creating Newsletters.
Slide: Learning Objectives In this tutorial, we will learn how to:
  • Create newsletters in LibreOffice Writer
  • Use column break option
  • Check the word count
Slide: Learning Objectives We will also learn to add the following to the newsletter:
  • Image and Banner
  • Text animation and
  • Watermark
Slide: System Requirements This tutorial is recorded using
  • Ubuntu Linux OS version 18.04 and
  • LibreOffice Suite version 6.3.5
Slide: Code files
  • The files used in this tutorial are provided to you in the Code files link on this tutorial page.
  • Pls download and extract the file.
  • Make a copy and then use it for practising.
Slide: Newsletter
  • 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
Only Narration A Newsletter can be created very easily using LibreOffice Writer.


This makes reading of articles easier and faster.

Open Newsletter.odt Open the file Newsletter.odt


The same is available in the Code files link for practice.

Only narration We will now learn how to insert columns in our document.
Click on Page icon In the Sidebar deck click on the Page icon.
Click on the Styles gear icon Click on the Styles gear icon to open the Page Style dialog box.
Click on Columns tab >> In Settings, select the 2-column icon Click on the Columns tab.


Under Settings, select the 2 columns with equal size icon.

Point to Autowidth and Spacing Under Width and Spacing, Autowidth gets checked and Spacing is 0.5cm.
Click on Apply >> click on Close Click on the Apply button and then on the OK button.
Click on Close Sidebar Deck Close the Sidebar deck.
Point to 2 columns Observe that our document changes into 2 columns format.
Click on Format menu >> Click on Column option (Only Highlight) Alternatively we can add columns by clicking on the Format menu.


And then on the Columns option.

Only Narration Now let us insert an image into our newsletter.
Cursor at the end of column 2 >> press Enter thrice. Place the cursor at the end of column 2 and press Enter thrice.
Click on Gallery icon in the sidebar Click on the Gallery icon in the Sidebar.
Point to New theme



Select Computers

Below the button New theme, we can see various theme folders.


I will select the Computers folder.

Select Computer-laptop-black from the list


Select Insert option (Only Highlight)

Then select Computer-Laptop-Black from the list.


Right-click and select the Insert option.

Only narration Alternatively we can also drag-and-drop the image.
Click on X icon of the Sidebar deck Close the Sidebar deck.
Point to the image The inserted image fits the width of column 2 into which it was inserted.
Resize and reposition the image Resize the image as shown.
Point to newly added image So this is how we can add an image to the newsletter column.
Only Narration Next, we will learn about the Column break option.
Cursor at the beginning of second last para I will keep the cursor at the beginning of the fourth paragraph.
Click on Insert >> More Breaks >> Manual Break 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 Insert break dialog box opens up.
Select column break >> Click OK Under the section Type, select the Column break option and click on the OK button.
Point to new column We can see that the paragraph shifted to the second column of the page.
Click on Insert >> More Breaks >> Manual Break >> Select column break >> Click OK Repeat the above steps for the last paragraph also.

We see that the paragraph is now in page 2 of the newsletter.

Only Narration Next we will learn how to highlight a portion of the article in a different colour.
Drag cursor along the text Select the paragraph on page 2 by dragging the cursor along the text.
Click on highlight color icon In the Formatting toolbar, click on the Highlight color icon drop-down.
Color palette box



Select Lime

From the Color palette box, select any color of your choice.


I will select Light Lime 3.

Click anywhere else to deselect the text Click anywhere else to deselect the text.
Point to new background color text Observe that the background color of that text portion has changed as per our selection.
Only Narration Next we will learn how to add Banners to the newsletter.
Scroll up >> place the cursor at the end of column 2 on page 1. Scroll up and place the cursor at the end of column 2 on page 1.
Click on star icon in the drawing toolbar Now, locate the Stars and Banners icon in the Drawing toolbar.


And click on the down arrow to expand the options.

Point to different shapes


Select Horizontal scroll

We see different shapes to choose from.


Let us select Horizontal scroll.

Go to column 2


Hold left mouse button and drag to draw the shape


Click anywhere else to deselect the shape

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.

Move it to end beginning of the document Now let’s move the newly added banner to the beginning of the document.
Go to page 1 >> place the cursor before the word FOSS in column 1 First go to page 1 and place the cursor before the word FOSS in column 1.
Press Enter key four times Now press Enter key four times.
Repeat for column 2 Repeat the process for column 2 also.
Click on banner to select it


Drag and place it in between columns 1 and 2

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.

Only Narration Inside the banner we can type any text of our choice.
Double-click and type This is a newsletter Double-click inside the banner and type, “This is a newsletter.”
Press Ctrl+A keys


Make the text Centre-align, increase the font size to 16, make the text bold

Now press Ctrl+A keys to select the full text.


Centre-align it, increase the font size to 16, make the text bold.

Click anywhere else to deselect Now click anywhere else to deselect the banner.
Only Narration We can even add effects to our newsletter.


I will demonstrate how to do so.

Select the heading FOSS Select the heading FOSS.
Click Format >> Character Now go to the Format menu and select Character.
Point to Character dialog box


Click Font Effects tab


Select Blinking option

Character dialog box opens up


Click on the Font Effects tab.


Under the Relief or Effects section, check the Blinking option.

Click on OK button And click on the OK button.
Point to word FOSS We can see that the word FOSS is blinking.


This effect is useful to draw the attention of the reader of the digital newsletter.

Only Narration Now let’s learn how to add a watermark.
Slide : 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.

Click Format >> Watermark Go to the Format menu in the menu bar and select the Watermark option.
Point to Watermark dialog box


Point to Text field and type confidential

Watermark dialog box opens up.


In the Text field, type “For internal circulation”.

Increase to 70 % transparency >> Change color to Light Red 3


Click on OK button

Increase the transparency to 70 % and change the color to Light Red 3.


Then click on the OK button.

Scroll to page 2 >> Point to the Watermark We can see our Watermark is added to the newsletter.

Only Narration

Lastly, we will learn about the Word count feature in Writer.
Slide : Word count 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 Highlighted text Select the last paragraph which we had highlighted earlier.
Point to Status bar Observe the word count that is displayed in the Status bar.
Click on Word and character Count Click on Word and Character count in the Status bar.
Point to Word count dialog box


Point to words under selection


Point to document section

The Word Count dialog box opens up.


It shows the word count for the current selection.


And also for the whole document as well.

Point to Character including spaces and excluding spaces It also shows the total count of Characters including spaces and excluding spaces.
Click on Close button Close the Word Count dialog box by clicking on the Close button.
Press Ctrl + S, Click on the X icon Save all the changes and close the file.
Only Narration This brings us to the end of this tutorial.


Let us summarize.

Slide: Summary In this tutorial, we learnt how to:
  • Create newsletters in LibreOffice Writer
  • Use Column break option
  • Check the word count
Slide: Summary We also learnt to add the following to the newsletter:
  • Image and Banner
  • Text animation and
  • Watermark
Slide: Assignment 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
Slide: About spoken tutorial project The video at the following link summarises the spoken tutorial project

Please download and watch it.

Slide: Spoken Tutorial workshops We conduct workshops using spoken tutorials and give certificates.

For more details, Please contact us.

Slide: Forums Specific Questions Please post your timed queries in this forum.
Slide: Acknowledgment The Spoken Tutorial project is funded by MHRD Govt of India
Slide: Thank you 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.

Contributors and Content Editors

Nancyvarkey, Pratik kamble