LibreOffice-Suite-Writer-6.3/C3/Using-Find-Replace-and-Auto-correct/English

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Title: Using Find, Replace and autocorrect

Author: Pratik Kamble

Novice Reviewer: Nikita and Pooja

Domain Reviewer: Praveen and Nancy

Keywords: Search and Replace, Spellcheck, Autocorrect


Visual Cue Narration
Slide: Title Welcome to the spoken tutorial on Using Find, Replace and Autocorrect in Writer.
Slide: Learning Objectives In this tutorial, we will learn to use:
  • Find and Replace
  • Spell check and
  • Autocorrect features
Slide: System Requirements This tutorial is recorded using
  • Ubuntu Linux OS version 18.04 and
  • LibreOffice Suite version 6.3.5
Slide: Find and Replace Let us start by learning to use the Find and Replace feature in Writer.
  • With this feature, we can search for a particular text
  • and/or replace it in the entire document.

Let us understand this through an example.

OpenResume.odt file Open the file “Resume.odt” which we have created earlier.
Slide: Code files
  • This file has been 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.
Only Narration Before we proceed with the tutorial, let’s first delete some unwanted pages which were created earlier.
Go to the 4th page >> Select the text >> press Backspace twice


Select the lines This is the fourth page


Press Backspace


Point to status bar page

In our Resume file, go to the fourth page.


Select the lines “This is the fourth page” by dragging the cursor along the text.


Then press the Backspace key twice.


The 4th page is deleted and is no longer seen.

Go to the 3rd page >> Select the text >> press Backspace twice Now repeat the same steps to delete the third page also.
Scroll up and down to show both the pages We have only 2 pages in this document now.
Cursor on the first page >> before the word Resume Let’s place the cursor on the first page of the document, before the word Resume.
Only Narration First let us learn how to find a word or text in the document.
Only Narration For an example, we will search for the word Ramesh in our Writer document.
Point to Search bar At the bottom left, we can see the Search bar.
Go to View>> Toolbars>> Find


Only Highlight

If it is not visible, then go to the View menu and select Toolbars.


From the sub-menu check the Find option, if unchecked.

The Search bar will become visible.

Type Ramesh Type Ramesh in the Find field and press Enter.
Point to Ramesh The word Ramesh gets highlighted.
Cursor on the first page >> before the word Resume Let’s place the cursor before the word Resume.
Text on screen:Ctrl + F keys Press Ctrl + F keys to go directly to the Find field.
Type NAME Now type NAME in the Find field and press Enter.


This searches for the word NAME in the entire document.

Point to NAME word The first instance of the word NAME gets highlighted.
Point to Find Previous and Find Next icon Next to the Find field, we can see Find Previous and Find Next icons.
Click on Find Next and Find Previous Click on these icons to find other occurrences of the word NAME in the document.
Click on Find All



Point to Word NAME

To search NAME in the entire document, click on the Find All option.


Notice that all the instances of the word NAME get highlighted in the entire document.

Point to Previous Page and Next Page icon To navigate between the pages while searching, use the Previous page and Next page icons.
Click on empty space Now, click anywhere in the document to deselect the highlighted words.
Only Narration



Only Narration

Next, let’s learn about the Find and Replace option.


By using this feature, we can easily replace the search word with a new one.

Scroll and show page 2 Let’s replace the word page on page 2.
Point to Find and Replace icon in the Standard toolbar We can see the Find & Replace icon in the Standard toolbar.
Click on Edit >> Find & Replace

Only Highlight

Alternatively, click on the Edit menu in the menu bar and then on the Find & Replace option.
Point to Find & Replace dialog box Either ways the Find & Replace dialog box opens up.
Point on Find field In the Find field, type the text that you wish to find and replace.
Point on Find field By default, the earlier search word NAME is visible here.
Type “Page Delete the word NAME and type the word page in the Find field.
Point to “Replace with” field In the Replace field, type the text that you want to replace with.
Only Narration I want to replace the word page with sheet in my document.
Type “sheet So, I’ll type sheet in the Replace field.
Click on Replace All Now, click on the Replace All button.
Point to Search key replaced 3 times. A message is displayed - Search key replaced 3 times.
Click on close button And then click on the Close button
Point to word sheet On page 2 we see that all occurrences of the word page get replaced with sheet
Press Ctrl + H keys

Text on screen:Ctrl + H keys

Press Ctrl + H keys to open the Find & Replace dialog box once again.
Point to Other options


Click on right arrow icon

In the dialog box, we can see the Other options section.


Click on the arrow icon before Other options, to expand the section if not visible.

Only narration The Other option section contains a list of specific Find & Replace options.
Point to Replace Backwards Replace Backwards option searches for the text from bottom to top.
Point to Current selection only Current selection only searches for the text inside the selected portion of the document.
Point to “Regular expression” & “Similarity search” It has other advanced options like Regular expressions and Similarity search.
Only Narration There are three more buttons at the bottom of the dialog box.
Point to “Attribute” “Format” and “No Format” They are Attributes, Format and No Format.
Only Narration All of these provide us with various types of advanced Find & Replace options.
Only Narration You can explore and learn more about them on your own later.
Click on Close button Click on the Close button at bottom right corner to close this dialog box.
Only Narration After learning about Find and Replace, we will now learn how to use Spellcheck.


Spellcheck is used for checking spelling mistakes in a document.

Only Narration The Spell Check feature is distinct for each language.
Click on Tools >> Options Click on the Tools menu in the menu bar and then click on Options.
Click on Language settings >> Languages In the Options dialog-box, go to the left side section.


Click on the arrow icon before the Language Settings to expand it.


Now click on Languages.

Point to User interface >> Default-English (USA) In the field User interface, click on the drop-down and select Default - English (USA).
Click on Locale setting and select English (India) In the Locale setting, click on the drop-down and select English (India) if not already selected.
Point on Default Language for documents

Western field >> select English (India)

[Textbox] In case you don't see the curly red line, go back to Tools>> Options>>..... etc. and choose English (USA)

Now go to the Default Languages for Documents section.


In the Western field, click on the drop-down and select English (India).

Click on Apply button


Click on OK button

Finally, click on the Apply button at the bottom of the dialog box.


And then click on the OK button.

Only Narration Let us now see how the spell check features works for the language - English India.
Menu bar >> Tools >> Automatic spell checking To use the Spelling and Grammar option, go to Tools in the menu bar.


And confirm that the Automatic Spell checking option is checked.

Click on Automatic Spell checking If not, then click on Automatic Spell checking to check it.
Go to the last line of the document >> press Enter key twice. Now keep the cursor next to the word HOUSEWIFE and press the Spacebar.
Type HUSEWIFE and Press space bar Then type HUSEWIFE and press the Spacebar once.
Point to red line


Point to names Shweta Mahesh Ramesh


Only Narration

We see that a curly red line appears just below the incorrect word.


We can also see the curly red lines below the names.


This is because Indian names are not a part of the LibreOffice Writer’s inbuilt dictionary.

Cursor on HUSEWIFE


Click on Check spelling

Now place the cursor on the word HUSEWIFE.


Then click on the Check spelling icon in the Standard toolbar.

Point to not in dictionary field The Spelling dialog box opens.
Point to HUSEWIFE


Point to suggestion box

Under Not in dictionary, the incorrect word is highlighted in red color.


And the suggestions for correct words are shown in the Suggestions box.

Click on Housewife


click on Correct button

In the Suggestions box, first click on the word HOUSEWIFE.

Then click on the Correct button.

Point to Popup window


Click on No button

In some cases, a Confirmation pop-up window may appear.

It says “Continue checking at the beginning of the document ?


Click on the No button.

Click on close button Now click on the Close button to close the Spelling dialog box.
Point to the correct word We see that the correct spelling has now been replaced.
Press Ctrl + Z Press Ctrl+Z keys until the newly added word HOUSEWIFE gets deleted.
Only Narration Next, we will learn about the AutoCorrect feature.
Only Narration The AutoCorrect feature is an extension of Spellcheck.
Click on Tools >> Auto Correct >>Auto Correct options Let me demonstrate how to use the Autocorrect feature.

Go to the Tools menu and select AutoCorrect.


From the sub-menu select the AutoCorrection Options.

Open and point to Autocorrect dialog box The AutoCorrect dialog box opens.
Only narration The AutoCorrect feature automatically corrects the text as we type.
Click on the Option tab The corrections are made according to the options we select in the Options tab.
Point at different options There are several AutoCorrect options here like-
  • Delete spaces and tabs at beginning and end of paragraph
  • Ignore double spaces
Click on X icon Close the Autocorrect dialog box by clicking on the X icon.
Only Narration Let us see how these work through an example.


Type This is the Spoken Tutorial Project with single spaces and double spaces

In our Resume file, move the cursor below the word Hobbies and press Enter twice


Now type This is the Spoken Tutorial Project with single, double and triple spaces between words.

Click on Tools >> Auto Correct >>Auto Correct options Go to the Tools menu and select Auto Correct.


From the sub-menu select the AutoCorrection Options.

Check on Ignore double spaces


Click on OK

Under the Options tab put a check on Ignore double spaces.


And click on the OK button at the bottom right corner.



Type This is the and double space





Point to This is the Spoken Tutorial Project

In the new line, type This is the Spoken Tutorial Project with double and triple spaces between words.


I will type, This is the and press the Spacebar twice.


Notice that, Writer does not allow us to add double or more spaces.


Complete typing the sentence.

Only Narration AutoCorrect feature can also be used to replace long text with an abbreviation.
Only Narration It saves typing effort by creating shortcuts to long words.
Highlight NAME, Secondary, Examination We have used a few words repeatedly in our document.
Only Narration With shortcuts, we can avoid typing these words again and again.
Cursor next to the word tutorial and press Enter Keep the cursor next to the word tutorial and press Enter.
Type This is the Spoken Tutorial Project 5 2 times. Now type This is the Spoken Tutorial Project repeatedly in our document, say 2 times.
Only Narration To avoid repeated typing, we can create an abbreviation.


This will directly get converted into the required text.

Only Narration Now I will demonstrate how abbreviation stp converts to Spoken Tutorial Project.
Click on Tools >> Auto Correct >>Auto Correct options Go to the Tools menu and select Auto Correct.


From the sub-menu select the AutoCorrection Options.

Click on Replace tab


AutoCorrect dialog-box opens up. Click on the Replace tab.
Cursor on Replacement and exceptions for language box Under Replacement and exceptions for language select English India from the drop-down list.
Type “stp” in Replace field Type stp in the Replace field.
Type “Spoken Tutorial Project” in With field In the With field, type Spoken Tutorial Project.
Click on New button Then click on the New button on the right.
Show the entry We see that the entry is made in the replacement table.
Click on OK button Click on the OK button at the bottom right.
Type “This is the stp

Show Stp to Spoken tutorial Project

Now, type the text “This is the stp” in a new line and press the Spacebar.

Immediately the stp abbreviation gets converted to the words Spoken Tutorial Project.

Only Narration This feature is very helpful when the same text is repeated several times in a document.
Press Ctrl + S, Click on the X icon Save the changes and close the file.
Only Narration This brings us to the end of this spoken tutorial.


Let us summarise

Slide: Summary In this tutorial, we learnt how to use:
  • Find and Replace
  • Spell check and
  • Auto Correct features
Slide: Assignment As an assignment,
  • Type the following text in a new Writer document:

This is a new document. This document deals with the Find and Replace feature of Writer.”

Slide: Assignment
  • Now find and replace the word document in your text with the word file
  • Replace the word text with t x t
  • Use the Spell Check feature to correct the spelling to text
  • Use “English(India)” as your default language
  • Create an abbreviation for the text “This is LibreOffice Writer” as “TLW”.
Slide: About spoken tutorial project The video at the following 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 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