During this guided practice session, you will become familiar with the tools used for creating various types of documents in the StarOffice desktop. You will practice opening and closing windows, creating folders and files, moving and deleting files, and using buttons, menus, and drop-down lists.

1. Begin by opening the Explorer window. Click on the Explorer window icon on the tool bar to display the window. Click again to hide it. Practice opening and closing this window a few times.
   
   
2. The Explorer window (Figure 1) is where you manage and organize your StarOffice work space. Within the Explorer are icons representing your address book (used to keep track of email addresses and other name and address information), your Bookmarks folder (in which you store addresses to Internet Web sites), and your My Documents Folder (in which students will store their documents).
3. We'll be coming back to the Explorer window later in this guided practice. Close the window for now.

1. Click on the Beamer icon on the tool bar to open the Beamer window, as shown. Click it again to close the Beamer window. Open and close this window a few times, for practice.
   
   
2. The Beamer window (Figure 2) displays the contents of a selected entry in the Explorer window. The Beamer window will not necessarily look the same as the one shown in this practice handout. It probably won't look like the one on the computer of the person sitting next to you as the contents will vary according to what was last chosen in the Explorer window.

1. Open both the Beamer and the Explorer windows and practice floating and sticking the windows.
   
   
2. The pushpin button switches the state of each window from float to stick.
   
   
3. You can also show and hide windows with the arrow icons that are at the edge of each window (Figure 5). Try hiding and showing a window using these icons.
   
   
4. Open the Explorer window if it is closed. Click on the little "plus" symbol (+) next to the My Documents Folder. The folder will open and show its contents (Figure 6).
   
   
5. Your workfolder may be empty if you have not placed any material in that folder; we will soon explain how to add items to the folder.
   
   
6. Now, open the Beamer window (if it is closed) and open the Gallery entry in the Explorer (click on the little plus sign to open it) (Figure 7).
   
   
7. Click on the Flags folder. In the Beamer window, you should see images of flags that are contained in the Flags folder in the clip-art Gallery.

1. In the Explorer window, click on the Click & Go button (Figure 9).
   
   
2. Double-click on the Text icon.
   
   
3. Another way to create a new blank text document to work with is through the menu bar. Click on File, New to see the various options (but don't choose one now; we have already opened a new document). If you were to make a selection, you would move the mouse over the choice you want and then click on it (Figure 10).
   
   
4. Begin typing in the opened window. This is an exercise, so you don't need to type much, just something so the file is not empty. Later we will be showing you how to move the file and then delete it.
   
   
5. Notice how the tool bars change when you have a word processing document open (Figure 11). In later workshops, we'll help you become familiar with the various tools that are available in word processing. For now, just observe that these tools change according to what you are doing.
   
   
6. While we are in the word processing program, let's practice a few important skills: selecting text, copying and pasting text, and scrolling in a window.
   
   
7. Click and drag the mouse over the text that you have typed, selecting all of the text.
   
   
8. Now, click on the Copy icon on the function bar. This will make a copy of the selected text into the clipboard (a place that can hold text, images, or other data until you need it).
   
   
9. Next, click the Paste icon to paste a copy of the text. It will replace the text that is selected. (You'll learn more about replacement in another workshop.) Paste again, then again, repeating the process until the page is full and begins to scroll up. Eventually the entire page will fill, and you'll jump to the next page.
   
   
10. The scroll bar to the right of the document allows you to navigate within the document (Figure 12). The scroll up and scroll down arrows smoothly move the document up and down one line at a time. The rectangular box in the middle of the scroll bar serves three functions: first, it gives a visual reference to your current location in the document. Second, it indicates the size of the document (a fat box tells you it is a short document, a skinny box that it is a long document). Third, you can click and drag the box to use it as a positioning tool, for example, drag it to the bottom of the scroll bar to move to the end of the document.
    
    
11. StarOffice also has a context-sensitive jump tool on the scroll bar. Click the Choose navigation item button near the bottom of the bar and you can select the method for jumping up and down through the document. Then click the Previous and Next buttons to navigate. This tool is especially useful for large documents.
    
    
12. Let's save the document. Click the Save button in the function bar. You will see the save dialog, as shown here.
    
    
13. The work will be automatically saved in the My Documents folder, unless you specify another directory. We will save this file in the My Documents folder and then practice saving other files in different locations for this exercise.
    
    
14. Name the file by clicking in the Filename field and typing in a name (Figure 13).
    
    
15. Click on the Save button.
    
    
16. In the Explorer window, double-click on the My Documents folder folder. Look in the work area (Figure 6). Do you see the name of the file you saved? If not, you either (a) didn't save it, (b) saved it in a different folder, or (c) need to scroll around the My Documents folder to locate the file.
    
    
17. Now, let's move the file. Click and drag the file from the work area to a folder in the My Documents folder. The file should disappear from the work area. Double-click the folder you dropped it into, and you should now see it in the work area.
    
    
18. Often you will want to make copies of a file; for example, you may create a template for a creative writing project for your students with a story starter that you want them to complete. You can create a file as a template and then make copies of it for the students. Let's practice making a copy of the file you created. Hold the Control button down on your keyboard while clicking and dragging the file from the folder it is in to another folder.
    
    
19. Check your work to make sure there are actually two copies. (Double-click on the folder you dragged into.) Is it there? Double-click on the folder you copied from.) Is it there?
    
    
20. As a final exercise, let's clean up after ourselves and delete our test files. Open a folder containing your test file. Click on the file name. (Be careful. Select only the one you created today!) Press the Delete key on your keyboard.
    
    
21. A dialog box will pop up asking, "Are you sure you want to delete the selected entry?" Press the Yes button (Figure 14). Now the file is gone.
    
    
22. Locate the other copy of the file and repeat the procedure to delete the second copy of this test file.