The Navigator tool displays information about the contents of a document. It also lets you quickly jump to different elements. For example, you can use the Navigator to get a quick overview of all images included in the document.

To open the Navigator, click Edit+Navigator. The elements listed in the Navigator vary according to the document loaded in Writer.

Figure 2.4. Navigator Tool in Writer

Click an item in the Navigator to jump to that item in the document.

If you are working with a very large document, such as a book, you might find it easier to manage the book with a master document, rather than keeping the book in a single file. A master document enables you to quickly apply formatting changes to a large document or to jump to each subdocument for editing.

A master document is a Writer document that serves as a container for multiple Writer files. You can maintain chapters or other subdocuments as individual files collected in the master document. Master documents are also useful if multiple people are working on a document. You can separate each person’s portion of the document into subdocuments collected in a master document, allowing multiple writers to work on their subdocuments at the same time without fear of overwriting other people’s work.

If you are coming to OpenOffice.org from Microsoft Word, you might be nervous about using master documents because the master document feature in Word has a reputation for corrupting documents. This problem does not exist in OpenOffice.org Writer, so you can safely use master documents to manage your projects.

To create a master document:

The OpenOffice.org help files contain more complete information about working with master documents. Look for the topic entitled Using Master Documents and Subdocuments .

The styles from all of your subdocuments are imported into the master document. To ensure that formatting is consistent throughout your master document, you should use the same template for each subdocument. Doing so is not mandatory; however, if subdocuments are formatted differently, you might need to do some reformatting to successfully bring subdocuments into the master document without creating inconsistencies. For example, if two documents imported into your master document include different styles with the same name, the master document will use the formatting specified for that style in the first document you import.