Completing Worksheets in LibreOffice Writer

If you prefer to use a local program to edit course worksheets and other documents, I recommend LibreOffice. LibreOffice is available for Linux, macOS, and Windows computers. It offers significantly more privacy than Microsoft Word, since it doesn’t track your behavior or activities when using the program. In addition, LibreOffice is free of charge and is open source.

Getting Started with a Worksheet

Simply download the worksheet file from the activity instructions page. Save the worksheet file in a convenient location, then open it in LibreOffice writer.

Entering a Text Response

To enter a text response, simply insert it into the document below the corresponding question. Be sure to save your work frequently in case your computer crashes or your laptop battery dies.

Adding a Screenshot

Some worksheet sections may ask you to include a screenshot. There is a placeholder image in the location in the worksheet where the screenshot is to be included. Right-click the placeholder image, then pick Replace from the context menu. A file dialog similar to the one in Figure 1 will be presented.

File open dialog for choosing a replacement image file
Figure 1: Selecting a replacement picture in LibreOffice Writer.

Click the Open button. The new picture should be displayed instead of the placeholder, as illustrated in Figure 2.

Screenshot has been added
Figure 2: The placeholder image has been replaced with the screenshot.

Be sure to save your file after adding your screenshot.

Saving a PDF

To save your worksheet in PDF form for submission, go to File…Export As… Export as PDF. A dialog similar to Figure 3 will appear.

Export to PDF
Figure 3: The LibreOffice Writer PDF Options dialog.

You can simply accept the default options and click the Export button. A dialog box will appear with the location to save the PDF file (Figure 4).

File save dialog for choosing the PDF save location
Figure 4: Saving the PDF file in LibreOffice Writer.

Choose a convenient folder into which to save the PDF file, then click Save. Note the folder location, since you will need to upload the saved PDF to Moodle. To submit your work, open Moodle, navigate to the course, then navigate to the assignment submission for the activity. Upload the PDF file that you just created.