How do I write a document?

I’m a physically disabled senior citizen. I’m doing my best.
I don’t understand how to write a document and send it via attachment.

I was advised to go to file>New>/text document but I can’t see where to access where to write those words. I need to sign up for accessability features, too.

Haven’t you got any friend or colleague or relative to show you the necessary steps? Tell him or her to help you and have a glass of wine with him or her and you both will be content. :wink:

No real need to use the menu. Just hit Ctrl + N to create a new document and start typing.

This is going to be rather long winded, so make a pot of coffee or tea, get help from a friend who will let you do stuff yourself (you don’t want the “eager to help” friend who does everything for you). The bottle of wine that Grantler suggested is also a good plan, but hold that for later.

#Last things first#
Accessibility features are mostly components of the base system (equipment, or onscreen tools and adjustment of “computer behavior”). The LibreOffice suite does not provide those features, but there are settings to allow the software to use accessibility tools and respect accessibility settings.

Accessibility settings for LibreOffice are in the “Options” dialog, found by menu selection Tools - Options. More about menus and dialogs below.
#Commands#
When you first start up Writer, you already have one new text document ready. In most cases you do not need to access the command you mentioned. You just activate the application icon to start the application, commence to type what you want, then store your stuff and close down Writer.

For when you need it anyway: File - New - Text document is not a set of words you need to type to execute the command. Rather, you select them from the menu system of the software. If you want to start another document (so you’d be working with two documents in parallel), you find the File menu near the top left of the document window (near top left of the screen if you are using an Apple computer). Click File, then New and Text document from the menus which pop out.

#Preparing a document#
When you have made the document on screen, it needs to be stored on your computer before you can send it by email. The office suite has some email tools, but they are made for other purposes and generally it is not necessary to go through the cumbersome procedure of setting it up and testing.

The File menu again: pick Save, and you will get a “dialog window” where you are expected to answer two things:

  • Where do you want to store your document?
  • The computer has a storage which is organized with folders, and you can create new folders inside folders as needed.
  • You will usually want to store your document in the “Documents” folder.
  • Depending on your system, and also the settings activated for your computer, you may have a folder or path field at the top of the dialog, larger “folder structure”+“folder content” panes, a single “content+structure” pane, or some combination.
  • What name do you want for your document?
  • Below the folder panes (or in some cases above those panes, just below the path/folder field) there will be a field for filename. Use letters and digits in the name. Punctuation in names is possible, but I advise against it.
  • Each document in one particular folder must have a unique name. If you try to use a name which has been used before, you will be asked whether you really want to overwrite the existing file. What is overwritten will be lost.

#Send email attachment#
Now you need to go to where you access your email. There will be some kind of “New message” tool there. This is not a part of LibreOffice so if you need detailed help you have to look elsewhere.

When you have the message editor on screen, there should be some “add attachment” tool available. The looks of this varies widely between tools, but the general idea is the same.

Attachment picker will ask where to look. Find your Documents folder and look for the name you gave to your document.