How do I rearrange the task panes in Open Office?

There is an easier way to arrange task panes in Open Office and Libre Office. Make them appear by pressing F5 for the Navigator and F11 for Styles and Formatting. Hold down the Ctrl key and double-click on an empty part of the pane toolbar. This will automatically move it to the side of the Writer window.

Panes can be rearranged by holding down the Ctrl button and clicking and dragging the pane around the window. This can be useful if they are arranged into two columns side by side and you want them in a single column. To adjust the sizes of the panes, move the mouse to the dark-grey line between them until it changes to two lines and arrows. Click and drag to adjust the sizes.

Once arranged, the task panes can be quickly hidden by clicking on the link with five small dots between them and the document being edited. You can watch a demonstration on the Computeractive forum.

Steel | Computeractive forum