I get a lot of requests about how to add linked chapters inside OpenOffice Writer ebooks, so today, I’m going to show you how easy this really is to do.

First thing you need to do is open up a new document in OpenOffice Writer. Or, you could also open up one of the free ebook templates you can download from this site.

Once you have done this, it’s time to either create your own bookmarks — “linked” chapters — or add a new bookmark to an existing ebook template.

To do this, you will first need to add your Table of Contents text, or add a new line of text to the existing Table of Contents if you’re using a pre-designed ebook template.

I normally create a new page for the Table of Contents to set on all by its self. It just looks better this way and less cluttered.

To add a new page, simply select : Insert > Manual Break > Page Break from the top tool bar.

Afterwards, you should see a new page :-)

Now, you can any type of text you wish, but here is a quick screen shot example of the text I used:

Adding A New Table of Contents:

Adding A New Line of Text to An Existing Table of Contents:

How I Did It:

I added a new Table to separate the TOC text with 2 columns and 2 rows. ( Table > Insert > Table )

I adjusted the column widths by holding down the left mouse button and dragging the middle verticle line.

I then added the chapter text to the left hand side and then the corresponding page numbers to the right.

Now that we have our text ready to link out, we need to add the chapter pages.

Here’s how we do it:

Insert a new page just as I explained it above.

Enter your Chapter Title Text, like shown below:

Now, we’re going to add the actual bookmark!

To add a bookmark, which will link our Chapter Title inside the Table of Contents to our actual chapter, you will need to left click at the BEGINNING of the “Chapter 1 Title” text on your new chapter page, as pictured above.

Once you’ve done this, you need to click the following from the top tool bar: Insert > Bookmark

A new window will pop open that looks a lot like this:

Enter the text that will point to your chapter. Usually, I’ll enter something like: “Chapter 1″.

Then simply hit “OK” and the window will disappear.

Do this for every page you have a chapter for.

The next step is to link the Table of Contents to the Bookmarks you just set up.

Here’s how to do it:

Go back to your Table of Contents page.

Highlight the first chapter text you’d like to link to by left clicking and dragging across the text.

Next, select the “Add Hyperlink” button from the top tool bar. It looks like this:

A new window will open up:

From the left hand column, select the “Document” button by left clicking it.

Next, find the portion inside the new window that says: “Target in document”.

To the far right, you will see a little icon that looks like a bullseye. Left click that button.

A new window will appear:

Expand the “Bookmarks” by left clicking on the + sign on the left hand side of the word as shown above.

You should then see your bookmark.

Select it by left clicking the bookmark text.

Hit the “Apply” button.

Then, if the window doesn’t close on it’s own, hit the “Close” button.

Now, simply hit the “Apply” button on the remaining window. Again, hit the “Close” button to close the window.

After this is done, you should then see your Chapter text as a link. Like this:

You can then change the color of your new “linked” chapter text by highlighting it, if it isn’t already, and then selecting a new color from the Font Color Tool:

Then save your new document, and you’re all finished.

Also, it’s important to mention that the above is the same process for when you are using an existing ebook template and merely adding a new chapter link in the Table of Contents.

That’s all there is to it!

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