Things that control how content is displayed in OpenOffice.org Calc spreadsheets

If you spend all day in spreadsheets, sooner or later you want something to help you spot what's important or different. The motion study expert Frank Gilbreth told factories to paint parts different colors to help factory workers spot the right pieces more quickly; Calc has roughly equivalent features to help point out the different types of data you're working with.

Many of the settings are controlled here. Choose Tools > Options > OpenOffice.org Calc > General. Click the image to see it bigger.

Here's a sample spreadsheet, shown the usual way.

Here's what it looks like when, in the Display section of the Options window, you mark the Formulas option.

Here's what it looks like  when you mark Shown References in Color. It means if you double-click a formula, the referenced cells are shown color coded.

And if you mark the Value Highlighting option, then formulas are shown in a different color than formulas.

And in the same options window on the left side, you can change the color of the borders between the cells from light gray to whatever you want. Here's what they look like in magenta.

There are also some options that help you see the relationships among your data; the Tools > Detective menu item.

Tracing precedents means, for the selected cell or cells, show other cells that are a step up in the calculation. For instance, the tax rate is used in the selected cell to figure out after tax monthly income, so it's a precedent.

Tracing dependents is the same, but the other way around. Monthly Income depends on the selected cell, total income.

And, if you've got some errors, the Trace Errors feature will show what other cells are involved in the error cell.

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Comments

[JZA]

Awesome post. I am not a heavy calc user but I know many people that are. I would like to do some presentation forms of this topics since this features really need more exposure.

BTW, how are you doing on the podcast. I know many people would love a tutorial like this or even a screen cast.

I would recomend checking the Linux Reality podcast that usually run through different Linux applications and some even create screen cast of them.

[heri]

Thank's for the article, it's very helpful for newbie like me.

Other thing that I don't get it clearly is: how to change default font in Open Office Calc.

Appreciate if anyone could inform me.

[David]

To change the default font in Calc:

Select Format > Styles And Formatting. In the window that opens highlight 'Default' then right-click and select 'Modify' from the pop-up context menu.

A settings window will appear. Click the 'Font' tab and you will be able to change the default font.

Click 'OK' and your changes will be saved.

Take a look through the other tabs too. There are many settings that you can customize.

When you first right-click in the 'Styles and Formatting' window you can also choose 'New' and create an entirely new style, and save it with the name of your choosing. Very handy if you do a lot of conditional formatting.

Regards.

[heri]

@David:
I didn't know if I can "right-click" that part....
Problem solved now :)
Thank's a lot.

[felipe p vista iv]

I have an almost similar problem...
is it possible to change the highlight color of a cell when it is in focus?? We set the background color of our cells in gray to make it a bit pleasing to the eye but it made the cell currently in focus difficult to locate heheheh...
Hope you could help...
Thanks so much in advance ;)...

[Solveig]

Hi Felipe,

You might try Tools > Options > OpenOffice.org > Appearance.

solveig