Formatting spreadsheets using themes and Conditional Formatting

Getting Started with OpenOffice.org 3

Chapter 5. Getting Started with Calc

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• Parts of the main Calc window
• Starting new spreadsheets
• Opening existing spreadsheets
• Saving spreadsheets
• Navigating within spreadsheets
• Selecting items in a sheet or spreadsheet
• Working with sheets
• Viewing Calc
• Entering data using the keyboard
• Speeding up data entry
• Editing data
• Formatting data
• Autoformatting cells and sheets
• Formatting spreadsheets using themes and Conditional Formatting
• Hiding and showing data
• Sorting records
• Printing from Calc

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Calc comes with a predefined set of formatting themes that you can apply to your spreadsheets.

It is not possible to add themes to Calc, and they cannot be modified. However, you can modify their styles after you apply them to a spreadsheet.

To apply a theme to a spreadsheet:

1. Click the Choose Themes icon in the Tools toolbar. If this toolbar is not visible, you can show it using View > Toolbars > Tools. The Theme Selection dialog appears. This dialog lists the available themes for the whole spreadsheet, and the Styles and Formatting window lists the custom styles for specific cells.
File:ToolsToolbarCalc.png
2. In the Theme Selection dialog, select the theme that you want to apply to the spreadsheet. As soon as you select a theme, some of the properties of the custom styles are applied to the open spreadsheet and are immediately visible.
3. Click OK.

Using Conditional Formatting

You can set up cell formats to change depending on conditions that you specify. For example, in a table of numbers, you can show all the values above the average in green and all those below the average in red. Conditional formatting depends upon the use of styles, and the AutoCalculate feature (Tools > Cell Contents > AutoCalculate) must be enabled. See Chapter 2 in the Calc Guide for details.