Entering data into a sheet

Getting Started with OpenOffice.org 2.x

Chapter 7: Getting Started with Calc

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• Parts of the main Calc window
• File management
• Navigating within spreadsheets

• Going to a particular cell
• Moving from cell to cell
• Moving from sheet to sheet

• Selecting cells
• Selecting columns and rows
• Inserting columns and rows
• Deleting columns and rows
• Working with sheets

• Inserting new sheets
• Deleting sheets
• Renaming sheets

• Viewing Calc

• Freezing rows and columns
• Splitting the window

• Entering data into a sheet
• Printing

• Print options
• Selecting sheets to print
• Printing rows or columns on every page
• Defining a print range

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Entering numbers

Select the cell and type in the number using either the top row of the keyboard or the numeric keypad.

To enter a negative number, type a minus (–) sign in front of it or enclose it in brackets ( ).

By default numbers are right-aligned and negative numbers have a leading minus symbol.

Entering text

Select the cell and type the text. Text is left-aligned by default.

Entering numbers as text

If a number is entered in the format 01481, Calc will drop the leading 0. To preserve the leading zero, in the case of telephone area codes for example, precede the number with an apostrophe, like this: '01481. However, the data is now regarded as text by Calc. Formulas and functions will treat the entry like any other text entry, which typically results in it being a zero in a formula, and being ignored in a function.

When entering an apostrophe to allow a leading zero to be displayed, the apostrophe will not be visible in the cell after the Enter key is pressed only if the apostrophe is a plain apostrophe (not a "smart quote" apostrophe). The type of apostrophe is selected by choosing Tools > Autocorrect > Custom Quotes. The selection of the apostrophe type will affect Calc and Writer. If "smart quotes" are selected for apostrophes, the apostrophe will remain visible in the cell after pressing Enter.

Numbers can have leading zeros and be regarded as numbers (as opposed to text) if the cell is formatted appropriately. Right-click on the cell and choose Format Cells > Numbers. Adjust the leading zeros setting to add leading zeros to numbers.

Entering dates and times

Select the cell and type the date or time. You can separate the date elements with a slant (/) or a hyphen (-) or use text such as 10 Oct 03. Calc recognizes a variety of date formats. You can separate time elements with colons such as 10:43:45.