Selecting items in a sheet or spreadsheet

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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Selecting cells

Cells can be selected in a variety of combinations and quantities.

Single cell

Left-click in the cell. The result will look like the left side of this figure. You can verify your selection by looking in the Name box.

Range of contiguous cells

A range of cells can be selected using the keyboard or the mouse.

To select a range of cells by dragging the mouse:

1. Click in a cell.
2. Press and hold down the left mouse button.
3. Move the mouse around the screen.
4. Once the desired block of cells is highlighted, release the left mouse button.

To select a range of cells without dragging the mouse:

1. Click in the cell which is to be one corner of the range of cells.
2. Move the mouse to the opposite corner of the range of cells.
3. Hold down the Shift key and click.

To select a range of cells without using the mouse:

1. Select the cell that will be one of the corners in the range of cells.
2. While holding down the Shift key, use the cursor arrows to select the rest of the range.

The result of any of these methods looks like the right side of this figure.

You can also directly select a range of cells using the Name box. Click into the Name box as described in Using a cell reference. To select a range of cells, enter the cell reference for the upper left hand cell, followed by a colon (:), and then the lower right hand cell reference. For example, to select the range that would go from A3 to C6, you would enter A3:C6.

Range of non-contiguous cells

1. Select the cell or range of cells using one of the methods above.
2. Move the mouse pointer to the start of the next range or single cell.
3. Hold down the Control key and click or click-and-drag to select a range.
4. Repeat as necessary.

Selecting columns and rows

Entire columns and rows can be selected very quickly in OOo.

Single column or row

To select a single column, click on the column identifier letter (see this figure).

To select a single row, click on the row identifier number.

Multiple columns or rows

To select multiple columns or rows that are contiguous:

1. Click on the first column or row in the group.
2. Hold down the Shift key.
3. Click the last column or row in the group.

To select multiple columns or rows that are not contiguous:

1. Click on the first column or row in the group.
2. Hold down the Control key.
3. Click on all of the subsequent columns or rows while holding down the Control key.

Entire sheet

To select the entire sheet, click on the small box between the A column header and the 1 row header.

File:CalcSelectAll.png

Select All box

You can also use the keyboard to select the entire sheet by pressing Control+A.

Selecting sheets

You can select either one or multiple sheets. It can be advantageous to select multiple sheets at times when you want to make changes to many sheets at once.

Single sheet

Click on the sheet tab for the sheet you want to select. The active sheet becomes white (see Figure 4).

Multiple contiguous sheets

To select multiple contiguous sheets:

1. Click on the sheet tab for the first sheet.
2. Move the mouse pointer over the last sheet tab.
3. Hold down the Shift key and click on the sheet tab.

All the tabs between these two sheets will turn white. Any actions that you perform will now affect all highlighted sheets.

Multiple non contiguous sheets

To select multiple non contiguous sheets:

1. Click on the sheet tab for the first sheet.
2. Move the mouse pointer over the second sheet tab.
3. Hold down the Control key and click on the sheet tab.
4. Repeat as necessary.

The selected tabs will turn white. Any actions that you perform will now affect all highlighted sheets.

All sheets

Right-click over any one of the sheet tabs and select Select All Sheets from the popup menu.

Working with columns and rows

Inserting columns and rows

Columns and rows can be inserted in several different way and quantities.

Single column or row

A single column or row can be added using the Insert menu:

1. Select the column or rows where you want the new column or row inserted.
2. Select either Insert > Columns or Insert > Rows.

When you insert a single new column, it is inserted to the left of the highlighted column. When you insert a single new row, it is inserted above the highlighted row.

A single column or row can also be added using the mouse:

1. Select the column or rows where you want the new column or row inserted.
2. Right-click the header.
3. Select Insert Rows or Insert Columns.

Multiple columns or rows

Multiple columns or rows can be inserted at once rather than inserting them one at a time.

1. Highlight the required number of columns or rows by holding down the left mouse button on the first one and then dragging across the required number of identifiers.
2. Proceed as for inserting a single column or row above.

Deleting columns and rows

Columns and rows can be deleted individually or in groups.

Single column or row

A single column or row can only be deleted by using the mouse:

1. Select the column or row to be deleted.
2. Right-click on the column or row header.
3. Select Delete Columns or Delete Rows from the pop-up menu.

Multiple columns or rows

Multiple columns or rows can be deleted at once rather than deleting them one at a time.

1. Highlight the required number of columns or rows by holding down the left mouse button on the first one and then dragging across the required number of identifiers.
2. Proceed as for deleting a single column or row above.