LibreOffice Calc Guide 10
LibreOffice Calc Guide 10
LibreOffice Calc Guide 10
You can set the order in which pages print. This is especially useful in a large document; for
example, controlling the print order can save time if you have to collate the document a certain
way.
Where a sheet prints to more than one piece of paper, it can be printed either by column,
where the first column of pages prints, and then the second column and so on, or by row as
shown in the graphic on the top right of the dialog in Figure 134.
Print
You can specify which details to print. These details include:
Row and column headers
Sheet gridprints the borders of the cells as a grid
Commentsprints the comments defined in your spreadsheet on a separate page,
along with the corresponding cell reference
Objects and graphics
Charts
Drawing objects
Formulasprints the formulas contained in the cells, instead of the results
Zero valuesprints cells with a zero value
Scale
Use the scale features to control the number of pages the data will print on.
Reduce/Enlarge printoutscales the data in the printout either larger or smaller. For
example, if a sheet would normally print out as four pages (two high and two wide), a
scaling of 50% would print as one page (both width and height are halved).
Fit print range(s) on number of pagesdefines exactly how many pages the
printout will take up. This option will only reduce a printout; it will not enlarge it. To
enlarge a printout, the reduce/enlarge option must be used.
Fit print range(s) to width/heightdefines how high and wide the printout will be, in
number of pages.
You can set the margins, the spacing, and height for the header or footer. To automatically adjust
the height of the header or footer, select the AutoFit height box. You can also select to have
different content for left and right pages.
Margin
Changing the size of the left or right margin adjusts how far the header or footer is from that
side of the page.
Spacing
Spacing affects how far above or below the sheet the header or footer will print. So, if spacing
is set to 1.00", then there will be 1 inch between the header or footer and the sheet.
Height
Height affects how big the header or footer will be.
Areas
Each area in the header or footer is independent and can have different information in it.
Header
You can select from several preset choices in the Header drop-down list, or specify a custom
header using the buttons below the area boxes. (To format a footer, the choices are the same.)
Exporting to PDF
Calc can export documents to PDF (Portable Document Format). This industry-standard file format
is ideal for sending the file to someone else to view using Adobe Reader or other PDF viewers.
Click the Export Directly as PDF icon to export the entire document using your default PDF
settings. You are asked to enter the file name and location for the PDF file, but you do not get a
chance to choose a page range, the image compression, or other options.
Range section
All: Exports the entire document if no print range has been defined or otherwise the print
range content.
Pages: To export a range of pages, use the format 3-6 (pages 3 to 6). To export single
pages, use the format 7;9;11 (pages 7, 9, and 11). You can also export a combination of
page ranges and single pages, by using a format like 3-6;8;10;12.
Caution The numbers used above are related to the page numbers and not the sheet
numbers in your spreadsheet. To find these page numbers, select all the sheets in
your spreadsheet and click the Preview button.
Images section
Lossless compression: Images are stored without any loss of quality. Tends to make
large files when used with photographs.
JPEG compression: Allows for varying degrees of quality. A setting of 90% works well with
photographs (small file size, little perceptible loss).
Reduce image resolution: Lower DPI (dots per inch) images have lower quality. Higher
DPI settings greatly increase the size of the exported file. The end-purpose of the file will
dictate the resolution you find acceptable.
EPS (Encapsulated PostScript) images with embedded previews are exported only
Note as previews. EPS images without embedded previews are exported as empty
placeholders.
Watermark section
Sign with Watermark: When this option is selected, a transparent overlay of the text you
enter into the Watermark Text box will appear on each page of the PDF file.
General section
Embed OpenDocument file: This setting enables you to export the document as a PDF
file containing two file formats: .pdf and .odf. In PDF viewers it behaves like a normal .pdf
file and it remains fully editable in LibreOffice. Selecting this option inhibits the use of the
Range options and grays them out.
PDF/A-1a: PDF/A is an ISO standard for long-term preservation of documents, by
embedding all the information necessary for faithful reproduction (such as fonts) while
forbidding other elements (including forms, security, and encryption). PDF tags are written.
If you select PDF/A-1a, the forbidden elements are grayed-out (not available).
Tagged PDF: Tagged PDF contains information about the structure of the documents
contents. This can help to display the document on devices with different screens, and
Permissions settings are effective only if the users PDF viewer respects the
Note settings.
Figure 143 shows the dialog displayed when you click the Set passwords button on the Security
page of the PDF Options dialog.
Exporting to XHTML
Calc can export spreadsheets to XHTML. Choose File > Export from the menu bar. On the Export
dialog, specify a file name for the exported document, then select the XHTML in the File format list
and click the Export button.
E-mailing spreadsheets
LibreOffice provides several quick and easy ways to send spreadsheets as an e-mail attachment in
one of three formats: OpenDocument Spreadsheet (LibreOffices default format), Microsoft Excel,
or PDF.
To send the current document in OpenDocument format:
1) Choose File > Send > Document as E-mail from the menu bar. LibreOffice opens your
default e-mail program with the spreadsheet (*.ods) document attached.
2) In your e-mail program, enter the recipient, subject, and any text you want to add, then
send the e-mail.
File > Send > E-mail as OpenDocument Spreadsheet has the same result.
If you choose E-mail as Microsoft Excel, LibreOffice first creates a file in Excel format and then
opens your e-mail program with the (*.xls) file attached.
If you choose E-mail as PDF, LibreOffice opens the PDF Options dialog for you to select the
parameters you want, as previously described for exporting to PDF, clicking Send on the dialog
then opens your email program with the PDF file attached.
A signed document shows an icon in the status bar. You can double-click the icon to view the
certificate.
Setting up a spreadsheet
If you are setting up more than a simple one-worksheet system in Calc, it is worth planning ahead
a little. Avoid the following traps:
Typing fixed values into formulas
Not including notes and comments describing what the system does, including what input
is required and where the formulas come from (if not created from scratch)
Not incorporating a system of checking to verify that the formulas do what is intended
Lack of documentation
Lack of documentation is a very common failing. Many users prepare a simple worksheet which
then develops into something much more complicated over time. Without documentation, the
original purpose and methodology is often unclear and difficult to decipher. In this case it is usually
easier to start again from the beginning, wasting the work done previously. If you insert comments
in cells, and use labels and headings, a spreadsheet can later be modified by you or others and
much time and effort will be saved.
Error-checking formulas
Adding up columns of data or selections of cells from a worksheet often results in errors due to
omitting cells, wrongly specifying a range, or double-counting cells. It is useful to institute checks in
your spreadsheets. For example, set up a spreadsheet to calculate columns of figures, and use
SUM to calculate the individual column totals. You can check the result by including (in a non-
printing column) a set of row totals and adding these together. The two figuresrow total and
column totalmust agree. If they do not, you have an error somewhere.
You can even set up a formula to calculate the difference between the two totals and report an
error in case a non-zero result is returned (see Figure 144).
Creating formulas
You can enter formulas in two ways, either by using the Function Wizard, or by typing directly into
the cell or into the input line. A formula must begin with an = symbol, so when typing in directly, you
need to start a formula with one of the following symbols: =, + or . Calc automatically adds the =
symbol for the formula, when starting with the + or _ character. Starting with anything else causes
the formula to be treated as if it were text.
Operators in formulas
Each cell on the worksheet can be used as a data holder or a place for data calculations. Entering
data is accomplished simply by typing in the cell and moving to the next cell or pressing Enter.
With formulas, the equals sign indicates that the cell will be used for a calculation. A mathematical
calculation like 15 + 46 can be accomplished as shown in Figure 145.
While the calculation on the left was accomplished in only one cell, the real power is shown on the
right where the data is placed in cells and the calculation is performed using references back to the
cells. In this case, cells B3 and B4 were the data holders, with B5 the cell where the calculation
was performed. Notice that the formula was shown as =B3+B4. The plus sign indicates that the
contents of cells B3 and B4 are to be added together and then have the result in the cell holding
the formula. All formulas build upon this concept. Other ways of using formulas are shown in Table
4.
These cell references allow formulas to use data from anywhere in the worksheet being worked on
or from any other worksheet in the workbook that is opened. If the data needed was in different
worksheets, they would be referenced by referring to the name of the worksheet, for example
=SUM(Sheet2.B12+Sheet3.A11).
Formula Description
=A1+10 Displays the contents of cell A1 plus 10.
=A1*16% Displays 16% of the contents of A1.
=A1*A2 Displays the result of multiplying the contents of A1 and A2.
=ROUND(A1,1) Displays the contents of cell A1 rounded to one decimal place.
=EFFECTIVE(5%,12) Calculates the effective interest for 5% annual nominal interest with
12 payments a year.
=B8-SUM(B10:B14) Calculates B8 minus the sum of the cells B10 to B14.
=SUM(B8,SUM(B10:B14)) Calculates the sum of cells B10 to B14 and adds the value to B8.
=SUM(B1:B1048576) Sums all numbers in column B.
Users of Lotus 1-2-3, Quattro Pro and other spreadsheet software may be familiar
with formulas that begin with +, -, =, (, @, ., $, or #. A mathematical formula would
Note look like +D2+C2 or +2*3. Functions begin with the @ symbol such as
@SUM(D2..D7), @COS(@DEGTORAD(30)) and @IRR(GUESS,CASHFLOWS).
Ranges are identified such as A1..D3.
Functions can be identified in Table 4 by a word, for example ROUND, followed by parentheses
enclosing references or numbers.
It is also possible to establish ranges for inclusion by naming them using Insert > Names, for
example BloodSugar representing a range such as B3:B10. Logical functions can also be
performed as represented by the IF statement which results in a conditional response based upon
the data in the identified cell, for example
=IF(A2>=0,"Positive","Negative")
A value of 3 in cell A2 would return the result Positive, a value of 9 the result Negative.
Operator types
You can use the following operator types in LibreOffice Calc: arithmetic, comparative, text, and
reference.
Arithmetic operators
The addition, subtraction, multiplication and division operators return numerical results. The
Negation and Percent operators identify a characteristic of the number found in the cell, for
example -37. The example for Exponentiation illustrates how to enter a number that is being
multiplied by itself a certain number of times, for example 23 = 2*2*2.
If cell A1 contains the numerical value 4 and cell B1 the numerical value 5, the above examples
would yield results of FALSE, FALSE, TRUE, FALSE, TRUE, and TRUE.
Text operators
It is common for users to place text in spreadsheets. To provide for variability in what and how this
type of data is displayed, text can be joined together in pieces coming from different places on the
spreadsheet. Figure 146 shows an example.
Reference operators
An individual cell is identified by the column identifier (letter) located along the top of the columns
and a row identifier (number) found along the left-hand side of the spreadsheet. On spreadsheets
read from left to right, the reference for the upper left cell is A1.
Thus in its simplest form a reference refers to a single cell, but references can also refer to a
rectangle or cuboid range or a reference in a list of references. To build such references you need
reference operators.
In the upper left corner of Figure 150 the reference A1:D12 is shown, corresponding to the cells
included in the drag operation with the mouse to highlight the range.
Examples
A2:B4 Reference to a rectangle range with 6 cells, 2 column width 3 row
height. When you click on the reference in the formula in the input
line, a border indicates the rectangle.
(A2:B4):C9 Reference to a rectangle range with cell A2 top left and cell C9
bottom right. So the range contains 24 cells, 3 column width 8
row height. This method of addressing extends the initial range
from A2:B4 to A2:C9.
Sheet1.A3:Sheet3.D4 Reference to a cuboid range with 24 cells, 4 column width 2 row
height 3 sheets depth.
When you enter B4:A2 or A4:B2 directly, then Calc will turn it to A2:B4. So the left top cell of the
range is left of the colon and the bottom right cell is right of the colon. But if you name the cell B4
for example with _start and A2 with _end, you can use _start:_end without any error.
Calc can not reference a whole column of unspecified length using A:A or a whole row using 1:1
which you might be familiar with in other spreadsheet programs.
Intersection operator
The intersection operator is written as an exclamation mark. An expression using the intersection
operator has the following syntax:
reference left ! reference right
If the references refer to single ranges, the result is a reference to a single range, containing all
cells, which are both in the left reference and in the right reference.
If the references are reference lists, then each list item from the left is intersected with each one
from the right and these results are concatenated to a reference list. The order is to first intersect
the first item from the left with all items from the right, then intersect the second item from the left
with all items from the right, and so on.
Examples
A2:B4 ! B3:D6
This results in a reference to the range B3:B4, because these cells are inside A2:B4 and inside
B3:D4.
(A2:B4~B1:C2) ! (B2:C6~C1:D3)
First the intersections A2:B4!B2:C6, A2:B4!C1:D3, B1:C2!B2:C6 and B1:C2!C1:D3 are
calculated. This results in B2:B4, empty, B2:C2, and C1:C2. Then these results are
concatenated, dropping empty parts. So the final result is the reference list B2:B4 ~ B2:C2 ~
C1:C2.
You can use the intersection operator to refer a cell in a cross tabulation in an understandable way.
If you have columns labeled 'Temperature' and 'Precipitation' and the rows labeled 'January',
'February', 'March', and so on, then the following expression
'February' ! 'Temperature'
will reference to the cell containing the temperature in February.
The intersection operator (!) has a higher precedence than the concatenation operator (~), but do
not rely on precedence.
Relative referencing
An example of a relative reference will illustrate the difference between a relative reference and
absolute reference using the spreadsheet from Figure 151.
1) Type the numbers 4 and 11 into cells C3 and C4 respectively of that spreadsheet.