Chapter 1. Using the Application

Open Calc in Linux

Click on Start Applications
Click Office
Click Spreadsheets
Click OpenOffice.org Calc

This will load Calc

Open Calc in Windows

Click on Start
Click Programs
Click Open Office.org
Click Spreadsheet

Close Calc

Click on File then click Exit.

OR

Click on the Exit icon in the top right hand corner of the screen,

Components of the Calc screen

Menu Bar

The menu bar displays global commands. These commands that are grouped according to categories.

For example, the File menu item consists of a set of commands related to file operations such as open existing files, creating new files, saving files, closing files and so on.

Function Bar

The function bar displays the path and name of the current file as well as a series of icons representing commonly used commands.

Object Bar

The object bar contains commands that are used to format cells.

Formula Bar

The formula bar contains the address of the current cell. It is also used as the entry point for text, numbers and formulas that will be entered into the cells.

Toolbar and Work Area

The toolbar down the left hand side provides a quick method of accessing common spreadsheet functions.

The work area of the spreadsheet consists of a grid formed by the intersection of rows and columns. The columns are named by letters of the alphabet A, B, C, ..... Z, AA, AB, AC, ..... The rows are numbered 1,2,3,4, .....

Each cell is identified by its row and column. For example, the cell C11 is the cell lying at the intersection of column C and row 11.

C11 is also referred to as the address of the cell..

Tabs

Each spreadsheet consists of one or more worksheets. These can be accessed by clicking on the tabs at the bottom of the work area.

Open one, several spreadsheets

A spreadsheet consists of text, values and formulas inserted into the cells of the work area. Spreadsheets are saved on disk as files, just as in the case of Writer documents.

More than one spreadsheet can be opened at a time.

Open a spreadsheet under Linux

Click on File.
Click on Open.

This brings up the Open Dialogue window:

The dialogue lists a series of directories and files. To view the contents of a directory, click on the directory. To move up a level, click on the Up one level icon, .

Suppose you have located the directory in which the desired file is located.
Highlight the file.
Click Open.

Open a spreadsheet under Windows

The process of opening files under Windows is essentially the same.

The essential difference between Windows and Linux is that in Linux all computers, disks and directories are all part of a large tree. In the case of Windows, each drive forms the root of a separate root structure.

The current directory is the Open dialogue above is shown as /home/david. The direction of the separators and the absence of a drive indicate that this is a Linux directory.

If you were opening a file in Windows, the Windows Open dialogue would appear:

Open several spreadsheets

If you now repeat this process without closing the first spreadsheet all of them will be loaded and you may switch between them. The process of doing this will be described shortly.

An alternative is to open several spreadsheets at once.

Click on File then Open.
Locate the directory containing the files you wish to open.
Click on the first file.
Hold down the Ctrl key and click on each of the additional files you wish to open.
Click Open.

The last of the files loaded will appear in the window. This will be the active spreadsheet. The others are also loaded but are in the background.

You can make one of the other spreadsheets active as follows:

Click on Window.

This will list the spreadsheets that are loaded.
Click on the spreadsheet you wish to make active.

Create a new spreadsheet (default template)

Suppose you wish to create a spreadsheet from scratch.

Click on File then click on New then Spreadsheet.

You can do this whether other spreadsheets are loaded or not.

This will display a blank spreadsheet.

You will learn how to enter data later. At this stage we are concerned with the mechanics of opening and saving spreadsheets.

Save a spreadsheet to a location on a drive in Linux

For the time being imagine that the spreadsheet you have opened contains data. At this stage your work is located in the RAM of the computer. Since RAM is volatile, the contents will be lost is the computer is switched off.

In order to preserve your spreadsheet for later use it must be saved on the hard drive of the computer.

To do so:

Click on File, then Save as ...

This will bring up the Save as dialogue.
Locate the directory in which you wish to save the file.
Enter the name of the file name window.
Click Save.

Saving to a floppy disk in Linux

If you wished to save a file to a floppy disk, you would use the directory /mnt/floppy.

Saving a file in Windows

If you are working with Calc running under Windows, the Windows Save as ... dialogue would appear when you save the file.

Select the drive on which you wish to save the file.
Select the directory on the drive and, if appropriate, the relevant sub-directory.
Enter the name for the file in the File name window.
Click Save.

Saving files to floppy disk in Windows

Select Floppy (A:) in the Save as ... dialogue.
Use the same procedure for saving on the hard disk.

Save a spreadsheet under another name

Sometimes we may want to have the same spreadsheet saved under a number of different names. Alternatively, we may want to save a spreadsheet before making changes. We would then have a copy of the new version as well as the version before changes were made.

Suppose we have a spreadsheet loaded as shown on the next screen. In this case the spreadsheet already has the name demog.sxc.

We can now save what is displayed on the screen in two ways.

Overwrite existing file

After loading the spreadsheet from disk, we may have made some changes. In this case, the changes will not automatically be made to the file that is located on the hard disk.

To replace the version on hard disk with the contents as displayed on the screen:

Click on File, then Save.

This updates the file on disk.

Save under another name

Suppose we do not wish to overwrite the contents on disk but would still like to save what is on the screen:

Click on File, then Save as ...

This will bring up the Save as dialogue. You use this in exactly the same way as you would if you were saving a completely new file.

Save a spreadsheet in another file type such as: text file, HTML, template, software specific file extension, version number

A spreadsheet is a tool for doing calculations. Consequently, the format of the spreadsheet is structured around this aspect.

Sometimes it is useful to convert the spreadsheet format into another format such as, for example, a text file which can be manipulated using a word processor.

Alternatively, you may wish to save the spreadsheet in a format use by another spreadsheet program such as Microsoft Excel.

To save a spreadsheet in a different format:

Click on File, then Save as ...
Click on the File Type window.

This will display a list of file types.
Use the vertical scroll bar to view all the file formats.

The following table list some of the main file formats and a brief explanation of each.

File type	Extension	Explanation
OpenOffice.org Spreadsheet	sxc	This is the format of Calc itself.
OpenOffice.org Spreadsheet template	stc	A template is an outline for new templates. This may include text, values and formulas that are automatically inserted when a new template is created using the template. It could also include formatting of cells such as font type and colour.
dBase	dbf	This would save the spreadsheet in a format used by some database programs. These databases would then be able to access the data in the spreadsheet and work with it as if it had been created by a database.
Microsoft Excel	xls	Although Microsoft Excel is also a spreadsheet, it uses a different format. By saving the spreadsheet in the xls format, it could be opened directly by Microsoft Excel.
Web pages	html	In order to read files, web browsers need them to be saved in a special format known as HTML or HyperText Markup Language. Calc is able to save a spreadsheet in this format.
Text CSV	csv	This format is what is also called a comma delimited file. In this format, each row is converted into a paragraph. The columns of the spreadsheet are separated by commas. A word processor will read this file as an ordinary text file.
Data Interchange Format	dif	A DIF file is an industry standard for exchanging data between different types of application.
Portable Document Format	pdf	Pdf files are a common way of sending documents that you do not wish the receiver to be able to edit. These files can be read with Acrobat Reader. Unlike the previous formats which are created using the Save as ... function, pdf files are created using the Export as pdf ... option in the File menu.

On the file menu there is an option called Version which allows you to save different versions of the spreadsheet in the same file. You are asked to give the version a name and this is recorded along with the date and time of the changes that were made. If you want to open another version of a file simply click on File->Version and choose the version you want to open.

Switch between worksheets, open spreadsheets

Switching between open spreadsheets was covered in the section called “Open one, several spreadsheets” above.

To understand the difference between a spreadsheet and a worksheet, think of a spreadsheet as a book. The worksheets correspond to the pages of a book. However, in the case of spreadsheets, many of them comprise a single page or worksheet.

The spreadsheet shown in the following screen is made up of three worksheets. Each of these has a name indicated on the tabs at the bottom of the work area.

To switch between the different worksheets, you would click on the tab.

Use available Help functions

Calc provides a range of help features. The most useful of these is Find.

To access help:

Click on Help, then Contents.
Click on the Contents tab.
Double click on the book icon next to Help about OpenOffice.org Calc.

This lists the main headings in help for Calc. Sections with a book icon contain further subdivisions.
Double click on Shortcut Keys in OpenOffice.org.
Click on the Index tab.
If you type some text such as sum into the Search item window, the index will automatically scroll down to index items beginning with the word sum.
If you were to double click on an item in the left hand pane or click the Display button, help would be displayed in the right hand pane.

Calc also provides a comprehensive search facility.

Click on the Find tab.
Type a key work or part of a key word into the Search item window, for example, sum.
Click the Display button.

A list of items in the index that make reference to the word sum.

Once again you could highlight the item you wish to read and click the Display button.

Note that the two check boxes that appear under the Search item window.

The Bookmarks tab takes you to a section which allows you to create references to specific help items that you might wish to refer to at a later time. These named references are called bookmarks.

Close a spreadsheet

Click on File.

There are two menu items that need to be distinguished.

Close closes the current spreadsheet, but leaves Calc open. If version of the spreadsheet on the screen differs from that saved on disk, Calc will ask you if you wish to save before closing the spreadsheet.

Exit closes all open spreadsheets as well as the Calc program itself. Once again, if any spreadsheets are open, Calc will ask you if you wish to save them before closing.

It is important that you adopt good habits and close Calc before you start shutting down the system.


ICDL Module 4		Adjust settings