Recording Changes (Tutorial)

Apache OpenOffice 4.1 Calc Guide

Chapter 11 Sharing and Reviewing Documents

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• Introduction
• Sharing Documents (Collaboration)
  • Setting up a Spreadsheet for Sharing
  • Opening a Shared Spreadsheet
  • Saving a Shared Spreadsheet
• Recording Changes
  • Preparing a Document for Review (Optional)
  • Identifying Copies of Spreadsheets
  • Recording Changes (Tutorial)
• Adding Comments to Changes
  • Editing Change Comments
• Adding Other Comments
  • Editing Comments
  • Formatting Comments
  • Finding Comments Using the Navigator
• Reviewing Changes
  • Viewing Changes
  • Accepting or Rejecting Changes
• Merging Documents
• Comparing Documents
• Saving Versions

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Recording Changes (Tutorial)

For this chapter, we will work with a budget proposal for a baseball team.

You are the sponsor of a youth baseball team. The coach has submitted a budget to you for the season and you need to edit the costs and return it to her. You are concerned that if you make the changes, the coach won't see the changes you made. You decide to use Calc with the Record changes feature turned on, so the coach can easily see your changes

Figure 294 shows the budget spreadsheet your coach submitted.

Figure 294: Baseball budget spreadsheet

Looking over the figures, you see a few places where money could be saved:

• Parents can buy post-game snacks.
• New uniforms can wait; only buy 10 to replace damaged ones.
• Buy cheaper baseballs.
• Only buy 2 spare gloves.

To make these changes, use the Record changes feature in Calc. To start recording changes:

1. Open the Budget Spreadsheet.
2. Select Edit → Changes → Record from the menu bar.
3. Begin editing the document.

A colored border, with a dot in the upper left-hand corner, appears around a cell where changes were made. A comment summarizing the change is added to the cell (Figure 295). This way, other reviewers quickly know which cells were edited. A deleted column or row is marked by a heavy-colored bar.

Figure 295: Edited document with red border on changed cells

Some changes, such as cell formatting, are not recorded and marked.

To change the color that indicates changes, select Tools → Options → OpenOffice Calc → Changes.

When you finish editing the document, you can send it to your coach.

You may want to explain your rationale for changes. You can share your insight by adding comments to the changes you made or adding general comments to the spreadsheet.