What Is Calc

Getting Started with OpenOffice 4

Chapter 4: Getting Started with Calc

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• What is Calc
• Parts of the main Calc window
• Open and Save CSV files
• Navigating within spreadsheets
  • Going to a particular cell
  • Moving from cell to cell
  • Moving from sheet to sheet
• Selecting items in a sheet or a spreadsheet
  • Selecting Cells
  • Selecting Columns and Rows
  • Selecting Sheets
• Working with Columns and Rows
• Working with Sheets
• Viewing Calc
• Entering data using the keyboard
• Speeding up data entry
• Validating cell contents
• Editing data
• Formatting data
• Auto-formatting cells and sheets
• Formatting spreadsheets using themes
• Using conditional formatting
• Hiding and showing data
• Sorting records
• Using formulas and functions
• Analyzing data
• Printing from Calc
  • Using Print Ranges
  • Selecting the Page Order, Details, and Scale
  • Page Breaks
  • Headers and Footers

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What Is Calc?

Calc is the spreadsheet component of Apache OpenOffice. You can enter data (usually numerical) in a spreadsheet and then manipulate this data to produce certain results.

Alternatively you can enter data and then use Calc in a “What if…” manner by changing some data and observing the results without having to retype the entire spreadsheet

Other features provided by Calc include:

• Functions, which can be used to create formulas to perform complex calculations on data
• Database functions, to arrange, store, and filter data
• Dynamic charts; a wide range of 2D and 3D charts
• Macros, for recording and executing repetitive tasks
• Ability to open, edit, and save Microsoft Excel spreadsheets
• Import and export of spreadsheets in multiple formats, including HTML, CSV, PDF, and PostScript

Spreadsheets, Sheets, and Cells

Calc works with documents called spreadsheets. Spreadsheets consist of a number of individual sheets, each sheet containing cells arranged in rows and columns. A particular cell is identified by its row number and column letter.

Cells hold the individual elements—text, numbers, formulas—that make up the data to display and manipulate.

Each spreadsheet can have many sheets, up to 256, and each sheet can have many individual cells. Each sheet can have a maximum of 1,048,576 rows and 1024 columns.