Sams Teach Yourself StarOffice® 5 for Linux in 24 Hours |
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Hour 14: Entering Spreadsheet Data |
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In this hour you learn how to enter data in the new spreadsheet you created in Hour 13, "Creating Spreadsheets with StarCalc." You'll learn how to enter numbers, navigate around the spreadsheet with a mouse or keyboard strokes, and select different blocks of cells to work on.
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If you've used other spreadsheet programs, moving around in StarOffice will be familiar to you. The following sections describe some specifics about how it's done.
The spreadsheet almost always has a certain cell that has focus. The cell with focus has a heavy black outline around it, and is the active cell in which the things that you type are entered.
You can move the focus around by using either the mouse or the keyboard, as follows:
With the mouse --Click on the cell that you want to focus. Most StarCalc operations affect the active cell--the one with focus. You can also use the mouse with the scroll bars to quickly move to a distant point in the spreadsheet.
With the keyboard --You can use the four arrow keys to move the focus to a new cell. This can be quicker than the mouse for small distances, but time-consuming in large spreadsheets. You can also use the PageDown and PageUp keys to move a screen down (to rows with higher numbers) or up, respectively.
As has been said before, some people like to use the keyboard for everything, and some prefer to use the mouse rather than memorize strange key combinations. Use of the mouse with the scroll bars is straightforward. For keyboard fans, however, Table 14.1 shows some additional navigational clues.
Tip - Some Linux window managers might not allow the Alt and Ctrl key combinations shown in Table 14.1 to work correctly. See the documentation for your window manager if you have trouble with these. |
Key combination |
Action |
Ctrl+PageDown |
Go to the next sheet (for example, from Sheet1 to Sheet2) |
Ctrl+PageUp |
Go to the previous sheet (for example, from Sheet2 to Sheet1) |
Alt+PageDown |
Go right one screen (increasing the current column from A to K, for example) |
Alt+PageUp |
Go left one screen |
Alt+any arrow key |
Change the width or height of the current row or column (not all selected areas--you'll see that later) |
Home |
Go to the far left (column A), but don't move up or down in the sheet |
Ctrl+Home |
Go to the top left corner (cell A1) of the current sheet |
Spreadsheets are basically large electronic worksheets. In order to use them effectively, you need a consistent method to refer to any point on the sheet.
You're probably familiar with the idea of using numbers for rows (down the left edge of the spreadsheet) and letters for columns (across the top edge of the spreadsheet).
It's also important to know how to refer to a cell so that you can work with spreadsheets later in this hour--and later in this book.
A simple cell reference consists of the column and row, as follows (always put the letter first; capital letters are traditionally used):
D13
If you enter this cell reference in a calculation formula, and then move things around, StarOffice updates this cell reference according to where you move things. It can be complicated, but that's the basic idea.
On the other hand, if you enter the following cell reference
$D$13
StarOffice never updates the reference, even if you insert columns or rows, move blocks of cells, and so on. For this reason, using the dollar signs within a cell reference makes this an absolute reference.
Tip - You can also use an absolute reference for just one part of the reference, such as $D13. This way, the row can change if you have to move things down, but the column remains as D. |
You can refer to a block of cells by placing a colon between two cell references:
D13:Z45
Finally, you can refer to different sheets by placing the sheet name, followed by a period:
$sheet1.$F$15
You'll learn more about using multiple sheets a little later in this hour.
If you're working on a large spreadsheet, even the mouse and keyboard navigation can be less than precise. By naming a cell or a range of cells, you can jump to a precise location in your spreadsheet with one click.
The idea behind naming a cell is to assign human-readable words to a location such as the top of the balance sheet; you can then go directly to Balance Sheet instead of fumbling through thousands of cells looking for it.
The following steps show you how to name a cell or block of cells and then jump to them at any time:
Tip - Selecting a range of cells is described in the next section, but it's often just as easy to select the cell in the upper left corner of the area to which you want to jump. |
2. Select Names from the Insert menu. Choose Define from the Names submenu. The Define Names dialog box is shown in Figure 14.1, with the cell or cells that you selected listed in the Refers to field.
Figure
14.1
In the Define Names dialog box you can assign names to cells or blocks of cells
for easy reference.
3. In the Name field, enter a name such as Balance Sheet or Summary for the area to which you want to jump.
4. Choose OK. You've now defined a name for the cell or cells that you selected in Step 1.
5. Press Ctrl+Home to jump to the top left corner of the spreadsheet (so that you can test the Name you just created).
6. From the Edit menu, choose Navigator (or press F5). The Navigator window appears, as shown in Figure 14.2.
Figure
14.2
The Navigator window can be used to select a named area to which to move.
7. Click on the plus sign (+) next to the Area Names item in the Navigator window. The name that you enter appears on the list.
8. Double-click on the name in the Navigator window. The focus jumps to the cell or cells that you entered for that name.
9. Click in the spreadsheet. Notice that you can leave the Navigator window open while you work in the spreadsheet.
In the next section, you'll see some tricks for selecting parts of the spreadsheet.
As you work with a spreadsheet in StarOffice, you'll often want to select a large block of cells in order to print it, give it a name, format it, or perform some other operation on it.
The easiest way to select a block of cells is to click on one corner of it with the mouse and drag the mouse to the other corner. All the cells in that area are highlighted in black, indicating that they are selected (see Figure 14.3).
Figure
14.3
When you select a block of cells by dragging the mouse, they're highlighted
in black.
You can also use the keyboard to select a block of cells. Whether the mouse or the keyboard is faster depends on how large the block is and how well you type.
To select a block with the keyboard, hold down the Shift key while using other keys to expand the selected area. Keys that you can use while holding down Shift include
Sometimes you'll want to select an entire row or an entire column. For example, if you have a long list of figures that you want to format as currency (with dollar signs), the easiest way to do it is to select the entire column and then choose a formatting option.
You can select an entire row by clicking on the row label. You can select an entire column by clicking on the column label. Any actions that you take (formatting, changing width, and so on) apply to every cell in the row or column that you've selected (see Figure 14.4).
Figure
14.4
You can click on a row or column label to select the entire row or column of
cells.
Sams Teach Yourself StarOffice® 5 for Linux in 24 Hours |
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Hour 14: Entering Spreadsheet Data |
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