Calc Open Office Part II

Entering Data

1. Entering Numbers
• Select the cell and type in the number using either the top row of the keyboard or the numeric keypad.
• To enter a negative number,
•  type a minus (–) sign in front of it or
•  enclose it in brackets ( )
• By default numbers are right-aligned and negative numbers have a leading minus symbol.
2. Entering Text
• Select the cell and type the text.
• Text is left-aligned by default.
3. Entering numbers as text
• If a number is entered in the format 05551, Calc will drop the leading 0.
• To preserve the leading zero, precede the number with an apostrophe
•    e.g. a telephone number: '0710710710
• However, the data is now regarded as text by Calc. Arithmetic operations will not work on it. It will either be ignored or will produce an error of some kind.
4. Entering Dates and Times

• You can separate the date elements with a slant (/) or a hyphen (–) or use text such as 10 Oct 03. 
• e.g. mm/dd/yy → 07/25/10
• dd month yy → 25 July 10
• You can separate time elements with colons.
• e.g. hr:min:sec → 10:43:45

Speeding up data entry

• Calc includes several tools for automating input, especially of repetitive material.

           e.g.

• Cut/Copy & Paste
• Fill tool 
• Selection lists 
• Splitting window

Fill Tool

The Fill tool is a way to duplicate existing content.

1. Select the cell to copy
2. Drag the mouse in any direction
3. Go to Edit > Fill
4. Choose the direction to copy: Up, Down, Left or Right

Fill Series

1. Select the cells to fill
2.  Go to Edit > Fill > Series
3. In the Fill Series dialog, select AutoFill as the Series type and enter an item from any defined series as the Start value

Try to get the following number series using fill series.

1. 1,2,3,4,...
2. 1,3,5,7,...
3. 5,10,15,20,...
4. 6.0,5.7,5.4,5.1,...

Fill Series Shortcut

• A shortcut way to fill cells is to grab the “handle” in the lower right-hand corner of the cell and drag it in the direction you want to fill.

Selection lists

• Selection lists are available only for text, and are limited to using only text that has already been entered in the same column.
• To use a selection list,
1.  Select a blank cell 
2. Press Ctrl+D or right click > selection list
3. A drop-down list will appear
4. Click on the entry you require

Formatting Cells

• You can use the Format Menu to format cells and data inside cells.

• Format > Cells…

Format Cells Window

Formatting Alignment
You can use the Alignment tab in the format cells window.

Merging Cells

• Select the cells that you want to combine.
• Then,
• Go to Format > Merge Cells Or
• Click the Merge Cells icon on the formatting tool bar