OpenOffice Calc Tips

The Paste Special feature can be used to quickly link to range of cells from another sheet.

In the example below, we have a table on the sheet labelled First. We want to link to the bottom row from the sheet labelled Second

Select the desired range for linking b9:D9, then select Edit - Copy

Now go to the sheet from where we will be linking. Select the start cell of the new range (corresponding to B9 )

Now select Edit - Paste Special.

The Paste Special dialog is shown below. Select the Links option on bottom left.

The end result. The equations are for illustration. This may seem like overkill for a few cells - but can be very useful if yu have a very large range of cells that you need mapped to another spreadsheet.

The Autoformat feature in Calc is used to assign preset formats to a range of cells - creating attractive, professional-looking table designs at the press of a button.

In the ‘before’ picture below, we have a rather bland table.Time to spice it up. Obvious approach is to do it manually - selecting groups of cells in turn and applying different formats. The micromanagers among us probably favor that approach.

There is a ‘quick-and-dirty’ alternative - namely the Autoformat feature.

The Autoformat feature can be used to assign preset formats to a range of cells. Boder styles, number formats etc can all be configured and reused for different tables.

First, select the cells you want to format. From the menu, select Format - AutoFormat

In the Autoformat dialog box, select the desired Autoformat…

The end result. A prettier table with little or no effort.