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December 28, 2004
Adding a background graphic
For a more visually presentable spreadsheet, it is possible to add a background image. Here is a quick tutorial on adding an image to the background.We first activate the built in gallery of images, icons & backgrounds by selecting Tools - Gallery
Select the Backgrounds option and drag the desired background onto the spreadsheet.
The selected image is active when placed. Adjust it's position and size so that it fills the spreadsheet. Then select Arrange - To Background as shown below.
We are done. If you have alternative technique for placing graphic backgounds on spreadsheets, I'd like to hear from you.
Update: To bring the background image to the foreground again, the following steps need to be performed.
Open the Navigator as shown below.
Under Graphics, select the required image - in our example, there is only one. The anchor symbol should appear as shown below.
To bring the now selected graphic to the foreground, select Arrange - To Foreground by right-clicking on a empty part of the background as shown below.
Posted by Dave at 02:57 AM | Comments (1)
December 13, 2004
Creating Custom Cell Styles
If you find yourself making the same style adjustments to the default cell style repeatedly, you may want to consider setting your own customized cell style that can be readily applied to a selected range of cells.Select any cell and apply the style attributes you want. Close the Cell Format dialog window after making your changes. Now select Format - Stylist as shown below to open the Cell Styles dialog.
The Cell Styles dialog has a number of icons along the top. Click on the second icon from the right which will create a new style based on the selected cell in the Cell Style dialog as shown below.
In the example, we set the background colour to turquoise - so will will call our new style "TurquoiseBGround". Click OK and then close the dialog.
To access our new cell style - or any of the built-in styles - select Format - Style Catalog
As you can see, a custom TurquoiseBGround style is now available for selection and can be applied to any selected range of cells.
Posted by Dave at 03:47 AM | Comments (0)
December 09, 2004
Basic functions : SUMIF
This short tutorial illustrates the two basic ways that SUMIF can be used in a spreadsheet.The SUMIF function takes two or three arguments.
For the two argument version, the condition is applied to each cell in the range being SUMmed. In the example below, C9 is the sum of all values in C3:C8 that are greater than 5.
In the three argument version, the condition is applied to a separate range of cells. This range can be numerical of textual. In the example below, the values corresponding to Tom are summed in C10
Posted by Dave at 04:17 AM | Comments (10)
December 06, 2004
Charting: Editing charts : part 2
In this tip, we see how to modify the attributes of the axes on an already created chart.before you can modify the appearance of the x-axis of the chart, you need to make sure the chart is selected for editing ( a solid green border) Within the boundaries of the chart, select Axis - X-Axis as shown below. This opens the X-Axis dialog.
There are a number of available tabs. We wish to rotate the text on the axis, so we choose the Label tab.
Another useful tab is the Line tab, but we will not change any of the default properties here.
The final result (for now) I suggest that you experiment with all the available dialogs and tabs to become familar with the powerful chart editing capabilities offered by OOo Calc.
Posted by Dave at 02:48 AM | Comments (1)