CCNC/CCNC Module 4/Spreadsheets/Application/Settings

Adjusting Settings
The Calc application comes with some standard specifications in terms of size of the spreadsheet and the worksheet, layout of the work area among other things. You can choose to change the standard settings, depending on your requirements as the user of the application.

Now do it

Change the scale of the spreadsheet

Often when working with spreadsheets it is convenient to enlarge or reduce the spreadsheet in the work area. Suppose the spreadsheet Demog.sxc is loaded.

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To change the scale of the spreadsheet,


 * Click on View, then Zoom. This displays the Zoom dialogue that provides you with various options for adjusting size. These are expressed as percentages, with the standard being 100%. Values less than 100% will reduce the spreadsheet, while values greater than 100% will enlarge it.


 * Click the appropriate radio button to scale the spreadsheet (for example 150%).
 * Experiment with the other values in the Zoom dialogue.

 Change Page width

A useful zoom is Page width. This displays the width of the printed page on the screen. The degree of enlargement or reduction depends on whether the Page setup is portrait or landscape. To see the difference, follow the instructions below:

Page width in portrait


 * Click on Format, then Page
 * Click the Page tab, then under Orientation, click the Portrait radio button
 * Click the Page width radio button, then click OK

Page width in landscape


 * Click on Format, then Page.
 * Click the Page tab, then under Orientation, click the Landscape radio button
 * Click on View, then Zoom
 * Click the page Width radio button, then click OK.

Display, hide built-in toolbars

Calc has a number of standard toolbars. Which of these are displayed depends on how your system was set up. You can decide which toolbars you wish to have displayed.


 * Click on View, then Toolbars

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A list of toolbars is displayed. The ticked toolbars are visible on the screen.


 * Click on Function Bar

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The Function Bar is now hidden. To unhide the Function bar,


 * Click on View, then Toolbars
 * Click on Function bar.

Applying the function Full Screen has a similar effect.


 * Click on View, then Full Screen. This hides the toolbars.

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 * Click the Full Screen icon in the top left hand corner of the screen. This restores (unhides) the toolbars.

Freeze, unfreeze row and/or column headings

Certain rows and columns are often used for inputting headings. If you scroll down or to the right, these headings will scroll off the screen. To keep the headings on the screen while data scrolls off the screen, we can freeze the rows or columns containing the headings.

Consider the spreadsheet shown on the next screen.

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Notice the column headings in row 3 and the row headings in Column A. If you were to scroll down and across, these headings would disappear off the screen.

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We can freeze the headings as follows:


 * Position the cursor in the cell immediately below the column heading and in the column immediately to the right of the row headings. In this case it is the cell B4.
 * Click on Window, then Freeze.

If you were to scroll down and across, the headings would remain on the screen as shown below.

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In this case both rows and columns are frozen. If you wish to freeze only rows, position the cursor in column A, then Windows->Freeze. If you wish to freeze only columns, position the cursor in row 1, then Windows->Freeze.

Modify default options

Calc allows you to alter some basic default data and/or set up your own from scratch.

Modify user name and data


 * Click on Tools, then Options.
 * Click on the + symbol to expand OpenOffice.org
 * Click on User Data. A blank form is displayed.
 * Fill in your user data
 * Click OK.

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Set default directory

When opening or saving files,, Calc will, b y default, look in a certain directory. This can be set as follows:


 * Click on Tools, then Options
 * Click on the + symbol to expand OpenOffice.org
 * Click on Paths
 * Double click on My Documents

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 * Locate the desired path using the Select Path dialogue
 * Click Select

Change default spreadsheet type

The default, Calc, saves spreadsheets in Calc format. This will have an sxc extension. You may have to share your work with users who use other spreadsheet programs. In this case you could change the default format to that of another product, for example, Microsoft Excel.


 * Click on Tools, then Options
 * Click Load/Save
 * Click on General
 * Under Document Type, select Spreadsheets
 * Under Always save as, select the format you wish to use as your default.
 * Click OK

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Change other settings

Several other settings may be set using the same route of Tools->Options


 * Click on Tools, then Options
 * Expand Spreadsheets
 * Select the section in which you wish to adjust settings. For example, General - You set measurement units and tab stops here. View - you change the colour of gridlines here; you may also decide whether formulas and values are shown by clicking in the appropriate box or radio button to select or deselect the setting.


 * Scroll through the different options to get a feel of the range of settings.

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