Pamela
Robert

    pamroberts@blueyonder.co.uk

Raphael
Langerhorst

    raphael.langerhorst@kdemail.net

Anne-Marie
Mahfouf

    annemarie.mahfouf@free.fr

# Spreadsheet Formatting

## Cell Format

To change the format and appearance of selected cell(s), row(s) or column(s) use the Cell Format... option from the Format menu or from the right mouse button popup menu.

Right mouse button context menu.

This will bring up the Cell Format dialog box which has several tabbed pages:

### Data Formats and Representation

Data Format page.

The Data Format page of the Cell Format dialog box lets you control how the values of cells are displayed.

The top part of this page lets you select the format to be used when displaying numeric values, dates or times. A Preview pane allows you to see the effect of the new format.

You can set the same data format for a row or a column by selecting the row or column and calling the Cell Format dialog with the &RMB;.

You can increase the precision decimal for any number in Generic, Number, Percent, Money or Scientific formats using the Increase precision icon in the Format toolbar:

You can decrease the precision decimal for any number in Generic, Number, Percent, Money or Scientific formats using the Decrease precision icon in the Format toolbar:

Generic

  This is the default format and &sheets; autodetects the actual data type depending on the current cell data. By default, &sheets; right justifies numbers, dates and times within a cell and left justifies anything else.

  If the Generic format does not suit you, you can change to a specific format among the choices below.

Number

  The number notation uses the notation you globally choose in &systemsettings; in Locale Country/Region & Language Numbers. Numbers are right justified by default.

Percent

  When you have a number in the current cell and you switch the cell format from Generic to Percent, the current cell number will be multiplied by 100.

  For example if you enter 2 and set the cell format to Percent, the number will then be 200 %. Switching back to Generic cell format will bring it back to 2.

  You can also use the Percent icon in the Format Toolbar:

Money

  The Money format converts your number into money notation using the settings globally fixed in &systemsettings; in Locale Country/Region & Language Money. The currency symbol will be displayed and the precision will be the one set in &systemsettings;.

  You can also use the Money Format icon in the Format toolbar to set the cell formatting to look like your current currency:

Scientific

  The Scientific format changes your number using the scientific notation. For example, 0.0012 will be changed to 1.2E-03. Going back using Generic cell format will display 0.0012 again. The Generic cell data format does not keep scientific notation so if you want this notation, you have to specify it using this menu item.

Fraction

  The Fraction format changes your number into a fraction. For example, 0.1 can be changed to 1/8, 2/16, 1/10, &etc; You define the type of fraction by choosing it in the field on the right. If the exact fraction is not possible in the fraction mode you choose, the nearest closest match is chosen. For example: when we have 1.5 as number, we choose Fraction and Sixteenths 1/16 the text displayed into cell is "1 8/16" which is an exact fraction. If you have 1.4 as number in your cell and you choose Fraction and Sixteenths 1/16 then the cell will display "1 6/16" which is the nearest closest Sixteenth fraction.

Date

  To enter a date, you should enter it in one of the formats set in &systemsettings; in Locale Country/Region & Language Date & Time. There are two formats set here: the date format and the short date format.

  A random natural number NN will be transformed in the date from 30st December 1899 (which is 0) with the number of days NN added. For example if you have a cell with 100 and you choose Date format, "1900-04-09" will be displayed in the cell which is 100 days after 30st December 1899. This starting date is two days early as it was a bug in Lotus 123 and then it stayed that way in Excel in order to keep compatibility. Few people will need to calculate from 1st January 1900 anyway and adding 9 days to 1st November 2000 for example will give you 10th November 2000 so all normal calculations on dates are correct.

  When a cell is in the Date format, you can drag this cell down as you do with numbers and the next cells will also get dates, each date being increased by one day.

Time

  This formats your cell content as a time. To enter a time, you should enter it in the Time format set in &systemsettings; in Locale Country/Region & Language Date & Time. In the Cell Format dialog box you can set how the time should be displayed by choosing one of the available time format options. The default format is the system format set in &systemsettings;. When the number in the cell does not make sense as a time, &sheets; will display 00:00 in the global format you have in &systemsettings;.

Date and Time

  This formats your cell content as date and time. To enter a date and a time, you should enter it in the Time format set in &systemsettings; in Locale Country/Region & Language Date & Time. In the Cell Format dialog box you can set how the date and time should be displayed by choosing one of the available date and time format options. The default format is the system format set in &systemsettings;. When the number in the cell does not make sense as a date and time, &sheets; will display 00:00 in the global format you have in &systemsettings;.

Text

  This formats your cell content as text. This can be useful if you want a number treated as text instead as a number, for example for a ZIP code. Setting a number as text format will left justify it. When numbers are formatted as text, they cannot be used in calculations or formulas. It also change the way the cell is justified.

Custom

  Does not work yet. To be enabled in the next release.

The lower part of the Data Format page lets you add a Prefix: such as a $ symbol at the start of each item or a Postfix: such as $HK to the end. You can also control how many digits are displayed after the decimal point for numeric values, whether positive values are displayed with a leading + sign and whether negative values are shown in red.

### Fonts and Text Settings

Font page.

The Font page lets you select the font family, Style:, Size:, Weight: and Color: for the current cell, including some additional options like underlined or striked out text. The lower part of the page gives a Preview of the selected text format.

The default font is set for all cells in the Format Style Manager menu with the currently used style.

Style:

  Choose the style for your font for the currently selected cells. When you select several cells with different styles, the displayed style is set to Varying (No Change) and leaving it that way will keep all your current style settings for each cell. Changing to Roman for example will change all the selected cells style text to Roman.

Size:

  Choose the size for your font for the currently selected cells. When you select several cells with different sizes, the displayed size is set to (no number written) and leaving it that way will keep all your current size settings for each cell. Changing to 14 for example will change all the selected cells font size to 14.

Weight:

  Choose the weight for your font for the currently selected cells. When you select several cells with different font weight, the displayed weight is set to Varying (No Change) and leaving it that way will keep all your current weight settings for each cell. Changing to Bold for example will change all the selected cells font weight to Bold.

Color:

  Choose the color for the currently selected cells' text. Clicking on the color bar will bring you the standard KDE Select Color dialog where you will be able to choose the new color.

Underline

  Underlines the currently selected cells' text if checked. This is not checked per default.

Strike out

  This will strike out the currently selected cells' text if this is checked. This is not checked per default.

### Text Position and Rotation

Position page.

From the Position page you can control the position of text within a cell by making suitable selections in the Horizontal and Vertical areas or by setting the Indent value. You can also choose to have the text appear vertically rather than horizontally, or even at an angle.

Horizontal

  Set the content position horizontally in the cell. Standard is default and is set from the data format you choose. Left means the content will be displayed on the left of the cell. Center means the content will be in the center horizontally in the cell. Right means the content of the cell will be displayed on the right of the cell.

Vertical

  Set the content position vertically in the cell. Top means the content will be displayed on top of the cell. Middle means the content will be in the middle vertically in the cell. Bottom means the content of the cell will be displayed at the bottom of the cell.

Text Option

  This is only available when the rotation is 0°. Wrap text wraps the text so it fits in the previous cell size. If this is not checked, the text will stay on one line.

  Vertical text puts your text vertically.

Rotation

  Your text will appear oriented in the angle you set here. Positive values will move it counter-clockwise and negative values will move it clockwise.

Merge Cells

  When checked, this has the same effect as Format Merge Cells. You need to have at least two consecutive cells selected. Those consecutive cells are then merged into a bigger one.

  When a merged cell is selected and when you uncheck this, then all cells come back to their original size as before the merging. It has the same effect as Format Dissociate Cells.

Indent

  Set the amount of indent that will be used in the cell when you choose the Increase Indent/Decrease Indent actions from the toolbar. These actions are not enabled by default in the toolbar.

Size of Cell

  You set here the size of the cell, either a custom width and height or choose the default width and height.

### Cell Border

Border page.

The Border page lets you set the appearance of the cell borders. If you have selected more than one cell you can apply different styles to the borders between the cells and that surrounding the selected area.

First select the pattern and color from the Pattern section of the Border page then apply that to different parts of the border by clicking on the appropriate button in the Border section, or on one of the Preselect buttons. The left hand button in the Preselect section will clear any previously applied border(s). Note that you can also add a diagonal strike-through line to the cell(s).

### Cell Background

Background page.

The cell background pattern and color can be selected from the Background page.

Simply choose a desired Pattern, then select the pattern Color and the Background color.

At the bottom of this page you can see a Preview of the configured cell background.

### Cell Protection

Cell protection page.

You can change the way the content of a cell is protected in the Cell Protection page.

All cells are protected by default (that means cell content cannot be changed) and for the cell protection to be active you also need to protect the sheet using the Tools Protect Sheet... menu and to provide a password. You can also hide the cell formula in order to protect the way you calculate the formula. This also needs to enable sheet protection to work. You can hide the cell content with Hide all and again this needs sheet protection. You can learn more about all these settings in the Advanced &sheets; chapter, Protection section.

Hide all

  This hides the cell content and works only when the sheet is protected which means that changing the Hide all attribute of a cell has no effect unless the sheet is protected. Whether the cell itself is protected or not does not matter.

  When Hide all is selected, Protected and Hide formula are disabled as when the sheet is protected Hide all hides the cell content and the formula and thus masks and protects the cell content.

Protected

  If checked, the cell content will be protected. This is the default behaviour. You need to protect the whole sheet using the Tools Protect Sheet... menu for this individual cell protection to work. When a cell is protected, its content cannot be changed.

Hide formula

  When this is checked, the cell is still visible. However, its contents do not appear in the Formula bar. Hiding formula is only working for cells that contain formulae so the user cannot view the formula. And the sheet must be protected for this to work.

Do not print text

  If you check Do not print text then the text in the cell will not be printed. This is unchecked per default which means that the cell text will always be printed by default.

## Conditional Cell Attributes

You can make the appearance of a cell change according to the value it contains, useful perhaps if you are using &sheets; to keep track of your household expenses and want to highlight any item greater than, say, one thousand dollars.

To do this select the cell(s) then choose Conditional Styles... from the Format menu. This will bring up the Conditional Styles dialog box where you can make the font type and color of a cell change when the value meets one or more conditions. Note that the second and third conditions only apply if the previous condition(s) are not met.

Use Clear Conditional Styles from the Edit menu to clear any conditional attributes from selected cells.

## Changing Cell Sizes

The Position page in the Cell Format dialog lets you alter the size of the selected cell(s). Note that changing the height of a single cell will change the height for all cells in that row, similarly changing the width will affect the entire column.

You can also select the row(s) or column(s) to be changed then select Resize Row... or Resize Column... from the right mouse button pop up menu or from the Format Row or Format Column menu.

If you move the mouse cursor so that its tip is over the line between two of the row numbers at the left of &sheets;'s window the cursor will change to show two parallel lines each with a short arrow headed line coming from it. When the cursor is in this state you can hold the left mouse button down and drag the border between the two rows, changing the height of the upper row. A similar technique can be used to change the width of a column.

To set the row height or column width to the minimum needed to display the contents, select the whole row or column, and click with the &RMB; on the row or column label. In the menu which appears, select Adjust Row or Adjust Column. The row or column will resize to the minimum necessary. You can also select a single cell or range of cells, and click Adjust Row & Column from either the &RMB; popup menu or the Format menu.

You can make a number of adjacent rows or columns the same size by selecting them then choosing Format Row Equalize Row or Format Column Equalize Column.

## Merging Cells

It is often convenient to have one cell that spreads across two or more columns or down more than one row. This can be done by merging two or more cells into one. Select the cells to be merged than choose Format Merge Cells.

To reverse this process, select the merged cell then choose Dissociate Cells from the Format menu.

## Hiding Rows and Columns

A finished spreadsheet can often be made to look more attractive by hiding the cells containing intermediate calculations so that only the important data input and result areas are shown.

In &sheets; you can hide selected rows or columns by using the Hide Rows and Hide Columns options from the Format Row, Format Column or right mouse button menus. Hidden rows and columns are not displayed on the screen or included in a print out.

Hiding cells in this way also makes them slightly less prone to accidental change.

To un-hide a row or column select Row Show Rows... or Column Show Columns... from the Format menu. In the dialog box which appears, you can select any number of rows to show.

## Sheet properties

You can access the current sheet properties either by right clicking on the sheet tab and choosing Sheet Properties or by using the Format Sheet Sheet Properties menu. Please note that you can only access the Sheet Properties when the document or the sheet is not protected.

You can set different properties that will be valid in the current sheet. Clicking on OK will validate your changes and Defaults will bring back the default settings.

Sheet Properties dialog.

Layout direction:

  Let you choose the sheet orientation. Default is that the first column of the sheet is on the left. If you choose Right to Left, then the first column will be on the right and the others added from right to left.

Hide zero

  If this box is checked any cell containing the value zero will appear blank.

Automatic recalculation

  This setting controls whether formulae are recalculated automatically when the value of any cell they refer to changes.

Show column as numbers

  If this box is checked the column headings will show as numbers rather than as letters. Letters are default.

Use LC mode

  If this box is checked the cell reference shown at the left end of the Formula Bar will be displayed in LC mode (i.e. L2C3) rather than in its normal form B3. This does not seem to be of much use at the moment.

Convert first letter to uppercase

  Check this box and the first letter of any text you type in will automatically be converted to uppercase.

Show grid

  If checked the grid (the cell limits) will be shown. This is default. If you uncheck it, the grid will be hidden.

Show page borders

  If you check this option, the page borders will be drawn on your current sheet. Per default the page borders are not displayed. It is useful to see the page borders if you want to print your sheet.

Show formula

  If this box is checked &sheets; will display the actual formulae in cells rather than the results.

Show formula indicator

  If this box is checked &sheets; will display a small blue triangle at the bottom left corner of cells containing formulae. This is useful if you want to protect cells with formulae.

Show comment indicator

  If this box is checked cells containing comments will be marked by a small red triangle at the top right corner.