Re: [libreoffice-users] I have to ask (four qustions)

On Sat, 2011-05-28 at 03:36 -0700, Nuzhna Pomoshch wrote:

> Using LibreOffice 3.3.1 (Linux).
>
> 1. Why is the default column width in Calc 2.27 cm?
> Where does that number come from? How do I change
> it? I haven't used Excel in years, but I believe
> that is easy to set in the options. Even resetting
> the column width in the default style doesn't
> change the "default value" (and when I did that,
> the columns in the template I saved were wider than
> the columns in a new spreadsheet based on that same
> template, even though both of them showed the exact
> same column width when examined).

I have no idea why that size was chosen but you can change by
FORMAT>>COLUMN>>COLUMN WIDTH
A dialog box should open and you change the value to what you want to
use. For it to be the default make sure the check box "Default Value" is
checked.


> 2. I sometimes need to work in cm, and sometimes in
> inches. How do I change from one to the other?
> Again, I recall that this was easy to set in Excel.

I do not see an easy why to do this, it might by done by OS settings. I
never found that using US or metric caused problems for others. The
settings are mostly set for the convenience of the user. I used to open,
years ago, Excel files for Europe in the US without changing any
settings. The opposite was also true.

The only issue with the settings is the page setting A4 is a little
longer and narrower than US Letter. If this is the issue you could try
FORMAT>>PAGE and click on the Page Tab in the dialogue box and change
the paper to the correct one for the users.

> 3. How do I get hidden ("dot" directories) to appear
> in the open and save dialog boxes (they appear in
> all of the window manager dialog boxes)?


This is an OS controlled option in Windows and Linux. You have to check
the correct setting in the OS folder display control to see the hidden
files. 

> 4. Why is it so !@#$%^&* hard to format cells (this
> has continued from OpenOffice)? I was trying to set
> up a spreadsheet so that all cells displayed two
> decimal places, except for the top row and column
> (headers, which should display no decimal places).
> Click the upper left corner and change to two
> decimal places. Good. Click column A and change to
> General. Good. Click row 1 and change to general.
> DOESN'T WORK. It SAYS General, but I still see two
> decimal places (it seems to only look at cell A1).
> Tried selecting and tabbing to a different cell in
> the row. Still doesn't work. Didn't anyone ever
> consider the possibility that a user might want to
> set the same format for a range of cells that
> currently have different formats. Automatic in Excel
> (I remember that one for sure). Things like this
> should be the easiest things in the world to do,
> instead of such a massive struggle.

I am not sure what you are referring to. Could you be a little more
specific. When I highlight a range of cells I can adjust the formating
of the numbers for the entire range. You may wish to give each range a
name so you can go to the range easily.

> Nuzhna


-- 
Jay Lozier
jslozier@gmail.com

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