Re: [libreoffice-users] Inverting a whole column

Many many thanks - the clever way works perfectly.

Mark

On Mon, Jun 29, 2020 at 5:44 PM Brian Barker <b.m.barker@btinternet.com> wrote:
> At 16:11 29/06/2020 -0700, Mark Noname wrote:
> > I have spreadsheets from my financial institutions (for tax
> > purposes). Some of them do the deposits as positive and the debits
> > as negative, and others do the reverse. Is there an easy way to
> > multiply an entire column by -1 so I can make them all fit a uniform
> > convention?
>
> Of course.
>
> Obvious way:
> o Suppose your values are in column A, starting at row 2.
> o In a new column, enter =-A2 in row 2.
> o Fill down the new column.
> o Cut or Copy the values in the new column.
> o Paste back over column A, but using Edit | Paste Special... (or
> Ctrl+Shift+V) instead of ordinary Paste.
> o In the Paste Special dialogue, ensure that Formulas is *not* ticked.
> o Delete the new column.
>
> Clever way:
> o Enter -1 in a spare cell somewhere.
> o Copy that value.
> o Select the range of values to be negated.
> o Go to Edit | Paste Special... (or Ctrl+Shift+V).
> o In the Paste Special dialogue, under Operations, select Multiply.
>
> > What I've done before is convert the spreadsheets to .csv, use a
> > shell script to invert the chosen column and then convert back to
> > .ods. This is really clunky.
>
> There are always unnecessarily complicated ways to solve any problem.
>
> I trust this helps.
>
> Brian Barker

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