Open Office Calc Tutorial - Step by Step
Open Office Calc is an electronicspreadsheet programoffered free of charge byopenoffice.org.
This tutorial covers the steps to creating a basicspreadsheetin Open Office Calc.
Instructions in this article applies to OpenOffice Calc v. 4.1.6.
These steps are:
Select on thecellwhere you want the data to go.
throw in your data into the cell.
Press theENTERkey on the keyboard or tap on another cell with the mouse.
snag the cell indicated by thecell referenceprovided.
throw in the corresponding data into the selected cell.
Press theEnterkey on the keyboard or choose the next cell in the list with the mouse.
(The pointer will change to a double-headed arrow.)
Adding the Date and a Range Name
It is normal to add the date to a spreadsheet.
Built into Open Office Calc are a number ofDATEfunctions that can be used to do this.
In this tutorial, we will use the TODAY function.
Enter= TODAY ( )
Press theENTERkey on the keyboard.
CellC6now has the name ofrate.
We will use the name to simplify creatingformulasin the next step.
Adding Formulas
Select cell C9.
key in in the formula= B9 * rate.
PressEnter
Calculating Net Salary
Select cellD9.
Enter the formula= B9 - C9.
Copying the Formulas in Cells C9 and D9 to Other Cells
Select cellC9again.
The formula inC9will be copied to cellsC10throughC12.
Repeat steps 2 and 3 and drag the fill handle down to cellD12.
The formula inD9will be copied to cellsD10-D12.
Changing Data Alignment
Drag select cellsA2-D2.
SelectMerge Cellson theFormattingtoolbar to merge the selected cells.
SelectAlign Center Horizontallyon theFormattingtoolbar to center the title across the selected area.
SelectAlign righton theFormattingtoolbar to right align the data in these cells.
SelectAlign Center Horizontallyon theFormattingtoolbar to center the data in these cells.
In this step, we add percent signs and currency symbols to our data.
Adding the Percent Sign
Select cellC6.
SelectNumber Format: Percenton theFormattingtoolbar to add the percent symbol to the selected cell.
SelectNumber Format: Delete Decimal Placeon theFormattingtoolbar twice to remove the two decimal places.
The data in cellC6should now read as 6%.
The data in cellsB9-D12should now show the dollar symbol ( $ ) and two decimal places.
Changing Cell Background Color
opt for merged cellsA2-D2on the spreadsheet.
SelectBackground Coloron theFormattingtoolbar (looks like a paint can) to launch the background color drop-down list.
ChooseSea Bluefrom the list to change the background color of merged cellsA2-D2to blue.
Drag select cells A8 - D8 on the spreadsheet.
Repeat steps 2 and 3.
Changing Font Color
Select merged cellsA2-D2on the spreadsheet.
SelectFont Coloron theFormattingtoolbar (it is a large letterA) to kick off the font color drop-down list.
SelectWhitefrom the list to change the color of the text in merged cellsA2-D2to white.
Drag select cellsA8-D8on the spreadsheet.
Repeat steps 2 and 3 above.
Drag select cellsB4-C6on the spreadsheet.
SelectFont Coloron theFormattingtoolbar to launch the font color drop-down list.
ChooseSea Bluefrom the list to change the color of the text in cellsB4-C6to blue.
Drag select cellsA9-D12on the spreadsheet.
Repeat steps 7 and 8 above.
