TOG Solutions

Note: This is the third in a multi-part series on OpenOffice Wednesday that will focus on some of the new and upgraded features that will appear in OpenOffice.org 3.2, which is slated to be released December 14, 2009.

Part One – The Countdown Begins
Part Two – Writer

For this week’s edition, we are taking a look at some of the modifications that have been made to Calc, the OpenOffice spreadsheet that rivals Microsoft Excel. For Calc, changes have been made to some of the ways that cells can be edited, plus the addition of new chart styles that have been Excel staples but until OOo 3.2, were not options.

• Merged Cells - Copying and pasting one set of merged cells from the Clipboard to Calc used to be an issue, usually creating an error message. That has been fixed, and merged cells will now properly be inserted into your spreadsheet. Also, you will be able to insert and delete columns or rows into and from the middle of merged cells. Again, with previous editions, trying this function would result in an error message.
• Sorting with Formatting - The latest version of OOo modifies the Sort Ascending/Descending button on the toolbar so that the cell’s format is sorted along with the data, which was not previously possible.
• Bubble Charts Available – Similar to the standard XY chart, bubble charts are structured so that data points are emphasized by dots or bubbles. This chart will now be available for Calc, and will include a parameter to increase or decrease the size of the bubble.
• Data Label Rotation – When using Calc’s charts, modifying data labels so they would rotate wasn’t an option. It has now been built into OOo 3.2, so that rotation and text direction can be altered.
• AutoFill Numbers – Calc’s AutoFill function has now been changed so that if the starting cell contains a number at the start and the end, and there’s no space after the first number, the number at the end is now incremented.

Next week: We will take a look at the new features in Impress.