Introducing Calc

OpenOffice.org 3 Calc Guide

Chapter 1: Introducing Calc

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• Parts of the main Calc window
• Starting and opening spreadsheets
• Saving spreadsheets
• Navigating within spreadsheets
• Selecting items
• Working with columns and rows
• Working with sheets
• Viewing Calc
• Using the Navigator

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This is Chapter 1 of the OpenOffice.org 3 Calc Guide, produced by the ODFAuthors group. A PDF of this chapter is available from this wiki page.

What is Calc?

Calc is the spreadsheet component of OpenOffice.org (OOo). You can enter data (usually numerical) in a spreadsheet and then manipulate this data to produce certain results.

Alternatively, you can enter data and then use Calc in a ‘What If...’ manner by changing some of the data and observing the results without having to retype the entire spreadsheet or sheet.

Other features provided by Calc include:

• Functions, which can be used to create formulas to perform complex calculations on data
• Database functions, to arrange, store, and filter data
• Dynamic charts; two new types of charts—Bubble Charts and Filled Net Charts—have been introduced in OOo 3.2
• Macros, for recording and executing repetitive tasks; scripting languages supported include OpenOffice.org Basic, Python, BeanShell, and JavaScript
• Ability to open, edit, and save Microsoft Excel spreadsheets
• Import and export of spreadsheets in multiple formats, including HTML, CSV, PDF, and PostScript

If you want to use macros written in Microsoft Excel using the VBA macro code in OOo, you must first edit the code in the OOo Basic IDE editor.

Spreadsheets, sheets, and cells

Calc works with documents called spreadsheets. Spreadsheets consist of a number of individual sheets, each containing cells arranged in rows and columns. A particular cell is identified by its column letter and row number.

These cells hold the individual elements—text, numbers, formulas, and so on—that make up the data to display and manipulate.

Each spreadsheet can have many sheets and each sheet can have many individual cells. In Calc 3.x, each sheet can have a maximum of 65,536 rows and a maximum of 1024 columns, for a total of over 67 million cells.