Cell Formatting

Gnumeric's user manual
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# Chapter 5. Cell Formatting

# Cell Formatting

Cell formats allow you to change the way cell data appears in the spreadsheet. It is important to keep in mind that it only alters the way the data is presented, and does not change the value of the data.

The formatting options allows for monetary units, scientific options, dates, times, fractions,and more. Positive and negative values can have different colors and formats for aiding in keeping track of values. There are also a large variety of date and time formats for virtually any time and date format one can think of.

To change the formatting style for a cell or a range of cells, you only need to select the range of cells (see the Section called Editing cells using the selection in Chapter 2) where you want to apply/change the format and then select from the Format/Cells/Numbers menu (or from the context sensitive popup menu bound to the right mouse button) the appropriate format.

The quickest way to access the cell format dialog is to use its keyboard shortcut, Ctrl-1. This is equivalent to selecting the cell format item from the menus.

Gnumeric provides a wide range of predetermined formatting styles. These formatting styles are shown by category in the Cell/Style dialog box. Just choose one of the display formats and accept the changes to change the display format for your cells.

If none of the predetermined formatting styles fits your needs, you can define your own number formatting style by using a custom formatting expression: the custom formatting expressions give you more flexibility in number display.

## The Format Dialog

The number formatting dialog (see Figure 5-1 ) provides a wide range of options for formatting numbers. The primary use of the dialog is to select from one of the many preset number formatting rules. These formatting styles should be more than adequate for the vast majority of cases. If none of these meet the needs of the user, it is possible to create your own formats.

Figure 5-1. The main number formatting dialog.

The page is split into two sections, a set of formatting categories, and some convenience tools for manipulating the formats in each category.

There is also a Sample output of what the new formatting should look like.

## Changing the Font or Font Color

Any cell can use any font that is availble to Gnumeric. This includes font attributes like bold, italics, etc as well as font size.

To change the font for cells, simply open the file format dialog (see the Section called The Format Dialog), and select the font tab. This will open the standard Gnome font selection dialog.

Figure 5-2. The Font selection dialog

Reference docs on how to use the font dialog here.

To change a cells font

1. Select the cell or range of cell that the font needs to be changed in.

2. Open the cell format dialog. This dialog can be opened from the FormatCells menu, with the Ctrl-1, or from right-clicking (MB3) and choosing the Cell Format menu option.

3. Select the font tab in the dialog box notebook. This will open the font selection part of the dialog. See Figure 5-2 for a look at the dialog.

4. TELL PEOPLE HOW TO USE THE FONT DIALOG HERE

For simply changing a cell's format to be Bold or Italics, there are buttons on the toolbar for doing this quickly. See the Section called Cell Formatting options on the buttonbar.

Changing a cell's text color

1. Select the cell or range of cell that the color needs to be changed in.

2. Open the cell format dialog. This dialog can be opened from the FormatCells menu, with the Ctrl-1, or from right-clicking (MB3) and choosing the Cell Format menu option.

3. Select the Font tab in the dialog box notebook. This will open the font selection part of the dialog. See Figure 5-3 for a look at the dialog.

4. TELL PEOPLE HOW TO USE THE COLOR PICKER HERE

## Changing the cell's Background Colors and Patterns

A cell in gnumeric can be assigned a solid background color, and an pattern with a potentially different colour.

Figure 5-3. The cell color dialog.

The background configuration includes options for setting the cells background to either a solid color or a pattern.

To set the background of the cell to a solid color, click on the use solid color, and choose a color from the color selector dialog.

To set a pattern for the cell background, click on the use a pattern button and select a pattern by clicking on the pattern the user wants. there is a solid black border that should outline the currently selected pattern.

## Cell content justification and alignment

The contents of cell can be justified and aligned as needed. There are several justification options. See Figure 5-4.

Figure 5-4. Example of text justification.

Figure 5-5. The cell justification dialog.

Changing a cells justification.

1. Select the cell or range of cell that the justification needs to be changed in.

2. Open the cell format dialog. This dialog can be opened from the FormatCells menu, with the Ctrl-1, or from right-clicking (MB3) and choosing the Cell Format menu option.

3. Select the Alignment tab from the notebook tabs. This will open the font selection part of the dialog. See Figure 5-5 for a look at the dialog.

4. Choose a horizontal and Vertical justification type by clicking on one of the buttons. Only one choice from each option group is allowed.

Horizontal justitfication options.

General

  The standard default justification. This equates to right justifying numbers and formulas, and left justifying strings and labels.

Left

  Left justitify all cell contents.

Center

  Center all cell contents.

Right

  Right justify all cell contents.

Fill

  Fill the cell with the contents. This will repeat the cells contents to fill the space.

Justify

  Left justify and verticaly center the cells contents.

Vertical Justification options.

Top

  Align the top of the cells contents with the top of the cell.

Center

  Center the cells contents vertically. Equally space between the top and bottom

Bottom

  Align the contents of the cell with the bottom of the cell.

Justify

  FIXME FIXME

## Cell Formatting options on the buttonbar.

For frequently applied formats, there are some quick access buttons on the button bar.

Figure 5-6. Example of justification quick buttons.

See the Section called The Toolbar in Chapter 1 for more detail one what these buttons do.

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Autofill. |  | Number formatting overview