6) Basic formatting

Basic formatting

The data in Calc can be formatted in several ways. Formatting can either be defined as part of a cell style so that it is automatically applied, or it can be applied manually to the cell.

Text wrapping

Multiple lines of text can be entered into a single cell using automatic wrapping or manual line breaks. Each method is useful for different situations.

Automatic wrapping

To automatically wrap multiple lines of text in a cell:

• Select a cell or cell range.
• Open the Format Cells dialog by following any one of the option:

Option 1: Right-click on the selection and select Format Cells from the content menu

 

Option 2: Select Format →Cells on the menu bar

Option 3: Press Ctrl+1

In the format dialog, click on the Alignment tab. Under Properties, mark a tick against wrap text automatically and click OK.

Manual line breaks

To insert a manual line break while typing in a cell, press Ctrl+Enter. This method does not work with the cursor in the input line. When editing text, double-click the cell, then reposition the cursor to where you want the line break.

When a manual line break is entered, the cell width does not change and your text may still overlap the end of the cell. You have to change the cell width manually or reposition your line break so that your text does not overlap the end of the cell.

Shrinking text to fit a cell

The font size of the data in a cell can automatically adjust to fit inside cell borders.

• Select a cell or cell range.
• Right-click on the selection and select Format Cells from the context menu, or select Format →Cells on the menu bar, or press Ctrl+1 to open the Format Cells dialog.
• Click on the Alignment tab. Under Properties, mark a tick against Shrink to fit cell size and click OK.

Alignment

To change the alignment of the font, click on one of the four alignment icons (Left, Centre, Right, Justified)

These icons helps only to align the text horizontally. But the text can also be aligned vertically through format dialog. In the format dialog open alignment tab and this has two bars to select vertical and horizontal alignment.

 

 

Formatting numbers

Several different number formats can be applied to cells by using icons on the Formatting toolbar (shown below)

Select the cell, then click the relevant icon to change the number format.

For more control or to select other number formats, select number tab in the format dialog and select the necessary options.

The function of the four options available in numbers tab are:

• Category - Apply the data types in the Category list to the data.
• Options - Control the number of decimal places and leading zeros in Options.
• Format code - Enter a custom format code.
• Language - The Language setting controls the local settings for the different formats such as the date format and currency symbol.

Formatting fonts

Basic formatting that can be done on font are changing font type, font size, font color, bold/ italics/ underline, background, borders and alignment. Few of this can be done by using the text formatting bar or in format dialog

To do any of these formatting, initially select the cell or range of cells and do the following

Font type:

Click the small triangle on the right of the Font Name box on the Formatting toolbar and select a font from the drop-down list. The font type can also be changed by selecting the type in the list given under family in font tab of Format Cells dialog.

 

Font size:

Click on the small triangle on the right of the Font Size box on the Formatting toolbar and select a font size from the drop-down list. The font size can also be changed by selecting the number in the list given under size in font tab of Format Cells dialog.

   

Font style:

Font style can be given bold, italic and underline. To do this select the text and click on the Bold, Italic, or Underline icons respectively. The font style can also be changed by selecting the style in the list given under style in font tab of Format Cells dialog. This can also be done using the shortcut key

Bold - Ctrl + B

Italic - Ctrl + I

Underline - Ctrl + U

Font colour

Font colour can be selected by selecting the font colour icon or by choosing the font colour under font effect tab in format cells dialogue.

 

 

Underline can also be done by selecting the option given in the above window.

Background

Background colour can be changed by selecting the background colour icon or by choosing the background colour under background tab in format cells dialogue.

 

Borders

To format the borders of a cell or a group of selected cells you can use border icon on the formatting toolbar or the border tab in the formatting window. The border icons only apply the default styles to borders, but the format cells dialog provides greater control over of how the cell borders will look.

When you click on the border icon in the formatting bar, a list of borders style appears. Click on the required border style and it will be applied to the selected cells. When entering borders with the Border icons on the Formatting toolbar, you have two choices: click the required icon to add a border to the present borders or shift- click to add a border and remove the present borders.

 

Alternatively, select a cell or a range of cells. Open the format cells dialogue. Click on the Borders tab. This tab provides option to define line arrangement, line (style, width, colour), spacing to content and shadow (position, distance, colour). Select an option from the several options available from the borders page. Click OK to close the dialog and save your changes.

 

Line arrangement

This helps in describing the style of cell borders.

• Default – select a predefined border style to apply.
• User defined – click on the diagram to apply a border to one of the edges or diagonal lines across the cell.

Line

This helps in describing the line style, its width and colour for the cell borders.

• Style – select the line style to be used for the border.
• Width – enter a width to be used for the border line.
• Color – select a color to be used for the border line.

Spacing to contents

This helps in specifying the amount of space that you want to leave between the border and the contents of the selection.

• Left – enter the distance between the left border and the contents of the selection.
• Synchronize – applies the same spacing to contents setting to all four borders when you enter a new distance.
• Right – enter the distance between the right border and the contents of the selection.
• Top – enter the distance between the top border and the contents of the selection.
• Bottom – enter the distance between the bottom border and the contents of the selection.

Shadow style

This applies a shadow effect to borders. For the best results, only apply this effect when all four borders are visible.

• Position – select a shadow style for the selected borders.
• Distance – enter the width of the shadow.
• Color – select a color for the shadow.