LibreOffice Calc Guide

About This Guide

This guide covers the fundamental skills you need to create professional-looking spreadsheets in LibreOffice Calc. You'll learn how to adjust your workspace layout, format your data for clarity, prepare documents for printing, and organize information effectively through sorting and filtering. These core techniques will help you transform raw data into well-organized, readable spreadsheets.

Making Columns and Rows Wider

Adjusting Column Width

• Position cursor on border between column headers (A|B) until you see double-headed arrow
• Click and drag to resize manually
• Double-click the border to auto-fit column to content
• Select multiple columns by clicking first header, holding Shift, then clicking last header to resize multiple columns at once

Adjusting Row Height

• Position cursor on border between row numbers until you see horizontal double-headed arrow
• Drag up or down to adjust height manually
• Double-click to auto-fit row to content
• Works the same way as columns but using row numbers on the left side

Basic Formatting Options

Text Formatting

• Select cells by clicking and dragging over them
• Use toolbar buttons for bold (B), italic (I), and underline (U)
• Right-click selected cells and choose "Format Cells" for more options
• Access multiple formatting tabs in the Format Cells dialog

Number Formatting

• Select cells containing numbers • Open Format Cells dialog (right-click → Format Cells)
• Choose appropriate format:
• Currency: adds dollar signs and decimal places
• Percentage: converts decimals to percentages (0.15 becomes 15%)
• Date: ensures consistent date display

Background Colors and Borders

• Select cells to format
• Right-click → Format Cells → Background tab
• Choose light colors for better readability
• Use Borders tab to add lines around cells
• Creates visual separation and professional appearance

Printing the Spreadsheet

Preview Your Print

• Go to File → Print Preview before printing
• Shows exactly how spreadsheet will appear on paper
• Reveals page breaks and layout issues

Page Setup

• Format menu → Page Setup • Page tab options:
• • Portrait (tall) or Landscape (wide) orientation
  • Scale to fit specific number of pages
  • Adjust percentage to make content fit better • Landscape often works better for wide spreadsheets

Repeating Headers

• Format → Page → Sheet tab
• Specify rows to repeat at top of every page
• Specify columns to repeat on left side
• Ensures headers appear on all printed pages
• Makes multi-page documents easier to understand

Sorting Data

Turning On AutoFilter

• Select your entire data range(Can easily be done by clicking in the corner of the columns and rows)  
• Click and drag from top-left cell to bottom-right cell, or click any cell and use Ctrl+A
• Go to Data menu → AutoFilter
• Drop-down arrows appear in header row
• AutoFilter stays active until you turn it off

Using AutoFilter

• Click drop-down arrow in any column header • Options appear:
• • Sort Ascending (A to Z)
  • Sort Descending (Z to A)
  • Standard Filter (for custom criteria)
  • Show only specific values by checking/unchecking items
  • Use "All" to show/hide all items at once
  • Multiple columns can be filtered simultaneously

Conclusion

Practice these techniques regularly, and you'll find that creating professional, functional spreadsheets becomes second nature. Each skill builds upon the others to help you transform raw data into organized, meaningful information.