46. Edit
Cell
Data
BEFORE YOU BEGIN
42 Enter Simple Data into a Spreadsheet
SEE ALSO
49 About Calc Ranges
Entering numeric data is
error-prone
at its best; the faster you edit cell values accurately, the faster you compose accurate sheets. If you have already moved to another cell when you recognize that you have entered an error, you can quickly correct the mistake as
follows
:
|
1.
|
Move the cell pointer to the cell you need to correct. (Click the cell to move the pointer there.)
|
|
2.
|
Double-click in the cell, or press
F2
(the standard Windows editing shortcut key). You know Calc is ready for your edit when you see the insertion point appear in the cell. You can also click and edit the
Input
line to change the cell's contents.
|
|
3.
|
Use the
arrow keys
to move the insertion point to the mistake.
|
|
4.
|
Press the
Insert
key to change from Overtype mode to Insert mode, or vice versa. As with Writer, Overtype mode enables you to write over existing characters, whereas Insert mode shifts all existing
characters
to the right as you type the correction.
|
|
5.
|
Press
Enter
to anchor the correction in place.
|
TIP
If you want to reverse an edit, click the
Undo
button. To reverse an undo, select
Edit, Redo
.
Inserting cells, as opposed to inserting data inside a cell, requires that the existing sheet
cells
move to the right and down to make room for the new cell. Perhaps you created a sheet of employee salaries and failed to include the
employees
who work at another division. You can easily make room for those missing entries by inserting new cells. You can insert both new rows and new
columns
in your sheets.
Use the
Delete Contents
dialog box not only to delete cells but also to delete entire rows and columns.
TIP
If you want to delete multiple rows or multiple columns, select cells from each column or row you want to delete before displaying the
Delete Contents
dialog box.
46. Edit Cell Data
Deleting rows and columns
differs
from deleting specific contents inside cells. When you want to erase a cell's specific contents, the other cells to the right and below that cell don't shift to fill in the empty space. To erase a cell's contents, click the cell to move the cell pointer there and press
F2
to edit the cell's contents. Press
Backspace
to erase the cell. Even quicker, you can press
Ctrl+X
or select
Edit, Cut
to remove the contents and send them to the Clipboard, where you can paste them elsewhere or ignore them.
|
1.
|
Change the Factor
To change the factor, you click cell
B18
and press
F2
to enter editing mode. You'll see the insertion point at the end of the cell's contents. Press
Backspace
once to erase the
3
and then type
6
. Press
Enter
. You have just changed the factor from
1.13
to
1.16
.
|
|
2.
|
Right-Click to Insert New Column
To insert a column before another, click a column
name
that is to
follow
the new column. Then right-click your mouse and a menu appears. Select
Insert Columns
(even if you want to insert only one column). Calc moves the sheet's contents to the right by one column.
TIP
You can just as easily insert more than one column. For example, if you want to insert three new columns, select three column
names
that are to
follow
the new columns before selecting the
Insert Columns
option. Calc
inserts
three columns.
NOTE
If a column contains any merged cells, you will not be able to insert a new column. You must first reverse the merge, insert the desired columns, and then merge the cells again. See
71 Combine Multiple Cells into One
for more information on merging cells.
TIP
If you want to quickly insert two or more columns, select the two (or more) columns
to the right
of where you want to insert the new columns. Right-click the selected columns. Calc inserts that same number of new columns.
|
|
3.
|
Select the Cells to Delete
To delete the contents of one or more cells, click to select the cell or drag your mouse to select multiple cells. Press the
Delete
key to delete the contents.
|
|
4.
|
Determine What to Delete
Calc opens the
Delete Contents
dialog box. You can select what from the cell you want to delete. Usually, you'll immediately press
Enter
or click
OK
to delete the data from the cells you selected. Doing this maintains any formatting in the cells you deleted.
You can remove the formatting as well by clicking
Formats
in the
Delete Contents
dialog box before clicking
OK
. Or, you can remove only the formatting but keep all the data. The options you select before performing the deletion determine exactly what you want to delete.
|
|
5.
|
Determine How to Insert
To insert a cell before another, you must first consider the implications of what you're doing. Other cells reside in the sheet. If, for example, you wanted to insert a cell before the final
Adjusted Total
value, how is Calc supposed to handle the value that's in the cell? Should Calc delete it, move it to the right, or move it down?
If other data were to appear to the right of a cell you try to insert, you must tell Calc how to handle the insertion. When you click to select a cell (or drag to select a range of cells) and select
Insert, Cells
, the
Insert Cells
dialog box appears. From the dialog box, you tell Calc whether you want the cells to the right of the newly inserted cell to shift down or to the right, or if you want the entire row or the entire column moved so that all the data in the affected row or column moves.
|
TIP
If you were to insert four quarter values after each year in this sample sheet, you would want to shift the entire columns to the right as you insert the quarterly data to retain all the year information appropriately.
|
