Recording and Showing Changes

You can have Calc keep track of changes made to a spreadsheet and insert colored cell borders and row/column lines at the areas where additions, modifications, or deletions were made. Calc also tracks changes by the users making them. Calc identifies users by the settings in the Tools > Options > General > User Data window.

Calc also lets you accept or reject the changes made to the spreadsheet.

Setting Change Options

Before you begin recording and showing changes to a spreadsheet, set the color options Calc will use to mark changes.

1. Choose Tools > Options > Spreadsheet > Changes.

2. In the Changes window, set the color options you want for each type of modification.

3. Use Figure 23-1 for guidance; click OK when you're done.

   Figure 23-1. Setting color options for spreadsheet changes

   

Recording Changes

Once your color options are set for spreadsheet changes (previous procedure), use this procedure to begin recording changes.

Recording and showing changes are two different things. You can record changes without actually showing them in the spreadsheet, and you can switch back and forth between showing and hiding the changes being recorded.

1. Choose Edit > Changes > Record.

   A check mark next to the Record item means Calc is recording changes.

2. Set the options for showing the changes (page 619).

Calc keeps track of deleted rows and columns, drawing a colored line across or down the borders at the points where the rows or columns were deleted.

To stop recording changes, choose Edit > Changes > Record to remove the check mark next to the Record item.

Adding Comments to Changes

When you change a spreadsheet cell, you can also add a comment to that change. This helps people understand why you made the change. This feature works only when changes are being recorded, as described in the previous procedure.

1. Choose Edit > Changes > Comments.

2. In the Comments window, enter your comment and click OK.

Change notes are displayed in the popup message of a changed cell (Figure 23-2).

Figure 23-2. Calc's default mode for showing changes

You can also review all the comments attached to changes by clicking the arrow buttons in the Comments window.

Showing Changes

Calc gives you many options for viewing recorded spreadsheet changes. By default, when you turn recording on, Calc displays all changes made to cells by putting colored borders around modified cells and providing a popup note of the change when you select or move the mouse pointer over a modified cell. Figure 23-2 illustrates this.

Calc lets you be more selective in which changed cells are shown, letting you view changes by a specific author, between specific dates and times, within a specific range of cells, with certain words in the comments, and by changes that have been accepted or rejected.

1. Choose Edit > Changes > Show.

2. In the Show window, set the show options you want. Use Figure 23-3 for guidance.

   Figure 23-3. Setting options for narrowing which changed cells are displayed

   

3. Click OK.

Calc's change indicators don't print.

If you want to continue recording changes but hide all the change indicators in the spreadsheet, deselect the Show changes in spreadsheet option.

Accepting or Rejecting Changes

Calc gives you the opportunity to accept or reject changes made to a spreadsheet. When you accept a change, the content becomes a normal part of the spreadsheet without change indicators. When you reject a change, the change returns to its previous state in the spreadsheet as items with change indicators.

In order to accept or reject changes, Calc needs to know that changes have occurred, which means that the Record feature needs to be activated while you work with spreadsheets (Edit > Changes > Record).

To accept or reject changes:

1. Choose Edit > Changes > Accept or Discard.

2. In the Accept or Reject window (Figure 23-4), you can select one or more items in the list to accept or reject.

   Figure 23-4. Accepting and rejecting changes

   

   You can modify the list of changes by clicking the Filter tab and setting the criteria for which changes will be shown in the List tab. These criteria are the same as those shown in Figure 23-3.

3. Click the appropriate button at the bottom of the window.

   Whether you accept or reject changes, the items you accept or reject are removed from the Accept or Reject Changes window. When you accept changes, the change is kept in the document. When you reject changes, the change is reversed to its prior state.

4. Close the window when you're finished.