You can apply a variety of fonts, colors, shades, borders and other format options to improve the appearance and readability of worksheets.
In this chapter you will learn everything about designing attractive worksheets. It covers the following topics:
▪Cell size
| To change the cell size, either use the commands of the ribbon tab Layout | group Cells. Alternatively, simply drag the row header (or column header) using the mouse. |
▪Number format
| PlanMaker can display numbers in many different number formats: as plain numbers, rounded to 2 decimal places, as a percentage, with a currency symbol, as a date or time, in a user-defined format, etc. Use the commands of the ribbon tab Home | group Number to select the appropriate number format. |
▪Borders
| With the ribbon command Home | group Format | Borders you can add borders and lines to cells. |
▪Shading
| The background of cells can be shaded. The ribbon command Home | group Format | Shading lets you apply a variety of colors, shading and patterns to the background of cells. |
▪Alignment
| With the commands of the ribbon tab Home | group Alignment you can align cell contents (left-aligned, right-aligned, etc.) and rotate them. |
▪Protection
| Furthermore, you can use the dialog box of the ribbon tab Home | group Alignment (Protection tab) to protect cells against changes. See also Sheet protection. |
▪Character format
| The commands of the ribbon tab Home | group Character let you specify the character format of cells or individual characters. This includes settings such as the font, font styles (bold, italics, etc.) and the font color. |
▪Paragraph format (text frames only)
| If you have inserted text frames in the worksheet, you can change the paragraph format (line spacing, indents, etc.) of the included text. This can be done using the dialog box Paragraph of the ribbon tab Home | group Alignment (only available in text frames). |
▪Character styles
| You can create character styles that store your favorite character formats. Character styles can be applied to cells at the push of a button. |
▪Cell styles
FreeOffice: Creating and managing your own cell styles is not included in SoftMaker FreeOffice.
| Additionally, you can create cell styles. Both the character format (font, etc.) and the cell format (number format, borders, shading, alignment and cell protection) can be saved in these cell styles. |
▪Document templates
| PlanMaker even lets you create your own document templates. Document templates can include your own character styles, your own cell styles and any kind of content. |
▪AutoFormat
| The command AutoFormat allows you to format a range of cells by applying predefined format schemes. |
| Note: The command Insert | Table is even more powerful for applying different table styles. See Tables in worksheets. |
▪Conditional formatting
| You can also apply conditional formatting to cells. Conditional formatting will only be applied when a certain condition is met. This way you can automatically change the appearance of a cell, for example, a cell is displayed in red color whenever its content is greater than 1000. |
▪Input validation
FreeOffice: Input validation is not included in SoftMaker FreeOffice.
| When you add input validation to cells, only the specified types of values (e.g. only numbers) within the specified limits (e.g. only values between 10 and 20) will be considered valid in these cells. |
▪Format painter
| With the ribbon command Home | group Edit | Format painter you can transfer the formatting of one cell to other cells quickly using a "brush". |
▪Page setup
| The page setup command allows the user to set print options. It includes settings such as paper size and orientation, margins, headers, footers and other options. Use the ribbon command File | group Print | Page setup to change these settings. |
For more information on these topics in the above order, see the following pages.