Follow Techotopia on Twitter

On-line Guides
All Guides
eBook Store
iOS / Android
Linux for Beginners
Office Productivity
Linux Installation
Linux Security
Linux Utilities
Linux Virtualization
Linux Kernel
System/Network Admin
Programming
Scripting Languages
Development Tools
Web Development
GUI Toolkits/Desktop
Databases
Mail Systems
openSolaris
Eclipse Documentation
Techotopia.com
Virtuatopia.com
Answertopia.com

How To Guides
Virtualization
General System Admin
Linux Security
Linux Filesystems
Web Servers
Graphics & Desktop
PC Hardware
Windows
Problem Solutions
Privacy Policy

  




 

 

OpenOffice Calc 3.x Guide
Previous Page Home Next Page

Calc, like the other components of OOo, has a range of tools to create custom drawings. This chapter covers the default options in Calc. For a more detailed explanation of the drawing tools and their uses, see the Draw Guide.

In general, if you need to create complex drawings, it is recommended to use OpenOffice.org Draw or another drawing program.

To begin using the drawing tools, select View > Toolbars > Drawing. The drawing toolbar appears at the bottom of the screen. You can tear off this toolbar and move it to a convenient place on the window.

The Drawing toolbar showing default icons

Table 4: Drawing toolbar functions (from left to right)

Icon Name Behavior
Image:SelectIcon3.png Select Selects objects.
Image:LineDrawIcon3.png Line Draws a line.
Image:RectangleIcon3.png Rectangle Draws a rectangle. To draw a square, hold down Shift while you drag.
Image:EllipseIcon3.png Ellipse Draws an ellipse. To draw a circle, hold down Shift while you drag.
Image:FreeformIcon3.png Freeform Line Draws a freeform line.
Image:TextIcon3.png Text Draws a text box with no border.
Image:CalloutsIcon3.png Callouts Draws a line that ends in a rectangular callout.
Image:BasicShapesIcon3.png Basic Shapes Opens the Basic Shapes toolbar.
Image:SymbolShapesIcon3.png Symbol Shapes Opens the Symbol Shapes toolbar.
Image:BlockArrowsIcon3.png Block Arrows Opens the Block Arrows toolbar of shapes.
Image:FlowchartsIcon3.png Flowcharts Opens the Flowchart toolbar of shapes.
Image:Callouts2Icon.png Callouts Opens the Callouts toolbar of shapes.
Image:StarsIcon3.png Stars Opens the Stars toolbar of shapes.
Image:DrawPointsActive.png Points Allows editing of the points of a selected polygon.
Image:FontworkIcon.png Fontwork Gallery Opens the Fontwork Gallery.
Image:InsertPictureIcon.png From File Inserts a picture using the Insert Picture dialog.
Image:ExtrusionIcon3.png Extrusion On/Off Opens the 3-D Setting toolbar and converts the selected shape (if any) to 3-D.

In addition to the default icons, you can display others by clicking the down-arrow at the right-hand end of the toolbar, selecting Visible Buttons, and then choosing the tools you want to appear on the toolbar.

Icon Name Behavior
Image:PolygonIcon.png Polygon Draws a line composed of a series of straight line segments. Hold down the Shift key to position new points at 45 degree angles.
Image:CurveIcon.png Curve Draws a smooth Bézier curve.
Image:ArcIcon.png Arc Draws an arc.
Image:EllpieIcon.png Ellipse Pie Draws a filled shape that is defined by the arc of an oval and two radius lines in the current document. To draw a circle pie, hold down Shift while you drag.
Image:CircleSegIcon.png Circle Segment Draws a filled shape that is defined by the arc of a circle and a diameter line in the current document. To draw an ellipse segment, hold down Shift while you drag.
Image:TextAnimIcon.png Text Animation Inserts animated text.

If support for Asian languages has been enabled (in Tools > Options > Language Settings > Languages), two more tools can be added to the Drawing toolbar: Vertical Text and Vertical Callouts.

To use a drawing tool:

  1. Click in the document where you want the drawing to be anchored. You can change the anchor later, if necessary.
  2. Select the tool from the Drawing toolbar (Figure 10). The mouse pointer changes to a cross-hair pointer.
  3. Move the cross-hair pointer to the place in the document where you want the graphic to appear and then click-and-drag to create the drawing object. Release the mouse button. (Some tools have other requirements; see the Help or the Draw Guide for details.) The selected drawing function remains active, so you can draw another object of the same type.
  4. To cancel the selected drawing function, press the Esc key or click on the Select icon (the arrow) on the Drawing toolbar.
  5. You can now change the properties (fill color, line type and weight, anchoring, and others) of the drawing object using either the Drawing Object Properties toolbar or the choices and dialog boxes reached by right-clicking on the drawing object.

OpenOffice Calc 3.x Guide
Previous Page Home Next Page

 
 
  Published under the terms of the Creative Commons License Design by Interspire