Calc Guide 6.4 is Released! – Download Now!

The LibreOffice Documentation Team announces the release of the LibreOffice Calc Guide 6.4, the complete handbook for the spreadsheet tool of LibreOffice. The guide was updated from the existing release 6.2 and include all the improvements developed since then.

LibreOffice Calc is the spreadsheet module of LibreOffice, capable of creating and edit complex spreadsheets, from simple calculations to ‘What if…’ manner by changing some of the data and observing the results without having to retype the entire spreadsheet or sheet. Other features provided by Calc include

  • Functions, which can be used to create formulas to perform complex calculations on data.
  • Database functions to arrange, store, and filter data.
  • Dynamic charts, including a wide range of 2D and 3D charts.
  • Macros for recording and executing repetitive tasks; scripting languages supported include LibreOffice Basic, Python, BeanShell, and JavaScript.
  • Ability to open, edit, and save Microsoft Excel spreadsheets.
  • Import and export of spreadsheets in multiple formats, including HTML, CSV, PDF, and PostScript.

The release of the Guide is an effort of the documentation team of the LibreOffice Community, a group of skilled individuals that contributes to create the best reference guides for all LibreOffice modules, including word processor, spreadsheet, presentation, drawing, database and math equations.

“This guide achieves a very important milestone for the whole LibreOffice community since Calc documentation is the most demanded by the end user. I’m sure this great work will be very much appreciated.” said Daniel Rodriguez, Member of The Document Foundation Board of Directors.

“Building on the great work that went on during 2019 to complete the major update necessary to align the Calc Guide with LibreOffice 6.2, the update to 6.4 was a more modest task. However, I am delighted that the Team has completed this task because it gives an excellent platform for the subsequent update to 7.0 . From a personal perspective it was an enjoyable challenge and I was delighted to have a chance to make a useful contribution during our period of lockdown in the UK. Many thanks to all those who contributed to this update, especially Leo Moons, Kees Kriek, Gordon Bates, Drew Jensen and Randolph Gamo” said Steve Fanning, Calc Guide Coordinator.

Steve Fanning picture
Steve Fanning
Randolph Gamo picture
Randolph Gamo

The Calc Guide 6.4 is available in PDF for download from the new Extension website, at the following address: https://extensions.libreoffice.org/en/extensions/show/876.

The source files in Open Document Format (ODT)can be downloaded from this address: https://wiki.documentfoundation.org/Documentation/Publications#LibreOffice_Calc_Guide .

And indeed, the documentation community appreciates help in all languages – plus, contributing is a good way to build up skills for a possible career in technical writing. See here to get started!

Online events in the LibreOffice Hispanic community

Everyone loves to meet in person, share ideas, work on the software and have a good time. Of course, “real life” meetings have been difficult in the last few months, so many communities in the LibreOffice project have chosen to go online. Daniel A. Rodriguez gives us an update:

Yesterday, the Hispanic community of LibreOffice celebrated the second of a series of online events that was broadcast live on YouTube. The activity started at 17:00 UTC and lasted about 3 and a half hours. The virtual assistants benefited from the presence of several members recognized for their participation and collaboration in the project:

  • Xiomara Céspedes, from Costa Rica, provided an overview of the use of styles.

This was, of course, an open event – free of charge and aimed at anyone interested in the FOSS office suite par excellence. Also, we thank our friend Servio from the Latin Community of Free Technologies, who managed the live transmission through YouTube.

Community Member Monday: Jwtiyar Ali

Today we’re talking to Jwtiyar Ali, who is helping to localise LibreOffice into Kurdish…

To start with, tell us a bit about yourself!

Hey! I live in the Kurdistan region, in the north of Iraq – the city of Sulaymaniyah. I have an MSc in Physics, but I love computer science too. Currently I am working in the Cement Quality Control Department at a cement factory, as a physicist.

I do translations for many open source projects such as Ubuntu, Gimp, Firefox etc., leading these translation projects. My hobbies are following new open source projects and seeing how they can be more competitive. I also like football, walking, and reading Python programming courses in my free time.

What are the opportunities and challenges for promoting/using free software and LibreOffice in your region?

In my country, promoting open source apps and systems is a very big challenge because most people – maybe 90% – use proprietary apps, because they don’t hear about or know about open source alternatives.

So we in the team at www.chawg.org decided to make a website to introduce many open source projects. We created a wiki platform and a forum for that reason – and now we have Facebook groups and pages.

In my opinion, an opportunity is to provide users with more guides, and make a comparison between LibreOffice with other apps. Show users what LibreOffice can do that others apps can’t. Also, show people that LibreOffice can do the same things – or even more – with their daily work, and send them articles to educate them about the software.

What are you doing in the LibreOffice project right now?

I am translating LibreOffice. I hope to see LibreOffice in my language – that would be perfect. Also, it would help users to interact with LibreOffice more often than before.

How did you get involved in LibreOffice, and what was the experience like?

My love for open source projects made me engage with LibreOffice and the big community behind it. Being in the community made me feel that I wasn’t working in a specific part of the world – but people around the world can benefit from what I do.

The experience was amazing, because I didn’t know beforehand that we have a great app like LibreOffice.

Anything else you want to add?

I want to thank everyone who helped me to join this great community. My passion for LibreOffice has no borders, and I hope to see other open source projects grow faster than ever. The best part of the community is that we all trust in open source and teamwork.

Thesedays, I am promoting LibreOffice to my colleagues and friends. Also, I help them to fix any problems that they may face it during installing or when using the suite.

Thanks to Jwtiyar for all his contributions! Our native language communities are always open for more help – so if you want LibreOffice and its website localised in your language, give us a hand!

Documentation updates: Czech Guide for LibreOffice Math

Math is LibreOffice’s formula editor, and can be invoked in your text documents, spreadsheets, presentations and drawings, enabling you to insert perfectly formatted mathematical and scientific formulas. Your formulas can include a wide range of elements, from fractions, terms with exponents and indices, integrals, and mathematical functions, to inequalities, systems of equations, and matrices.

We have an English guidebook for Math in LibreOffice 6.4, and now our Czech community has completed a translation, thanks to Zdenek Crhonek, Petr Kubej, Eliska Rolfova and Roman Toman. Click here to read it!

Meanwhile, they’re working on the Getting Started Guide and Calc Guide. If you speak Czech, give them a hand! You can also follow the Czech LibreOffice community on Twitter.

And indeed, the documentation community appreciates help in all languages – plus, contributing is a good way to build up skills for a possible career in technical writing. See here to get started!

openSUSE + LibreOffice Conference Update

The organisers of the openSUSE + LibreOffice Conference have slightly adjusted the conference dates, from the original of October 13 – 16 to the new dates of October 15 – 17.

The new dates are Thursday through to Saturday. Participants can submit talks for the online conference until July 21 when the Call for Papers is expected to close.

The length of the talks for the conference have also been changed. There will be a 15-minute short talk, a 30-minute normal talk and a 60-minute workgroup session to select. Organisers felt that shortening the talks were necessary to keep attendees engaged during the online conference. The change will also help with the scheduling of breaks, social video sessions and extra segments for Questions and Answers after each talk.

The live platform that will be used will allow presenters with limited bandwidth to play a talk they record, should they wish not to present a live talk. The presenter will have the possibility to control the video as well as pause, rewind, fast-forward, etc., which is built into the system.

Organizers have online, live conference sponsorship packages available. Interested parties should contact ddemaio (at) opensuse.org for more information.

LibreOffice Tuesday T&T: Writer Keyboard Shortcuts

Interesting article on REPUBLICWORLD.COM about LibreOffice Writer Keyboard Shortcuts, which – according to the editor – help to improve the usability of the software:

However, it becomes highly important to know LibreOffice shortcut keys to create content faster. LibreOffice shortcut keys also help a user use the medium more effectively. If you want to learn how to use LibreOffice shortcut keys, here are some of the many essentials to know to be able to use the software more effectively.

Shortcuts are based on the English keyboard, but many works also with other keyboard layouts:

F2 – Formula Bar
Ctrl+F2 – Insert Fields
F3 – Complete AutoText
Ctrl+F3 – Edit AutoText
F4 – Open Data Source View
Shift+F4 – Select next frame
F5 – Navigator on/off
Ctrl+Shift+F5 – Navigator on, go to page number
F7 – Spellcheck
Ctrl+F7 – Thesaurus
F8 – Extension mode
Ctrl+F8 – Field shadings on / off
Shift+F8 – Additional selection mode
Ctrl+Shift+F8 – Block selection mode
F9 – Update fields
Ctrl+F9 – Show fields
Shift+F9 – Calculate Table
Ctrl+Shift+F9 – Update Input Fields and Input Lists
Ctrl+F10 – Nonprinting Characters on/off
F11 – Styles and Formatting window on/off
Shift+F11 – Create Style
Ctrl+F11 – Sets focus to Apply Style box
Ctrl+Shift+F11 – Update Style
F12 – Numbering on
Ctrl+F12 – Insert or edit Table
Shift+F12 – Bullets on
Ctrl+Shift+F12 – Numbering / Bullets off
Alt+Arrow Keys – Move object.
Alt+Ctrl+Arrow Keys – Resizes by moving lower right corner.
Alt+Ctrl+Shift+Arrow Keys – Resizes by moving top left corner.
Ctrl+Tab – Selects the anchor of an object.

Ctrl+A – Select All
Ctrl+D – Double Underline
Ctrl+E – Centered
Ctrl+F – Find and Replace
Ctrl+Shift+P – Superscript
Ctrl+L – Align Left
Ctrl+R – Align Right
Ctrl+Shift+B – Subscript
Ctrl+Y – Redo last action
Ctrl+0 – Apply Default paragraph style
Ctrl+1 – Apply Heading 1 paragraph style
Ctrl+2 – Apply Heading 2 paragraph style
Ctrl+3 – Apply Heading 3 paragraph style
Ctrl+5 – 1.5 Line Spacing

There is a larger list of LibreOffice Writer Keyboard Shortcuts on SHORTCUTWORLD.COM, and a full list on LibreOffice Online Help.