Formula bar

The Formula Bar is located at the top of the sheet in your Calc workspace. The Formula Bar is permanently docked in this position and cannot be used as a floating toolbar. If the Formula Bar is not visible, go to View > Formula Bar on the main menu bar.

Figure 2: Formula Bar

Going from left to right and referring to Figure 2, the Formula Bar consists of the following:

• Name Box – gives the cell reference using a combination of a letter and number, for example A1. The letter indicates the column and the number indicates the row of the selected cell.

• Function Wizard – opens a dialog from which you can search through a list of available functions. This can be very useful because it also shows how the functions are formatted.

• Sum – clicking on the Sum icon totals the numbers in the cells above the selected cell and then places the total in the selected cell. If there are no numbers above the selected cell, then the cells to the left are totaled.

• Function – clicking on the Function icon inserts an equals (=) sign into the selected cell and the Input line allowing a formula to be entered.

• Input line – displays the contents of the selected cell (data, formula, or function) and allows you to edit the cell contents. To edit inside the Input line area, click in the area, then type your changes. To edit within the current cell, just double-click in the cell.

• You can also edit the contents of a cell directly in the cell itself by double-clicking on the cell. When you enter new data into a cell, the Sum and Function icons change to Cancel and Accept icons .

• Note

In a spreadsheet the term function covers much more than just mathematical functions. See Chapter 7 Using Formulas and Functions in this guide for more information.