Getting Started Guide

Formatting the font
To quickly choose the font used in a cell, select the cell, then click the arrow next to
the Font Name box on the Formatting toolbar and choose a font from the list.
Tip
To choose whether to show the font names in their font or in plain text,
go to Tools > Options > OpenOffice.org > View and select or
deselect the Show preview of fonts option in the Font Lists section. For
more information, see Chapter 2 (Setting Up OpenOffice.org).
To choose the size of the font, click the arrow next to the
Font Size box on the Formatting toolbar. For other
formatting, you can use the Bold, Italic, or Underline icons.
To choose a font color, click the arrow next to the Font Color
icon to display a color palette. Click on the required color.
(To define custom colors, use Tools > Options >
OpenOffice.org > Colors. See Chapter 2.)
To specify the language of the cell (useful because it allows
different languages to exist in the same document and be
spell checked correctly), use the Font tab of the Format Cells
dialog. Use the Font Effects tab to set other font
characteristics. See Chapter 4 (Using Styles and Templates
in Calc) of the Calc Guide for more information.
Formatting the cell borders
To add a border to a cell (or group of selected cells) click on the Borders icon on the
formatting toolbar, and select one of the border options displayed in the palette.
To quickly choose a line style and color for the borders of a cell, click the small
arrows next to the Line Style and Line Color icons on the Formatting toolbar. In each
case, a palette of choices is displayed.
For more controls, including the spacing between the cell borders and the text, use
the Borders tab of the Format Cells dialog. There you can also define a shadow. See
Chapter 4 (Using Styles and Templates in Calc) of the Calc Guide for details.
Note
The cell border properties apply to a cell, and can only be changed if
you are editing that cell. For example, if cell C3 has a top border
(which would be equivalent visually to a bottom border on C2), that
border can only be removed by selecting C3. It cannot be removed in
C2.
Formatting the cell background
To quickly choose a background color for a cell, click the small arrow next to the
Background Color icon on the Formatting toolbar. A palette of color choices, similar
to the Font Color palette, is displayed.
(To define custom colors, use Tools > Options > OpenOffice.org > Colors. See
Chapter 2 for more information.)
You can also use the Background tab of the Format Cells dialog. See Chapter 4 (Using
Styles and Templates in Calc) of the Calc Guide for details.
132 Getting Started with OpenOffice.org 3.3