Conditional formatting in LibreOffice spreadsheets
Sparklines
Integrate graphical information alongside the data it represents with conditional formatting and sparklines.
Spreadsheets are all about detailed data and its manipulation. Sometimes, though, you need a summary for gathering general impressions and discerning trends. That is where conditional formatting becomes useful in LibreOffice Calc – as a graphical summary for interpreting general trends in data at a glance, rather than studying the figures closely.
Contrary to first impressions, Conditional Formatting in Calc shares only part of its name with Conditional Fields or Conditional Styles in Writer. All the three features have in common is that their appearance changes depending on context. In the case of conditional formatting, for instance, the format changes when the content of the involved cells changes.
Conditional formatting is an extension of the idea of sparklines, a concept named and popularized by data visualization theorist Edward Tufte, who devoted 20 pages to the concept in his book, Beautiful Evidence [1]. Sparklines are small line graphs that fit on a line of text or in a single spreadsheet cell. They contain no figures, but from their shape, you can see the general trends in the data they map.
[...]
Buy this article as PDF
(incl. VAT)
Buy Linux Magazine
US / Canada
UK / Australia
Subscribe to our Linux Newsletters
Find Linux and Open Source Jobs
Subscribe to our ADMIN Newsletters
Support Our Work
Linux Magazine content is made possible with support from readers like you. Please consider contributing when you’ve found an article to be beneficial.
News
-
Wayland 1.24 Released with Fixes and New Features
Wayland continues to move forward, while X11 slowly vanishes into the shadows, and the latest release includes plenty of improvements.
-
Bugs Found in sudo
Two critical flaws allow users to gain access to root privileges.
-
Fedora Continues 32-Bit Support
In a move that should come as a relief to some portions of the Linux community, Fedora will continue supporting 32-bit architecture.
-
Linux Kernel 6.17 Drops bcachefs
After a clash over some late fixes and disagreements between bcachefs's lead developer and Linus Torvalds, bachefs is out.
-
ONLYOFFICE v9 Embraces AI
Like nearly all office suites on the market (except LibreOffice), ONLYOFFICE has decided to go the AI route.
-
Two Local Privilege Escalation Flaws Discovered in Linux
Qualys researchers have discovered two local privilege escalation vulnerabilities that allow hackers to gain root privileges on major Linux distributions.
-
New TUXEDO InfinityBook Pro Powered by AMD Ryzen AI 300
The TUXEDO InfinityBook Pro 14 Gen10 offers serious power that is ready for your business, development, or entertainment needs.
-
LibreOffice Tested as Possible Office 365 Alternative
Another major organization has decided to test the possibility of migrating from Microsoft's Office 365 to LibreOffice.
-
Linux Mint 20 Reaches EOL
With Linux Mint 20 at its end of life, the time has arrived to upgrade to Linux Mint 22.
-
TuxCare Announces Support for AlmaLinux 9.2
Thanks to TuxCare, AlmaLinux 9.2 (and soon version 9.6) now enjoys years of ongoing patching and compliance.