Comments on OpenOffice.org Ninja: Convert Text to Columns in Calc

Anita: There are a few ways. The most simple is to...

2009-05-08T10:24:33.072-06:00

Anita: There are a few ways. The most simple is to highlight the area and perform a Find and Replace on the highlighted selection. Replace all numbers with blanks. You may do each number separately, or if you want an advanced method, use a regular expression in the search field.

I am trying to figure out how to convert a colum c...

2009-05-08T06:16:59.460-06:00

I am trying to figure out how to convert a colum containing both number and text. For ex: 44example. I want only the text and it is ok if i can delete the number. How do i work on calc in openoffice. Pls help

fuggypiggy, helped my issues, i did not read whole...

2009-01-17T11:45:58.585-07:00

fuggypiggy, helped my issues, i did not read whole document :D

If you want to merge two columns ( or more ) of te...

2008-10-03T13:47:07.235-06:00

If you want to merge two columns ( or more ) of text, in OO or Excel for that matter, use the ampersand in a cell formula.

Say you have Firstname in col A and Surname in col B, col C formula would be : =A1&" "&B1

Simple!

Thanks for this tutorial, it provided exactly the ...

2008-09-05T07:47:23.402-06:00

Thanks for this tutorial, it provided exactly the information we were looking for. Your work is much appreciated!!

I'd love to know how to do the opposite. I'd like...

2008-07-01T07:59:40.547-06:00

I'd love to know how to do the opposite. I'd like to combine two columns into one.

I received an answer in the forum at http://user.s...

2008-05-27T23:36:25.232-06:00

I received an answer in the forum at http://user.services.openoffice.org/en/forum/viewtopic.php?f=9&t=6174. Thanks all!

I want to split my cell at the first space (file_n...

2008-05-27T15:05:59.932-06:00

I want to split my cell at the first space (file_name my file description). Is there a formula I can plug in?

Andrew:Funny, I actually did almost exactly that e...

2008-04-05T15:58:21.889-06:00

Andrew:
Funny, I actually did almost exactly that except I tried to trigger the new configuration to create those xml config files (that does not get created unless you alter the menubar/accelerator/toolbar) so I could compare the diff. with my old ones and then add the diff. to the new ones.
All this, just to convince my self I wouldn't miss out on some new fancy functions in 2.4 :)

It would be nice if the user customization was designed so that your settings just saved the appended customization in the xml files and not the whole settings.
Would make it much easier to migrate to a new version.
Wonder if there are any feature request on the issue tracker in that direction ? A quick search on the words "customize" and "soffice.cfg" at http://qa.openoffice.org/issues/query.cgi
with the options FEATURE and ENHANCMENT sat didn't give me any result though.
--Henrik

Henrik: If you want to save your OpenOffice.org pr...

2008-04-05T13:25:08.215-06:00

Henrik: If you want to save your OpenOffice.org profile (most of it, anyway), rename its directory, create a new one by starting OpenOffice.org, restore the old profile, and then copy (user configuration base path)\user\config\soffice.cfg\modules\swriter\menubar\menubar.xml which just has the menu items.

I just couldn't find that "Text To Columns..." men...

2008-04-03T17:17:26.770-06:00

I just couldn't find that "Text To Columns..." menu entry after I updated to OOo 2.4 (Win platform).
Seems OOo does not append new menu entries if you have customized your menu so you have to either do it manually or reset your customizations by either using the UI or deleting the %APPDATA%\"OpenOffice.org2" directory (Win platform) before starting Calc.

--Henrik

Anonymous March 29, 2008 5:59 PM: Indirectly, yes....

2008-03-29T18:13:47.605-06:00

Anonymous March 29, 2008 5:59 PM: Indirectly, yes. Use a regex to insert a unique delimiter such as a semicolon. Then, use this Text to Columns feature to split the delimiter into cells.

Is it also possible to split cells using regular e...

2008-03-29T17:59:58.022-06:00

Is it also possible to split cells using regular expressions (say, splitting an address line into number, street name, street type, city and state)?

Hello,I would like to also define the cell format ...

2008-03-27T07:43:27.966-06:00

Hello,
I would like to also define the cell format as a "number" in "Column options"

Anonymous,Perfect suggestion about the regex. I l...

2008-02-04T07:56:55.629-07:00

Anonymous,

Perfect suggestion about the regex. I linked your comment from the body of the article. Thanks!

Andrew

Getting rid of extra spaces is actually easier tha...

2008-01-31T10:02:49.603-07:00

Getting rid of extra spaces is actually easier than you've noted. When I recieve (as excel or csv files) reports that have fields filled with blank spaces I clear them using Edit > Replace. Under Advanced options, there's an option to use Regular Expressions. Using "\ " (no quotes)as the search criteria and replacing with nothing will remove all spaces from each cell. using "\ \ " will remove only instances in which 2 spaces appear together - thus preserving single spaces (in full name fields, for example).