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- <sect1 id="sect-movecopy">
- <title>Moving and Copying Data</title>
-
- <para>
- Data which have been entered once into a spreadsheet can be moved
- to new locations and possibly duplicated. The simplest way to do
- this involves dragging the selection box. A more advanced way
- involves a formal cut or copy operation and then a paste operation
- in the new location. The latter approach allows the data to be
- modified as they are pasted which can be extremely important.
- </para>
-
- <tip>
- <para>
- It is frequently necessary to copy the results of complex
- calculations into a new location. This is done by selecting the
- data and using the <guimenuitem>As Value</guimenuitem> command
- from the <guimenuitem>Paste Special...</guimenuitem>
- dialog. This is explained in <xref
- linkend="sect-movecopy-pastespecial" /> below.
- </para>
- </tip>
-
- <sect2 id="sect-movecopy-simple">
- <title>Simple Copy and Move</title>
-
- <para>
- The easiest way to move or copy a cell or a group of cells is by
- selecting the cell or cells to be moved or copied, then using
- the mouse to drag the selection box to a new location.
- </para>
-
- <procedure>
- <step>
- <para>
- Select a cell to move by clicking in it. You can also select
- a range of cells as described in <xref
- linkend="sect-data-selections" />.
- </para>
- </step>
- <step>
- <para>Click <mousebutton>left</mousebutton> mouse button on
- the border of the selection (anywhere except the autofill
- square in the bottom right corner). Use
- <mousebutton>left</mousebutton> mouse button to move cells
- or <keycap>Ctrl</keycap>+<mousebutton>left</mousebutton>
- mouse button to copy cells.
- </para>
- </step>
-
- <step>
- <para>Drag the selection to the new location.</para>
- </step>
-
- <step>
- <para>Release the mouse button.</para>
- </step>
- </procedure>
-
- <para>
- The selected cells will be copied or moved to the new
- location. This will move both cells' content and
- formatting. When copying, relative cell references in all
- formulas will change as described in <xref
- linkend="sect-data-formulas-references" />; when moving, relative cell
- references will remain unchanged.
- </para>
- </sect2>
-
-
- <sect2 id="sect-movecopy-cutandpaste">
- <title>Cut, Copy and Paste</title>
-
- <para>
- Another, more flexible, way to copy or move a selection is to
- use cut, copy, and paste operations. These operations allow the
- user to copy or move selected cells to the clipboard buffer and
- then paste the contents of the clipboard buffer to a different
- location or a different workbook.
- </para>
-
- <sect3 id="cut">
- <title>Cutting a Selection to the Clipboard</title>
-
- <para>
- To cut a cell or a selection to the clipboard, you should
- select a cell or range of cells as described in <xref
- linkend="sect-data-selections" /> and then use one of the
- following methods:
-
- <itemizedlist>
- <listitem><para>
- Use keyboard shortcut
- <keycombo><keycap>Ctrl</keycap><keycap>X</keycap></keycombo>.
- </para>
- </listitem>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- Choose <guimenuitem>Cut</guimenuitem> from the
- <guimenu>Edit</guimenu> menu.
- </para>
- </listitem>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- Click on
- <guiicon><inlinemediaobject>
- <imageobject>
- <imagedata fileref="figures/button-cut.png" />
- </imageobject>
- <textobject>
- <phrase>An image of the cut toolbar button.</phrase>
- </textobject>
- </inlinemediaobject>
- Cut </guiicon> button in the toolbar.
- </para>
- </listitem>
- <listitem>
- <para>Right-click on the selection and choose
- <guimenuitem>Cut</guimenuitem> from the context menu.
- </para>
- </listitem>
- </itemizedlist>
- The selection will be copied to the clipboard buffer. To
- remind you of this, the border of the selection will be shown
- as "marching ants". The selection will be moved to a new
- location as soon as you choose
- <guimenuitem>Paste</guimenuitem> command as described below.
- </para>
-
- <note>
- <title>NOTE</title>
- <para>
- Please note that the selection will remain in its current
- location until you paste it. If you want to delete a
- selection without pasting it to a new location, use
- <guimenuitem>Delete</guimenuitem> command instead.
- </para>
- </note>
- </sect3><!-- end of "Cut" subsection" -->
-
- <!-- **************** "Copy" subsection *********** -->
- <sect3 id="copy">
- <title>Copying a Selection to the Clipboard</title>
-
- <para>
- To copy a cell or a selection to the clipboard, you should
- select a cell or range of cells as described in <xref
- linkend="sect-data-selections" /> and then use one of the
- following methods:
-
- <itemizedlist>
- <listitem><para>
- Use keyboard shortcut
- <keycombo><keycap>Ctrl</keycap><keycap>C</keycap></keycombo>.
- </para>
- </listitem>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- Choose <guimenuitem>Copy</guimenuitem> from the
- <guimenu>Edit</guimenu> menu.
- </para>
- </listitem>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- Click on
- <guiicon><inlinemediaobject>
- <imageobject>
- <imagedata fileref="figures/button-copy.png"/>
- </imageobject>
- <textobject>
- <phrase>An image of the copy toolbar button.</phrase>
- </textobject>
- </inlinemediaobject>
- Copy
- </guiicon> button in the toolbar.
- </para>
- </listitem>
- <listitem>
- <para>Right-click on the selection and choose
- <guimenuitem>Copy</guimenuitem> from the context menu.
- </para>
- </listitem>
- </itemizedlist>
- The selection will be copied to the clipboard buffer. To
- remind you of this, the selection will outlined by "marching
- ants" border. The selection will be copied to a new location
- as soon as you choose <guimenuitem>Paste</guimenuitem> command
- as described below.
- </para>
- </sect3><!-- end of "Copy" subsection" -->
-
-
- <sect3 id="paste">
- <title>Pasting the Clipboard</title>
-
- <para>
- To paste the contents of the clipboard (i.e., previously cut
- or copied selection) to a new location, just click on a cell
- and use one of the following methods:
- <itemizedlist>
- <listitem><para>
- Use keyboard shortcut
- <keycombo><keycap>Ctrl</keycap><keycap>V</keycap></keycombo>.
- </para>
- </listitem>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- Choose <guimenuitem>Paste</guimenuitem> from the
- <guimenu>Edit</guimenu> menu.
- </para>
- </listitem>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- Click on
- <guiicon><inlinemediaobject>
- <imageobject>
- <imagedata
- fileref="figures/button-paste.png"/>
- </imageobject>
- <textobject>
- <phrase>An image of the paste toolbar button.</phrase>
- </textobject>
- </inlinemediaobject>
- Paste
- </guiicon> button in the toolbar.
- </para>
- </listitem>
- <listitem>
- <para>Right-click on the cell and choose
- <guimenuitem>Paste</guimenuitem> from the context menu.
- </para>
- </listitem>
- </itemizedlist>
- The contents of the clipboard will be pasted in the
- spreadsheet so that the selected cell becomes the top left
- corner of the selection. This will also copy the formatting of
- the original selection.
- </para>
-
- <para>
- If you are pasting a selection which was
- <emphasis>copied</emphasis> to the clipboard buffer, all
- relative cell references in all formulas will change as
- described in <xref linkend="sect-data-formulas-references"
- />. The selection remains in the clipboard buffer so that it
- can be pasted again. The original selection will remain
- outlined with "marching ants" border.
- </para>
-
- <para>
- If you are pasting a selection which was
- <emphasis>cut</emphasis> to the clipboard buffer, all cell
- references in all formulas will remain unchanged. The original
- selection will be removed from the workbook and the clipboard
- buffer will be cleared.
- </para>
- </sect3> <!-- end of "Paste" subsection -->
-
- </sect2>
-
-
-
- <!-- ****************** Paste special subsection ************** -->
- <sect2 id="sect-movecopy-pastespecial">
- <title>Paste Special</title>
-
- <para>
- All of the methods described above to move or copy data create
- identical copies of the original cells in the new location. This
- means that both the contents and the formatting of the original
- selection are copied to the new location and also means that any
- data present in the new location are deleted. It is frequently
- important either to alter the data before it is pasted or to
- merge the data in the new location with the data being
- pasted. The <guimenuitem>Paste Special...</guimenuitem> command
- enables this.
- </para>
-
- <para>
- The <guimenuitem>Paste Special...</guimenuitem> command can act
- exactly like the <guimenuitem>Paste</guimenuitem> command or may
- selectively paste the cell contents, the cell formats, the
- calculated values of the original cells rather than their
- contents. described in the previous section copies both
- contents and formatting of the original selection. If you need
- more options, use <guimenuitem>Paste Special...</guimenuitem>
- command.
- </para>
-
- <para>
- The <guimenuitem>Paste Special...</guimenuitem> command can be
- accessed, after a selection has been cut or copied as explained
- above, in one of two ways. First, the location where the pasting
- should happen must be selected. The easiest way to do this is to
- select the single cell which will be at the top left hand corner
- of the region of pasted cells. Alternatively, the exact region
- into which the cells will be copied can be selected. After the
- selection is made, the <guimenuitem>Paste
- Special...</guimenuitem> command can be chosen from the
- <guimenu>Edit</guimenu> menu or the context menu obtained by
- clicking with the right mouse button in the cell area of the
- spreadsheet.
- </para>
-
- <para>
- The <guimenuitem>Paste Special...</guimenuitem> menu item opens
- a dialog with three categories. By default, <guimenuitem>Paste
- Special...</guimenuitem> acts as if it were the
- <guimenuitem>Paste</guimenuitem> menu item.
- </para>
-
- <para>The first set of choices allow the user to control the
- data pasted.The user can chose to limit the pasting to only the
- cell contents (no cell formatting is copied) or the opposite
- only cell formats copied (no contents). Furthermore, the user
- can insert the selection while transforming all the contents
- into values only. Formulas will be replaced by their values.
- </para>
-
- <para>A second set of choices allows the user to perform simple
- mathematical operations during the paste. These operations
- use the current contents of the cells in the paste range and the
- contents of the clipboard. For example, if you are pasting a
- cell containing number 5 to a cell that currently contains
- number 10 and choose option <guilabel>Divide</guilabel>, the
- result will be 10/5=2. Choosing option <guilabel>None</guilabel>
- will just replace the previous contents of the cells by the
- contents of the clipboard buffer (this is the default
- behavior).
- </para>
-
- <para>
- The final choices contains the following options:
- <itemizedlist>
- <listitem><para> <guilabel>Transpose</guilabel>. This option
- will transpose the selection, i.e. interchange the rows
- and columns. Thus, a range with k rows and n columns will
- become a range with n rows and k columns, so that the firs
- row becomes the first column, and so on.
- </para>
- </listitem>
- <listitem><para> <guilabel>Skip Blanks</guilabel>. This option
- prevents <application>Gnumeric</application> from taking
- any action for the cells in the selection that are
- blank. For such cells, the existing contents of the cells
- in the paste range will be kept.
- </para>
- </listitem>
- </itemizedlist>
- </para>
- </sect2> <!-- end of "Paste Special" section -->
-
-
-
- <!-- ****************** Cut and paste with other applications ******** -->
- <sect2 id="sect-movecopy-xclipboard">
- <title>Cut and Paste Between Gnumeric and Other Applications</title>
-
- <para>
- Cut and paste commands described above allow copying and moving
- selections from one location in a spreadsheet to another, or
- between different spreadsheets. However, you can also use cut
- and paste to exchange information between
- <application>Gnumeric</application> and other applications,
- using so-called X clipboard which is shared by all graphical
- applications.
- </para>
-
- <para>
- Whenever you cut or copy a selection in
- <application>Gnumeric</application>, it is placed both in
- <application>Gnumeric</application> clipboard and in X
- clipboard. In X clipboard, it is placed as text, with formulas
- replaced by their values and contents of different cells
- separated by spaces.
- </para>
-
- <para>
- To paste the selection from X clipboard to an application, click
- with middle mouse button (if you have two button mouse, you can
- emulate the middle mouse button by pressing left and right
- buttons simultaneously). Most applications also allow pasting
- from X clipboard by using keyboard shortcut (usually
- <keycombo><keycap>Ctrl</keycap><keycap>V</keycap></keycombo>) or
- by choosing <menuchoice><guimenu>Edit</guimenu>
- <guimenuitem>Paste</guimenuitem></menuchoice>.
- </para>
-
- <para>To paste a selection from another application to
- <application>Gnumeric</application>, place this selection in the
- X clipboard. Usually it is done by just selecting it with the
- mouse; some applications also allow you to use keyboard shortcut
- <keycombo><keycap>Ctrl</keycap><keycap>C</keycap></keycombo>, or
- choose <menuchoice><guimenu>Edit</guimenu>
- <guimenuitem>Copy</guimenuitem></menuchoice>. After this, you
- can paste it in <application>Gnumeric</application> by using
- <guimenuitem>Paste</guimenuitem> command described <link
- linkend="paste">above</link>. This command will automatically
- paste the contents of X clipboard if Gnumeric's own clipboard is
- empty.
- </para>
-
- <para>
- Pasting X clipboard in <application>Gnumeric</application> will
- automatically launch the <guilabel>Text Import</guilabel> druid
- which will assist you in importing the plain text contents of X
- clipboard into the spreadsheet. The <guilabel>Text
- Import</guilabel> druid is described in <xref
- linkend="sect-file-textImport" />.
- </para>
-
- </sect2>
-
- </sect1>
-