# Menus

This section of the manual describes the use of the menubar and the menus themselves. The rest of sect-gui-menus then explains each entry in every Gnumeric menu, submenu or context menu.

A menu is a graphical element within a program which appears with a list of options. For instance, almost all applications have a File menu through which the user can access the computer's filesystem to open or save their work. The main menus are on the menubar. The use of these menus is discussed in menu-bars.

Gnumeric also uses context menus to give users a quick way to access certain commands. The context menu will open up right under the mouse pointer when one of the secondary mouse buttons, usually the rightmost, is clicked. This menu is called a context menu because the entries in the menu are different depending on the location of the mouse pointer. The context menus are discussed in context-menu.

Both the main menus, on the menubar, and context menus may have sub-menus. Sub-menus are indicated by a small right pointing arrow. To access the sub-menus, the user must move the pointer down to the sub-menu entry and carefully across to the position of the little arrow. After an instant the sub-menu will open up and the user must carefully move the pointer directly across into the sub-menu. Occasionally, when there is not enough room to the right of the currently open menu, sub-menus may open to the left. Navigating sub-menus can be difficult since the menu will close if the mouse pointer moves into any other menu entry.

Menu entries which are followed by an ellipsis (three dots) indicate that this entry will open a dialog window which will ask the user for more choices.

## The Menubar

The default location of the menubar is at the top of the application window. The menus provide quick and organized access to all major commands such as opening files, saving files, printing and quitting the application.

### The Gnumeric menubar.

An image of the Gnumeric menubar.

Gnumeric menus are opened with a simple click on the name of the menu in the menu bar. Once clicked, the menu will stay open. If the mouse pointer is dragged over the name of another menu on the menubar, the first menu will close and the new menu open up. This is a useful way to look in each menu to hunt for a commands. Menus can also be opened through the keyboard. One of the letters in each menu is underlined. Typing the Alt key at the same time as the underlined letter key will open the menu. This is also true of sub-menus. Once the menus are open, the arrow keys can be used to move between menus or select an entry in a particular menu. An open menu can be closed with a click over any other area of the application or of the desktop. The menus can also be closed by typing the escape key, Esc.

Many menu entries are followed by a series of keynames. These keys can be used to perform the menu action without having to open the menu. These are often combinations of keys involving the control key which is labeled as Ctrl, the shift key which is labeled Shift and the function keys which are labeled with an F and then a number. For example, to quickly cut a selection (accessible through the Edit menu), the user can make a selection and then type the control key and the "x" key at the same time.

## The File Menu

The File menu is the most important menu in Gnumeric because it gives the user the ability to interact with the computer operating system. This menu allows the user to create files containing all the work they have done. It also enables users to print the results of their work. Finally, the File menu is the best way to close Gnumeric.

### The File menu.

An image of the File menu.

The menu choices are grouped into the following groups:

1 Workbook creation operations.

- - New — Create a new workbook. This opens a new workbook in a new window. By default the workbook will be named "Book1" or another number if there is already a worksheet with that name open. Note that the opened file has not yet been saved.

  - Open... — The Open menu item opens the file chooser dialog to allow the user to pick an existing workbook for Gnumeric to open. Files in many different formats can be opened, see sect-file-formats for details. The Open menu item creates a new window containing the selected file. A more extensive discussion is presented in sect-file-open.

2 File creation operations.

- - Save — The Save menu item saves the current worksheet. If the file has been named and saved before, this will silently save the file to the current filename. If it has not been saved before, this will act as if the Save As... menu item had been called and prompt the user for a filename.

  - Save As... — The Save As... menu item allows users to save a file which has not yet been named to a named file. This is always used when a user saves a file which Gnumeric has named by default. This menu item can also be used to save a newly created file or to save an existing file to a new and different name. For an explanation of the file formats which gnumeric supports see sect-file-save.

3 Printing operations.

- These menu items enable Gnumeric to print. Each item is presented below and printing issues are discussed fully in chapter-printing.

  - Page Setup... — The Page Setup... menu item call the Page Setup dialog. This dialog allows the user to set various printing options such as paper type, margin sizes and running header and footer formats. This dialog is explained in detail in sect-printing-setup.

  - Print... — The Print... menu item allows a user to print one or all of the worksheets in a workbook. Gnumeric can send files directly to a printer or can print to postscript or portable document format files. The Print dialog is explained further in sect-printing.

  - Print Preview... — The Print Preview... menu item calls a dialog which presents the current workbook as it would be printed with the current Page Setup settings. The dialog also permits the user to print. This dialog is explained in sect-printing-preview.

4 Miscellaneous Operations.

- - Send To... — The Send To... menu item call the Send To dialog. This dialog allows the user to send a &gnum; workbook as an attachment to an email message. This dialog is explained in detail in sect-files-email.

  - Properties... — The Properties... menu item call the Document Summary dialog. This menu item opens a dialog with fields to edit the document summary information of the file currently open in that window. Summary information describes the sheet, for instance, with the author name and a comment.

  - Preferences... — The Preference... menu item call the &gnum; Preferences dialog. This menu item opens a dialog with fields to edit the document summary information of the file currently open in that window. Summary information describes the sheet, for instance, with the author name and a comment.

5 Recently used files.

- These menu entries are shortcuts to re-open recently used files. The list will change dynamically as new workbooks are opened and created. Clicking on a file name listed here is the same as using the Open menu entry and finding the file in the Find File dialog. Note that if the file has been moved since Gnumeric last saved it, Gnumeric will not find the file.

6 The Close and Quit operations.

- These menu items either close the current worksheet, Close, or close all open worksheets, Quit. Gnumeric will prompt the user with a Save Workbook.. dialog for any workbooks that have been changed since the last time they were opened or saved.

  - Close — The Close menu item allows the user to close the current workbook. If this is the only workbook which this instance of Gnumeric has open, the close operation will also quit Gnumeric. If other workbooks are open, this workbook will close without affecting the others. If the workbook has unsaved changes, Gnumeric will ask the user if he wants to save the file.

  - Quit — The Quit menu item will close all the workbooks currently being used by Gnumeric and quit the program. Gnumeric will prompt the user asking if he wants to save any workbooks which has changes which have not been saved.

## The Edit Menu

The Edit menu is mostly used for operations on a worksheet or between worksheets. This menu gives users powerful editing operations such as the ability to undo recent changes, the ability to cut and paste selections of cells and the ability to search for specific cell contents.

### The Edit menu.

An image of the Edit menu.

The menu choices are grouped into the following groups:

1 Change History.

- These menu items allow the user to remove recent changes to a worksheet or re-introduce changes which have been undone. These options give the user control over recent edits. This functionality is often called the "change history" of an application.

  The type of edit has no importance. An edit which deletes the contents of a cell is treated in the same way as an edit which adds contents to a cell. The change history is session specific. The user will not be able to undo changes through the change history if the file is saved and then re-opened. Note also that the list only covers the last few dozen operations. The number of operations which Gnumeric tracks in its history depends on the size and complexity of those operations. Finally, there are some operations which cannot yet be modified in this way in Gnumeric 1.0. Sheet operations (adding or removal) cannot be undone, nor can deleted comments be restored, nor can altered summary information, nor can operations on embedded objects be undone.

  - Undo — The Undo menu item is used to remove the last few edits from a workbook. The edits must be undone in order. This menu item removes only the last edit from the workbook. The user can also access the undo list through one of the toolbar buttons and its associated menu. With this menu, the user can undo several operations at once. This is explained in section std-toolbar.

  - Redo — The Redo menu item is used after an undo operation to restore the change that was undone. The menu item only restores the last undone operation. Users can also restore edit using a button on the standard toolbar and through the associated menu. The menu allows several operations to be redone at once. It is explained in std-toolbar.

2 Operations on selected areas.

- These menu items enable selected cell contents to be moved around a spreadsheet, moved between worksheets or between workbooks. Selections are areas of the spreadsheet that have been chosen, usually with the mouse, and are usually colored pale blue. Selections are explained in greater detail in sect-data-selections. Gnumeric currently only allows single range selections for these operations.

  To use these menuitems, the user must first select the range of the cut or copy area. When the user then picks these menuitems, the contents of the selected areas will be entered into the Gnumeric clipboard and into the X clipboard. The contents of the Gnumeric clipboard can then be inserted into a new region of the spreadsheet, into another worksheet or into a new workbook. The X clipboard holds the space delimited results of each cell: either the text or the result of any calculation. The X clipboard can be pasted into any text area.

  - Cut — The Cut menu item is used to remove a selection from the selected area of a currently open workbook. When the menu item is chosen, the selected area will be outlined with a moving dotted line. This is the area which will be moved. The selection will only be removed after it is moved to the new location. Until then cut has not had an effect on the worksheet.

  - Copy — The Copy menu item allows a user to duplicate a selection. The original data remains where it was and the Gnumeric clipboard (and the X clipboard) has a copy which can be inserted elsewhere.

  - Paste — The Paste menu item is used to paste the contents of a selection which has been cut or copied. If the selection was cut, it is pasted into the new location unchanged. Cell references will not change in that they will still point to the same cells.

  - Paste Special... — The Paste Special... is used to paste a selection while altering certain characteristics. The Paste Special... menu item opens a dialog with three categories. The defaults make Paste Special... act as if it were the Paste menu item.

    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 not be copied, only the results will be.

    A second set of choices allows the user to perform simple mathematical transformations during the paste. The data in the cells being pasted into are modified by the cell contents. For instance, using the divide operation will result in each cell in the zone pasted into being divided by the equivalent cell which was cut or copied originally.

    The final choices allow the transposition of the original selection or to not paste empty cells. The transpose check box will change the selection so that the cells that are down n rows from the selection's origin are pasted as being over n columns (and vice-versa). The skip blanks prevents Gnumeric from taking any action for the cells in the selection that are blank. Note that the selection will be transformed if that option is selected but then that the paste will not change the cells in the transformed location if this skip blanks option is selected.

3 Data entry and removal operations.

- These operations either add or remove data from the worksheet. They differ in the type of data removed and the re-arrangement of remaining data. The differences are explained below.

  - Clear — The clear menu item merely opens a sub-menu with four choices. The user can choose to clear all the elements of the cells in a selection: the formats, the comments, the contents. Alternatively, the user can choose to clear a single one of those elements. Clearing the formats will leave the data or formula in the cell intact. It will remove any borders, re-set the cell alignments, change the background colour to white and the text colour to black and reset the number format to General. Clearing the comments will simply delete the comments for the cells in that location. Finally clearing the contents will leave the cell's formatting in place but remove the formula or data contents of the cell.

  - Delete — The delete menu item may open a dialog giving the user a choice of options. Any of the options will completely delete the selected cells. Depending on the selection, Gnumeric will fill in the space the cells were occupying differently. With column or row selections, the effect is easy to understand and no choice is possible so Gnumeric does not open the dialog. The space left by selected rows, is filled by moving lower rows up whereas the space filled by deleting columns is filled by moving to the left columns which were right of the selection. For example, if columns D and E are selected for deletion, Gnumeric will move the contents of all columns from F onwards two columns to the left.

    With blocks of cells, the delete menu item will open a dialog asking the user how to fill in the deleted cells. Blocks of cells will either be filled in by the columns of cells below the block selection or by the rows on the right of the block. For example, if the user chose the block of cells from E6:G8 for deletion, those cells could be filled in by the cells below E8, F8 and G8 if the Shift cells up option were chosen. Alternatively, the cells to the right of G6, G7 and G8 could fill in the space from the right if the Shift cells left option were chosen.

4 Search and locate operations.

- These menu entries do not group together logically. Each entry is explained in detail below.

  - Find... — The Find... menu item opens a dialog to search for cells with particular content. The dialog has three tabs. In the first the user can enter the information the user wants to find and some constraints on the search. The second tab gives some extra choices for the search. When the user has picked the options they prefer, pushing the search button on the first tab will run the search. The third tab will show which cells match the search.

  - Replace... — The Replace... menu item will launch a dialog to find cells with particular characteristics and replace them all with a common content. This dialog is similar to the Find dialog.

  - Goto cell... — The Goto cell... menuitem opens up a dialog which allows the user to type the name of a cell in the worksheet. The current view will then change to be sure that the selected cell is in the current view and the selection will cover that cell.

5 Other operations on worksheets.

- These menu entries do not group together logically. Each entry is explained in detail below.

  - Sheet — The Sheet menu item opens up a submenu which allows users to perform operations on the worksheet. Note that this is the same set of choices as are available from the context menu which appears by clicking (usually with the right mouse button) on one of the worksheet tabs. The worksheet can be duplicated to create a second sheet with the same contents. A new worksheet can be inserted immediately following the current sheet. The current sheet can be renamed in a the little pop-up window. The sheets can be re-ordered or the current sheet can be deleted. For this last option Gnumeric asks for confirmation since this choice cannot be undone.

  - Select — The Select menu item allows the user to select various portions of the worksheet. The Select All provides a quick way to select the entire worksheet. The Select Row and Select Column menuitems allow the user to select all the rows or columns spanned by the current selection.

    The Select Array menu item allows a user to select all the cells which are part of the same array as the current cell. The Select Depends menu item selects all the cells which are formulas which at least partially need the data in the current cell.

  - Recalculate — The Recalculate menu item forces the workbook to recalculate its results. This is useful if a formula in the current worksheet depends on a cell in a different workbook. Gnumeric will not necessarily know when that data has been updated so a user can force Gnumeric to recalculate all the cells in the current workbook.

## The View Menu

The View menu is

### The View menu.

An image of the View menu.

The menu choices are grouped into the following groups:

1 Alternative views of the current document.

- These menu items allow the user to open multiple views of the same document.

  - New View... — The New View... menu item opens up a new window with the current workbook visible. and where both windows are open to the same section of the workbook. If the user starts editing a different part of the sheet in one view, the other view moves automatically to that portion of the worksheet. Similarly, if the user changes to a different worksheet in one view, the other view changes also.

  - Freeze Panes — The Freeze Panes menu item is used to freeze the top-most and leftmost visible portion of the worksheet. This is useful to be able to line up portions of the worksheet which are not usually together. For instance, if a user had a very large table with the titles of each column of data on row 12, the user could select row 13 and select this menu item. If the user scrolled through each data row, the data would line up underneath each header.

    Gnumeric freezes the portion of the worksheet which is currently visible and is above and left of the current selection. If the selection is not visible, then the frozen section will be nine rows tall and five columns wide unless the selection is in a currently visible column or row in which case that postion is used.

  - Windows — The Windows menu item provides access to a sub-menu which lists all of the windows which are currently open. This provides an easy way to jump between all the different instances and views of &gnum; documents.

2 Changes to the current view.

- These menu items alter the display of the current view.

  - Toolbars — The Toolbars menu item provides a submenu which lists each &gnum; toolbar. The toolbars in this submenu which have a check mark in front of their name will be shown. The display status of each toolbar can be changed by selecting the menu item with that toolbar's name.

  - View Statusbar — The View Statusbar menu item determines whether to display the status bar and information area at the bottom of each worksheets. Selecting the menu item toggles the check mark in front. When this menu item has the checkmark, &gnum; will display the statusbar.

  - Full Screen — The Full Screen menu item changes the display of gnumeric from a window based display to a display which occupies the whole screen. In full screen mode, the window borders will not be displayed nor will the toolbars. The key F11 toggles between full screen and regular display mode.

  - Zoom... — The Zoom menu item opens a dialog which allows the user to set the magnification of any of the worksheets in the current workbook.

## The Insert Menu

The Insert menu is

### The Insert menu.

An image of the Insert menu.

The menu choices are grouped into the following groups:

1 Insert into workbook.

- These menu items alter the cells available in a workbook.

  - Cells... — The Cells... menu item opens a dialog asking the user how the sheet should be altered when new cells are inserted. The dialog lists four choices. The user can choose one of these by clicking the mouse pointer on one of the four dots. Only one choice is possible and the currently selected choice has a black dot in front.

    The Shift cells right will insert a region of new cells of the size of the current selection. Cells which are on the same row as the selection and within or to the right of the selection will shift over to the right to accommodate the new cells. The Shift cells down choice will also insert a region of new cells the same size as the current selection. With this choice, cells which are in the selection or below the selection will move down to accommodate the new cells. The two other choices will act as if the user had chosen to insert rows or columns. These actions are explained above.

  - Columns — The Columns menu item will insert columns to the left of the current selection. The number of columns inserted will equal the number of columns spanned by the current selection.

  - Rows — The Rows menu item will insert rows above the current selection. The number of rows inserted will be equal to the number of rows spanned by the current selection.

  - Sheet — The Sheet menu item allows the user to inset a worksheet immediately following the current sheet.

2 Insert an object into the worksheet or content into the current cell.

- The menu items insert sheet objects into the worksheet or insert content into the current cell.

  - Graph... — The Graph... menu item will allow a user to insert a graphic plot of data. This menu item will launch the graph druid. Graphing in Gnumeric is explained in sect-graphics-plots.

  - Image... — The Image... menu item will allow a user to insert a graphic object containing the image from an external file. The use of images in &gnum; is explained in sect-graphics-images.

  - Function — This menu item opens a dialog to allow the user to enter a mathematical formula into the cell. The function dialog includes the names and a brief explanation of all the available functions.

  - Names — The Names menu item opens a sub-menu with the single entry Define. This will open a dialog to allow the user to define a named expression. The expression can be as simple as defining an expression called "Total" which refers to a particular cell. However, the user can also build up a whole sheet with named expressions. formulas-names explains names in greater detail.

  - Comment... — This menu item opens a dialog to allow the user to enter a comment to the currently selected cell. A red triangle will appear in the top right corner of the cell to show that the cell has a comment.

  - Hyperlink... — This menu item opens a dialog to allow the user to enter the location of a link. The cell contents will become the text for the link and clicking on the cell will move the user to the new location. The link can point to another area of the worksheet, to another worksheet, or to any location which can be defined with a Universal Resource Locator (URL). If the URL points to a resource accessible over the Internet, &gnum; will launch the desktop web browser to open that URL.

  - Special — The Special menu item opens a sub-menu which allows the user to insert predefined content into a cell. The current choices are to insert the current date, time or both.

## The Format Menu

The Format menu allows users to control the formats of cells, columns, rows, worksheets and the workbook. This menu also gives users access to templates of standard formats.

### The Format menu.

An image of the Format menu.

The Format Menu offers these menuitems:

- - Cells... — The Cells... menu item opens the cell format dialog. This dialog is used to set cell data types and formats. It is explained in sect-data-format.

  - Column — The Column menu item opens a sub-menu with choices to allows the user to modify the view of the selected columns.

    - Width... — The Width... menu item opens a dialog to enable the user to adjust the size of the columns which hold the current selection. The dialog has a single entry box in which the user can change the current size of the column in points.

    - Auto Fit Selection — This menu item makes Gnumeric automatically choose the optimal column size to display all of the text in the current selection.

    - Hide — The Hide menu item will hide the columns containing the current selection. Gnumeric still holds these columns in memory and will save them to a file but will not display those columns. The only indication that a user has that columns have been hidden is that the column header names are not sequential.

    - Unhide — This menu item will show columns which are hidden if the selection spans the two columns on either side of the selection. If columns D, E, and F have been hidden, the selection must span at least across columns C and G for this menu item to unhide columns D, E, and F.

    - Standard Width — This menu item allows the user to resize the columns which hold the selection to the standard size. At 100 percent zoom this is 48 points or 64 pixels.

  - Row — The Row menu item provides the same functions as the Column menu item but operates on rows.

    - Height... — This menu item opens a dialog which allows the user to type in a row height in pixels.

    - Auto Fit Selection — This menu item changes the rows which hold the selection to the optimal height to hold the text in the selection.

    - Hide — The Hide menu item will hide the rows in the selection. The workbook still contains the data in the hidden rows but those rows are not shown.

    - Unhide — This menu item will make hidden rows visible. The selection must span the rows which are hidden for this menu item to unhide the hidden rows.

    - Standard Height — This menu item resizes the rows back to the default height of 12.75 points or 17 pixels (at 100 percent zoom).

  - Sheet — The Sheet menu item opens a sub-menu with operations to change properties of the worksheet.

    - Change Name... — This opens a dialog with the name of the worksheet. A user can use this to change the name of the current sheet.

    - Re-Order Sheets... —- This opens a dialog with the names of all the sheets. A user can click on one of the names in the dialog and then click on the up and down arrows, as appropriate, to move the selected sheet in front or behind others. The tabs for the sheets will move at the same time. This dialog also allows the user to delete sheets.

    - Display Formulas — This menu item acts as a toggle. By default it is unset and formulas results are displayed. If this menu item is clicked, it will display a little check mark on the left. The worksheet will show the actual formulas for all cells with formulas instead of showing the calculated result. This is useful for quickly assessing which cells contain formulas and which contain data.

    - Hide Zeros — This menu item acts as a toggle. Click on this menu item will cause a check mark to appear on the left. The sheet will then display all the cells which display zeros as empty cells. This is useful in sheets with many zero results, to quickly find cells with data.

    - Hide Gridlines — This menu item acts as a toggle. If this menu item is clicked, Gnumeric will display a check mark to the left of the menu item. The lines which separate all the cells will then be hidden and Gnumeric will appear to be a blank background. This is useful to make certain data look pretty on screen.

    - Hide Column Headers — This menu item acts as a toggle. If this menu item is clicked, Gnumeric display a check mark on the left of the menu item. Gnumeric will also hide the boxes with the alphabetical names of the columns.

    - Hide Row Header — This menu item acts as a toggle. If this menu item is clicked, Gnumeric display a check mark on the left of the menu item. Gnumeric will also hide the boxes with the numeric names of the rows.

  - Workbook... — This menu item opens a dialog which allows users to configure the current workbook. The dialog currently has four choices. Text autocomplete can be unset which means that Gnumeric will not compare text as it entered against text in above it in the column. Text autocomplete is useful to users entering data because if entries are repeated, Gnumeric can guess what the user intends. The user can simply type the Tab key and Gnumeric will enter the rest of the text. The use of notebook tabs can be turned off, as can the horizontal and vertical scrollbars.

  - Preferences... — The Preference... menu item call the &gnum; Preferences dialog. This menu item opens a dialog with fields to edit the document summary information of the file currently open in that window. Summary information describes the sheet, for instance, with the author name and a comment.

  - Autoformat... — This menu item opens the autoformat dialog to give user access to a list of format templates. Format templates are useful for users who are often filling out tables in a particular format. The user picks an area of the worksheet into which they want to apply the template. Most templates define headers and footers so the selection area must be big enough to fit those template elements and the user's data. The template will not affect data which has already been input into a worksheet.

    The dialog has two tabs: Preview and Template Details. The details are simply information about the template. The Preview tab has three main options: a Settings menu, an Edit menu and a category chooser. The settings menu allows a user to pick what parts of the template they want to copy into the worksheet. The edit menu will be used to create new templates. Currently templates are written as text into an extensible markup language (XML) format. The category chooser gives the user access to different groups of templates. Templates in each category are displayed in the middle area of the dialog. Users select the template they want to use by clicking on it. The currently selected template is highlighted with a red boundary which may be hard to see.

## The Tools Menu

The Tools menu is

### The Tools menu.

An image of the Tools menu.

The menu choices are grouped into the following groups:

1 The Plug-ins dialog.

- This entry launches the plug-in management dialog. Plug-ins are programs which are separate from Gnumeric but provide useful functionality. Some of the core parts of gnumeric, such as Excel file format support, are actually plugins. This means that a user who never uses Excel files can remove this module from Gnumeric and make Gnumeric use less memory.

2 Automatic tools

- These two tools allow the user to make Gnumeric automatically correct typing or automatically save workbooks at periodic intervals.

  - Auto Correct... — The Auto Correct... menu item opens a dialog which allows the user to configure the way in which gnumeric automatically corrects text which is being entered. The dialog presents the user with three tabs. Each of these tabs allows the user to correct one type of common spelling mistake, while allowing the user to add exceptions to the rules. Gnumeric can automatically capitalize the names of week days. Gnumeric can automatically change an entry which starts with two capital letters to only start with one and Gnumeric can change a sentence entry to start with a capital letter.

  - Auto Save — The Auto Save menu item opens a dialog which allows the user to have Gnumeric automatically save the current workbook after a fixed interval of time. The user can also have Gnumeric ask for confirmation before saving so that the user always remains aware of the state the workbook was in when it was saved.

3 Linear programming and scenario generation tools

- Gnumeric can be used to solve systems of linear equations and other mathematical problems. These two dialogs enable access to these tools. A full discussion of these tools is presented in sect-advanced-analysis-solver.

  - Goal Seek — The Goal Seek menu item opens a dialog through which the user can configure Gnumeric to iteratively search for a numeric value which solves a formula. This dialog is explained in sect-advanced-analysis-goalseek.

  - Solver — The Solver menu item opens a dialog through which the user can configure Gnumeric to solve linear systems of equations. This is explained in sect-advanced-analysis-solver.

  - Scenarios — The Scenarios menu item displays a submenu with two entries. The View... menu item opens a dialog in which the user can select previously defined scenarios. The Add... menu item opens a dialog in which the user can define the contents of a new scenario.

  - Simulation — The Simulation menu item opens a multipaned dialog allowing the user to configure the parameters for a simulation using linear modeling constraints.

4 Statistics and other Data Analysis tools

- Statistical analysis can easily be done with Gnumeric. All the statistical tools are explained in sect-analysis-statistical.

## The Data Menu

The Data menu is

### The Data menu.

An image of the Data menu.

The menu choices are grouped into the following groups:

1 Data Field tools.

- These menu items allow the user to re-organize data fields.

  - Sort... — The Sort... menu item opens a dialog which allows users to sort a selection according to defined criteria. By default Gnumeric sorts the rows in a selected area depending on the contents of the cells in a particular column of each row. The sort criteria can be extended to calculate on the basis of the cells in several columns. Gnumeric can sort a selection using any number of rules. Rules can be added using the Add button. Rules with no column entered will be ignored or the user can remove these rules with the Remove button.

    For each rule, the dialog has an entry box in which the column to be sorted must be entered. The dropdown box (the little down pointing arrow) will show a list of appropriate columns. The user can determine a sort order for the selection. The Advanced button allows the user to further characterize the sort criteria..

    If the first row of the selection is a header, Gnumeric can be told not to shuffle this row during the sort. Gnumeric can also sort columns based on the contents of cells in specified rows, instead of shuffling rows on the basis of columns, if the user toggles the Sort to act right-left instead of top-down.

  - Filter — The Filter menu item opens a sub-menu with three entries: Add Auto Filter, Show All, and Advanced Filter entry. Filters are explained in sect-data-modify-filter.

  - Validate... — The Validate... menu item opens the cell format dialog to the validation tab. Validation is a means of constraining the contents of a cell either to have a certain value or to fall within a certain range.

2 Miscellaneous Entries.

- These entries allow user to manipulate cell contents, alter the appearance of the worksheet or import external data directly into a worksheet.

  - Text to Columns... — The Text to Columns... menu item opens a dialog box through which a user can create derived information based on data in other worksheets.

  - Consolidate... — The Consolidate... menu item opens a dialog box through which a user can create derived information based on data in other worksheets.

  - Group and Outline — The Group and Outline menu item provides a sub-menu through which users can group rows or columns into units which can be collapsed to be hidden from view. These entries also allow users to alter the display of the grouping handles on the borders of the worksheet.

  - Get External Data — The Get External Data menu item provides a sub-menu which currently only allow the import of text data from an external source.

## The Help Menu

The Help menu is quite simple.

### The Help menu.

An image of the Help menu.

The Help menu connects users to this manual, to the list of functions available for use in Gnumeric and to the list of people who created this wonderful application.

1 Entries to find help and report a problem with &gnum;

- These menu items allow the user to obtain help from several sources or to report a problem with the program.

  - Contents — This menu entry allows the user to launch the local help system and display this manual.

  - Gnumeric on the Web — This menu entry allows the user to launch a web browser and explore the web site dedicated to &gnum; on the server used by the GNOME project.

  - Live Assistance — This menu entry allows the user to launch an Internet Relay Chat (IRC) client to join the GIMPnet network and the #gnumeric channel. This channel is used by the &gnum; developers. There is generally someone around who will, after a few minutes, notice a nice question and attempt to answer it.

    Live assistance is provided on a purely voluntary basis. There are no guarantees that your question will be answered or that the answer will be correct. We generally try our best to answer questions when they are asked politely and when the user shows that they have at least looked in the User Manual an answer.

  - Report a Problem — This menu entry allows the user to launch a web browser and open the page on GNOME's Bugzilla bug entry system for the &gnum; program. This page includes instructions on submitting reports of problems. The first time a user reports a problem, they will be asked to login to the system.

2 The About &gnum; dialog.

- About —Shows basic information about Gnumeric, such as the authors' names and the application version number.

## Context Menus

Context menus are menus which open up under the mouse pointer and are therefore detached from the format graphical structure of the application. These menus provide an extra and convenient way to access Gnumeric commands. All of the commands in context menus are available through the regular menu system. Context menus provide different commands depending on the position of the pointer.

To activate a context menu, a user simply positions the pointer over the appropriate area and clicks one of the buttons on their mouse. Since this button is configurable and users have mice with different buttons, it may be a different button on any given machine or may even require the combination of a keyboard key and a mouse buttons. The user will have to find how to do this themselves.

Currently Gnumeric provides five different context menus. The context menu that is called in the central grid area is discussed next in menu-context-grid. The Context menu that appears when the pointer is over the row headers or column headers is presented in menu-context-col-row-header. Another context menu relates to the worksheet tabs and is explained in menu-context-tabs. Yet another context menu applies to embedded objects or shaped components such as a plot. These are shown in menu-context-object.

## The Context Menu for the Cell Grid Area

The context menu in the cell grid area appears when the pointer is over the cell grid area. This menu applies to the cells that have been selected, not necessarily the cell underneath the mouse pointer.

### The Context Menu for the Cell Grid Area.

An image of the context menu in the cell grid area.

The grid context menu merely provides an extra way to access Gnumeric commands. The Cut, Copy, Paste, Paste Special..., Delete..., and Clear Contents... commands are taken from the Edit menu and are explained in Edit-Menu. The Insert... menu item is explained in the section on the Insert menu in Insert-Menu. The Format Cells... is explained in the manual section on the Format menu in Format-Menu.

## The Context Menu for Column and Row Headers

The Context Menu for Column and Row Headers

### The Context Menu of a Row Header

An image of the context menu on a row header.

The context menu which relates to column or row headers is similar to the context menu for the grid area. Both insert and delete operations are modified to operate explicitly on rows or on columns. An option is added which changes the height of rows or the width of columns. This context menu also provides a way to hide rows or columns and a way to reveal missing columns or rows.

## The Context Menu menu for Worksheet Tabs

The Context Menu menu for Worksheet Tabs.

### The Context Menu.

An image of the context menu for worksheet tabs.

The context menu for tabs provides the same functions as are provided in the Sheet menu item in the Edit menu. These options are explained at the bottom of Edit-Menu.

## The Context Menu for Embedded Objects and Components

The Context Menu for Embedded Objects and Components.

### The Context Menu for Graphical Objects

An image of the context menu on embedded objects.

All embedded objects, such as drawing elements, graphs and images, have a context menu which can be invoked by placing the mouse pointer over the element and clicking with one of the secondary mouse buttons.

The first menu entry, labeled Properties, will open a dialog specific to the type of element selected in which the user can configure the properties of the element.

A second menu entry, labeled Save As... and only present for certain elements, allows the object to be saved as an image file. This menu item is not present in menu-context-object.png.

A third menu entry, labeled Order, opens a submenu which allows the user to change the visual order in which the graphical elements are placed. This order will affect the way in which the graphical elements obscure each other.

### The Context Submenu for Graphical Object Order

An image of the context submenu allowing the re-odering of graphical objects.

The remaining menu entries, labeled Cut, Copy, and Delete, allow the user to operate on the whole object at once. The Cut menu item allows the user to remove the element from its current position and then paste the object in a different location on the same sheet, in a different worksheet, in a different gnumeric file, or in a file from a different program entirely. The Copy menu item provides the same functionality while leaving the original item in place. The Delete allows the user to remove the graphical element entirely.