Calc Guide

5

Chapter
Using Graphics in Calc

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separately.)CopyrightThis document is Copyright © 2006–2010 by its contributors as listed
in the section titled Authors. You may distribute it and/or modify it
under the terms of either the GNU General Public License, version 3 orlater, or the Creative Commons Attribution License, version 3.0 or
later.
All trademarks within this guide belong to their legitimate owners.

Authors
Jean Hollis Weber
Emma Kirsopp
Peter Kupfer
Alexandre Martins
Kashmira Patel
Iain Roberts

Feedback
Please direct any comments or suggestions about this document to:authors@documentation.openoffice.org

Publication date and software version
Published 24 April 2010. Based on OpenOffice.org 3.2.

You can download
an editable version of this document fromhttp://oooauthors.org/english/userguide3/published/

Contents
Copyright............................................................................................... 2
Graphics in Calc..................................................................................... 5
Adding graphics (images)......................................................................5
Inserting an image file........................................................................5
Insert Picture dialog........................................................................6
Drag and drop.................................................................................. 7
Linking an image file..........................................................................7
Embedding linked images................................................................8
Inserting an image from the clipboard...............................................9
Inserting an image from the Gallery...................................................9
Modifying images................................................................................. 11
Using the Picture toolbar..................................................................11
Choosing a graphics mode................................................................13
Using graphic filters.........................................................................13
Adjusting colors................................................................................14
Setting transparency........................................................................14
Customizing lines, areas, and shadows.............................................14
Cropping pictures.............................................................................15
Resizing an image............................................................................. 16
Rotating a picture.............................................................................17
Using the picture context menu...........................................................17
Text................................................................................................... 17
Position and Size............................................................................... 18
Original Size.....................................................................................18
Description........................................................................................ 18
Name................................................................................................ 19
Flip.................................................................................................... 19
Assign Macro.................................................................................... 19Group................................................................................................ 19
Using Calc’s drawing tools................................................................... 20
Set or change properties for drawing objects...................................22
Using Graphics in Calc

3

Resizing a drawing object.................................................................23
Grouping drawing objects.................................................................23
Positioning graphics............................................................................. 23
Arranging graphics...........................................................................24
Anchoring graphics........................................................................... 25
Aligning graphics.............................................................................. 26
Creating an image map........................................................................26

4

Using Graphics in Calc

Graphics in Calc
Calc is often used to present data and make forecasts and predictions.
Graphics can turn an average document into a memorable one. Calc
can import various vector (line drawing) and raster (bitmap) fileformats. The most commonly used graphic formats are GIF, JPG, PNG,
and BMP. See the Help for a full list of the formats OOo can import.
Graphics in Calc are of three basic types:• Image files, such as photos, drawings, and scanned images• Diagrams created using OOo’s drawing tools• Charts and graphs created using OOo’s Chart facility
This chapter covers images and diagrams. Charts are described in
Chapter 3 (Creating Charts and Graphs).
Although using graphics in Calc is very similar to using graphics in any
other component of OOo, this chapter explains some of the differencesin their use. It also covers some of the more advanced graphics
functions and how they can further enhance your spreadsheet.
Note

The term graphics refers to both pictures and drawing objects.
Often the word images is used when referring to pictures andother graphics that are not drawing objects.

Adding graphics (images)
Images (also called pictures in OOo), such as corporate logos andphotographs of people and products, are probably the most common
types of graphics added to a Calc document. They may be downloaded
from the Internet, scanned, or created with a graphics program; orthey may be photos taken with a digital camera.
Images can be inserted in four ways:• Using the Insert File dialog• By dragging and dropping a supported file
• From the gallery• From the clipboard by copying and pasting

Inserting an image file
Perhaps the most common way to insert graphics is to use an existing
file.
Adding graphics (images)5

To insert an image from a file, use either of the following methods:• Insert Picture dialog• Drag and drop

Insert Picture dialog
1) Click in the location in the Calc document where you want theimage to appear. Do not worry too much about the exact
placement of the image at this stage; placement can be changed
easily as described in “Positioning graphics” on page 23.
2) Choose Insert > Picture > From File from the menu bar, or
click the Insert Picture iconon the Picture toolbar).
3) On the Insert Picture dialog, navigate to the file to be inserted,
select it, and click Open.

Note

The picture is inserted into Calc floating above the cells andanchored to the cell in which the cursor was placed. See“Positioning graphics” on page 23 for more about positioning
and anchoring graphics.

Figure 1: Inserting a picture from a fileAt the bottom of the dialog are two options, Preview and Link. SelectPreview to view a thumbnail of the selected image on the right, so you
can verify that you have the correct file. The Link option is discussed
on page 7. When the Link option is not selected, the picture isembedded in the Calc document.
6

Using Graphics in Calc

NoteYour Insert Picture dialog may look quite different from the one
shown here, depending on your operating system and yourchoice in Tools > Options > OpenOffice.org > General ofwhether to use the OOo Open and Save dialogs.

Drag and drop1) Open a file browser window and locate the image you want toinsert.
2) Drag the image into the Calc document and drop it where youwant it to appear. A faint vertical line marks where the image will
be dropped. The picture will be anchored to the cell where it was
dropped.
This method always embeds (saves a copy of) the image file in the Calc
document.

Linking an image file
To create a link to the file containing the image instead of saving a
copy of the image in the Calc document, use the Insert picture dialog
and select the Link option. The image is then displayed in the
document, but when the document is saved, it contains only areference to the image file—not the image itself. The document and theimage remain as two separate files, which are merged temporarily only
when you open the document again.
Linking an image has two advantages and one disadvantage:• Advantage – Linking can reduce the size of the document when it
is saved, because the image file itself is not included. The file size
is usually not a problem on a modern computer with a reasonableamount of memory, unless the document includes many large
graphics files. Calc can handle quite large files.
• Advantage – You can modify the image file separately withoutchanging the document because the link to the file remains valid,
and the modified image will appear when you next open the
document. This can be a big advantage if you (or someone else,
perhaps, a graphic artist) is updating images.
• Disadvantage – If you send the document to someone else, ormove it to a different computer, you must also send the image
files, or the receiver will not be able to see the linked images. You
need to keep track of the location of the images and make sure
the recipient knows where to put them on another machine, so
the Calc document can find them. For example, you might keep
Adding graphics (images)

7

images in a subfolder named Images (under the folder containing
the Writer document); the recipient of the Calc file needs to put
the images in a subfolder with the same name (under the folder
containing the Writer document).

Note

When inserting the same image several times in the document,
it might appear beneficial to create links. However, this is notnecessary, as OOo embeds in the document only one copy of
the image file. (Deleting one or more of the copies does notaffect the others.)

Embedding linked images
If you originally linked the images, you can easily embed (save in the
Calc document) one or more of them later if you wish. To do so:1) Open the document in Calc.
2) Choose Edit > Links from the menu bar.
The Edit Links dialog shows all the linked files. In the Source file
list, select the files you want to change from linked to embedded.
3) Click the Break Link button.
4) Save the Calc document.

Figure 2: The Edit Links dialog

Note

8

Going the other way, from embedded to linked, is not so easy—
you must delete and reinsert each image, one at a time,
selecting the Link option when you do so.

Using Graphics in Calc

Inserting an image from the clipboard
Using the clipboard, you can copy images into a Calc document fromanother Calc document, from another component of OOo (Writer, Draw,and so on), and from other programs.
To do this:1) Open both the source document and the Calc document into
which you want to copy the image.
2) In the source document, select the image to be copied.
3) Press Control+C to copy the image to the clipboard.
4) Switch to the Calc window.
5) Click to place the cursor where the graphic is to be inserted.
6) Press Control+V to insert the image.
CautionIf the application from which the graphic was copied is closed
before the graphic is pasted into Calc, the image stored on the
clipboard could be lost from the clipboard.

Inserting an image from the Gallery
The Gallery provides a convenient way to group reusable objects suchas graphics and sounds that you can insert into your documents.
The Gallery is available in all components of OOo. It does not comewith many graphics, but you can add your own pictures or findextensions containing more graphics. The Gallery is explained in moredetail in Chapter 11 (Graphics, the Gallery, and Fontwork) in theGetting Started guide. For more about extensions, see Chapter 14(Setting Up and Customizing Calc) in this book.
This section explains the basics of inserting a Gallery image into a Calc
document.
1) To open the Gallery (Figure 3), click on the Gallery icon
(located in the right side of the Standard toolbar) or choose Tools> Gallery from the menu bar.
2) Navigate through the Gallery to find the desired picture.
3) To insert the picture, either right-click on the picture and choose
Insert > Copy or click and drag the picture from the Gallery into
the Calc document.

Adding graphics (images)9

By default, the Gallery is docked above the Calc workspace. To expand
the Gallery, position the pointer over the line that divides it from the
top of the workspace. When the pointer changes to parallel lines witharrows, click and drag downward. The workspace resizes in response.

Figure 3: Gallery in Calc
To expand the Gallery without affecting the workspace, undock it so it
floats over the workspace. To do so, hold down the Control key anddouble-click on the upper part of the Gallery next to the View icons.
Double-click in the same area while holding down the Control key todock it again (restore it to its position over the workspace).
When the Gallery is docked, to hide it and view the full Calc
workspace, click the Hide/Show button in the middle of the thin bar
separating the Gallery from the workspace.

To close the Gallery, choose Tools > Gallery to uncheck the Gallery
entry, or click on the Gallery icon again.

10

Using Graphics in Calc

Modifying images
When you insert a new image, you may need to modify it to suit the
document. This section describes the use of the Picture toolbar,
resizing, cropping, and a workaround for rotating a picture. Changes
made in Calc do not affect the original picture, whether it is embedded
or linked.
Calc provides many tools for working with images. These tools are
sufficient for most people’s everyday requirements. However, forprofessional results it is generally better to use an image manipulation
program such as GIMP to modify images (for example, to crop, resize,
rotate, and change color values) and then insert the result into Calc.
GIMP is an open-source graphics program that can be downloaded
from http://www.gimp.org/downloads/.

Using the Picture toolbar
When you insert an image or select one already present in the
document, the Picture toolbar appears. You can set it to always bepresent (View > Toolbars > Picture). Picture control buttons fromthe Picture toolbar can also be added to the Standard Toolbar. See
Chapter 14 (Setting Up and Customizing Calc) for more information.
This toolbar can be either floating or docked. Figure 4 shows thePicture toolbar when it is floating. A brief explanation of the tools is
given in Table 1. See the Draw Guide for a more detailed explanation.
Two other toolbars can be opened from this one: the Graphic Filter
toolbar, which can be torn off and placed elsewhere on the window,
and the Color toolbar, which opens as a separate floating toolbar.
From these three toolbars, you can apply small corrections to thegraphic or obtain special effects.

Figure 4: The Picture Toolbar

Modifying images

11

Table 1: Picture toolbar functions (from left to right)
Icon

12

Name

Behavior

From File

Use of this icon is described in“Inserting an image file” on page 5.

Filter

Displays the Graphic Filter toolbar. See
page 13.

Graphics Mode

Provides several color modes in thedrop-down list. See page 13.

Color

Opens the Color toolbar, described on
page 14.

Transparency

Sets the transparency of the selected
image. See page 14.

Line

Adjusts the border style of the selected
image.

Area

Fills an area with the selected color or
pattern.

Shadow

Adds a drop shadow to the edges of thepicture.

Crop

Opens the Crop dialog, where you canremove a selected part of the picture.
See page 15.

AnchorToggles between anchoring the image
to the cell or to the page. See page 25.

Bring to Front

Brings the selected image to the frontof the stack. See page 24.

Send to Back

Pushes the selected image to the rear of
the stack. See page 24.

To Foreground /Background

Allows image to float in the foregroundor makes it part of the background(behind the cells). See page 24.

Alignment

If two or more pictures are selected,
adjusts the horizontal and verticalalignment of the pictures in relation toeach other. See page 26.

Using Graphics in Calc

Choosing a graphics mode
You can change color images to grayscale by selecting the image andthen selecting Grayscale from the Graphics mode list.
Table 2: Graphics modes
Graphics mode

Behavior

Default

Keeps the picture the same as it was inserted.

GrayscaleShows the picture in gradual shades of gray.

Black / White

Converts the picture into a monochromatic black andwhite image.

WatermarkMakes the picture into a watermark that blends into
the background.

Using graphic filters
Click the Filter icon
to display the Graphic Filter
toolbar, which provides options for applying basic
photographic and effect filters to images from within
Calc. To “tear off” this toolbar and place it anywhere on
the screen, click on the three parallel lines and drag it
away.
Table 3: Graphic filters and their effects
Icon

Name

Behavior

InvertInverts the colors in the picture like a negative.

SmoothApplies a Gaussian Blur to the image which softens
edges.

SharpenSharpens the image.

RemoveNoise

Applies crude noise reduction.

Solarization

Reverses a portion of the tones, then produces
pronounced outlines of the highlights.

Aging

Applies a Sepia filter.

Posterize

Opens a dialog to determine the number of poster
colors. This effect is based on the reduction of thenumber of colors. It makes photos look likepaintings.

Modifying images

13

Icon

Name

Behavior

Pop Art

Applies a Pop Art style to the image.

Charcoal
SketchApplies a Charcoal Sketch look to the image.

Relief

Displays a dialog for creating reliefs. The position of
the imaginary light source that determines the typeof shadow can be chosen.

MosaicJoins small groups of pixels into rectangular areas ofthe same color. The larger the individual rectangles
are, the fewer details the graphic image has.

CautionApplying OOo picture filters to any image consecutively will
progressively degrade the quality of the image. The picture
filters used in Calc utilize what is known as a Destructive
Editing algorithm, whereby each filter is applied to the image
immediately, changing the original data of the image.
Successive transformations result in less and less original dataremaining, thus compromising the quality of the inserted
picture. While this might be acceptable for use in simple
documents, it is still recommended that dedicated photo or
image editing software be used to perform anything but thesimplest of manipulations.

Adjusting colors
Use the Color toolbar to adjust an image’s red, green,
and blue channels independently, as well as its
brightness, contrast and gamma.

Setting transparency
Modify the percentage value in the Transparency box
on the Picture toolbar to make the image moretransparent. This is particularly useful when creating awatermark or when wrapping an image in the
background.

Customizing lines, areas, and shadows
The Line, Area, and Shadow icons open dialogs where you cancustomize these elements. Details are in the Draw Guide.

14

Using Graphics in Calc

Cropping pictures
When you are only interested in a section of the image for the purposeof your document, you may wish to crop (cut off) parts of it. The userinterface in Calc for cropping an image is not very friendly, so it may
be a better choice to use a graphics package.
Click the Crop icon
to open a dialog where you can select which
portion of the image you want to remove.
It is not possible to use the mouse to select the area to be cropped, as
you can in Draw. Instead, in the Crop dialog, specify how far from thetop, bottom, left and right borders of the image the crop should be, as
illustrated in Figure 5. On the thumbnail in the figure, notice that the
cropped selection is highlighted with an inner rectangle.

Figure 5: The Crop dialog
On the Crop dialog, you can control the following parameters:
Keep scale / Keep image size
When Keep scale is selected (default), cropping the image does notchange the scale of the picture.
When Keep image size is selected, cropping enlarges (for positive
cropping values), shrinks (for negative cropping values), or distortsof the image so that the image size remains constant.

Modifying images

15

Left, Right, Top, and Bottom
The image is cropped by the amount entered in these boxes. For
example, a value of 3cm in the Left box cuts 3 cm from the left sideof the picture.
• When Keep scale is selected, the size of the image also changes,

so in this example the width will be reduced by 3 cm.
• When Keep image size is selected, the remaining part of theimage is enlarged (when you enter positive values for cropping)or shrunk (when you enter negative values for cropping) so thatthe width and height of the image is not changed.
Width and Height
The Width and Height fields under either Scale or Image sizechange as you enter values in the Left, Right, Top, and Bottom
fields. Use the thumbnail next to these fields to determine thecorrect amount by which to crop.
The cropped shape is always a rectangle; more complex cropped
shapes are not possible in Calc. Instead, use a dedicated photo or
image editing software for the job, then import the image into Calc.
Note

If you crop an image in Calc, the picture itself is not changed.
If you export the document to HTML, the original image isexported, not the cropped image.

Resizing an image
To resize an image.
1) Click the picture, if necessary, to show the green resizing handles.
2) Position the pointer over one of the green resizing handles. The
pointer changes shape giving a graphical representation of thedirection of the resizing.
3) Click and drag to resize the picture.
4) Release the mouse button when satisfied with the new size.
The corner handles resize both the width and the height of the graphic
object simultaneously, while the other four handles only resize one
dimension at a time.
Tip

16

To retain the original proportions of the graphic, Shift+click
one of the corner handles, then drag. Be sure to release themouse button before releasing the Shift key.

Using Graphics in Calc

Resizing a bit-mapped (raster) image such as a photograph adversely
affects the resolution, causing some degree of blurring. It is better to
use a graphics package to size your picture correctly before inserting it
into your document, if possible.
For more accurate resizing, use the Position and Size dialog, describedon page 18.

Rotating a picture
Calc does not provide a tool for rotating a picture, but you can use thisworkaround:1) Open a new Draw or Impress document.
2) Insert the image you want to rotate.
3) Select the image, then in the Drawing toolbar (shown by default
at the bottom of the window in Impress and Draw), select the
Rotate icon.
4) Rotate the image as desired. Use the red handles at the corners of
the picture and move the mouse in the direction you wish torotate. By default the picture rotates around its center (indicatedby a black crosshair), but you can change the pivot point bymoving the black crosshair to the desired rotation center.
Tip

To restrict the rotation angle to multiples of 15 degrees keep
the Shift key pressed while rotating the image.

5) Select the rotated picture by pressing Ctrl+A, then copy theimage to the clipboard with Ctrl+C.
6) Finish by going back to the Calc document, place the cursor
where the image is to be inserted, and press Ctrl+V.

Using the picture context menu
Many of the options accessible from the Picture toolbar can also bereached by right-clicking on an image to pop up a context menu. Some
additional options are only available from the context menu; these aredescribed in this section.

Text
Opens a dialog where you can set the options for text that goes over a
picture. To write text over a graphic, click on the graphic to select it,
and then press Enter. There should be a cursor inside the graphic. Any
Using the picture context menu

17

text entered is part of the graphic, so if the graphic is moved the text
will move with it.

Position and Size
Opens the dialog shown below where you can change the size, location,
rotation, slant and corner radius of the image.

Figure 6: Position and Size Dialog

Original Size
Resets the dimensions of the image to the values when it was originallyinserted into the document.

Description
You can add metadata in the form of a title and description to theimage. This information is used by accessibility tools (such as screen
reader software) and as ALT (alternative) attributes if you export the
document to HTML.

18

Using Graphics in CalcName
You can add a custom name to be assigned to the image, to make iteasier to find in the Navigator.

Tip

When collaborating with a team on a large, multi-pagepublication, it may be beneficial to give graphics, figures, andother objects meaningful names and descriptions to aid in clear
communication.

Flip
Flips the image either horizontally or vertically.

Assign Macro
Adds programmable functionality to the image. Calc provides richmacro functionality. Macros are introduced in Chapter 12 (Calc
Macros).

Group
To group images:
1) Select one image, then hold down the Shift key and click in turnon each of the others that you want to include in the group. The
invisible “bounding box” (with the 8 green handles) expands toinclude all the selected images.
2) With the images selected, choose Format > Group > Group
from the menu bar.
Or hover the mouse pointer over one of the images. When the
pointer changes shape from an arrow to a hand, right-click andchoose Group > Group from the pop-up menu.
Note

You cannot include drawing objects in a group with pictures.

After images are grouped, the context menu provides other choices(Ungroup and Edit Group) and the Format > Group menu includes
Ungroup and Enter Group. For more information about grouping, see
the Draw Guide.

Using the picture context menu

19

Using Calc’s drawing tools
Calc, like the other components of OOo, has a range of tools to createcustom drawings. This chapter covers the default options in Calc. For a
more detailed explanation of the drawing tools and their uses, see theDraw Guide.
In general, if you need to create complex drawings, it is recommended
to use OpenOffice.org Draw or another drawing program.
To begin using the drawing tools, choose View > Toolbars >Drawing. The Drawing toolbar appears at the bottom of the screen.
You can tear off this toolbar and move it to a convenient place on thewindow.

Figure 7: The Drawing toolbar showing default icons
Table 4: Drawing toolbar functions (from left to right)
Icon

20

Name

Behavior

SelectSelects objects.

Line

Draws a line.

Rectangle

Draws a rectangle. To draw a square, holddown Shift while you drag.

EllipseDraws an ellipse. To draw a circle, hold down
Shift while you drag.

Freeform Line

Draws a freeform line.

Text

Draws a text box with no border.

Callouts

Draws a line that ends in a rectangular callout.

Basic Shapes

Opens the Basic Shapes toolbar.

Symbol Shapes

Opens the Symbol Shapes toolbar.

Block Arrows

Opens the Block Arrows toolbar of shapes.

Using Graphics in Calc

Icon

Name

Behavior

Flowcharts

Opens the Flowchart toolbar of shapes.

Callouts

Opens the Callouts toolbar of shapes.

Stars

Opens the Stars toolbar of shapes.

PointsAllows editing of the points of a selected
polygon.

Fontwork
Gallery

Opens the Fontwork Gallery.

From File

Inserts a picture using the Insert Picture
dialog.

Extrusion On/Off

Opens the 3-D Setting toolbar and converts theselected shape (if any) to 3-D.

To display other icons, click the down-arrow at the right-hand end of
the toolbar, select Visible Buttons, and then choose the tools you
want to appear on the toolbar.
Icon

Name

Behavior

PolygonDraws a line composed of a series of straightline segments. Hold down the Shift key toposition new points at 45 degree angles.

Curve

Draws a smooth Bézier curve.

Arc

Draws an arc.

Ellipse Pie

Draws a filled shape that is defined by the arcof an oval and two radius lines in the current
document. To draw a circle pie, hold down
Shift while you drag.

Circle Segment

Draws a filled shape that is defined by the arcof a circle and a diameter line in the current
document. To draw an ellipse segment, holddown Shift while you drag.

Text Animation

Inserts animated text.

Using Calc’s drawing tools21

If support for Asian languages has been enabled (in Tools > Options> Language Settings > Languages), two more tools can be added to
the Drawing toolbar: Vertical Text and Vertical Callouts.
To use a drawing tool:
1) Click in the document where you want the drawing to beanchored. You can change the anchor later, if necessary.
2) Select the tool from the Drawing toolbar (Figure 7). The mousepointer changes to a cross-hair pointer.
3) Move the cross-hair pointer to the place in the document where
you want the graphic to appear and then click-and-drag to create
the drawing object. Release the mouse button. (Some tools haveother requirements; see the Help or the Draw Guide for details.)
The selected drawing function remains active, so you can draw
another object of the same type.
4) To cancel the selected drawing function, press the Esc key orclick on the Select icon (the arrow) on the Drawing toolbar.
5) You can now change the properties (fill color, line type andweight, anchoring, and others) of the drawing object using either
the Drawing Object Properties toolbar (Figure 8) or the choices
and dialog boxes reached by right-clicking on the drawing object.

Set or change properties for drawing objects
To set the properties for a drawing object before you draw it:1) On the Drawing toolbar (Figure 7), click the Select tool.
2) On the Drawing Object Properties toolbar (Figure 8), click on theicon for each property and select the value you want for thatproperty.
3) For more control, or to define new attributes, you can click on the
Area or Line icons on the toolbar to display detailed dialogs.
These default properties are applied only to the current document andsession. They are is not retained when you close the document, andthey do not apply to any other document. The defaults apply to all thedrawing objects except text objects.
To change the properties for an existing drawing object, select theobject and continue as described above.
Other tools and methods for modifying and positioning graphics aredescribed in “Positioning graphics” below.

22

Using Graphics in Calc

1 Line5 Line Color

9 Change Anchor

13 Alignment

2 Arrow Style

6 Area10 Bring to Front

3 Line Style

7 Area Style / Filling

11 Send to Back

4 Line Width

8 Rotate

12 To Foreground / To BackgroundFigure 8. Drawing Object Properties toolbar

Resizing a drawing object
Select the object, click on one of the eight handles around it and dragit to its new size. For a scaled resizing, select one of the corner handles
and keep the Shift key pressed while dragging the handle.
For more control of the size of the object, use the Position and Sizedialog (see “Position and Size” on page 18) to set the width and height
independently. If the Keep ratio option is selected, then the twodimensions change so that the proportion is maintained, allowing for ascaled resizing.

Grouping drawing objects
To group drawing objects:
1) Select one object, then hold down the Shift key and select theothers you want to include in the group. The bounding box
expands to include all the selected objects.
2) With the objects selected, hover the mouse pointer over one ofthe objects and choose Format > Group > Group from the menu
bar or right-click and choose Group > Group from the pop-up
menu.
Note

You cannot include an embedded or linked graphic in a groupwith drawing objects.

Positioning graphics
Graphics can be positioned in OOo Calc to work together and build
more complex features.

Positioning graphics

23

Arranging graphics
Graphics in a Calc document are maintained in a similar manner to a
deck of cards. As you add more images to the document, each image
occupies a new layer at the top of the stack. To arrange graphics, youtell Calc to change the order of layers in the stack.

Figure 9: Layering effectCalc provides four basic options to re-arrange the order of images.
These options can be accessed from both the Picture toolbar and thepicture context menu:
Bring to Front
Places the image on top of any other graphics or text.
Bring Forward
Brings the image one level up in the stack (z-axis). Depending on thenumber of overlapping objects, you may need to apply this option
several times to obtain the desired result.
Send Backward
The opposite of Bring Forward; sends the selected image one level
down in the object stack.
Send to Back
Sends the selected graphic to the bottom of the stack, so that othergraphics and text cover it.
24

Using Graphics in Calc

To Background and To ForegroundAn image or a drawing object can be sent to the background as well.
This is not the same as Bring Forward and Send Backward, which
set the order of a number of overlapping graphics. This feature
pushes a graphic behind the cells, allowing cells to be edited without
affecting the graphic.
A graphic in the background will have To Foreground as a menu
item, instead of To Background.

Anchoring graphics
Anchors tell a graphic where to stay in relation to other items.
Anchor to page
Anchoring a graphic to the page allows it to be positioned in a
specific place on the page. The graphic does not move when cells
are added or deleted. This is equivalent to an absolute reference.
The graphic will always stay by cell B10 if that is where it is placed.
Anchor to cellAnchoring a graphic to a cell ensures that the graphic always stays
with the content it is originally anchored to. If a graphic is anchoredto cell B10, and a new row is inserted, the graphic will then be
anchored to cell B11. This is equivalent to a relative reference.
For example, in Figure 10 the normal Otto and Tux picture is anchored
To Cell B10 (XXX shows where the picture is anchored). The inverse
Otto and Tux picture is anchored to the page.

Figure 10: Anchoring 1
If two rows are inserted above the pictures, the normal picture(anchored to cell) will shift down two rows and the anchor will change.
The inverse picture (anchored to page) will not move. This is illustrated
in Figure 11. Note that the anchor symbol and the XXX have moved
down to cell B12.
Positioning graphics

25.

Figure 11: Anchoring 2

Aligning graphics
You can align several graphics relative to each other. To do this:1) Select all of the graphics to be aligned (Shift+click on each inturn). The graphics will be surrounded by an invisible boundingbox with 8 green handles.
2) On the Picture toolbar, click on the Alignment icon and select oneof the six options.
Or, position the mouse pointer over any of the graphics. When the
pointer changes shape from an arrow to a hand, right-click andchoose Alignment, then select from the six options.
The six options include three for aligning the graphics horizontally(left, center, right) and three for aligning the graphics vertically (top,center, bottom).

Creating an image map
An image map defines areas of an image (called hotspots) withhyperlinks to web addresses, other files on the computer, or parts ofthe same document. Hotspots are the graphic equivalent of text
hyperlinks. Clicking on a hotspot causes Calc to open the linked pagein the appropriate program (for example, the default browser for an
HTML page; OOo Calc for a .ODS file; a PDF viewer for a PDF file). You
can create hotspots of various shapes, and include several hotspots inthe same image.
To use the image map editor:
1) In your OOo document, select the picture where you want todefine the hotspots.
2) Choose Edit > ImageMap from the menu bar. The ImageMap
Editor (Figure 12) opens.
26

Using Graphics in Calc

3) Use the tools and fields in the dialog (described on the next page)
to define the hotspots and links necessary.
4) Click the Apply icon

to apply the settings.

5) When done, click the Save icon
to save the imagemap to a file,then click the X in the upper right corner to close the dialog.

Figure 12: The dialog to create or edit an image map
The main part of the dialog shows the image on which the hotspots aredefined. A hotspot is identified by a line indicating its shape.
The toolbar at the top of the dialog contains the following tools:• Apply button: click this button to apply the changes.
• Load, Save, and Select icons.
• Tools for drawing a hotspot shape: these tools work in exactly thesame way as the corresponding tools in the Drawing toolbar.
• Edit, Move, Insert, Delete Points: advanced editing tools tomanipulate the shape of a polygon hotspot. Select the Edit Points
tool to activate the other tools.
• Active icon: toggles the status of a selected hotspot between
active and inactive.
• Macro: associates a macro with the hotspot instead of justassociating an hyperlink.

Creating an image map

27• Properties: sets the hyperlink properties and adds the Nameattribute to the hyperlink.
Below the toolbar, specify for the selected hotspot:• Address: the address pointed by the hyperlink. You can also point
to an anchor in a document; to do this, write the address in thisformat: file:///<path>/document_name#anchor_name• Text: type the text that you want to be displayed when the mousepointer is moved over the hotspot.
• Frame: where the target of the hyperlink will open: pick among_blank (opens in a new browser window), _self (opens in theactive browser window), _top or _parent.
Tip

28

The value _self for the target frame will work just fine in the vast
majority of occasions. It is therefore not recommended to use
the other choices unless absolutely necessary.

Using Graphics in Calc