Calc Guide 7.4

Chapter 15User Interface Variants

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Published August 2022. Based on LibreOffice 7.4 Community.
Other versions of LibreOffice may differ in appearance and functionality.

Using LibreOffice on macOS
Some keystrokes and menu items are different on macOS from those used in Windows andLinux. The table below gives some common substitutions for the instructions in this document.
For a more detailed list, see the application Help and Appendix A (Keyboard Shortcuts) to thisguide.
Windows or LinuxmacOS equivalent

EffectTools > Options
menu selection

LibreOffice > Preferences

Access setup options

Right-click

Ctrl (Control)

Control+click and/or rightclick depending on computer
setup⌘ (Command)

F11

⌘+T

Open a context menu
Used with other keys
Open the Styles deck in the
SidebarDocumentation for LibreOffice is available at https://documentation.libreoffice.org/en/Contents
Copyright..........................................................................................................................2
Contributors................................................................................................................................2
Feedback....................................................................................................................................2
Publication date and software version........................................................................................2
Using LibreOffice on macOS......................................................................................................2

Introduction......................................................................................................................4
Selecting the user interface............................................................................................4
Standard interfaces......................................................................................................... 5Contextual Single.............................................................................................................6
Tabbed interface.............................................................................................................. 6
Introduction.................................................................................................................................6
Icon bar.......................................................................................................................................7
Quick menu.................................................................................................................................7
Fixed tabs...................................................................................................................................7
File tab...................................................................................................................................8
Home tab...............................................................................................................................9
Insert tab..............................................................................................................................10
Layout tab............................................................................................................................11
Data tab................................................................................................................................11
Review tab...........................................................................................................................12
View tab...............................................................................................................................13
Extension tab.......................................................................................................................14
Tools tab..............................................................................................................................14
Additional tabs..........................................................................................................................15
Draw tab..............................................................................................................................15
Form tab..............................................................................................................................16
Image tab.............................................................................................................................17
Media tab.............................................................................................................................17
Object tab............................................................................................................................18
Print tab...............................................................................................................................18

Tabbed Compact interface............................................................................................19Groupedbar Compact interface....................................................................................19

Chapter 15 User Interface Variants | 3

Introduction
By default, LibreOffice’s commands are grouped in cascading menus and in toolbars filled with
icons and this is the classic user interface described in Chapter 1, Introduction and assumed in
the task descriptions contained in many other chapters throughout this guide.
The classic interface is very flexible, allowing the user to: show, hide, or reposition many of theuser interface components; redefine the commands assigned to toolbars, menus, and context
menus; create new menus and toolbars; redefine the functions assigned to individual shortcuts;and so on.
A further level of flexibility is provided through six alternative user interface variants which can beselected to match an individual user’s work flows and preferences. The seven available variantsare:Standard Toolbar
Standard user interface with menus, toolbars, and collapsed Sidebar. Intended for users
who are familiar with the classic LibreOffice interface.
TabbedThe Tabbed user interface is the most similar to the ribbons used in Microsoft Office. It
organizes functions in tabs and makes the Menu bar obsolete.
Single Toolbar
Similar to the Standard Toolbar user interface but with a single-line toolbar, intended foruse on smaller screens.
Sidebar
Similar to the Standard Toolbar user interface but with an expanded Sidebar. Expert users
who want to quickly change many different properties are advised to use this variant.
Tabbed Compact
The Tabbed Compact user interface is intended for those with are familiar with theMicrosoft Office user interface, and occupies less space for smaller screens.
Groupedbar Compact
The Groupedbar Compact user interface provides access to functions in groups, with
icons for the most-frequently used features, and drop-down menus for others. This variant
favors vertical space.
Contextual Single
The Contextual Single interface shows functions in a single-line toolbar with contextdependent content.
Four of these options (Standard Toolbar, Single Toolbar, Sidebar, and Contextual Single) can beconsidered as alternative configurations of the components used in the classic interface.
However the other three options (Tabbed, Tabbed Compact, and Groupedbar Compact) arebased on using the notebook bar. The notebook bar uses a different way to organize controls andicons, displaying contextual groups of commands and contents for quicker use and improved
user experience.
It should be noted that the brief description of each variant above refers to the default setup forthat variant. There are many ways to adjust the configuration of any variant, and even create auser interface that utilizes different aspects of multiple variants.

Selecting the user interface
When you set up Calc the default user interface is the Standard Toolbar, but you can choose oneof these user interfaces, and you can switch between them at any time.

4 | Chapter 15 User Interface Variants

1) Choose View > User Interface on the Menu bar.
2) On the Select Your Preferred User Interface dialog (Figure 1), choose one of the variantson the left. An example of the variant is shown in the Preview box on the right, along witha short description.
3) Choose the relevant button to apply your selection to all components of LibreOffice, oronly to Calc. The Calc window changes to match your selection.
4) Click Close to close the dialog.

Figure 1: Select Your Preferred User Interface dialog
If you have activated experimental features (Tools > Options > LibreOffice > Advanced >Enable experimental features (may be unstable)), several more choices appear on the lefthand side. These choices are not described here.

Standard interfaces
The Standard Toolbar, Single Toolbar, and Sidebar interfaces are closely related. The following
notes describe the initial default configuration for these options.
Standard Toolbar
This is the classic user interface, selected by default when LibreOffice is installed. It
provides two visible toolbars (Standard and Formatting) and the Sidebar is open, showing
its five tabs on the tab panel.
Single Toolbar
Provides one visible toolbar (Standard (Single Mode)) containing frequently usedfeatures. The Sidebar shows only its Show/Hide button.
SidebarProvides one visible toolbar (Standard). The Sidebar is fully opened.
The visibility of elements on each of these three variants can be modified using the View menu
on the Menu bar. The configuration of menus, toolbars, and keyboard shortcuts can be modified
through the tabs on the Tools > Customize dialog. Because these variants are not based on thenotebook bar, there are no configuration options available in the Notebookbar tab of the Tools >Customize dialog.

Standard interfaces | 5

Contextual Single
The initial configuration for the Contextual Single interface variant is for the Menu bar to bevisible but for no toolbars to be displayed. Toolbars are automatically shown and hidden,
dependent on the user’s current context. For example, if an image is selected then the Image
toolbar is displayed, or if a drawing object is selected then the Drawing Object Properties toolbar
is displayed.
Figure 2 shows an example of the default Contextual Single interface when an image is selected,
with the context-sensitive Image toolbar shown and hidden automatically.

Figure 2: Contextual Single interface
The “x” symbol at the right end of the Menu bar is an icon for the Close Document command.
When switching to this user interface variant, Calc automatically opens the Sidebar if it is notalready open.
The visibility of elements on this variant can be modified using the View menu on the Menu bar.
The configuration of menus, toolbars, and keyboard shortcuts can be modified through the tabs
on the Tools > Customize dialog. Because this variant is not based on the notebook bar, there
are no configuration options available in the Notebookbar tab of the Tools > Customize dialog.

Tabbed interface
Introduction
The Tabbed interface (Figure 3) provides a familiar interface for users coming from proprietary
office suites such as Microsoft Office. It includes a Menu bar, an Icon bar, a Tab bar, icons for theactive tab, one or more tab-specific menus, and a Quick menu. On Windows and Linux, theMenu bar can be hidden or displayed by clicking on the Menu Bar icon in the Icon bar (Figure 4).

1 Icon bar

2 Active tab

3 Tab bar

4 Icons on active tab

5 Tab menus

6 Quick menu

Figure 3: Tabbed interface with Menu bar hidden
In Calc, this user interface variant includes nine fixed tabs that are always visible, and six
additional tabs that are sometimes displayed. Each tab displays a set of icons grouped bycontext. The context can change depending on the location of the cursor or the item selected.
Each tab also includes one or more tab-specific drop-down menus at the right-hand end. The
Quick menu is the same for all tabs.
The Tabbed interface can be customized using the Notebookbar tab of the Tools > Customize
dialog to show and hide the individual icons on the various tabs. See Chapter 14, Setting up andCustomizing, for more information. In addition, the size of icons used can be adjusted throughTools > Options > LibreOffice > View > Icon Size > Notebookbar.
If the icons on a tab do not fit into the width of the Calc window, two right-pointing angle brackets(>>) appear at the right end of the row. Press the >> button to view additional options that are notcurrently visible (see, for example, Figure 7).
6 | Chapter 15 User Interface VariantsIcon bar
The Icon bar (Figure 4) is located at the top left of the tabs.

Figure 4: Icon bar
1 Menubar − Show / hide the Menu bar.
2 Open (Ctrl+O) − Open a file browser, where you can select the file to be opened.
3 Save (Ctrl+S) − Save the open file.
4 Undo (Ctrl+Z) − Undo the last action performed.
5 Redo (Ctrl+Y) − Redo the last undone action.
6 Print (Ctrl+P) − Open the Print dialog.

Quick menu
To the right of the tabs is a Quick menu (Figure 5) containing some commonly used commands
and links. Some of the Quick menu items have submenus, indicated by arrows on the right.

Figure 5: Quick menu

Fixed tabs
The fixed tabs in Calc are File, Home, Insert, Layout, Data, Review, View, Extension, and Tools.
The nine fixed tabs are shown individually in the following subsections.
Each fixed tab has an associated menu, accessed through a button located at the right end of thetab. This button is labeled with the same name as the tab. Some options available in the tabmenu may replicate options that are available on the tab; others may be extra options.
The appearance of a tab depends on both the configuration of your computer system and the
setup of your Calc installation. The following points should be noted about the illustrations that
follow:• To increase readability of this chapter, the screen shots of tabs have been taken using a
relatively small Calc window. This means that the >> icon appears on most of the tabs,
indicating that some options are not visible.
Tabbed interface | 7• Left and right ends of the tabs are shown separately, making the illustrations large
enough to see the commands more easily.
• For each tab that shows a >> icon, a separate figure is included to show the additional
options that appear when the >> icon is pressed.
• A further figure is included to show the content of the menus at the right end of the tab.

File tabFigure 6 shows the File tab and Figure 7 shows the additional options that are presented whenthe >> icon is pressed.

Figure 6: File tab

Figure 7: File tab - additional options
The File tab has two menus, File and Help, and these are shown in Figure 8. Close andLibreOffice Help icons are located adjacent to the File and Help menu buttons.

Figure 8: File tab menus

8 | Chapter 15 User Interface Variants

Home tabFigure 9 shows the Home tab and Figure 10 shows the additional options that are presented
when the >> icon is pressed.

Figure 9: Home tab

Figure 10: Home tab - additional options
The Home tab has one menu, Home, and this is shown in Figure 11. Find and Replace(Ctrl+H), Sort Ascending and AutoFilter (Ctrl+Shift+L) icons are located adjacent to the Homemenu button.

Figure 11: Home tab menu

Tabbed interface | 9

Insert tab
Figure 12 shows the Insert tab and Figure 13 shows the additional options that are presented
when the >> icon is pressed.

Figure 12: Insert tab

Figure 13: Insert tab - additional options
The Insert tab has one menu, Insert, and this is shown in Figure 14. Insert or Edit Pivot Table,
Show Draw Functions, and Function List icons are located adjacent to the Insert menu button.

Figure 14: Insert tab menu

10 | Chapter 15 User Interface Variants

Layout tab
Figure 15 shows the Layout tab and Figure 16 shows the additional options that are presented
when the >> icon is pressed.

Figure 15: Layout tab

Figure 16: Layout tab - additional options
The Layout tab has one menu, Layout, and this is shown in Figure 17. A Format Page icon is
located adjacent to the Layout menu button.

Figure 17: Layout tab menu

Data tabFigure 18 shows the Data tab and Figure 19 shows the additional options that are presented
when the >> icon is pressed.

Figure 18: Data tab

Tabbed interface | 11

Figure 19: Data tab - additional options
The Data tab has one menu, Data, and this is shown in (Figure 20). Find and Replace (Ctrl+H),
Sort Ascending, and AutoFilter (Ctrl+Shift+L) icons are located adjacent to the Data menu
button.

Figure 20: Data tab menu

Review tab
Figure 21 shows the Review tab and Figure 22 shows the additional options that are presented
when the >> icon is pressed.

Figure 21: Review tab

Figure 22: Review tab - additional options
The Review tab has one menu, Review, and this is shown in Figure 23. A Manage Track
Changes icon is located adjacent to the Review menu button.

12 | Chapter 15 User Interface VariantsFigure 23: Review tab menu

View tabFigure 24 shows the View tab and Figure 25 shows the additional options that are presented
when the >> icon is pressed.

Figure 24: View tab

Figure 25: View tab - additional options
The View tab has one menu, View, and this is shown in Figure 26. A Zoom icon is locatedadjacent to the View menu button.

Tabbed interface | 13

Figure 26: View tab menu

Extension tab
The Extension tab contains only the Extension tab menu, which contains the Extension
Manager (Ctrl+Alt+E) option (Figure 27).

Figure 27: Extension tab menu

Tools tabFigure 28 shows the Tools tab and Figure 29 shows the additional options that are presented
when the >> icon is pressed.

Figure 28: Tools tab

Figure 29: Tools tab - additional options
The Tools tab has one menu, Tools, and this is shown in Figure 30. An Options icon is locatedadjacent to the Tools menu button.

14 | Chapter 15 User Interface VariantsFigure 30: Tools tab menu

Additional tabs
Additional tabs appear when an item is selected; they are displayed between the View andExtension tabs. The additional tabs in Calc are Draw, Form, Image, Media, Object, and Print.

Draw tabFigure 31 shows the Draw tab and Figure 32 shows the additional options that are presented
when the >> icon is pressed. The Draw tab is displayed when a drawing object is selected.

Figure 31: Draw tab

Figure 32: Draw tab - additional options
The Draw tab has one menu, Draw, and this is shown in Figure 33. Area, Line, and Position
and Size icons are located adjacent to the Draw menu button.

Tabbed interface | 15

Figure 33: Draw tab menu

Form tabFigure 34 shows the Form tab, which is displayed when a form component is selected in design
mode.

Figure 34: Form tab
The Form tab has one menu, Form, and this is shown in Figure 35. A Form Properties icon is
located adjacent to the Form menu button.

Figure 35: Form tab menu

16 | Chapter 15 User Interface Variants

Image tab
Figure 36 shows the Image tab and Figure 37 shows the additional options that are presented
when the >> icon is pressed. The Image tab is displayed when an image is selected.

Figure 36: Image tab

Figure 37: Image tab - additional options
The Image tab has one menu, Image, and this is shown in Figure 38. Save, Area, Line, andPosition and Size icons are located adjacent to the Image menu button.

Figure 38: Image tab menu

Media tabFigure 39 shows the Media tab, which is displayed a media object is selected.

Figure 39: Media tab
Tabbed interface | 17

The Media tab has one menu, Media, and this is shown in Figure 40. Area, Line, and Position
and Size icons are located adjacent to the Media menu button.

Figure 40: Media tab menu

Object tab
Figure 41 shows the Object tab, which is displayed when an object (for example, an OLE object)
is selected.

Figure 41: Object tab
The Object tab has one menu, Object, and this is shown in Figure 42. Area, Line, and Position
and Size icons are located adjacent to the Object menu button.

Figure 42: Object tab menu

Print tabFigure 43 shows the Print tab, which is displayed when a print preview is selected.

Figure 43: Print tab

18 | Chapter 15 User Interface Variants

The Print tab has one menu, Print, and this is shown in Figure 44. A Full Screen icon is locatedadjacent to the Print menu button.

Figure 44: Print tab menu

Tabbed Compact interface
As its name suggests, the Tabbed Compact interface is a more compact version of the Tabbed
interface described in the previous section. The Tabbed Compact interface provides the samenine fixed tabs (File, Home, Insert, Layout, Data, Review, View, Extension, and Tools) and six
additional tabs (Draw, Form, Image, Media, Object, and Print). However, in this case thecommands on each tab are displayed in a single row, using less vertical screen space.
Figure 45 shows an example of the Tabbed Compact interface for the File tab. Similar to the
behavior of the Tabbed interface, pressing the >> button provides access to additional options, as
shown in Figure 46 for this tab.

Figure 45: Tabbed Compact interface, File tab

Figure 46: Tabbed Compact interface, File tab, additional options
The content of individual tabs and tab menus is similar to the corresponding components of the
Tabbed interface and is not described further in this guide.
The Tabbed Compact interface can be customized using the Notebookbar tab of the Tools >Customize dialog to show and hide the individual icons on the various tabs. See Chapter 14,
Setting up and Customizing, for more information. In addition, the size of icons used can be
adjusted through Tools > Options > LibreOffice > View > Icon Size > Notebookbar.

Groupedbar Compact interface
The Groupedbar Compact interface is a different type of user interface which does not utilize
toolbars or tabs to partition the available commands. Instead the commands are organized into
context-sensitive groups, visually separated by vertical lines. Each group contains icons, menus,
and other controls as appropriate. Figure 47 shows the default configuration of the Groupedbar
Compact commands (displayed, for example, when an empty cell is selected).

Groupedbar Compact interface | 19

Figure 47: Groupedbar Compact interface
Similar to the behavior of the Tabbed interface, if the groups do not all fit into the width of theCalc window, two right-pointing angle brackets (>>) appear toward the right (see Figure 47).
Press the >> button to access the additional groups that are not currently visible−see, forexample, Figure 48 which shows the hidden groups corresponding to Figure 47.

Figure 48: Groupedbar Compact - additional groups
As is evident from Figures 47 and 48, many groups provide several icons located above a menu
button. Press the menu button to access a menu of commands relating to the group, as shown in
Figure 49 for example.

Figure 49: Groupedbar Compact interface - Edit group and menu
The groups displayed in the Groupedbar Compact interface vary depending on context. For
example, if an image is currently selected then the groups shown in Figure 50 are displayed.

20 | Chapter 15 User Interface VariantsFigure 50: Groupedbar Compact interface with image selected
At the right end of the Groupedbar Compact interface is a small area containing Find andReplace (Ctrl+H), LibreOffice Help, and Close icons, above a button labeled Menu. The
content of this menu is not context-sensitive and always contains the commands shown in Figure
51.

Figure 51: Groupedbar Compact menu
The Groupedbar Compact interface can be customized using the Notebookbar tab of the Tools >Customize dialog to show and hide the individual icons on the various groups. See Chapter 14,
Setting up and Customizing, for more information. In addition, the size of icons used can be
adjusted through Tools > Options > LibreOffice > View > Icon Size > Notebookbar.

Groupedbar Compact interface | 21