LibreOffice spreadsheet question, can cells expand as you type?

[Steve Flynn]

On 1 February 2012 14:40, Chris Green <cl at isbd.net> wrote:
> Maybe this just isn't how spreadsheets work but here's hoping.
>
> Is there a setting somewhere in LibreOffice spreadsheet that makes cells
> expand as you enter characters?  By that I mean can you make the whole
> column grow (and stay grown) rather than the default that grows just the
> cell where you're entering text and then truncates the view when you
> leave the cell.

Does dragging on the rulers at the side/top of the not do what you
want? Obviously making a column wider affects every cell in the column
(and the same applies to making a row 'deeper' by dragging the ruler
at the left side of the sheet, obviously).

I'm not running LibreOffice here at work, but in Excel the closest I
can come to replicating what I think you want is to select the cell
you want to expand, format it and on the alignment tab, check "wrap
text". I'd be surprised if LibreOffice doesn't have the equivalent.

> ... and as a corollary to that is there a way to show only cells with
> data in them rather then the default 'much larger than the window'
> layout?

Not unless you've gone to some length to arrange your data so that you
can hide columns / rows which you've not populated.  You don't hide
specific cells, but the entire column or row. Thus, you can't for
example hide cell A1 and have data displayed in B1 or A2 as you'll
have hidden the entire row or column.

As I say, you can work around this if it's particularly important to
you by carefully placing interesting cells on the same rows and
columns and hiding everything else.

-- 
Steve

When one person suffers from a delusion it is insanity. When many
people suffer from a delusion it is called religion.