Package: openoffice.org-bin
Version: 1.1.2dfsg1-3
Severity: normal
I'm trying to print several sheets of a spreadsheet file using
OpenOffice Calc. In fact, I'd be happy to print the whole file.
However, if I just select "print" from the menu, Calc prints two
particular sheets (the 1st and 7th, if it matters). If I select one or
more sheets and try to print only the selected sheets, it prints the
intersection of my selection and the two sheets in question. If
I don't select either of the two sheets, nothing gets printed at all.
Incidentally, the file in question was imported from Excel; maybe the
import filter is doing something that confuses the rest of the program?
*later*
Okay, after much more fiddling, I found the problem. There were two "print
ranges" in the file with names like "Excel_Builtin_Print_Area_1", that
spanned the two sheets that Calc insisted on printing. Once I removed them,
I was able to print any set of sheets that I wanted.
There are two problems here. Both are apparently "just" usability problems,
but they're so severe that I think they should be counted as bugs.
(1) it's not at all obvious that a print range is in use when you go to
print the spreadsheet, so the problem seems very mysterious at first glance.
This is especially true if, like me when I started investigating this, you
don't even know that "print ranges" exist in OpenOffice. I still don't know
much about them; for instance, is it possible to define a print range and not
use it? Empirical evidence suggests "yes" (see below)..
I think that the print ranges should be listed in the printing dialog
and the user should be able to select them there (possibly with a default to
the last ones chosen). At least that would make it more obvious what the
factors affecting the printing are.
(2) once you realize that a print range is in use, it's not at all obvious
how to turn it off. There's a "remove" option in Format -> Print Ranges, but
it's disabled! The only way I found to get rid of them was to go into the
Navigator (which is how I found the ranges in the first place, while trying
unfamiliar menu items at random), double-click on each range to select it,
and THEN do Format -> Print Ranges -> Remove (which is enabled once you
select some cells, apparently). And even that doesn't delete the defined
range; in fact, I'm not quite sure what it does, aside from making the whole
document print like I wanted in the first place.
Daniel
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ii debconf [debconf-2.0] 1.4.30.11 Debian configuration management
sy
ii libart-2.0-2 2.3.17-1 Library of functions for 2D
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ii libaudio2 1.7-2 The Network Audio System (NAS).
(s
ii libc6 2.3.2.ds1-20 GNU C Library: Shared libraries
an
ii libcurl3 7.12.3-2 Multi-protocol file transfer
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ii libgcc1 1:3.4.3-6 GCC support library
ii libice6 4.3.0.dfsg.1-10 Inter-Client Exchange library
ii libmyspell3 1:3.1-10 MySpell spellchecking library
ii libneon23 0.23.9.dfsg.3-2 An HTTP and WebDAV client library
ii libsm6 4.3.0.dfsg.1-10 X Window System Session
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ii libstdc++5 1:3.3.5-5 The GNU Standard C++ Library v3
ii libstlport4.6 4.6.2-2 STLport C++ class library
ii libx11-6 4.3.0.dfsg.1-10 X Window System protocol client
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ii libxaw7 4.3.0.dfsg.1-10 X Athena widget set library
ii libxext6 4.3.0.dfsg.1-10 X Window System miscellaneous
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ii libxt6 4.3.0.dfsg.1-10 X Toolkit Intrinsics
ii openoffice.org 1.1.2dfsg1-3 high-quality office productivity
s
ii xlibs 4.3.0.dfsg.1-10 X Keyboard Extension (XKB)
configu
ii zlib1g 1:1.2.2-3 compression library - runtime
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--
/------------------- Daniel Burrows <dburrows@debian.org> ------------------\
| The only thing that history teaches us is that we do not learn from history.
|
\--------------------- A duck! -- http://www.python.org --------------------/
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