[Solved] Copy/paste from spreadsheet to text document

[emilydxo]

I was able to do it for a while and now for some reason it isn't working. I need the text to stay in the same format it is in in the spreadsheet. When I try to copy and paste, it puts a small version of spreadsheet that I can't really do anything with it. I'm highlighting the row at the top, only the columns I need, then copying. Then I go to file> new> text document> paste. What appears is a thin line with green square dots, nothing else on the screen. I can expand this line, but I have to right click and hit edit to see a small version of spreadsheet that I can't do anything with. Please help!!

[floris v]

When you copy and paste a set of cells, you insert an OLE object in the Writer document. If all you want is the content in the cells, you should use Paste as unformatted text.

[MrProgrammer]

Hi, and welcome to the forum.

I need the text to stay in the same format it is in in the spreadsheet.

Copy the cells in Calc. Then in Writer use Edit → Paste Special. You will have several choices. Try them. Choice calc8 is what a simple Paste (without Special) produces. Try one of the others. Then use Edit → Undo and try the next one. Pick the one that works best for you. Those are your choices. There are advantages and disadvantages to each, so that is why OpenOffice gives you many choices. Calc and Writer have different capabilities, but you can perhaps find a presentation of your data in Writer that is close to what you had in Calc.

When you copy and paste a set of cells, you insert an OLE object in the Writer document. If all you want is the content in the cells, you should use Paste as unformatted text.

The OLE object is a real, working spreadsheet embedded in the text document. You can perform all of the Calc operations with it, like creating new formulas or filtering your data. But if all you want to do is display the data and never change it, one of the other options may be better for you. If you use choose Unformatted Text you will have a copy of the spreadsheet values in your text document. Then you can select all those lines and use Table → Convert → Text to Table. You can format the resulting table the way you like. The Formatted Text choice may be a good compromise, creating a simple Writer table for you which contains the values from Calc.

If this solved your problem please go to your first post use the Edit ☐ button and add [Solved] to the start of the Subject field. Select the green checkmark icon at the same time.

[floris v]

@MrProgrammer: Thanks for the heads up.

[emilydxo]

When I try to paste as formatted or unformatted text, it says "importing document" at the bottom and shows a green bar, but it only gets about 10% full before OpenOffice crashes

[emilydxo]

Never mind, I figured it out! Thank you!