Issue 111211

Summary:

"Deleting in merged ranges not possible" Calc 3.2.12

Product:

Calc

Reporter:

ewallace <erik.wallace>

Component:

editing

Assignee:

AOO issues mailing list <issues>

Status:

CONFIRMED ---

QA Contact:

Severity:

Trivial

Priority:

CC:

elish, issues, rb.henschel

Version:

OOO320m12

Keywords:

needmoreinfo, oooqa

Target Milestone:

---

Hardware:

OS:

Windows XP

Issue Type:

ENHANCEMENT

Latest Confirmation in:

---

Developer Difficulty:

---

Attachments:

Description	Flags
Issue 111211 example from Erik Wallace	none

Description ewallace 2010-04-28 01:06:01 UTC

Now - I understand that this issue was submitted as far back as 2002.
It has also been reported a few times since, and in at least a couple of cases
the issues were closed as 'duplicate'.
I then found a reference in the "What's new in 3.2" read me that this function
has been fixed in version 3.2.

However, the behaviour seems to remain the same in this version.

I have a spreadsheet (an order form) that is populated from columns A to L.
Columns A to F form 'one big column', G to L form 'another big column'.
In 'big column'  A to F, headings appear, which consist of cells A to D merged
and cells E and F merged, within one row. (The rows that are NOT headings retain
their individual identities, and are populated with various values (SKU, size,
etc) )

The contents of the order form vary from week to week, and I have to go in and
remove items, which mean I am removing 6 cells (a26,b26,c26,d26,e26,f26) from a row.

However, when I go to delete the cell contents, and am presented with the "Shift
cells up" I receive the same error message as in all other versions of
OpenOffice that I have tried "Deleting in merged ranges not possible"

To recap - I am deleting non merged cells from a range in the spreadsheet that
has merged cells in the same columns below the cells I am deleting, that span
the SAME RANGE as the cells that I am deleting (ie: the merged cells a28-d28)
and I am trying to delete (a26-d26) and shift the cells below up.

This works in MS Excel - the cells are deleted, and the cells below are moved up.

It seems intuitive that that is the way this function should behave - it is not
as if I am removing a smaller subset of cells in this virtual 'big column' - I
am in essence removing one row from the 'big column'.

I downloaded and tried the CalcEasy Toolbar 1.1.2 - and it is very good at
removing the whole row across ALL of the cells (BOTH 'big columns' A-F and G-L
at once, but it can not remove A-D, for example.

I have never explored what goes in to the 'built in' macros of a spreadsheet,
but I am an IT veteran, former programmer, and would be willing to assist in any
way that I was capable towards resolution of this problem.

Comment 1 ewallace 2010-04-28 01:10:39 UTC

Created attachment 69153 [details]
Issue 111211 example from Erik Wallace

Comment 2 Regina Henschel 2010-04-28 15:36:38 UTC

I can see the error message, when working with your document. But I cannot
produce such a document. In all new documents, which I have tested, deleting
cells was possible with the desired "shift cells up". I use DEV300m77 on WinXP.

Please try it with a _new_ small document. Please use the actual version of OOo.

Workaround: Delete the content and then select the cells below and drag them up.

Comment 3 ewallace 2010-04-28 17:40:13 UTC

Thank you for the quick response.

Upon further testing on this issue:

1. The behavior of Open Office is the SAME whether or not the document has been
created in Open Office Calc or MS Excel. I made a mistake in getting rid of a
merged cell at the bottom of the spreadsheet that had 8 merged cells on a row
before sending in the issue.

2. Deleting cells that lie ABOVE merged cells WILL work as long as you select
the same number of cells to delete as are in the LARGEST MERGED CELL below the
range you are deleting.

     EX:  you have a spreadsheet with cells A5 to D5 merged (as a column
heading).  You have data in cells in rows 6 to 10. A12 to D12 are also merged
(as a column heading). Further down, you merge A20 to F20 (as a PAGE footer - it
is 8 cells merged as opposed to 4 cells merged in the column headers).

     You will NOT be able to delete and 'move up' in cells A7 to D7 (as an
example) - you will get the error message "Deleting in merged ranges not
possible". However, if you delete and 'move up' cells A7 to F7 this WILL work -
and you will not get an error message.

3. In Excel, a similar behavior exists. The difference is that when you delete
and 'move up' a smaller subset of cells (a7 to d7) than the range of the largest
merged cell below (a20 to f20) Excel warns you that "doing this will unmerge
some already merged cells". It allows the operation to happen, but Excel
unmerges cells a20 to f20.

Therefore - the difference in behavior of unmerging cells a20 to f20 in Open
Office, vs deleting the cells and having Excel unmerge them for you, is that
Excel is doing one step (unmerging the large merged cell) for you. 
Also, the message information given back to the user is probably more intuitive
in Excel than in Open Office.

Comment 4 Rob Weir 2013-02-02 02:55:39 UTC

This Issue requires more information ('needmoreinfo'), but has not been updated
within the last year. Please provide feedback as requested and re-test with the the latest version of OpenOffice - the problem(s) may already be addressed. 

You can download Apache OpenOffice 3.4.1 from http://www.openoffice.org/download

Please report back the outcome of your testing, so this Issue may be closed or
progressed as necessary - otherwise the issue may be Resolved as Invalid in the
future.

Comment 5 Edwin Sharp 2013-07-29 06:35:30 UTC

Highlight cells A28:D28 - right click - Delete... - Shift cells up

Calc Rev. 1505643 Win 7: "Deleting in merged ranges not possible"

Excel 2007: "This operation will cause some merged cells to unmerge. Do you wish to continue? - OK -> cells are deleted.