Shading/Dates on alternate lines?

[cheeryble]

Hi from Chiangmai!

I'm actually using Neooffice on Mac but hoping an answer here on the Excel forum (bigger so much quicker replies) will be transferable or identical.

I have created my first spreadsheet.
It is for a Jobs Book for a Manager I am helping. No calculations, just for creating some an introduction and some instructions at the top. I have figured how to make the intro with no grid, then make a grid in which I have pre-entered the first 70ish To-Dos.....a sort of backlog of jobs. Jobs will then be entered by hand in both languages.

It is Thailand, and I want to have alternate lines......the clear one (odd row say) ready to be written by hand in Thai, then a shaded one (even rows).

1. I did the shading by hand.
Could i have shaded alternate rows in an easier fashion?

2. Same, i entered the dates with a sort of miserable copy and paste. Is there a way I could have put the dates in the backlog, the first 70ish rows, but only one date for each pair of rows, ie the same date only on the Thai (unshaded) language rows.

3. I'll set Times New Roman in the box and the font size, but it will keep reverting to Arial.
I even set TNR as a default somewhere. Am I missing something? Annoying when it does it out of the blue.

Thanks in advance!
Cheeryble

[Bob Phillips]

No idea, and I would venture few others here have either, because you are using Neooffice on Mac (whatever that is). In Excel it is trivial using conditional formatting but does that product support CF, in the same way?

[cheeryble]

No idea, and I would venture few others here have either, because you are using Neooffice on Mac (whatever that is).

Hey Bob
Isn't that like a Ford mechanic never having heard of Chrysler?

In Excel it is trivial using conditional formatting but does that product support CF, in the same way?

Yes Neooffice does have CF.......and it's free which gives me $200 to spend on something more deserving like gals....

cheers Cheeryble

[6StringJazzer]

1. I did the shading by hand.
Could i have shaded alternate rows in an easier fashion?

Using conditional formatting, specify "Use a formula to determine which cells to format" and set a condition

=MOD(ROW(),2)=0

and set desired shading format. All even rows will be shaded.

2. Same, i entered the dates with a sort of miserable copy and paste. Is there a way I could have put the dates in the backlog, the first 70ish rows, but only one date for each pair of rows, ie the same date only on the Thai (unshaded) language rows.

You could put the original list in one column, and then use formulas in the target column to put things where you want them. Then copy the column with the formulas and "paste values." If your original data starts in A1 then you can use this formula in any column to put data in the alternating unshaded (odd) rows:

=IF(MOD(ROW(),2)=0,"",INDEX(A:A,(ROW()+1)/2))

3. I'll set Times New Roman in the box and the font size, but it will keep reverting to Arial.
I even set TNR as a default somewhere. Am I missing something? Annoying when it does it out of the blue.

This is an eccentricity specific to Neooffice and can't be answered here.

BTW many spreadsheet tools are similar to or clones of Excel but that doesn't mean that a procedure that will work in Excel will also work in the other tool. In fact there are differences between Excel for Windows and Excel for the Mac.

[cheeryble]

What a great answer I'll check it out tomorrow it's 3am here
thanx