Calc Editing Data

After editing a formula I was used to simply click away in another cell, and editing changes where saved. Now when I am doing so Calc writes the cell coordinates in the formula and creates an error. I am using Libre office 7.3.0 on Windows.

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All versions of Excel and Calc behave the same since 30 years. When you select a cell range or click a single cell while editing a formula, a reference to the clicked selection is inserted in your formula.
Formula input is initialized by a leading = + or -.
You can hit the enter key or the tab key to finish input that started with = + or -

edit: fixed typo = instead of ?

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You can…

…when entering numbers, text or dates.

Hi, Thank you for your answer, but my problem is not solved. Example: I have the formula =A2 + A4. I am editing to =A2 + A5. When I am clicking away to B6 then the formula shows : = A2 + A5B6. When I am doing now “ENTER” then I have the error #NAME?

As @Villeroy said, use the enter key instead of clicking away - or click the Accept icon just to the left of the input box when entering a formula.
Clicking away from the input box to accept what you have entered only works for values that are not formulae - numbers, text or dates - as mentioned by @LeroyG

Hi, Thank you, your solution is working. I am coming from Excel, and I was used to work in the way to only clicking away, if it is only data, or a formula. I have to change my behaviour.

Hi @Villeroy, thank you for your answer. My problem is the following: I have a formula, for example =A2 + A4. I am editing to = A2 + A5. Then I am clicking away to any cell, for example B6. When I am doing this in Excel, then the edited formula is saved . When I am doing this in Libreoffice, then I have the formula = A2 + A5B6, giving. an error. Since I am coming from Excel, was used to work in the described way for many years, I have to change.

Thanks for the interesting topic. Yes, if another cell is clicked in edit (entry) mode of a cell, Excel and Calc behave differently.
Calc inserts the cell address into the formula.
Excel parses the character that precedes the cursor (?). If it is a letter, number, underscore…, then the input is terminated and an attempt is made to move to another cell. If the formula contains a syntax error when input is terminated, a message will be displayed and input mode will be resumed.

dear @sokol92, exactly, that’s my problem. And now as I was used to work for many years with with Excel I have problems to change my workflow. Do you thin this could be a proposal for the Libreoffice- developer-team?

When editing a formula cell, it is expected that clicking a cell inserts its cell reference at the current cursor position of the formula. It is a requested and useful feature.

You may submit an enhancement request (RFE) at the bug tracker to do that only after an operator or opening parenthesis or function parameter separator.

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The developers have just paid attention to your question and you have a chance to realize your dream. :slightly_smiling_face:

Sounds good! Greetings from Berlin, Germany!

Good luck! I hope it was clear that the developer of Libreoffice is @erAck (somewhere not far from you). :smile:

Hi @erAck , I have created an enhancement request tdf#147160. Because it was my first time to do such a thing I am not sure if it is correctly done. I hope so…

@LeroyG added “tdf#”.

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