Pasting formulas from calc into calc

pRose · August 7, 2025, 5:05pm

i just installed openOffice, and this methodology works there.

lets say i have a formula in A1 and A3. i now copy A1:A3 (so 3 cells). i go down to A5, and select paste. in openOffice, i would get the formula from A1 into A5; A2 into A6; and the formula from A3 into A7. perfect. in libreOffice, i am now getting a text import dialog. which is not want i want. if i select, paste special, and chose only formulas, i still get the same thing.

if i select A5:A7 so that the new selection box is the same, i still get the same text import dialog.

how can i paste formulas from a multiple cell copy function?

again, this worked fine in openOffice.

thanks.

karolus · August 7, 2025, 5:14pm

Cannot reproduce… I select »A1:A3« copy with ctrl c … select »A5« paste with ctrl v …done!

pRose · August 7, 2025, 5:26pm

ok. it works for you. it is NOT working for me. where would be the next place to troubleshoot why it is not working for me?

mikekaganski · August 7, 2025, 5:34pm

Say, you may consider pasting what you copied from Help → About ? (Guess we’ll see kf5 or kf6 there, meaning that’s the VCL plugin not available in OpenOffice, and the better integration would explain the difference; and then, trying another plugin could be something to try…)

pRose · August 7, 2025, 5:46pm

here is a little screencast of said problem.

screencast

mikekaganski · August 7, 2025, 5:49pm

And if you start the program using

SAL_USE_VCLPLUGIN=gen libreoffice

?

pRose · August 7, 2025, 5:52pm

no. that did not work. the UI seemed much older with that plugin; but the same problem persists.

mikekaganski · August 7, 2025, 5:53pm

Pity. But something is definitely modifying the clipboard content. No idea what is that something, and why it doesn’t affect AOO.

fpy · August 7, 2025, 5:59pm

cannot reproduce either with , Ctrl+Insert … Shift+Insert

what says : echo $XDG_SESSION_TYPE ?

pRose · August 7, 2025, 6:01pm

$XDG_SESSION_TYPE is:

wayland

erAck · August 7, 2025, 6:11pm

I’d bet it’s yet again some Ubuntu clipboard destroyer (aka manager) fiddling with the LibreOffice specific clipboard mime-types.

pRose · August 7, 2025, 6:15pm

i think you are probably right. i think i have found a workaround. if i select the area to be copied, and press copy twice, it then works as expected. which is great. an extra keystroke, but easy enough.

thanks for all the help on this. it was flustering me and its a huge time saver on this spreadsheet.

fpy · August 7, 2025, 6:30pm

trying to name them : https://www.reddit.com/r/Ubuntu/comments/18f5f21/does_ubuntu_have_clipboard_history_or_something/