Remove a cell in a table in libreOffice writer

English
#1

I am using LibreOffice 7.3 with Windows 10 Pro. I have opened writer and inserted a table and am in the process of adjusting the rows and columns . There are several individual cells I need to remove, I can select/highlight the individual cell, got to “table” menu, click in “delete”. The delete menu only contains 3 selections; row, column and table – cell is missing. There is also a “select” item on the menu which has a “cell” choice. Clicking “cell” also highlights the cell I want to delete; but there are no other instructions, no next step. You would expect a next menu with “delete” or some other actions now that you have “selected” the cell.
My problem is the “delete” menu does not include “cell” as a choice and the “select” menu does include “cell” as a choice but no instructs/choices ,ie. “delete” (the selected cell).
I have browsed through the menu selections and did not find any additional references to cell deletion from a table; it’s entirely possible I was looking in all the wrong places.

Does anyone have a solution, that actually removes the cell? Is there a post I missed?
Any suggestions or links would be appreciated. Thanks in advance for your help.

#2

What should the “delete” do in the case of the cell? Shift the cells which are next to the deleted one to the left? Or shift the cells below this one to the top? So that the table becomes not a rectangle, but some polygonal shape like this:

image
image875×521 27.6 KB

Or do you intend to merge this cell with some other cell (to the left, or to the right, or to the top or bottom)? In which case, the usual and expected workflow would be to select all the cells that should be merged, and then use Table|Merge Cells (or respective toolbar button).

#3

You can not delete cells.You could delete the contents (Del-Key after selection).
.
If you need to re-arrange data you have to select the other cells (the content you wish to move) and then Cut (content not cells) and Paste where you need.
.
Had to do this for some time, but used Calc for this task.

#4

Maybe you only need to set some cell borders to None, but cells still will be there.
To hide the no printable table lines, choose menu View and unmark Table Boundaries.

1 Like
#5

Hello Mike,

Thanks for your quick reply. The top row of your picture is exactly the response I need-- except the “removed cell” needs to be top row, right hand side; ie switch places with the “removed cell” going from top row, left hand side; to top row, right hand side. I need the blank space on the top row, right hand side. As I finish the table layout, I may need to remove other cells ( leaving a blank spot, no shifting of cells); so knowing the “cell removal” procedure is important.

I did experiment with the “cell split” / “cell merge” function - trying to “remove a cell”; which worked for “cell split” / “cell merge”, but would some need more "error and trial " to end up with what you wanted.

Thanks again for your reply-- do you have a link to a step by step procedure for the " remove a cell" results described in my opening paragraph; or maybe post a step by step procedure to this link? I am sure it would be helpful to other Writer users who need to “remove a cell”.

Keep in touch.

Sherman

#6

Hello Wander,

Thank you for your response. I just posted a "reply to all " post to Mike. Mike, might have a Writer solution, to “remove a cell”. After playing around with trying to “remove a cell” I came to the same conclusion you mentioned – would this be easier in Calc?

I am a relative new user of LibreOffice Writer and Calc. I have a fair amount of time/ effort in my Writer table setup/creation - full page, 18 columns x 31 rows. Is it possible to “cut and paste” the full Writer table into a Calc table? Calc is probably the best solution, but even a partial “cut and paste” solution, if available, would be a time saver. If not, I will switch over to Calc.

I noticed you said " Had to do this for some time, but used Calc for this task." Do you have a link, in Calc, for the “cell removal” procedure, or tips for best way to “remove a cell”?

Tanks again for your reply, appreciate it. Keep in touch.

Sherman

#7

Removed duplicated text by @LeroyG

#8

Removed duplicated text by @LeroyG

#9

Seems no good idea, as I see your post here (ask website) now multipled…

I don’t think so. He tried to explain the open questions when removing a cell to show why it is not implemented.
.
The graphic @mikekaganski created is imho made with the same method @LeroyG mentioned: Manipulating the borders around the cells. So it is a pure visual effect. The top left cell “A1” is actually there, but empty and has no border. So you don’t see the cell. But rendering a cell invisible is different from deleting a cell.

2 Likes

Impressum (Legal Info) | Datenschutzerklärung (Privacy Policy)   Content on this site is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution Share Alike 3.0 license.