[3.4.4/Windows] How to move cell with mouse?

YetAnotherAccount · January 11, 2012, 12:45pm

Hello,

I want to move cell A1 to A2 with the mouse:

I select A1, then press Alt, and move the cell with the mouse: Nothing
happens

I select A1, then press Ctrl, and move the cell with the mouse: A2 is also
selected and nothing happens

Also tried Shift, Ctrl+Shift, Alt+Ctrl, etc.: Doesn't work

How can I drag and drop a cell with the mouse?

As a temporary solution, I just Cut (Ctrl+X) and Paste (Ctrl+V).

I read this, but I can't figure it out.
http://help.libreoffice.org/Calc/Moving_Cells_by_Drag-and-Drop

Thank you.

Jack11 · January 11, 2012, 1:16pm

Gilles wrote:

I want to move cell A1 to A2 with the mouse:

This is easy enough. You just select the cell, and then
click-and-drag it - you don't need to press any keys on the keyboard.
The trick is to actually *select* the cell.

Try this:
To move A1:A2 to B3:B4, simply select A1:A2 and click-and-drag A1:A2 to B3:B4.

To move A1 to A2 (which was your original question), click on A1
(don't release the mouse button yet). Then drag the mouse down (or to
the side) to select more than one cell (still don't release the mouse
button). Then drag the mouse back to A1 (while still holding the
mouse button). When the mouse is over A1, you can release the mouse
button again. Now A1 is actually *selected*. You can now drag A1 to
A2 (or wherever you wanted it).

In the examples above, you could also use the keyboard to select the
cell. To do this, hold down shift, press down, press up and release
shift. Now you can drag the cell to wherever you want.

Regards
Stephan

elderdanlewis · January 11, 2012, 1:30pm

I'm not sure you can move just one cell. Two or more cells can be
moved by clicking on the first cell and then selecting the rest to the
cells. Then this group of cells can be moved in the various ways that
Help describes.
If there is an empty cell adjacent to the cell you want to move,
then you can move these two cells together. But that obviously has some
draw backs.

--Dan

YetAnotherAccount · January 11, 2012, 1:32pm

Thanks, but it doesn't work. When I select A1, unclick (ie. remove my finger
from the left button on the mouse) then move the mouse to A2, it simply
selects A1 and A2, it doesn't move A1 to A2. I also tried keeping the left
button clicked while I moved to A2, but it also selects the two cells
instead of moving A1 to A2.

Is there a video that shows how to perform such a simple task?

Thank you.

YetAnotherAccount · January 11, 2012, 1:36pm

This thread (from 2007!) explains how to move a single cell

http://user.services.openoffice.org/en/forum/viewtopic.php?f=9&t=886

It clumsy, counter-intuitive, but it works.

Thank you.

Jack11 · January 11, 2012, 1:51pm

Gilles wrote:

Thanks, but it doesn't work. When I select A1, unclick (ie. remove my finger
from the left button on the mouse) then move the mouse to A2, it simply
selects A1 and A2, it doesn't move A1 to A2. I also tried keeping the left
button clicked while I moved to A2, but it also selects the two cells
instead of moving A1 to A2.

Are you sure you followed the steps I described carefully? When you
select A1 and A2 (before releasing the button), drag the mouse back to
A1 and then release the button. Then A1 should be blue. Then you
drag A1 to A2.

Regards
Stephan

Tom_Davies · January 11, 2012, 3:38pm

Hi
Sadly you have to "do the LibreOffice shuffle" as one person put it. You can't move single cells on their own but can move blocks of at least 2 cells. It's a bit weird but soon you hardly even notice yourself working around the issue.
Regards from
Tom

Ian_Whitfield · January 11, 2012, 3:55pm

YES you can Tom!!

Just read the instructions that were given.... Select the cell you want to move, keep the mouse button down and select a second cell. Still keeping the mouse button down move back to the original cell. Now let go of the mouse button, the cell will be highlighted.

Now click on the highlighted cell and drag n' drop it where you want.

IT DOES WORK (I just confirmed it with a test)!!!

Ian Whitfield
Pretoria

Alan_B · January 11, 2012, 4:09pm

1. Move cell pointer to desired cell
2. Press Ctrl
3. Click on desired cell (note: Click, not Click and hold)
4. Release Ctrl
5. Click and hold to drag highlighted cell to new destination

Bad2theBone · January 11, 2012, 5:08pm

Using these instructions work for me as well. Fedora 16, LXDE, LO 3.4.4

Pedro_Lino · January 11, 2012, 5:16pm

This is a know limitation since the OpenOffice days.

The good news is that an *enhancement request* is already on the Bugzilla
tracker
https://bugs.freedesktop.org/show_bug.cgi?id=38994

and it has been assigned to Kohei Yoshida (Calc's guru) and included in the
"LibreOffice 3.4 most annoying bugs"
https://bugs.freedesktop.org/show_bug.cgi?id=35673

So, it's not fixed yet but it will be soon(ish)

Gerard_Fargeot · January 11, 2012, 6:01pm

Hi,

Message du 11/01/12 18:16
De : "Pedro"
A : users@global.libreoffice.org
Copie à :
Objet : [libreoffice-users] Re: [3.4.4/Windows] How to move cell with mouse?

This is a know limitation since the OpenOffice days.

The good news is that an *enhancement request* is already on the Bugzilla
tracker
https://bugs.freedesktop.org/show_bug.cgi?id=38994

IMHO, it is not a good news.
Drag cells by clic on a tiny border instead of anywhere in the cell is *not* an improvement

Gérard

Don_C_Myers · January 11, 2012, 6:02pm

Hi,

I never knew you could do that either. In OpenOffice, and then in LibreOffice, I always had to highlight two to move them. But this method of moving just one does work!!!!! I jut tested it.

Don

Don_C_Myers · January 11, 2012, 6:09pm

Hi,

Works very well for me also. Now I've learned two new ways today!!!!!!

Don

Tom_Davies · January 11, 2012, 6:30pm

Hi
Superb! 2 new ways for me too
Many thanks and regards from
Tom

Pedro_Lino · January 11, 2012, 6:57pm

Gérard Fargeot wrote

IMHO, it is not a good news.
Drag cells by clic on a tiny border instead of anywhere in the cell is
*not* an improvement

This is the way all spreadsheets work. Clicking on the center of the cell is
supposed to enter Edit mode.

In any case the "clickable" area is defined by the programmers (in Excel
it's around 5 pixels wide, which is plenty) so even if you have a very thin
border, you have a larger area to click on.

A small correction to my previous post: this "enhancement" is NOT on the
"LibreOffice 3.4 most annoying bugs" It should be though

YetAnotherAccount · January 11, 2012, 11:55pm

Jack wrote

Are you sure you followed the steps I described carefully? When you
select A1 and A2 (before releasing the button), drag the mouse back to A1
and then release the button. Then A1 should be blue. Then you
drag A1 to A2.

Ok, I got it. I find it very counter-intuitive (selecting two cells to move
one cell?), but it worked. Thank you.

Jack11 · January 12, 2012, 7:24am

Alan Boba wrote:

1. Move cell pointer to desired cell
2. Press Ctrl
3. Click on desired cell (note: Click, not Click and hold)
4. Release Ctrl
5. Click and hold to drag highlighted cell to new destination

I think this method is better than the one I described. Thanks for
pointing it out. Just make sure not to skip step 1.

Regards
Stephan

Jack11 · January 12, 2012, 7:51am

Alan Boba wrote:

1. Move cell pointer to desired cell
2. Press Ctrl
3. Click on desired cell (note: Click, not Click and hold)
4. Release Ctrl
5. Click and hold to drag highlighted cell to new destination

For the sake of completeness, let me add that you could also use the
Shift key instead of the Ctrl key. So then it would look like this:
1. Click on the cell you want to move
2. Shift+click on the same cell (hold shift, click on the cell, release shift)
3. Click and drag the cell to where you want it