Cell colors in Spreadsheets

[dannymontani]

Hi guys. Really appreciate the work put into the new version 3. I hope I don’t come across as a nit picker, nor that I missed a thread on the issue.

I am using the latest update and while working on an art slide database that I imported from MS Excell, have found that the cell rows that are already in different colors by museum and owner names... that new colors from NeoOffice do not match up reasonably well. They are off by quite different hues. Orange to light orange. A dark blue would be darker or lighter. I have a calibrated moniter and profiled printer.

It would be a great and more professional look when I print it they would match.

Thanx, Dan

[narf]

Can you please provide us with a sample Microsoft Excel document and steps to recreate this issue? We would like an Excel document so we can see the colors before importing.

Instructions for how to attach files to your post.

--fran

[dannymontani]

Hi guys,

Attached you will find a clipped version of the Excel (version X) file I am using. As you scroll down it look for Rows 197, 198 and 405. They have remained as said above. I have worked with them the last few days and they remain unchanged. Have restart machine, rebuilt permissions ran misc Onyx and Leopard Cache Cleaner scripts. I’ve run the program (NeoOffice) alone and with the other apps I usually have running. Lightroom 2 (latest updates), Photoshop CS3, Bridge at times, Toast 8 at times. Nothing changes it nor corrupts my file luckily.

I am using a Mac Pro G5 with 7gig RAM, 3 drives (misc, inc Seagate 1tb... updated firmware). Printing to a Canon i9900 wide format.

Hope this helps.
Dan

[narf]

Can you please post a Microsoft Excel file showing the colors as they appear originally? The file attached is an .ods file and we would like to compare it to the .xls file it was derived from.

Thanks ,
--fran

Edited to correct file type to .ods

[dannymontani]

Here is the original file.

Peace, Dan

[narf]

Thank you for providing sample files of in both .xls and .ods formats.

Unfortunately I can not reproduce the issue you are seeing. I did note the different colors you pointed out in the .ods file on lines 197, 198 and 403. However, when I opened the .xls file in NeoOffice 3.0 Early Access 2 Patch 1 and then used the menu File :: Save As and chose ODF Spreadsheet (.ods) as the File Type the colors on the new .ods spreadsheet matched the original .xls file.

Are these the same steps you used to create a .ods file from the .xls file?

What version of NeoOffice you are using? You can check this by selecting the menu Help :: About NeoOffice.

thanks --fran

[dannymontani]

Hi fran,

The version I am using is the last. I am using the version 3.0 Early Access 2 Patch 1.

You almost got the progression of what happens correct. Almost. Yes I did as you described, saving, etc.

Now that you have it open it NeoOffice, change one of the row colors to what would be one of the others. Say for instance from the light orange of one of the ‘Studio’ rows to a purple of a person buying it. Or a white to a color that looks to be the match. You see it, bam, just off enough of a hue that it could be used as another ‘Range’ for another museum or otherwise.

peace, Dan

[narf]

Thanks for the detailed answer, now I understand the color issue.

I have bad news, this is an OpenOffice.org bug. I can reproduce the bug you identified in all versions of OpenOffice.org from version 2.2.1 (which NeoOffice 2.2.5 is based on) through 3.0.1 (which NeoOffice 3.0 Early Access 2 is based on.)

The bug is that "Can't Edit Custom colors on document created by another user." Issue 83665 is filed in OpenOffice.org's IssueTracker for this issue. You can add comments or vote for the issue there.

I do have a workaround that may work for you. Select the cell that has the color you desire and select the menu File :: Copy. Then select the row you would like to change to that color and select File :: Paste Special. In the Past Special dialog box that appears uncheck everything in the Selection section except for Formats. Press OK. Does that put the desired color in the cells?

Unfortunately, our very limited funding and developer resources limits the current scope of the NeoOffice project to keeping a native version of OpenOffice.org running on Mac OS X and fixing OpenOffice.org bugs is outside that scope.

--fran

[dannymontani]

fran,

ahh haa! and oh well, eh.

We tried. I can do and will do as you suggest. But am also thinking for OpenOffice.org future reference, that a permanent fix may be as this.

If one were to have the 'Pantone' color charts color number sequences of Excel or otherwise you could quite straight forwardly colormatch to the (code) within OpenOffice. (Now I know nothing about coding, but color I do.) I would think it quite simple to type in the six or eight alphanumeric symbols.

Just a thought.

Dan

[dannymontani]

fran,

I have some hours here so I put them to use building a spreadsheet of both color charts from Excell vX and NeoOffice 3 (OpenOffice). Using the Finder I have screenshots of both charts and mapped the colors to the spread. They are as PANTONE® colors, but may be converted to other systems quite easily I would think. A huge difference as I thought to begin with.

Please find two attchments. One for each application. I would hope them to be of use to somebody at some point.

Quite welcome, peace,
Dan

[narf]

Wow. Thanks for your generous contribution. This looks like it took some time, not to mention a certain amount of knowledge of PANTONE® colors.

--fran