Bug 115241 - CALC, UI: There is no easy way to see the cells with conditional formatting
Summary: CALC, UI: There is no easy way to see the cells with conditional formatting
Status: NEW
Alias: None
Product: LibreOffice
Classification: Unclassified
Component: Calc (show other bugs)
Version:
(earliest affected)
Inherited From OOo
Hardware: All All
: medium enhancement
Assignee: Not Assigned
URL:
Whiteboard:
Keywords:
Depends on:
Blocks: Conditional-Formatting Calc-Enhancements
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Reported: 2018-01-26 10:02 UTC by Timur
Modified: 2020-02-18 02:22 UTC (History)
4 users (show)

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Description Timur 2018-01-26 10:02:18 UTC
It's be useful to have an option in Calc to see which cells have conditional formatting set. I'm proposing 3 alternative ways to mark them.

1. Add an option "Preview Condition" in Tools - Options - LibreOffice Calc - View and also in View menu (like Value Highlighting). 
Maybe to preview conditional formatting like a condition is set, or some of them of there are more.

2. Include conditional formatting in Value Highlighting.
(Currently: Text cells are formatted in black, formulas in green, number cells in blue, and protected cells are shown with light grey background.)

3. Add an option "Mark" in Format-Conditional Formatting and in Conditional Formatting drop-down icon. 
Maybe with yellow button.

I don't see the best solution, but I hope a discussion will yield to it.
Comment 1 Heiko Tietze 2018-01-30 08:55:02 UTC
(In reply to Timur from comment #0)
> It's be useful to have an option in Calc to see which cells have conditional
> formatting set. I'm proposing 3 alternative ways to mark them.
> 
> 1. Add an option "Preview Condition" in Tools - Options - LibreOffice Calc -
> View and also in View menu (like Value Highlighting). 
> Maybe to preview conditional formatting like a condition is set, or some of
> them of there are more.

Good idea. But is the request really completely new or just an enhancement to the value highlight thing? I mean we can integrate the depiction of conditional formatting into the existing function.

> 2. Include conditional formatting in Value Highlighting.
> (Currently: Text cells are formatted in black, formulas in green, number
> cells in blue, and protected cells are shown with light grey background.)

That wont work as you can highlight the cell background (e.g. "bad" for <0) or the font (e.g. "footnote"). The whole idea of using colors as the primary method of information is doomed from the beginning. Excel has the small triangles, we could do the same or go with small icons. If the function is supposed to be activated temporarily only it could switch off  the user/style formatting shortly.

> 3. Add an option "Mark" in Format-Conditional Formatting and in Conditional
> Formatting drop-down icon. 
> Maybe with yellow button.

Sounds like an overkill to me. No need for special treatment IMHO.
Comment 2 Timur 2018-01-30 09:18:57 UTC
(In reply to Heiko Tietze from comment #1)
> > 1. Add an option "Preview Condition" in Tools - Options - LibreOffice Calc -
> > View and also in View menu (like Value Highlighting). 
> 
> Good idea. But is the request really completely new or just an enhancement
> to the value highlight thing? 
"New" is my option 1. and "Enhancement" is my option 2. 
> > 2. Include conditional formatting in Value Highlighting.
> That wont work as you can highlight the cell background (e.g. "bad" for <0)
> or the font (e.g. "footnote"). The whole idea of using colors as the primary
> method of information is doomed from the beginning. Excel has the small
> triangles, we could do the same or go with small icons. 
Sounds like a new bug, upon which this one may depend.
Comment 3 Cor Nouws 2018-02-08 13:54:52 UTC
I suggest Edit > Select > Cells with conditional formatting

(Analogue to ... > Select Unprotected Cells )
Comment 4 Timur 2018-02-09 07:52:15 UTC
What we agree is that there is no easy way to see the cells with conditional formatting and we should be able to see cells with conditional formatting set.

I suggested 1. for permanent highlighting, to add an option "Preview Condition" in Tools - Options - LibreOffice Calc - View and also in View menu (like Value Highlighting). 
I stay with my option 1. for this bug, to see those cells if needed. 

Cor suggested (let's call 4.) temporary selection with Edit > Select > Cells with conditional formatting.
Cor's suggestion is useful maybe to clear them all and can be another bug. Why not have both.
Comment 5 Cor Nouws 2018-02-09 12:54:31 UTC
(In reply to Timur from comment #4)

> I suggested 1. for permanent highlighting, to add an option "Preview
> Condition" in Tools - Options - LibreOffice Calc - View and also in View
> menu (like Value Highlighting). 

One has to make sure that the 'highlighting' is visible, despite the CF.
I like the idea, however.

> Cor suggested (let's call 4.) temporary selection with Edit > Select > Cells
> with conditional formatting.

Weĺl, IMO it's mostly logic in line with the other functions there :)

I can live with both solutions.
Comment 6 Heiko Tietze 2018-02-21 19:23:02 UTC
We have two Options:
#1: per selection via edit > select > (options) 
  + it's how Excel works but likely not what users have in mind
  + should work per find and replace dialog out of the box
#2: temporarily show an icon or triangle on cells
  + similar to non-printable characters on/off
  + ideally with option 1 for special use cases such as 
    replace all conditional formattings by something else
Option 2 is my preference.

Not recommended are modification of color/font/shading etc.


The remaining question is what properties are in-scope (external data, protected cells, ...) and what out-of scope or rather accomplished per extra solutions (comments, tracked changes, ... )
Comment 7 Cor Nouws 2018-02-25 08:51:51 UTC
(In reply to Heiko Tietze from comment #6)
> We have two Options:
> #1: per selection via edit > select > (options) 
>   + it's how Excel works but likely not what users have in mind
>   + should work per find and replace dialog out of the box
> #2: temporarily show an icon or triangle on cells

such as the long existing wish to mark cells with e.g. text formatting. So if, then in a distinguish way.
 
>   + similar to non-printable characters on/off
>   + ideally with option 1 for special use cases such as 
>     replace all conditional formattings by something else

What use case comes in mind for that (keeping in mind the many different effect/reasons for conditional formatting that exist)?

> Option 2 is my preference.
> 
> Not recommended are modification of color/font/shading etc.

OK.

> The remaining question is what properties are in-scope (external data,
> protected cells, ...) and what out-of scope or rather accomplished per extra
> solutions (comments, tracked changes, ... )

I do not understand this, in relation to CF.
Comment 8 Heiko Tietze 2018-02-26 08:46:24 UTC
(In reply to Cor Nouws from comment #7)
> > The remaining question is what properties are in-scope (external data,
> > protected cells, ...) and what out-of scope or rather accomplished per extra
> > solutions (comments, tracked changes, ... )
> 
> I do not understand this, in relation to CF.

If we introduce a method to easily identify CF it makes sense to adopt the same way for other information. Let's say a yellow and a blue triangle for CF and external data (bug 114997).

But do you want to identify all cells that have a comment likewise it's done for CF? Or have been changed while tracking is on? Presumably not, you expect a different type of identification (track changes is done with red border and a dot top left, comments have the dot at top right).
Comment 9 Cor Nouws 2019-05-23 14:04:30 UTC
(In reply to Heiko Tietze from comment #8)
> But do you want to identify all cells that have a comment likewise it's done
> for CF? Or have been changed while tracking is on? Presumably not, you
> expect a different type of identification (track changes is done with red
> border and a dot top left, comments have the dot at top right).
Ah yes, that makes sense indeed. Thanks Heiko.
Comment 10 Heiko Tietze 2019-05-24 09:20:09 UTC
So resolve as WF, favoring search by cell style?
Comment 11 Cor Nouws 2019-05-24 09:27:33 UTC
(In reply to Heiko Tietze from comment #10)
> So resolve as WF, favoring search by cell style?
?? No.