Bug 169417 - Can't see which cells are used when editing a formula
Summary: Can't see which cells are used when editing a formula
Status: RESOLVED DUPLICATE of bug 38304
Alias: None
Product: LibreOffice
Classification: Unclassified
Component: Calc (show other bugs)
Version:
(earliest affected)
25.8.2.2 release
Hardware: All Windows (All)
: medium enhancement
Assignee: Not Assigned
URL:
Whiteboard:
Keywords:
Depends on:
Blocks:
 
Reported: 2025-11-13 11:51 UTC by James
Modified: 2025-11-13 23:43 UTC (History)
2 users (show)

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Description James 2025-11-13 11:51:14 UTC
Description:
Compared to Excel, when I edit a formula, I can see which cells are used — they are highlighted.
In LibreOffice Calc, I can’t see these highlighted cells.

I really like this feature and miss it in Calc.
When I double-click an existing formula, the referenced cells are highlighted, but when I start typing something new, the highlighting disappears.

I also noticed there is a setting called “Highlight selection in edit mode,” but even with this option enabled, I still experience the same problem.

Steps to Reproduce:
1. Open LibreOffice Calc.
2. Enter some values in a few cells, for example:
3. A1 = 5
B1 = 10
C1 = 15
4. In another cell (e.g. D1), enter a formula like =A1+B1*C1.
5. Double-click the formula cell — the referenced cells (A1, B1, C1) are highlighted.
6. Now, start typing a new formula manually (for example, =A1+) or edit the existing one.
7. Observe that the highlighted cell borders disappear while typing.

Actual Results:
When I start typing or editing a formula, the highlighting of referenced cells disappears.
Only when I double-click an existing formula, I can see the highlighted cells — but as soon as I begin editing or adding new references, the highlight is gone.

Expected Results:
When editing or creating a formula, all referenced cells should remain highlighted (with colored borders), just like when double-clicking an existing formula.
This makes it easy to see which cells are being used in the formula, similar to how it works in Excel or Google Sheets.


Reproducible: Always


User Profile Reset: Yes

Additional Info:
[Information automatically included from LibreOffice]
Locale: pl
Module: SpreadsheetDocument
[Information guessed from browser]
OS: Windows (All)
OS is 64bit: no
Comment 1 nutka 2025-11-13 15:25:38 UTC
It seems that Bug 138553 is basically related to the same issue.
Comment 2 m_a_riosv 2025-11-13 23:43:03 UTC

*** This bug has been marked as a duplicate of bug 38304 ***