The Insert Menu

The Insert menu is

Figure 4-12 The Insert menu.

The menu choices are grouped into the following groups:

1 Insert into workbook.

These menu items alter the cells available in a workbook.

Cells... — The Cells... menu item opens a dialog asking the user how the sheet should be altered when new cells are inserted. The dialog lists four choices. The user can choose one of these by clicking the mouse pointer on one of the four dots. Only one choice is possible and the currently selected choice has a black dot in front.

The Shift cells right will insert a region of new cells of the size of the current selection. Cells which are on the same row as the selection and within or to the right of the selection will shift over to the right to accommodate the new cells. The Shift cells down choice will also insert a region of new cells the same size as the current selection. With this choice, cells which are in the selection or below the selection will move down to accommodate the new cells. The two other choices will act as if the user had chosen to insert rows or columns. These actions are explained above.
Columns — The Columns menu item will insert columns to the left of the current selection. The number of columns inserted will equal the number of columns spanned by the current selection.
Rows — The Rows menu item will insert rows above the current selection. The number of rows inserted will be equal to the number of rows spanned by the current selection.
Sheet — The Sheet menu item allows the user to insert a worksheet immediately following the current sheet.

2 Insert an object into the worksheet or content into the current cell.

The menu items insert sheet objects into the worksheet or insert content into the current cell.

Graph... — The Graph... menu item will allow a user to insert a graphic plot of data. This menu item will launch the graph druid. Graphing in Gnumeric is explained in Chapter 10 ― Graphs.
Image... — The Image... menu item will allow a user to insert a graphic object containing the image from an external file. The use of images in Gnumeric is explained in Section 9.2 ― Images.
Function — This menu item opens a dialog to allow the user to enter a mathematical formula into the cell. The function dialog includes the names and a brief explanation of all the available functions.
Function Wrapper — Selecting an item from the submenu shown in Figure 4-13 replaces every rectangular region in the current selection with an array function in which the appropriate function is wrapped around an array version of the current content. This can be used to create a self-sorting data region.

Figure 4-13 The Function Wrapper submenu.
Name... — The Name... menu item opens a dialog (see Figure 4-14) with a list of all defined names that can be pasted into the current cell. Section 5.2.4.4 ― Names explains names in greater detail.

Figure 4-14 The Insert Name dialog.
Comment... — This menu item opens a dialog to allow the user to enter a comment to the currently selected cell. A red triangle will appear in the top right corner of the cell to show that the cell has a comment.
Hyperlink... — This menu item opens a dialog to allow the user to enter the location of a link. The cell contents will become the text for the link and clicking on the cell will move the user to the new location. The link can point to another area of the worksheet, to another worksheet, or to any location which can be defined with a Universal Resource Locator (URL). If the URL points to a resource accessible over the Internet, Gnumeric will launch the desktop web browser to open that URL.
Special — The Special menu item opens a sub-menu which allows the user to insert predefined content into a cell. The current choices are to insert the current date, time or both.