LibreOffice Calc: What is the data range syntax?

Question

I want to specify a graph's data ranges, but I don't know what format the data range specifier strings are in. Specifically, I'd like to specify all cells in Column A starting and including row 2 for a graph.

I tried checking the LibreOffice wiki which unhelpfully links to the OpenOffice wiki which isn't helpful either.

Solution

What's in row 1? If it's the column label, then Sheet1.A:A works. Apparently, Calc ignores rows that do not contain numeric values.

Otherwise, use Sheet1.A2:A1048576 for the maximum number of rows.

Either way, however, it's much slower than specifying only the rows that contain data, for example Sheet1.A2:A100.

EDIT:

There are workarounds for automatically expanding the chart's area. Browse through these related questions:

• https://ask.libreoffice.org/en/question/16502/how-do-i-insert-named-ranges-in-charts/
• https://forum.openoffice.org/en/forum/viewtopic.php?f=9&t=87069
• https://ask.libreoffice.org/en/question/124256/dynamic-range-for-chart/
• https://forum.openoffice.org/en/forum/viewtopic.php?f=9&t=59742

Comments

[fixer1234]

LO Calc accepts an entire column in the form A:A, but it doesn't accept that form with a starting row. If you need to specify a starting row, you also need to specify an ending row.

[Xunie]

Can I specify the EXACT number of rows with some kind of sheet variable instead of a literal number?

[Jim K]

It seems not. I defined a named range with Sheet -> Named Ranges and Expressions -> Define, but the chart did not accept the name. See links in edited answer.