How to Create an Address Book Using Open Office Calc

More and more of our tangible objects are becoming electronic and digitalized. Since many people are increasingly more comfortable with using spreadsheets, having your address book turned into a spreadsheet is a great way to keep your contacts organized and up-to-date. This tutorial uses Open Office Calc, a free way to create spreadsheets that will help you to keep up with your family, friends, work and business contacts. Read on to learn how.

EditSteps

1. 1
   

    Open a new, blank spreadsheet.
   Open a new, blank spreadsheet.
2. 2
   

    Right click on column A and select Column Width.
   Right click on column A and select Column Width. Enter in 1.19.
3. 3
   

    Select columns B and C and enter in the width of 1.
   Select columns B and C and enter in the width of 1.49.
4. 4
   Change the width of column D and E to 0.99.
5. 5
   Change the width of column F to 0.59.
6. 6
   Name the columns. Change A1 to F1 to the following:
   • First Name
   • Last Name
   • Street
   • City
   • State
   • Zip Code
7. 7
   

    Center the column titles.
   Center the column titles. Do this by selecting A1 to F1 and then clicking on the center alignment, as indicated in the screenshot.
8. 8
   Add the names of some people. The example ones are fictitious names and/or addresses.
9. 9
   

    Format the zip code column.
   Format the zip code column. You will notice that the zip with the leading zero is not showing the zero.
   • Right click on the F column and then select Format Cells...
   • Select the Numbers tab.
   • Select Number under the Category section.
   • Under Format, click General.
   • In the leading zeros box, change the number 1 to 5
     • 

        This is how everything should look.
       This is how everything should look.
10. 10
    

     Create a second page.
    Create a second page. To know how to place the second page properly, click on the preview icon.
11. 11
    

     Click on the Preview icon again.
    Click on the Preview icon again. Look closely at your spreadsheet. You will see some slightly darker and thicker lines. Those are the edges of the printed page.
12. 12
    Select and copy (CTRL C) the title of the columns in A1 to F1 and paste at the top of the second page.
13. 13
    Save as Address_Book or whatever is appropriate for your purposes.
14. 14
    Register your Address Book spreadsheet as a data source. You need to do that so the program that will be accessing the data (Writer, Impress, Calc) will know where to look.
15. 15
    

     Assign the fields in the spreadsheet.
    Assign the fields in the spreadsheet. This makes it so when the program looks for a name, it finds it.

EditTips

• Calc is similar to Microsoft's Excel. Many Calc data sheets can be saved in Microsoft Excel format; read the instructions accompanying your download for more details.
• Calc can be used with Mac OS X, Microsoft Windows, Linux, FreeBSD and Solaris.
• Available under the GNU Lesser General Public License, Calc is free software.

EditThings You'll Need

• Open Office Calc on your computer or electronic device