Collabora Office TAKE: Select a contiguous leading or trailing block
Take rows or columns from either edge in the new Linux desktop build, distinguish zero from omission and understand oversized counts.
Verification status: See the evidence and test scope described in this guide. How formula examples are checked
Quick answer: =TAKE(A1:C3;-2;-2) returns the bottom-right 2 × 2 block of a 3 × 3 source. Negative counts choose from the end; they do not reverse the selected values.
Syntax and dimensions
=TAKE(Array; Rows [; Columns])
Rows is the desired row count. Positive counts select from the top and negative counts from the bottom. Optional Columns similarly selects from the left or right. Omitted Columns keeps the full width. A missing Rows position is supported when taking columns only: =TAKE(A1:C3;;2) retains all rows and selects the first two columns. Official TAKE help.
Use whole-number counts. The inspected numerical conversion truncates toward zero approximately; fractional row or column counts do not mean partial cells. A supplied zero is not the same as an omitted position: zero selects no cells and follows a not-available error path in this build.
Worked example: extract the bottom-right block
Enter the complete numerical grid:
| Row | A | B | C |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1 | 2 | 3 |
| 2 | 4 | 5 | 6 |
| 3 | 7 | 8 | 9 |
=TAKE(A1:C3;2)independently gives rows[1,2,3]and[4,5,6].=TAKE(A1:C3;-2;-2)selects source rows 2–3 and columns B–C.- Its complete expected result is:
| Output 1 | Output 2 |
|---|---|
| 5 | 6 |
| 8 | 9 |
The last row remains below the preceding row, and the last column remains on the right. A negative count chooses an edge, not a descending sort direction.
For a column-only selection, =TAKE(A1:C3;;2) independently gives [1,2], [4,5], [7,8]. The doubled semicolon deliberately preserves the Rows position. Replacing it with ;0; would request an empty row extent and would not give this array.
Advanced use: a bounded preview of ordered records
TAKE is useful for the first few records of an already ordered report. If records are chronological, =TAKE(A1:C3;-2) gives the last two included rows, but it does not inspect dates to determine which records are newest. Sort by the appropriate key first when physical row order is not the desired order.
With SORTBY, first verify the full sorted array and then apply TAKE to its leading block. In a top-N report, include an explicit tie-breaker in the sorting expression so the boundary record is intentional. TAKE counts rows, not distinct categories, and will include a header if the header is inside the source.
For an ordinary nonzero request, the selected height is the smaller of the source height and the absolute requested row count. The same applies to width when Columns is supplied. An omitted dimension keeps its source size. This lets a preview return all available records when the requested preview length is larger than the data.
Exact source boundary behavior
For A1:C3 above:
| Formula | Source-derived result |
|---|---|
=TAKE(A1:C3;4) |
All three rows, original 3 × 3 array |
=TAKE(A1:C3;-3) |
All three rows, original 3 × 3 array |
=TAKE(A1:C3;0) |
Internal NotAvailable error |
The implementation adjusts an axis only when the absolute count is strictly smaller than that dimension. Equal or larger requests therefore keep the full available axis. Zero creates an empty extent and triggers PushNA. These rules were inspected in ScTakeOrDrop(true), not observed in a running application.
This zero behavior differs from DROP, whose zero removes nothing. Do not replace TAKE with DROP merely by changing the sign of a count; their jobs and boundary behavior differ.
Original blank cells remain empty matrix cells internally. There is no promise here about how the new desktop displays those blanks, automatically allocates a spill area or enters an array formula. Invalid source arguments and resource failures can follow additional error paths. Keep ranges bounded and verify that your chosen dimensions match the intended data region.
Product scope, compatibility and evidence
This guide covers the new Collabora Office desktop for Linux, using the Flathub source tag coda-26.04.4.3-1 and commit 81339d176148d0d5c81ff05d82540f58f8aaa117. The official desktop release notes and Linux package manifest identify that product/build. The package manifest is a dated observation from October 18, 2026, rather than an installed-binary check.
The 26.04 function help and exact evaluator source were inspected on October 18, 2026. Expected examples were independently calculated; no Collabora application was run. Expected values and arrays describe source-derived results, not verified keyboard entry or automatic spill behavior. Classic, Online/CODE, other operating systems and file-format round trips require their own checks.
The help identifies this function as outside OpenDocument 1.3 and uses the extension name COM.MICROSOFT.TAKE. That does not establish lossless export to every spreadsheet format. The first Collabora release introducing it is not established by these sources. It is documented here as available, with no cited retirement or deprecation notice; an undocumented introduction date is not a deprecation claim.
Related functions
- DROP: remove edge cells instead of retaining a block
- SORTBY: establish record order before a top-N selection
- CHOOSEROWS: select noncontiguous row positions