Document a Gnumeric Workbook with Comments and Links

Put an explanation beside an input and provide a direct route to its source cells. This is a local workbook documentation exercise: comments and hyperlinks do not create a live shared editing session.

Build a small review sheet

On Sheet1, enter this synthetic summary:

Cell	Entry
A1	Review summary
A2	Net amount
B2	250
A3	Fee rate
B3	0.075
A4	Fee
B4	=B2*B3
A6	Go to source rows
A7	Gnumeric manual
A10	Item
B10	Net
A11	Labels
B11	120
A12	Folders
B12	80
A13	Envelopes
B13	50

The expected fee is 18.75. In D2 enter =SUM(B11:B13)-B2; expect 0. A comment can explain an assumption, but D2 checks that the summary actually agrees with its source rows.

Add, read and revise a comment

1. Select B3 and choose Insert → Comment. Enter: Practice assumption: fee rate is 7.5%. Review the rate before reusing this model. Commit the dialog.
2. Look for the cell’s comment marker and hover over it to read the note. The comments manual describes a red triangle and a popup.
3. Select B3 and use Insert → Comment again, or Edit → Modify → Comment, to edit the existing annotation. Add a second line: Checked against this synthetic exercise on 2026-10-19.
4. Read it again and verify that both lines are present. An explicit line break in the note controls the popup text layout; wrapping in the comment editing box alone is not the same check.

Change B3 to 0.08: B4 should become 20. Does the comment still say 7.5%? That is deliberately stale documentation. Either revise the note to 8% or restore B3 to 0.075. For this exercise, restore the input and confirm 18.75. Comments are not automatically synchronized with cell values.

Link the summary to the evidence rows

Select A6 and choose Insert → Hyperlink. Set Type to Internal Link and Target Range to Sheet1!A10:B13; using the range selector is also documented. Confirm the dialog.

Activate the link. The expected selection is A10:B13, with A10 active. This is a navigation check: selecting the target does not prove the summary calculation is correct, so verify D2 as well. Go back to A6 using ordinary selection or Goto cell. If clicking activates the link when you meant to edit it, follow the tooltip’s selection instructions or navigate to the cell with the keyboard.

For A7, insert a Web Link with Web Address https://gnome.pages.gitlab.gnome.org/gnumeric/manual/. Keep the existing readable cell label. Inspect the address before activating it. A web link opens through the configured external application; this exercise has no email link and sends no message.

The hyperlink documentation distinguishes Internal Link, External Link, Email Link and Web Link. A web URL is not a live data connection to the cells.

Advanced case: retarget after extending the source

Enter Tape and 40 in A14:B14. Change B2 to 290, update D2 to =SUM(B11:B14)-B2 and expect 0; B4 becomes 21.75 at the original rate.

Edit A6’s hyperlink through Edit → Modify → Hyperlink. Extend Target Range to Sheet1!A10:B14. Activate it and check that row 14 is included. Do not assume an appended row expands a fixed link. For a recovery test, restore the endpoint to row 13 and confirm that Tape is excluded; then restore row 14 for the finished version.

Remove annotations without removing data

In a disposable copy, select B3 and use Edit → Clear → Comments. B3 must still be 0.075, B4 21.75, and D2 0. Recreate the comment with Insert → Comment to recover it.

To remove only the navigation link from A6, use Edit → Delete → Hyperlinks. Verify that the label Go to source rows remains and the internal jump is gone. Reinsert the same Internal Link to recover it. Avoid Clear All, which removes the cell’s content as well. The broader Formats & Hyperlinks operation also resets formatting; it is not a targeted comment-removal command.

Save and review the handoff

Save a .gnumeric workbook and reopen it. Read B3’s comment, activate A6, inspect A7’s destination, and check B4/D2. These four checks cover annotation, internal navigation, external address and arithmetic separately. If converting formats, test the receiving file too; successful formula recalculation alone does not demonstrate that comments and links survived.

Use a clearly identified master file and a dated copy when exchanging revisions. Do not treat local Undo as a persistent multi-person audit trail. Comments do not protect values from edits; see sheet and cell protection for that different task.

Evidence and limitations

Reviewed 2026-10-19, Gnumeric manual 1.12: Comments in Cells, Hyperlinks and Menus. Arithmetic was checked independently. Comment markers, link activation, edit/remove operations and reopening were not natively tested for this article. No fresh screenshot or real-time coauthoring capability is claimed.

Related: SUM and file-format compatibility.