Copy and Retire Custom Cell Styles in OpenOffice Calc

Copy a style definition when you want another workbook to use the same formatting without copying its cells or data. Retire an unwanted custom style only after replacing its assignments. These are different operations from applying a style to a selected range or changing a workbook template’s contents.

Scope and safe practice files

This exercise follows the Apache OpenOffice 4.1 Calc Guide, English desktop menus. It has not been run in a native Apache OpenOffice installation. Menu behavior, style persistence and appearance are checks for your installed build; no screenshot or cross-product equivalence is claimed.

Start with the reusable body-style exercise and its TaskBody style. Save a practice copy of that workbook as style-source.ods, preserving the original. The complete four-task fixture totals 10 after inserting the projector row; its three-task starting fixture totals 6. Confirm which stage you saved before comparing anything later.

Create style-destination.ods with this independent A1:C4 table:

Task	Owner	Hours
Check signs	Jin	2
Set chairs	Noor	5
Pack markers	Ari	1

Put Hours check in E1 and =SUM(C2:C4) in E2. Expect 8. Keep both practice workbooks open. Use a destination without an existing custom style named TaskBody; same-name replacement is not part of this exercise.

Transfer the definition, not a range of cells

1. Choose File → Templates → Organize to open Template Management.
2. Use the list selectors at the bottom to show Documents on both sides. Locate the source on one side and the destination on the other; verify their filenames before dragging anything.
3. Expand each document by double-clicking its name, then expand its Styles entry to reveal individual definitions.
4. Hold Ctrl while dragging TaskBody from the source list into the destination’s style list. The official guide documents this modifier for copying. Do not infer a safe move operation from an unmodified drag.
5. Close the dialog. In the destination, open Format → Styles and Formatting, choose Cell Styles, select A2:C4 and apply TaskBody.

If a file is not open, the guide also describes the dialog’s File button for selecting it. For this exercise, keeping the two explicitly named practice documents open makes the direction easier to verify.

Prove that the correct thing was copied

The destination should now offer the TaskBody definition, but it must still contain Jin, Noor and Ari with hours 2, 5 and 1. E2 must remain 8, not the source’s 6 or 10. If the source’s tasks appear in the destination, you copied cells or opened the wrong file rather than completing this style-only workflow.

Inspect the body background, text wrapping and font choices, adjusting row heights or column widths for readable text. Do not require identical line breaks across machines with different fonts. Reopen the source and confirm its own style and task table remain intact: copying is not permission to remove the original.

Save and reopen both ODS files. Recheck the destination’s style list, data and total. These are expected verification steps, not reported native results. CSV is not suitable for this test because it does not preserve named styles.

Retire a custom style without depending on deletion fallback

Practice only in a duplicate of the small destination workbook, such as style-retirement-test.ods. Select A2:C4 and apply Default deliberately. Check that the words and numbers remain intact and E2 is still 8. This replaces the known TaskBody assignments before removing that definition.

In Styles and Formatting, right-click the now-unneeded TaskBody entry and choose Delete. Confirm only after checking the selected style name. The guide permits deleting custom styles, but not Calc’s predefined ones. Do not try to delete Default.

On a real multi-sheet workbook, first identify and replace every use of the unwanted style, not just the visible report. If you cannot establish where it is used, leave it in place. This exercise avoids relying on undocumented formatting substitutions when an in-use style is deleted.

After deleting, check that TaskBody no longer appears in this practice copy’s list, the three records still total 8, and the original source and destination files were not changed. Save, reopen and repeat those checks. If the wrong definition or formatting was removed, stop and restore the untouched practice copy rather than improvising a bulk change.

Copy versus move: keep the limitation visible

The official section is titled “Copying and Moving Styles,” but the full instructions checked for this guide explicitly describe Ctrl-drag copying. They do not establish the behavior of dragging without Ctrl. This page therefore teaches copying and separately verified retirement, not an untested one-step move command.

If your aim is to keep the definition only in the destination, complete and verify the copy first. Then, in a backed-up source file, replace every old assignment before deleting its custom definition. That is a deliberate copy-and-cleanup workflow; it does not transfer cell content or synchronize future edits between workbooks.

First-party references

Full pages checked 2026-10-21:

• Apache OpenOffice 4.1 Calc Guide: Copying and Moving Styles.
• Apache OpenOffice 4.1 Calc Guide: Deleting Styles.

For saving a reusable master with both formulas and formatting, use create and reuse a workbook template. This style-transfer exercise does not replace that template workflow.