There are several ways to use this manual. The simplest is to read sequentially through the manual. A quicker way to find the answer to a particular question might be to read the explanation for the organization of the manual which is presented below and then go directly to that section.
The chapters of this version of the Gnumeric manual are organized as follows:
Chapter 3: A Quick Introduction
This chapter of the manual explains the fundamentals of spreadsheets in general and of Gnumeric in particular. The chapter attempts to help new users get started with Gnumeric and provides background for the more detailled explanations in the rest of the manual.
Chapter 4: The Elements of Gnumeric
This chapter describes all of the pieces of Gnumeric which a user can manipulate. The chapter provides explanations for each of the menus, menu entries, toolbar buttons and other elements of the graphical user interface.
Chapter 5: Working with Data
This chapter explains the core functionality of Gnumeric including the basic types of data manipulated by Gnumeric, the methods of entering, manipulating and formating data, and the basic tools for analysis of these data. More advanced analysis is described in Chapter 6.
Chapter 6: Advanced Analysis
This chapter explains many of the advanced analytic tools available in Gnumeric statistical analysis, linear algebra calculations and simulation analysis.
Chapter 7: Using External Data
This chapter explains how to access and use data which are stored outside of Gnumeric, usually in databases.
Chapter 8: Graphics: Plots and Drawings
This chapter explains how to use Gnumeric to add graphical elements to a worksheet. Data plots allow users to create charts of data in a worksheet including pie charts, bar and column charts and scatterplots. Drawings allow users to add simple graphical elements on top of a worksheet including lines, arrows and simple polygons.
Chapter 9: Manging and Viewing Worksheets
This chapter explains how to manage worksheets and manipulate the view of the worksheet contents.
Chapter 10: Workbook Settings
This chapter explains the contents of a Gnumeric workbook which are not part of the worksheets. This includes several settings which apply to the workbook and are saved in the Gnumeric file. Settings which apply to the Gnumeric program itself are called `preferences' and are explained in Chapter 11.
Chapter 11: Configuring Gnumeric
This chapter explains how to change the default behaviour of Gnumeric including the startup behaviour and default locale (language and number display).
Chapter 12: File Opening and Saving
This chapter explains how to use files in Gnumeric including how to save the current file, how to change the file format of saved files and how to open files from a different format.
Chapter 13: Printing
This chapter explains how to print spreadsheets, tables and plots from Gnumeric to a printer directly or into Postscript or PDF (both are page description languages).
Chapter 14: Getting Help from Other Sources
This chapter describes other sources of help which are available to users including the Gnumeric web site, the mailing list, and the internet relay chat (IRC) discussion channel. The chapter also explains how to tell the project about a problem with the program.
Chapter 15: Extending Gnumeric
This chapter explains how to go about extending Gnumeric to provide extra functionality. Because Gnumeric is Free Software this is quite easy to do.
Chapter 16: About Gnumeric
This chapter provides some background information on the creation and distribution of Gnumeric.
Appendix A: Function Reference
This appendix provides a list of all the functions which are currently defined in Gnumeric.
Appendix B: Keybinding Reference
This appendix lists the keyboard shortcuts which are defined by default in Gnumeric.