Freelog 65/Freelog065.iso/BAS/Bureautique/Gnumeric/gnumeric-1.3.92-rc1.exe/files-opening.xml

Text File | 2004-11-01 | 36KB | 1,074 lines

<sect1 id="sect-file-open">
  <title>Opening Files</title>

  <para>
    Opening an existing file into a &gnum; workbook requires working
    through the <interface>File Open</interface> dialog. The user must
    select the file that they wish &gnum; to open, possibly specifying
    a file format and character encoding.
  </para>

  <tip>
    <title>The steps required to open a file.</title>

<!-- TODO: render hack, remove me.  -->
    <para></para>

    <orderedlist>
      <listitem>
        <para>
      Launch the  <interface>File Open</interface> dialog.
    </para>
    <para>
      In the <guimenu>File</guimenu> menu, select the
      <guimenuitem>Open</guimenuitem> menu item.
    </para>
      </listitem>
      <listitem>
        <para>
      Open the folder containing the desired file.
    </para>
    <para>
      Navigate the folder hierarchy by double-clicking on the folders.
    </para>
      </listitem>
      <listitem>
        <para>
      Select the desired file within the folder.
    </para>
    <para>
      Click on the file name in the folder content area.
    </para>
      </listitem>
      <listitem>
        <para>
      (Optional) Specify a file format type.
    </para>
      </listitem>
      <listitem>
        <para>
      (Optional) Specify the character encoding.
    </para>
      </listitem>
      <listitem>
        <para>
      Click on the <guibutton>Open</guibutton> button.
    </para>
      </listitem>
    </orderedlist>

  </tip>

  <para>
    The remainder of this section explains these steps in greater
    detail, first, by describing the components in the <interface>File
    Open</interface> dialog and, then, by explaining each of the steps
    above in greater detail.
  </para>




  <sect2 id="file-open-dialog">
    <title>Using the <interface>File Open</interface> dialog.</title>


    <para>
      Opening a file into a workbook is a relatively simple
      process. The only complications come from using the
      <interface>File Open</interface> dialog to find the desired
      file, from changing the automatic file format type recognition
      system, or from specifying a different character encoding than
      that chosen by &gnum;. The first of these steps will become
      intuitive once the user understands the functioning of the
      dialog. The latter two steps are generally unnecessary and can
      be ignored by most users.
    </para>

    <para>
      The next section explains in detail the different components of
      the <interface>File Open</interface> dialog and the subsequent
      section describes each step in the process of opening a file.
    </para>

    <sect3 id="sect-file-open-dialog-components">
      <title>
        The components of the <interface>File Open</interface> dialog
      </title>

      <para>
        The <interface>File Open</interface> dialog allows the user to
        open an existing file into a &gnum; workbook but requires that
        the user find the folder containing the file, select the file,
        and optionally define a file format type and a character
        encoding. The dialog also allows the user to change the list
        of bookmark folders to quickly access different parts of the
        file system.
      </para>

      <para>
    The <interface>File Open</interface> dialog first appears as
        is shown in <xref linkend="fig-file-open-dialog-components" />
        which also shows a label for each different component of the
        dialog.
      </para>

      <figure id="fig-file-open-dialog-components">
        <title>
      The <interface>File Open</interface> dialog with the
      component areas labeled.
    </title>
    <screenshot>
          <mediaobject>
        <imageobject>
          <imagedata fileref="figures/dialog-fileopen-withTags.png"
                     format="PNG" scale="100" />
        </imageobject>
        <textobject>
          <para>
            This screenshot depicts the 'File Open' dialog with
            the different areas labeled.
          </para>
        </textobject>
        <caption>
          <para>
                The different components of the <interface>File
                Open</interface> dialog, shaded with boxes of different
                colors and labeled with a letter.
              </para>
        </caption>
      </mediaobject>
    </screenshot>
      </figure>

      <para>
        The purpose of each labeled component in <xref
        linkend="fig-file-open-dialog-components" /> is
        explained below:

    <variablelist>
      <title>The components of the dialog</title>

      <varlistentry>
        <term>
          <emphasis role="bold">A</emphasis> - The starting
          folder selection area.

        </term>
        <listitem>
          <para>
            This area allows the user to begin navigating the
            filesystem by choosing a starting
            folder. The navigation system in this dialog only
            allows users to select sub-folders of this starting
            folder so the starting folder must contain the desired
            file, possibly nested in one or more sub-folders.
          </para>

          <para>
            The folders listed in this area include the standard
            folders provided by the system and a number of folders
            added, as bookmark folders, by the user. The standard
            folders provided by the system will vary for different
            machines and system administrators may have disabled
            access to certain branches of the filesystem. By
            default, the standard folders provided include the
            user's 'Home' folder, the user's 'Desktop' folder, a
            folder pointing to the root of the filesystem tree and
            folders for each of the removable storage devices
            attached to the computer. The user's home folder, on
            GNU and other UNIX like systems, this folder is
            usually known as <literal>~</literal> or
            <literal>~user_account_name</literal> where the phrase
            <literal>user_account_name</literal> represents the
            account name used by the current user. This folder is
            often located at
            <filename>/home/user_account_name/</filename> in the
            filesystem. The 'Desktop' folder is the folder which
            holds the files which are displayed in the background
            of the user's window. The 'Filesystem' folder is the
            top of the filesystem tree, which on GNU systems is
            also known as <filename>/</filename>. The list also
            presents peripheral or external devices. Below the
            standard folders, area <emphasis
            role="bold">A</emphasis> has a separator and the
            bookmark folders selected by the user. In <xref
            linkend="fig-file-open-dialog-components" /> the
            folder <filename>currentWork</filename> is a folder
            named by the user and added to the list of
            bookmark folders.
          </para>


      <note>
        <title>Understanding the file organization system.</title>

        <para>
      In order to understand how to change folders, it is first
      necessary to understand the system by which documents are
      stored. This system is called the 'filesystem'.
    </para>

    <para>
      All documents are stored in a folder. Folders can contain
      files but can also contain other folders. Any folder
      therefore can contain several sub-folders, each of which may
      itself contain several sub-folders; the resulting structure
      is called a nested 'tree' with the original folder being the
      'relative root' of that tree.
        </para>

    <para>
      In GNU and UNIX systems, all of the files are stored in
      folders organized in a single, unified filesystem tree with
      a folder named '<filename>/</filename>' at the absolute root
      of the tree. Every file is accessible from this absolute
      root folder and, by default, this folder is provided as the
      choice named <filename>Filesystem</filename> with an icon of
      a disk drive in area <emphasis role="bold">A</emphasis> in
      the <interface>File Open</interface> dialog.
    </para>

    <para>
      Navigating the directory tree from the single root folder
      would quickly become burdensome and the <interface>File
      Open</interface> dialog provides several other starting
      folders in area <emphasis role="bold">A</emphasis>. Two
      starting folders which are commonly provided are the 'Home'
      and 'Desktop' folders for the current user.
    </para>

    <para>
      In a complex computer system, the absolute root folder may
      be hidden from the user and the starting folders accessible
      to the user may only provide limited access to the
      filesystem. Jointly, the starting folders provided should
      allow the users to access all the folders in which the user
      has permission to store files and to the folders which are
      designed to be read by the user.
    </para>

    <para>
      Several starting folders may be provided when files can be
      opened from different filesystems. This will be the case
      when filesystem on other machines are accessible over a
      network or when &gnum; is running on operating systems whose
      filesystems are not unified, such as the proprietary
      operating systems sold by Microsoft in which each disk drive
      has its own root named, for example,
      <filename>C:\</filename> or <filename>D:\</filename>.
    </para>

    <para>
      Additional starting folders can be added as 'bookmark
      folders' by the users themselves. These bookmark folders do
      not provide access to a different set of folders but merely
      provide efficient access to a folder and its
      sub-folders. These bookmark folders are easy to change to
      allow a user to work efficiently. These bookmark folders are
      listed, in area <emphasis role="bold">A</emphasis>, under
      the thin horizontal separator line. The creation and
      deletion of these bookmark folders is explained below, in
      <xref linkend="sect-file-open-dialog-bookmarks" />.


    </para>

    <para>


    </para>
      </note>

        </listitem>
          </varlistentry>

      <varlistentry>
        <term>
          <emphasis role="bold">B</emphasis> - The folder hierarchy area.

        </term>
        <listitem>
          <para>
            This area displays the folder hierarchy starting from
            the starting folder selected in area <emphasis
            role="bold">A</emphasis> and ending in the current
            folder, the folder whose contents are displayed in
            area <emphasis role="bold">C</emphasis>, while
            displaying all the folders between the two. This area
            changes dynamically as the user changes to new
            folders. In the case shown in <xref
            linkend="fig-file-open-dialog-components" />, the user
            has selected their 'Home' folder as the starting folder
            in area <emphasis role="bold">A</emphasis> and has not
            navigated to any sub-folders.
          </para>
        </listitem>
          </varlistentry>


      <varlistentry>
        <term>
          <emphasis role="bold">C</emphasis> - The folder content area.

        </term>
        <listitem>
          <para>
            This area displays the contents of the currently
            selected folder which is the rightmost folder shown in
            area <emphasis role="bold">B</emphasis>.

        <warning>
          <title>
            This list of folders and files is filtered.
          </title>

          <para>
            Not all of the sub-folders and files present in
            the folder area are shown.
          </para>

          <para>
            Firstly, hidden folders and files, those that
            start with a leading period, are not displayed by
            default. These can be shown by placing the mouse
            pointer over area <emphasis
            role="bold">C</emphasis>, clicking with one of the
            secondary mouse buttons to raise the context menu,
            moving the pointer onto the <guimenuitem>Show
            hidden files</guimenuitem> menu entry, and
            clicking with the primary mouse button. This step
            will ensure that all the folders are displayed.
          </para>

          <para>
            Secondly, the filtering rule defined in
                area <emphasis role="bold">F</emphasis>
                will limit the files displayed based on the
                characteristics of these files. By default, a
                filtering rule is applied which causes only those
                files present that have an extension commonly used
                for spreadsheet files. The rule can be changed to
                display all the files regardless of their
                extension, except possibly for the hidden files.
<!-- TODO explain role of mime type in file display filter. Ibid -saving -->
          </para>
        </warning>
          </para>
        </listitem>
          </varlistentry>


      <varlistentry>
        <term>
          <emphasis role="bold">D</emphasis> - The panel
          rearrangement handles.

        </term>
        <listitem>
          <para>
            These triple dots indicate that the mouse can be used
            to change the shape and size of the different areas in
            the dialog. These handles can be used by placing the
            mouse pointer above a handle, clicking and holding
            with the primary mouse button, then dragging the
            handle to a new position, and then releasing the mouse
            button.
          </para>
        </listitem>
          </varlistentry>


      <varlistentry>
        <term>
          <emphasis role="bold">E</emphasis> - The bookmark folder
          list modification buttons.

        </term>
        <listitem>
          <para>
            These buttons will add or remove folders to or from
            the list of bookmark folders in area <emphasis
            role="bold">A</emphasis>. The
            <guibutton>Add</guibutton> button will add the folder
            currently selected in area <emphasis
            role="bold">C</emphasis>. The
            <guibutton>Remove</guibutton> button will remove any
            bookmark folder that is selected in area <emphasis
            role="bold">A</emphasis>.
          </para>
        </listitem>
          </varlistentry>


      <varlistentry>
        <term>
          <emphasis role="bold">F</emphasis> - The filter
          definition area.

        </term>
        <listitem>
          <para>
            This area contains a drop down menu with the different
            filters defined by the application. Filters are rules
            that limit the types of files which are displayed in
            the folder content area, area <emphasis
            role="bold">C</emphasis>.
          </para>

          <para>
            By default, the <interface>File Open</interface>
            dialog starts with a filter named "Spreadsheets" which
            causes the folder content list to only show files
            which are recognized as files that &gnum; could open.
          </para>

          <para>
            The filter in area <emphasis role="bold">F</emphasis>
            can be changed by clicking on the area to open the
            drop down list and then selecting the filter named
            "All files". This filter applies no rules, essentially
            disabling any filtering operation, and lists all the
            files in the currently selected folder. Note, however,
            as explained in the warning given in the section
            explaining area <emphasis role="bold">C</emphasis>
            above, that any files starting with a leading period
            are not shown. To display such 'hidden' files, the
            user must use the context menu available in area
            <emphasis role="bold">C</emphasis>.
          </para>
        </listitem>
          </varlistentry>


      <varlistentry>
        <term>
          <emphasis role="bold">G</emphasis> - The file format type
          selection area.

        </term>
        <listitem>
          <para>
            This area provides a drop down list of all the file
            formats provided by the &gnum; program itself and by
            all the currently active plugins.
          </para>
          <para>
            By default, &gnum; is configured to automatically
            recognize the type of each file selected by the
            user. This recognition system is sophisticated and
            generally works. The best strategy is to try opening
            the file using this automatic recognition strategy
            and, only if the automatic recognition system fails,
            close the worksheet with the mangled file and re-try
            to open the file a second time but manually selecting
            the file type in the second attempt.
          </para>
          <para>
            The file formats which can be selected are those
            listed in <xref linkend="sect-file-open-formats"/>
            below. Each of these formats are explained in detail
            in <xref linkend="sect-file-formats"/>.
          </para>
          <note>
            <para>
          If the file format type named "Text import
          (configurable)" is opened, this will start the text
          import procedure. <xref
          linkend="sect-file-textImport"/> explains this
          procedure in complete detail.
        </para>
          </note>
        </listitem>
          </varlistentry>


      <varlistentry>
        <term>
          <emphasis role="bold">H</emphasis> - The character
          encoding selection area.

        </term>
        <listitem>
          <para>
            This area provides a drop down menu which allows the
            user to specify the encoding which &gnum; must use to
            interpret the characters in text files. This menu is
            only enabled for the two text file formats: "Comma or
            Tab Separated Values (CSV/TSV)" and "Text Import
            (configurable)". This menu is disabled for all other
            file types because &gnum; automatically detects the
            encoding for those files.
          </para>

          <note>
            <para>
          A character encoding is a system to relate the
              binary digits contained in a computer file to the
              characters of a textual script. All computer files
              consist only of binary digits so some system is
              required to determine this relationship. Where early
              computers used simple encoding systems which only
              supported the characters commonly used in English,
              most systems are now standardizing on the UTF-8
              encoding scheme which relates the binary digits in
              computer files to characters defined in the
              Universal Character Set, a set which is still being
              defined but will include all the characters in every
              language and many other useful symbols for
              mathematics, science, music and literature.  <xref
              linkend="sect-file-textImport-complex-encoding"/>
              contains a brief explanation of character encoding,
              and discusses the encodings available in &gnum;.

        </para>
          </note>

          <para>
            The character encoding can be set using the drop down
            menu in area <emphasis role="bold">H</emphasis>. By
            default, the encoding is set for the locale of the
            user. The locale is set by the operating system and
            defines the language, time zone and other geographic
            related preferences of the user.
<!-- TODO: add link to locale -->
        The character encoding is changed by clicking on the
            drop down menu button in area <emphasis
            role="bold">H</emphasis>, that is by placing the mouse
            pointer over this menu and clicking on the primary
            mouse button, and then navigating the menu to select
            the new encoding, that is by moving the mouse through
            the menus and clicking on the name of the new
            encoding. &gnum; will then use this encoding to open
            the text file.
          </para>
        </listitem>
          </varlistentry>


      <varlistentry>
        <term>
          <emphasis role="bold">I</emphasis> - The button area.
        </term>
        <listitem>
          <para>
            The button area provides two buttons, the
            <guibutton>Cancel</guibutton> and the
            <guibutton>Open</guibutton> buttons. Clicking the
            <guibutton>Cancel</guibutton> button will dismiss the
            dialog and return the user to the worksheet. Clicking
            the <guibutton>Open</guibutton> button will cause the
            selected file to be opened into a worksheet, using
            either the automatic file format type detection or the
            file format type specified if one has been selected,
            and using the character encoding scheme if one has
            been selected.
          </para>
        </listitem>
          </varlistentry>



        </variablelist>

      </para>

      <para>
        The procedure required to open a file into a workbook using
        this dialog is presented next.
      </para>


    </sect3>


    <sect3 id="sect-file-open-dialog-process">
      <title>
        The procedure to open an existing file.
      </title>

      <para>
        Opening an existing file into a workbook requires selecting the
        folder containing the desired file, selecting the file within
        this folder, and optionally selecting the file format type and
        character encoding.
      </para>

      <procedure>
        <title>The procedure to open a file.</title>

        <step>
      <title>
        Launch the <interface>File Open</interface> dialog.
      </title>

      <para>
        The <interface>File Open</interface> dialog can be
        launched using three alternative approaches.

<!-- TODO: v4.3 change to stepalternatives. -->
      <variablelist>
    <!--
    <title>
      Three alternative ways to launch the <interface>File
          Open</interface> dialog.
    </title>
    -->

        <varlistentry>
      <term>
        <emphasis role="bold">Using the Menus</emphasis>
      </term>
      <listitem>
        <para>
          Select, in the <guimenu><accel>F</accel>ile</guimenu> menu, the
          <guimenuitem><accel>O</accel>pen</guimenuitem> menu item.
        </para>
      </listitem>
    </varlistentry>

    <varlistentry>
      <term>
        <emphasis role="bold">Using the Standard Toolbar</emphasis>
      </term>
      <listitem>
        <para>
          Click on the <guibutton>Open</guibutton> button:
          <guiicon>
        <inlinemediaobject>
            <imageobject>
              <imagedata fileref="figures/button-open.png" format="PNG" />
            </imageobject>
            <textobject>
              <phrase>An image of the open file button.</phrase>
            </textobject>
           </inlinemediaobject>
          </guiicon>
        </para>
      </listitem>
    </varlistentry>

    <varlistentry>
      <term>
        <emphasis role="bold">Using a Keyboard Shortcut</emphasis>
      </term>
      <listitem>
        <para>
          Type the combination
          <keycombo><keysym>Ctrl</keysym><keysym>o</keysym></keycombo>,
          typing both keys simultaneously.
        </para>
      </listitem>
    </varlistentry>

      </variablelist>


        All three methods will result in the equivalent action,
            launching the <interface>File Open</interface> dialog to
            allow the user to find the file that they wish to open.
      </para>

    </step>



        <step>
      <title>
        Navigate the file system to open the folder with the file.
      </title>

      <para>
        Changing folders involves selecting a starting
        folder in area <emphasis role="bold">A</emphasis> which
        contains the folder with the desired file, and then
        double-clicking on the folders listed in area <emphasis
        role="bold">C</emphasis> until the folder containing the
        file has been reached. The folder hierarchy listed in area
        <emphasis role="bold">B</emphasis>can also be used to
        navigate up the hierarchy if a folder was opened by
        mistake. As explained below, a user can move around the
        hierarchy with as many folder selections as they need to
        reach the folder containing the file the user desires to
        open.
      </para>

      <para>
        To select a new folder, one of the starting folders
        which contains the desired folder must first be selected
        and then the hierarchy must be navigated to find the
        desired folder, and this folder must be opened to expose
        its contents. As explained below, a user can move around
        the hierarchy using as many changes as they need to choose
        the folder in which to save their &gnum; file.
      </para>

        <substeps>
    <step>
      <title>
        Select a starting folder in area <emphasis
        role="bold">A</emphasis>.
      </title>
      <para>
        The first step in choosing a new folder requires
        selecting, in area <emphasis role="bold">A</emphasis>, a
        starting folder which contains the desired
        folder. The new starting folder is chosen by placing the
        mouse pointer over the folder name and double clicking
        (click twice rapidly without moving the mouse) with the
        primary mouse button. This will change the leftmost button
        in  area <emphasis role="bold">B</emphasis> and change the
        folders and files listed in  area <emphasis
        role="bold">C</emphasis> to list the contents of the
        starting folder which was just selected.
      </para>
    </step>

        <step>
      <title>
        Navigate the filesystem to reach the desired
        folder using area <emphasis role="bold">C</emphasis>.
      </title>
      <para>
        The next step involves descending the folder tree to reach
        the desired folder. This requires double clicking the
        sub-folder of the staring folder which contains
        the desired folder and continuing through the whole
        hierarchy until the desired folder is reached. After each
        double click, the selected folder is added as the right
        most button in area <emphasis role="bold">B</emphasis> and
        the contents of the selected folder are shown in area
        <emphasis role="bold">C</emphasis>. Once the desired
        folder is reached, it must be opened in the same way, so
        that its contents are listed in area <emphasis
        role="bold">C</emphasis> and the file can then be saved
        into this folder by clicking on the
        <guibutton>Save</guibutton> button.
      </para>
    </step>

        <step>
      <title>
        Navigating back up the folder tree using area <emphasis
        role="bold">B</emphasis>.
      </title>
      <para>
        If the sub-folder selected in area <emphasis
        role="bold">C</emphasis> does not contain the branch of
        the folder tree leading to the desired folder, the buttons
        in area <emphasis role="bold">B</emphasis> can be used to
        jump further up the folder tree but only as far as the
        starting folder selected in area <emphasis
        role="bold">A</emphasis>. Area <emphasis
        role="bold">B</emphasis> provides a list of buttons with
        the names of all the folders between the starting folder
        listed in area <emphasis role="bold">A</emphasis> and the
        currently selected folder. By clicking on one of these
        buttons, that is by placing the mouse pointer over the
        button and clicking with the primary mouse button, the
        folder listed on the button will be opened in area
        <emphasis role="bold">C</emphasis> so that the selection
        process can restart from this branch.
      </para>
    </step>

      </substeps>

    </step>

        <step>
      <title>
        Select the file.
      </title>
      <para>
        The file must be selected by placing the mouse pointer
        over the filename in area <emphasis role="bold">C</emphasis>
        and clicking with the primary mouse button.
      </para>

      <tip>
        <para>
          The file can be opened and the dialog dismissed by
          selecting the file with a double click of the primary
          mouse button. The last two steps are optional and, if
          configured appropriately, the file can be selected and
          opened simply by double clicking on the file name.
        </para>
      </tip>

    </step>

        <step>
      <title>
        Optional: Select the file format type.
      </title>
      <para>

        &gnum; can automatically recognize the file format
        type. Alternatively, the file format can be specified
        explicitly by clicking on the drop down list button in
        area <emphasis role="bold">G</emphasis> and scrolling down
        the list to the desired file type.
      </para>

          <note>
            <para>
          If the file format type named "Text import
          (configurable)" is opened, this will start the text
          import procedure. <xref
          linkend="sect-file-textImport"/> explains this
          procedure in complete detail.
        </para>
          </note>

    </step>

        <step>
      <title>
        Optional: Determine the file character encoding.
      </title>
      <para>
        For text files the character encoding must be
        specified. By default, &gnum; takes the character encoding
        appropriate to the user's locale. This encoding scheme can
        be changed by clicking on the drop down menu button in
        area <emphasis role="bold">H</emphasis> and navigating the
        menus to find the desired encoding.
      </para>

    </step>

        <step>
      <title>
        Click the <guibutton>Open</guibutton> button.
      </title>
      <para>
        Finally, the <guibutton>Open</guibutton> button must be
        pressed by placing the mouse pointer over the button and
        clicking with the primary mouse button.
      </para>
    </step>
      </procedure>

      <para>
        The file will be opened in a new window. If the selected file
        format was "Text import (configurable)" the <interface>Text
        Import</interface> druid will be opened. This druid is
        explained in great detail in <xref
        linkend="sect-file-textImport" />.
      </para>

    </sect3>


    <!-- Keep in sync with similar section in file-save-dialog. -->
    <sect3 id="sect-file-open-dialog-bookmarks">
      <title>
        Changing the list of bookmark folders.
      </title>

      <para>
        The list of starting folders shown in area <emphasis
        role="bold">A</emphasis> of <xref
        linkend="fig-file-open-dialog-components" />
        may contain starting folders selected by the
        user. These folders are called 'bookmark folders' and are listed in
        area <emphasis role="bold">A</emphasis> below a thin
        horizontal separator line. For example, <xref
        linkend="fig-file-open-dialog-components" />
        contains a folder named <filename>currentWork</filename> which
        is a bookmark folder selected by the user.
      </para>

      <para>
        These bookmark folders can be added in two ways. A folder
        which is selected in area <emphasis role="bold">C</emphasis>
        can be added as a bookmark by clicking on the
        <guibutton>Add</guibutton> button in area <emphasis
        role="bold">E</emphasis>.
      </para>

      <para>
    Alternatively, the folder can be dragged from area <emphasis
        role="bold">C</emphasis> into area <emphasis
        role="bold">A</emphasis>. The folder can be dragged by placing
        the mouse pointer over the folder name in area <emphasis
        role="bold">C</emphasis>, clicking and holding the primary
        mouse button, moving the mouse pointer to area <emphasis
        role="bold">A</emphasis> and releasing the mouse button. As
        the mouse pointer is moved from area <emphasis
        role="bold">C</emphasis> to area <emphasis
        role="bold">A</emphasis>, a small icon of the folder will move
        with the mouse pointer.
      </para>

      <para>
        Any bookmark folder can also be removed from the list of
        starting folders presented in area <emphasis
        role="bold">A</emphasis>. A bookmark folder can be
        removed by clicking on the folder name in area <emphasis
        role="bold">A</emphasis> and then clicking on the
        <guibutton>Remove</guibutton> in area <emphasis
        role="bold">E</emphasis>.
      </para>


    </sect3>



  </sect2>







  <!-- Formats for opening files *** keep // to sect in files-saving.xml -->

  <sect2 id="sect-file-open-formats">
    <title>The file formats which Gnumeric can read.</title>

    <para>
      &gnum; can open files which have been created in several formats
      by other spreadsheet programs or databases. The details of these
      formats are provided in <xref linkend="sect-file-formats"/> and
      the name of each file type in the table below skips to the
      appropriate section of <xref linkend="sect-file-formats"/>. The
      opening of text formatted files is described in <xref
      linkend="sect-file-textImport" />. &gnum; can also import
      text data or HTML and XHTML tables through the clipboard
      mechanism, as is explained in <xref
      linkend="sect-movecopy-xclipboard"/>.

<!-- TODO: add link to other data input: e.g. direct database acess. -->
    </para>

    <note>
      <para>
        Most of these formats are provided by plugins, which are
        independent, configurable modules. If a format described below
        does not appear in the <interface>File Open</interface>
        dialog, this may be because the appropriate plugin has not
        been configured or started. This can be verified by examining
        the list of plugins which are currently running in the
        <interface>Plugin Manager</interface> dialog.
      </para>

      <para>
        The <interface>Plugin Manager</interface> dialog lists the
        plugins which are currently in use and provides a way to start
        plugins which are currently disabled. The <interface>Plugin
        Manager</interface> can be started by selecting, in the
        <guimenu>Tools</guimenu> menu, the
        <guimenuitem>Plug-ins...</guimenuitem> menu item; see <xref
        linkend="sect-configuration-plugins" /> for more information.
      </para>
    </note>



<!--    TABLE    TABLE    TABLE    TABLE    TABLE    TABLE    -->
<table frame='all'><title>The file formats which &gnum; can open.</title>
<tgroup cols='2' align='left' colsep='1' rowsep='1'>


<thead>
<row>
  <entry align="left">Format</entry>
  <entry align="left">Extension</entry>
</row>
</thead>
<tbody>
<row>
  <entry><link linkend="file-format-gnumeric">Gnumeric</link></entry>
  <entry><literal>.gnumeric</literal> / <literal>.gnm</literal></entry>
</row>
<row>
  <entry><link linkend="file-format-applix">Applix</link></entry>
  <entry><literal>.as</literal></entry>
</row>
<row>
  <entry><link linkend="file-format-csv">Comma Separated Values</link></entry>
  <entry><literal>.csv</literal></entry>
</row>
<row>
  <entry><link linkend="file-format-dif">Data Interchange Format</link></entry>
  <entry><literal>.dif</literal></entry>
</row>
<row>
  <entry><link linkend="file-format-oleo">GNU Oleo</link></entry>
 <entry><literal>.oleo</literal></entry>
</row>
<row>
  <entry><link linkend="file-format-html">HTML</link></entry>
  <entry><literal>.html</literal> / <literal>.htm</literal></entry>
</row>
<row>
  <entry><link linkend="file-format-mps">Linear and Integer Program</link></entry>
  <entry>none / <literal>.mps</literal></entry>
</row>
<row>
  <entry><link linkend="file-format-lotus">Lotus 1-2-3</link></entry>
  <entry><literal>.wk1</literal> / <literal>.wks</literal></entry>
</row>
<row>
  <entry><link linkend="file-format-excel">Microsoft Excel</link></entry>
  <entry><literal>.xls</literal></entry>
</row>
<row>
  <entry><link linkend="file-format-multiplan">Multiplan SYLK</link></entry>
  <entry><literal>none / .slk</literal></entry>
</row>
<row>
  <entry><link linkend="file-format-ooo">OpenOffice.Org / StarOffice</link></entry>
  <entry><literal>.sxc</literal></entry>
</row>
<row>
  <entry><link linkend="file-format-planperfect">Plan Perfect</link></entry>
  <entry><literal>.pln</literal></entry>
</row>
<row>
  <entry><link linkend="file-format-qpro">Quattro Pro</link></entry>
  <entry><literal>.wb1</literal> / <literal>.wb2</literal> / <literal>.wb3</literal></entry>
</row>
<row>
  <entry><link linkend="file-format-sc">SC/XSpread</link></entry>
  <entry>none / .<literal>sc</literal></entry>
</row>
<row>
  <entry><link linkend="file-format-tab">Tab Separated Values</link></entry>
  <entry><literal>.tsv</literal> / <literal>.tab</literal></entry>
</row>
<row>
  <entry><link linkend="file-format-text">Text Formats</link></entry>
  <entry><literal>.txt</literal> / <literal>.text</literal></entry>
</row>
<row>
  <entry><link linkend="file-format-xbase">Xbase</link></entry>
  <entry><literal>.dbf</literal></entry>
</row>
</tbody>
</tgroup>
</table>
<!--    TABLE    TABLE    TABLE    TABLE    TABLE    TABLE    -->



  </sect2>


</sect1>