Hyperlinks in OpenOffice Calc are displayed with a solid background which covers the background color of the cell. I don't want a solid background; I want the background color of the cell to show through. Is there any way to do this?
A web search reveals any number of forum results suggesting the setting
Tools > Options > OpenOffice > Appearance > Text Document > Field shadings
I can change the color of the background using the dropdown box at the right, but there is no transparency support. You'd think unchecking the box in front of this setting would make the background go away, but it doesn't.
I've checked the settings
Tools > Options > OpenOffice > Appearance > General > Unvisited links
Tools > Options > OpenOffice > Appearance > General > Visited links
but those control the text color, not the background.
Other web search results suggest the HYPERLINK function, but that only allows one link per cell, and I need more than one link in some of these cells.
In asking this question I'm hoping to create a definitive reference for this: is there anything I can do, short of modifying the OO Calc source code and recompiling it, to make the hyperlink background go away?
4 Answers
Going byBug 66545 - FORMATTING: Disabling grey field shading of hyperlinks in CALC, there is not much that you can do.
This is a known bug, and the final comment by Owen Genat from 2013-07-26 says :
This appears to be a bit of an awkward bug. It is evidently a very old problem inherited from the original OOo code. Related AOO bug is which references v1.1.3. As such I am setting the status to NEW as I feel this is a confirmed issue, it is merely the solution that is unconfirmed.
I believe that the way in which hyperlinks are handled in Calc, needs to be made consistent with how they are handled in Writer i.e., via styles-based formatting. This would require implementing character styles in Calc.
By way of comparison, a hyperlink in Writer is controlled by the character styles Internet Link and Visited Internet Link. Unchecking the option in question (or using CTRL+F8) in Writer does remove the grey highlighting of, for example, a cross-reference field, but does not affect the appearance of a hyperlink. It is probably also worth noting that the option is listed beneath the Text Document, rather than Spreadsheet, section.
The term "field" in particular seems to cover a broad range of possibilities with regard to shading. For example, certain Unicode characters like Zero Width Space (U+200b) and No Break Space (U+00a0) are currently included. These Appearance options probably require a reworking.
Implementing character styles in Calc, similar to those in Writer, seems to me like a pretty ambitious task. Although you might be able to hard-code in the source code something else than the current background.
As a stopgap solution, you can enter the URL address, and the styles will be applied and then right click on the field once it's lost focus and select "apply default formatting" which does that, removing the grey background and blue colouration. This also removes the URL link itself so the weblink becomes just text, but it does me that it doesn't break out from your spreadsheet styles.
I found a easier solution.
Tools > Options > OpenOffice > Appearance > Text Document > Field shadingsThen simply change the color to white.
1I spent 2 hours looking for a solution. The solution below works.
Tools > Options > OpenOffice > Appearance > Text Document > Field shadings
change from automatic to white
