# Overview

This part of the &gnum; manual explains the pieces of the software that users can manipulate. The menus, the toolbars and the cell grid area comprise what is called the graphical user interface of an application because it is an interface --- a way to interact with Gnumeric --- which is made of graphical elements --- pictures --- designed to be used by human users.

&gnum; opens by default with a view of an empty workbook which is called "Book 1" and which contains three worksheets: "Sheet1", "Sheet2", and "Sheet3" as can be seen in . The outermost portion of the window is not actually part of &gnum; and may look different on different machines. &gnum; attempts to place its name and the name of the workbook on this outer portion.

The majority of spreadsheet work is done while interacting with this view of &gnum;. All of the functions which &gnum; provides can be accessed quickly from here. The graphic elements of &gnum; are made of several independent pieces. shows a newly opened, empty Gnumeric with the principle elements labelled.

## The Gnumeric worksheet elements

The elements names are listed below along with a reference to the section that discusses that element. Those reading this document on their computers may be able to click on the references to jump to that section of the manual.

1 The menubar

  The menubar provides access to the core functions of GNOME. Almost everything that can be done in &gnum; can be done through the menus. The menus and menubar are discussed in .

2 The standard toolbar

  The standard toolbar provides shortcuts for the most used items in the menus. The toolbars are discussed in and this toolbar in particular in .

3 The format toolbar

  The format toolbar changes the display properties of data in the workbook. It is presented in , part of the general discussion of toolbars of .

4 The object toolbar

  This toolbar enables the user to draw graphic elements on the sheet, such as text labels, big red circles or thin green arrows. These can be used to bring attention to a particular part of a worksheet. The object toolbar is explained in in the portion of the manual.

5 The data entry area

  The data entry area is useful for the modification of complex formulas. It is discussed in .

6 The cell grid area

  The cell area lies in the middle of all the rest. The cell area includes the row and column labels, the scrollbars and the tabs below. The use of these elements is explained in .

7 The information area

  This area is used by &gnum; to give feedback on the status of certain operations. This information is explained in .

The next chapters will explain each of these elements. will explain the menus, will explain the toolbars, will explain the data entry area, will explain the cell grid area, and will explain the information area.