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-quick-start: 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-gui-elements: 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-data: Working with Data

  This chapter explains the core functionality of Gnumeric including the basic types of data manipulated by Gnumeric, the methods of entering, altering and formating data, and the basic tools for analysis of these data. More advanced analysis is described in chapter-advanced-analysis.

- chapter-advanced-analysis: Advanced Analysis

  This chapter explains many of the advanced analytic tools available in Gnumeric including statistical analysis, linear algebra calculations and simulation analysis.

- chapter-graphics: 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-worksheets: Manging and Viewing Worksheets

  This chapter explains how to manage worksheets and manipulate the view of the worksheet contents.

- chapter-workbooks: 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-configuring.

- chapter-configuring: 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-files: 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-printing: 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-morehelp: 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-extending: 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-about: About Gnumeric

  This chapter provides some background information on the creation and distribution of Gnumeric.

- function-reference: Function Reference

  This appendix provides a list of all the functions which are currently defined in Gnumeric.

- keybinding: Keybinding Reference

  This appendix lists the keyboard shortcuts which are defined by default in Gnumeric.