Checking for data validity in libreoffice spreadsheets

When entering data into the spread sheet, we might want at times to ensure that the data entered lies with in a specified range or is equal to certain number or value. To ensure this we can use the data validity option in libreoffice spreadsheet.

To enable data validity select the range of cells on which the validity needs to be applied. Then select the option validity option from data -> validity.



This will pop a menu as shown below.



In the criteria tab the "allow" option will help we can chose the what type of numbers are valid. In the data option we can choose the what should be the value of the data i.e should it be greater than or lesser than a number etc, and the text field allows us to enter the maximum number to be allowed in the cells.

Let us say we want to allow "Whole numbers" which are "less than" 100, then the setting will be as shown below.



Now when ever we enter a value equal to greater than 100 in the selected range of cells we will get an error as shown below.



We can add a message next to the cells that have data validity enabled in them by selecting the input tab and entering a message that we wish to display next to the cells as shown below.