Learning oocalc

So lately I’ve been trying to expand my knowledge base and work on my time/project tracking abilities. One of the tools I’m using is open office calc (it’s free!).

I’ve been trying to write a really cool spreadsheet that will allow me to keep track of various phases of a project. I’ve got some fun things working, but have gotten stuck with one of the oddities of the way open office handles conditional formatting.

For those of you who don’t know, conditional formatting is a cool features that allows you to change the style of a cell based on the content. For example, I can make a cell “yellow” when the project is launched, green when it’s in progress, and black when it’s done.

The problem is that there are only 3 conditional formats allowed.. and there are WAY more than 3 phases to a project.

I’ve detailed my problem in the open office forums here, but if any of you have any suggestions I’d love to hear ’em!

Cheers!