Bug 43262

Summary: : OFFSET function's third argument is mandatory, contradicting Help
Product: LibreOffice Reporter: Ed <edmund_eyles>
Component: SpreadsheetAssignee: Not Assigned <libreoffice-bugs>
Status: NEW --- QA Contact:
Severity: minor    
Priority: medium CC: sasha.libreoffice
Version: 3.4.4 release   
Hardware: Other   
OS: All   
Whiteboard: BSA
i915 platform: i915 features:

Description Ed 2011-11-26 11:36:50 UTC 
I am running Calc on Windows XP.  The OFFSET function, according to the Help, takes two mandatory arguments (Reference and Rows) and three optional ones (Columns, Height and Width).  However, entering it with only two arguments (as, for example, OFFSET(A3,3)) gives 'Err:511' in the cell.  The error value goes away if you supply a value for the third argument (as, for example, OFFSET(A3,3,0)).  This behaviour clearly contradicts the Help entry for this function, and I would venture that the function SHOULD behave as per the Help: the commonest use of this function will surely be to 'move' a certain number of rows from a given cell, staying in the same column.
Comment 1 sasha.libreoffice 2012-04-27 02:31:38 UTC 
Reproduced in 3.5.2 on Fedora 64 bit
help has this text:
Columns (optional) is the number of columns by which the reference was corrected to the left (negative value) or to the right.

but this is mandatory argument
Comment 2 A (Andy) 2014-10-11 16:46:10 UTC 
Reproducible with LO 4.3.2.2 (Win 8.1), UK English and German UI

The LO English and German online and offline help does not say that the column argument is mandatory.

The function wizard in contrast shows it correctly (make a double mouse click on OFFSET / VERSCHIEBUNG in German UI).

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