Gnumeric supports advanced calculations using statistical, financial and database access functions. Plotting data is supported through an incomplete but powerful plotting system. A plugin system extends gnumeric , for instance enabling the export of data to the LaTeX \longtable format. Plugins can be used to define custom functionality. A rudimentary scripting API for the Python language exists and will be extended in the near future. Since gnumeric is free software, gnumeric can also be extended directly at the source code level by any competent programmer.

The program can be started from the command line as gnumeric or from one of the menus provided by underlying platform. When started on the command line, gnumeric may be followed by the options listed below and possibly the names files in various spreadsheet formats which will then be opened immediately. For instance, the command:

gnumeric myfile.gnumeric &

will launch gnumeric and open the file called "myfile.gnumeric". The default gnumeric file format is in extensible markup language (XML) which subsequently has been compressed with gzip.

--usage

Displays a brief usage message.

-v, --version

Displays the version number of the installed instance of gnumeric.

--no-splash

Start gnumeric without showing the splash screen.

-L, --lib-dir=STRING

Set the root library directory to STRING which should be a pathname.

-D, --data-dir=STRING

Adjust the root data directory to STRING which should be a pathname.

-g, --geometry=WIDTHxHEIGHT+XOFF+YOFF

Set the size and position of the first window. All units are in pixels. The X offset is from the left hand side of the screen, the Y offset is from the top of the screen. For example, -g=800x600+20+30 will open a gnumeric window 800 pixels wide by 600 pixels high, with the left edge of gnumeric 20 pixels from the left of the screen and the top edge of gnumeric 30 pixels from the top of the screen.

--display=DISPLAY

X display to use, where DISPLAY has the form machinename:Xdisplay.Screen. Note the machine displaying gnumeric must have granted the machine running gnumeric the right to display (see xhost).

--screen=SCREEN

X screen to use, a more compact form of the functionality described above.

--dump-func-defs=FILE

Dumps the function definitions to the file with name FILE.

--dump-func-state=FILE

Dumps the function definitions to the file with name FILE.

--debug=LEVEL

Enables some debugging functions.

--debug_deps=LEVEL

Enables some dependency related debugging functions.

--debug_share=LEVEL

Enables some dependency functions for expression sharing.

--debug_print=LEVEL

Enables some print debugging behavior.

--quit

Exit immediately after loading the selected books (useful for testing).

--oaf-ior-fd=FD

File descriptor on which to print the IOR.

--oaf-activate-iid=IID

IID to activate.

--oaf-private

Prevent registering of server with OAF.

--disable-sound

Disable sound server usage.

--enable-sound

Enable sound server usage.

--espeaker=HOSTNAME:PORT

Host:port on which the sound server to use is running.

--disable-crash-dialog

Disable the bug submission dialog which appears if Gnumeric crashes.

--gdk-debug=FLAGS

Gdk debugging flags to set.

--gdk-no-debug=FLAGS

Gdk debugging flags to unset.

--sync

Make X calls synchronous.

--name=NAME

Program name as used by the window manager.

--class=CLASS

Program class as used by the window manager.

--gxid_host=HOST

The host on which to contact the gxid daemon. This overrides the GXID_HOST environment variable. This option is only available if GTK+ has been configured with --gdk-target=x11.

--gxid_port=PORT

The port for the connection to gxid. This overrides the GXID_PORT environment variable. This option is only available if GTK+ has been configured with --gdk-target=x11.

--gtk-debug=FLAGS

Gtk+ debugging flags to set.

--gtk-no-debug=FLAGS

Gtk+ debugging flags to unset.

--g-fatal-warnings

Make all warnings fatal.

--gtk-module=MODULE

Load an additional Gtk module.

--sm-client-id=ID

Specify session management ID.

--sm-config-prefix=PREFIX

Specify prefix of saved configuration.

--sm-disable

Disable connection to session manager.