Formatting a Grid
Merge cells, colour them, draw borders, size columns, wrap and expand long text, hide and freeze, and the rest of the toolbar.
Everything here is on the Grid's toolbar. When the Grid is narrow (a chat pane, a phone) the tools that do not fit move into the More menu (the three dots at the right), so nothing is ever out of reach. A right-click on a cell, or on a column or row header, opens the same commands for what you clicked. Every change can be undone with Ctrl+Z.
Cells
| To | Do this |
|---|---|
| Merge cells | Select them and use the Merge menu: merge all, merge and centre, merge each row, or merge each column. Only the top-left value is kept, as in Excel, and the Grid asks before clearing anything. Unmerge is in the same menu. |
| Colour a cell or its text | The fill (paint bucket) and text colour (A) buttons. Theme colours follow your light or dark palette; the standard palette and Custom set an exact colour. Text on a custom fill is made readable automatically unless you choose a text colour. |
| Draw borders | The Borders menu: all, outside, inside, one side or none, in thin, thick or dashed lines, in any colour. Outside borders frame the selection rather than ruling every cell. |
| Bold, italic, underline, strikethrough, size | The toolbar, or Ctrl+B, Ctrl+I, Ctrl+U, Ctrl+5. |
| Align | Left, centre and right, and top, middle and bottom. |
| Long text | The wrapping menu: overflow (the default - text runs over empty cells to its right), wrap (it breaks onto new lines in the cell), or clip (it stops at the cell's edge). |
| Copy a format | The format painter (the brush): click it, then select the cells to paint. Double-click it to keep painting until you press Escape. |
Numbers and dates
The 123 menu holds the everyday formats - currency, accounting, percent, dates and times. Custom format takes an Excel format code, such as #,##0.00;[Red](#,##0.00) for red negatives in brackets or 0.0,,"M" for millions, and shows a preview. The .0 buttons add or remove a decimal place.
Columns and rows
| To | Do this |
|---|---|
| Resize | Drag the edge of a column or row header. A guide line and the size follow the pointer. Select several whole columns first to resize them together. For an exact size, right-click the header and choose Resize. |
| Fit to the data | Double-click the header's edge. |
| Hide and show | Right-click the header, or Ctrl+9 (rows) and Ctrl+0 (columns). A small marker sits where hidden rows or columns are; click it to show them again. |
| Freeze | Right-click a header and choose Freeze up to here, or use the View menu. Frozen rows and columns stay in view as you scroll. |
| Insert and delete | Right-click a cell or a header, or use the Insert menu. |
Reading and editing long content
The expand button at the right of the formula bar makes the bar several lines tall. The button beside it opens the cell in a large editor (Ctrl+Shift+E), where Enter starts a new line and Ctrl+Enter saves. In a cell, Alt+Enter starts a new line, and the editor grows as you type.
Rules, dropdowns and notes
| Feature | What it does |
|---|---|
| Conditional formatting | Colours cells by their value - greater than, between, text that contains, empty - or shades a range with a two-colour scale. The colour follows the value when it changes. |
| Data validation | Turns cells into a dropdown list (typed items, or the values of a range), a checkbox, or a number between two limits. Choose whether a value outside the rule is refused or just marked. |
| Notes | Right-click a cell and choose Insert note. A cell with a note has an amber corner, and the note shows when you point at it. |
Find and replace
Ctrl+F finds, Ctrl+H finds and replaces, with match case, whole cell and search formulas. A cell that shows a formula's result is only changed when Search formulas is on, so a replace never overwrites a formula with a number.
Excel files
Download this Grid as Excel (More menu) writes every worksheet with its formatting: merges, colours, fonts, borders, number formats, column widths, row heights, frozen panes, hidden rows and columns and tab colours. Cells carry their worked-out values. Charts, notes, conditional formatting and validation are not included in the file.
Import an Excel file (Insert or More menu) adds the file's worksheets to this Grid as new worksheets, formulas and formatting included, and data validation lists and number limits come across too. Conditional formatting, notes, charts and pictures do not, and the Grid tells you what it left behind. A formula that names an Excel table or another file brings its last value instead.
Press Ctrl+/ in a Grid for the full list of keyboard shortcuts.