Opening Your First Excel View

There are three ways to open Excel View for any DocType.

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Method 1 — From List View (Recommended)

1. Navigate to any DocType list in Frappe (e.g., CRM > Customer)
2. Click the View dropdown in the toolbar (next to the search bar)
3. Select Excel View

The grid opens immediately with the same filters and sort order you had in the list view.

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Method 2 — Direct URL

Navigate directly to:

https://yoursite.local/app/{doctype}/view/excel

For example:

• /app/customer/view/excel — Customer grid
• /app/sales-invoice/view/excel — Sales Invoice grid
• /app/item/view/excel — Item grid

The URL slug uses hyphens (Frappe's standard URL format for DocType names with spaces).

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Method 3 — Workspace Shortcut

You can pin a direct link to any Excel View in your Frappe Workspace:

1. Open any Workspace in edit mode
2. Add a Link shortcut
3. Set the URL to /app/{doctype}/view/excel
4. Save the workspace

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What You See on First Open

When Excel View opens for a DocType for the first time:

1. Loading indicator — brief spinner while fetching data and metadata
2. Grid — rows of data, one record per row
3. Default columns — the same fields shown in list view (usually Name, Status, Company, Modified)
4. Toolbar — ribbon across the top with tab groups: Home, View, Data, Insert, Format
5. Formula bar — below the toolbar, shows the raw value of the selected cell
6. Sheet tabs — at the bottom, one tab per open sheet
7. Status bar — at the very bottom, shows row count, selected cell count, and quick stats

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Choosing What Columns to Show

By default, only the standard list view fields appear. To add or remove columns:

1. Click Data tab in the toolbar
2. Click Choose Columns (or press Ctrl+Shift+C)
3. A modal opens showing all available fields for the DocType
4. Check/uncheck fields, use the search box to find specific fields
5. Click Apply

Your column selection is saved automatically per DocType per user.

:::note Child Table Fields Child table fields (like Sales Invoice items) do not appear in the column chooser — they are accessed via the child table expand feature on each row (see Child Tables). :::

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Your First Edit

1. Click any cell to select it
2. Press Enter or F2 to begin editing
3. Type the new value
4. Press Enter to confirm (moves down) or Tab to confirm (moves right)
5. Press Ctrl+S or click the Save button to write changes to Frappe

A green dot on unsaved rows indicates pending changes. A save confirmation toast appears in the bottom-right when the save succeeds.

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Navigation Basics

Action	Shortcut
Move between cells	Arrow keys
Begin editing	Enter or F2
Confirm edit & move down	Enter
Confirm edit & move right	Tab
Cancel edit	Escape
Select entire row	Click row number
Select entire column	Click column header
Select all	Ctrl+A
Open in Frappe Form	Click the Name (ID) link in the first column

For the complete shortcut reference, see Keyboard Shortcuts.