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Navigating the Interface

Layout Overview​

┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│  TOOLBAR  (Home | View | Data | Insert | Format)    │
├─────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│  FORMULA BAR  [Cell ref]  [Cell value / formula]    │
├──────┬──────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│  Row │  Col A    Col B    Col C    Col D    …        │
│  #   │  data     data     data     data              │
│      │  data     data     data     data              │
│      │  …                                           │
├──────┴──────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│  [Sheet 1] [Sheet 2] [+]                  STATUS BAR│
└─────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘

The Toolbar​

The toolbar is organized into tabs, each grouping related actions.

Home Tab​

  • Save — write all pending changes to Frappe
  • Refresh — reload data from Frappe (discards unsaved changes)
  • Add Row — append a new blank row at the bottom
  • Delete Row — delete the selected row(s)
  • Bold / Italic / Align — text formatting
  • Number Format — format cells as Currency, Percent, Date, etc.
  • Background Color / Text Color — fill and font color pickers

View Tab​

  • Focus Cell (Crosshair) — highlight the active row/column intersection
  • Hide Rows — hide selected rows from view
  • Show Hidden — reveal all hidden rows
  • Formula Precedents — outline all cells a formula depends on
  • Freeze Columns — freeze N columns from the left

Data Tab​

  • Choose Columns — add/remove DocType fields as grid columns
  • Smart Lookup — join data from a linked DocType as extra columns
  • Sort — multi-level sort
  • Filter — advanced filter builder (for DocType sheets)
  • Refresh — same as Home > Refresh

Insert Tab​

  • Insert Chart — create a chart from selected data
  • Insert Pivot — create a pivot table from sheet data
  • New Sheet — add a blank, DocType, or Query sheet

Format Tab​

  • Conditional Formatting — rule-based cell highlighting
  • Borders — cell border editor
  • Clear Format — remove all formatting from selected cells

The Formula Bar​

Located below the toolbar. Shows:

  • Cell reference box (left) — e.g., A1, B3 — click to navigate to a cell directly
  • Value display (right) — shows the raw value of the selected cell

For Text Editor / Long Text fields that contain HTML, the formula bar automatically strips the HTML tags and shows clean readable text.

For formula cells, the bar shows the formula (e.g., =SUM(A1:A10)) rather than the computed value.

Sheet Tabs​

At the bottom of the screen. Each tab represents one open sheet.

  • Click a tab to switch to that sheet
  • Double-click a tab to rename it (workbook sheets only)
  • Right-click a tab for: Rename, Duplicate, Delete, Move Left/Right
  • [+] button — add a new sheet (blank, DocType, or query)

Tab types are visually distinguished:

  • Plain tab — DocType sheet
  • Green icon — Report sheet
  • Blue icon — Pivot sheet
  • Gray tab — Blank sheet

The Status Bar​

At the very bottom of the page. Shows:

  • Row count — total rows in the current sheet
  • Selected — number of selected cells/rows
  • Sum / Avg / Count — live stats for the selected numeric range
  • Save status — "All changes saved" or pending change indicator

Opening the Frappe Form​

Every row in a DocType sheet has a Name column (the first column, usually labeled with the DocType name). The value is a clickable blue link.

Click the link → the Frappe form for that record opens in the same tab (standard Frappe SPA navigation — no page reload). Press the browser back button to return to Excel View with your scroll position and selection preserved.

The Collaboration Sidebar​

A panel on the right side that shows:

  • Who else is currently viewing the same DocType
  • Recent activity (comments, assignments, likes)
  • Realtime update notifications

Toggle it with the chat-bubble icon in the top-right corner of the toolbar, or press Ctrl+Shift+K.