The Grid
The grid is the core of Excel View. It behaves like a spreadsheet but is backed by live Frappe data.
Anatomy of a Row​
Each row represents one Frappe document (one record). The columns represent fields of that DocType.
| Column type | Description |
|---|---|
| Name (ID) | First column. Shows the document name. Clickable — opens the Frappe form. |
| Standard fields | Any DocType field you have added via Choose Columns |
| Meta column | Optional virtual column showing modified time + author |
| Activity column | Optional virtual column with social actions (like, comment, assign, tag) |
| Smart Lookup columns | Extra columns joined from a linked DocType |
| Formula columns | Columns driven by HyperFormula expressions |
Row States​
Rows have visual states to communicate their status:
| State | Visual | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| Normal | White background | Unmodified, saved data |
| Modified | Light yellow/amber left border | Cell has unsaved changes |
| New | Light green background | Newly added row, not yet saved |
| Deleted | Strikethrough text | Marked for deletion |
| Error | Red left border | Save failed for this row |
| Submitted | Lock icon in status cell | docstatus = 1 (submitted document) |
| Cancelled | Gray text | docstatus = 2 (cancelled document) |
Column Header​
- Click a column header to select the entire column
- Double-click to rename (formula/blank sheets only — DocType field names cannot be changed)
- Drag a column header to reorder it (saved automatically)
- Right-click for: Sort Ascending, Sort Descending, Hide Column, Column Width, Insert Formula Column
Row Header​
- Click the row number to select the entire row
- Shift+click another row number to range-select
- Right-click for: Insert Row, Delete Row, Hide Row, Copy Row
- Expand arrow (▶) on rows of DocTypes with child tables — expands to show the child table inline
Virtual Columns​
Some columns are virtual — they don't correspond to a real Frappe field and are never saved back to the database:
_meta— Created/Modified info column_social— Like/Comment/Assign/Tag action buttons_sl_*— Smart Lookup join columns (read-only; the source doc can be edited via the linked form)- Formula columns — computed by HyperFormula, not saved to Frappe
Virtual columns are visually distinguished by a lighter column header background and an italic column label.
Grid Scrolling​
- Mouse wheel — scroll vertically
- Shift+mouse wheel — scroll horizontally
- Scroll bars — standard scrollbars on right and bottom edges
- Ctrl+End — jump to the last used cell (last row, last column)
- Ctrl+Home — jump to cell A1
- Ctrl+Arrow — jump to the last non-empty cell in a direction
Loading More Rows​
Excel View loads the first 200 rows by default for performance. A Load More bar appears at the bottom when more rows are available.
- Click Load More to fetch the next batch
- Excel View supports up to 100,000+ rows with virtual scrolling (data is fetched in pages; only visible rows are rendered)
The page size can be changed via the status bar row count control.
Context Menu (Right-Click)​
Right-click any cell or selection to get:
- Copy / Cut / Paste
- Insert Row Above / Below
- Delete Row
- Hide Row
- Clear Cell
- Add Comment
- Open Form (opens the Frappe form for the row's document)
- Copy Link (copies the Frappe form URL to clipboard)