Select, copy and paste cells

Cell selection works like a spreadsheet: click, drag and arrow through the cells of a grid, read the totals in the footer, copy a block with Ctrl+C and paste it back with Ctrl+V. You meet it on grids across DataMind OS, including the results of an Editor query.

Turn cell selection on

1. Open the Selection mode menu in the grid toolbar.
2. Choose Enable Cell Selection, the option described as Excel-like cell selection. Its info tooltip reads "Enables Excel-like cell selection. Click a cell to select it, drag to select ranges, use Ctrl+C to copy, Ctrl+V to paste."
3. Click a cell to start selecting.

If the option is missing, that screen does not offer cell selection. Some screens switch it on for their own grid, so it can already be active when you arrive.

The same menu holds the row selection choices, which select whole rows rather than single cells: Checkbox (Select rows via checkboxes), Drag (Click/drag rows to select), Both (Checkbox + drag selection) and None (Disable row selection). The menu lists only the choices the table allows. On a narrow toolbar the same choices sit under View settings.

Select cells with the mouse

• Click a cell to select it. Clicking another cell moves the selection there.
• Drag across cells to select a rectangle. Releasing the mouse button anywhere ends the drag, even when the pointer has left the grid.
• Hold Ctrl (Cmd on a Mac) and click to add a cell to the selection, or click it again to remove it.
• A click on the only selected cell clears the selection.
• To take a whole column, hold Ctrl (Cmd on a Mac) and click its header. Hold Shift as well to extend the selection across a range of columns. A column counts as selected only when every visible row's cell in it is selected. Where a table does not sort a column, a plain click on its header selects it.
• Gestures on a header's controls, such as its menu icon or a resize handle, do not select the column.

Select cells with the keyboard

• The arrow keys move the active cell one cell at a time and stop at the grid's edges, keeping the cell in view.
• Hold Shift with the arrow keys to extend the selection into a rectangle.
• Ctrl+A (Cmd+A on a Mac) selects all the cells in the grid. Hidden columns are not included.
• Esc clears the selection.
• Ctrl+F12 opens the Go to column… box for finding a column in a wide grid; see The data grid.

Read the selection totals

The footer shows totals for the selected cells while a selection exists:

Copy the selected cells

1. Select the block you want, for example with a drag, or with Shift and the arrow keys.
2. Press Ctrl+C (Cmd+C on a Mac). The block goes to the clipboard as tab-separated text, so pasting it into a spreadsheet places each cell in its own column.
3. Paste it where you need it. Values containing a tab, a line break or a quote are wrapped in quotes so the columns do not shift, and numbers stay numbers for the spreadsheet to add up.

Two options in the toolbar's copy menu decide what a copy contains, and both apply to Ctrl+C as well:

• Include headers, on by default, puts a row of column names first. The header row is built from every column in the selection, so an uneven selection still gets a full header row.
• Formatted values, off by default, copies what the cells show; with it off, the copy carries the values as stored.

See Export and copy for the copy menu and the file exports.

Ctrl+C copies from the grid only while the grid holds focus. If a text box or the SQL editor has focus, or you have selected text elsewhere on the page, the browser copies that instead.

Paste into cells

1. Select the target cells first, or click the cell where the block should start.
2. Press Ctrl+V (Cmd+V on a Mac). The grid reads the clipboard as rows and columns of text. Values that look like JSON, such as arrays and objects, are read as structured data.
3. The block fills from the top-left corner of the selection, spreadsheet style, so a range you dragged bottom-up still fills from its corner. Only the cells you can edit receive values; locked and read-only cells keep theirs.
4. If the block runs past the last row, the grid can add new rows from it where the screen allows. The new rows appear at the bottom of the grid.

When a paste is big enough, a progress overlay appears while it works. It shows Pasting data... while the cells update, then switches to Creating new rows... while rows are added, with a Progress bar counting the rows done and the percentage complete.

If a paste fails, a Paste failed message appears with the reason. Messages from the grid are collected in Editor troubleshooting.

Compare rows with the selection

Selecting cells that touch two or more rows also turns on the toolbar's compare button, which opens those rows side by side as cards. See Compare rows side by side.

The selection follows the view

• The selection clears when the grid's sorting, a column filter or the search changes, so select again after you re-arrange the view. See Filter, sort and search.
• Helper columns, such as the row drag grip and the checkbox column, are not part of a cell selection, its totals or its copy.
• A copy takes the rows as the view arranges them: the current sort and filters, and the columns you can see.

Questions, answered

How do I turn cell selection on?

Open Selection mode in the grid toolbar and choose Enable Cell Selection. Its info tooltip reads "Enables Excel-like cell selection. Click a cell to select it, drag to select ranges, use Ctrl+C to copy, Ctrl+V to paste." If the option is missing, that screen does not offer cell selection.

What exactly does Ctrl+C copy?

The selected block, as tab-separated text: each row of the block on its own line, the cells separated by tabs. Include headers, on by default, puts a row of column names first. Formatted values, off by default, switches between the values as they show and the values as stored. Both options apply to Ctrl+C. See Export and copy.

Where does a pasted block land in the grid?

At the top-left corner of the selection, so the corner cell receives the block's first value even if you dragged the range upwards or to the left. With no selection, the paste starts at the active cell.

Why were some cells left unchanged when I pasted?

A paste fills only the cells you can edit. Cells that are locked or read-only keep their values while the rest of the block still lands.

Can a paste add new rows?

Yes, where the screen allows it. When the block runs past the grid's last row, the grid adds the extra rows from the pasted data. The new rows appear at the bottom of the grid.

Why did my selection disappear after I sorted or filtered?

The grid clears the selection whenever its sorting, a column filter or the search changes, because those change the rows the selection covered. Select the cells again after you re-arrange the view. See Filter, sort and search.

What do Cells, Rows, Distinct, Sum and Avg mean?

They are the totals for the selected cells, shown in the footer. Cells counts the selected cells, Rows counts the rows they cover, and Distinct counts the different values among them. Sum and Avg appear only when every non-empty selected value is a number.

How do I select a whole column?

Hold Ctrl (Cmd on a Mac) and click the column's header. Hold Shift as well to extend the selection across a range of columns. A column counts as selected only when every visible row's cell in it is selected.

How do I select every cell, or clear the selection?

Press Ctrl+A (Cmd+A on a Mac) to select all the cells in the grid, and Esc to clear the selection. The full key list, including the Editor's grid keys, is in Editor reference: shortcuts and tools.

Why does Ctrl+C copy nothing from the grid?

A grid copy needs a selection and the grid's focus. Click a cell in the grid first. When a text box or the SQL editor has focus, or you have selected text elsewhere on the page, Ctrl+C copies that instead.

What happens when I paste a very large block?

A progress overlay appears while the paste works. It reads Pasting data... while the cells update, then Creating new rows... if rows are being added, with a Progress bar counting the rows done and the percentage complete. The overlay closes when the paste finishes.