Can't delete empty / blank columns and rows

User Support Calc
1

It’s impossible to delete all the blank/empty columns and rows. I’m primarily using shared spreadsheets as templates to work with. I can do this in Google Sheets and it’s very convenient. When you remove the extra empty columns and rows you can make your spreadsheet looks like an application. It’s also much more clean.

The current behaviour if you delete empty rows they automatically get added back. Also they’re infinite. Is there a way to do what I want?

Otherwise where can I ask for this feature?

image
image728×313 5.25 KB

2

Hmmm… can you link to documentation and screenshots of this in Google Sheets? What buttons do you press to get what you want?

So the entire thing would be blank/white, except for your selected cells?

And to be clear, you DO NOT want just hiding the cell borders with:

  • View > ToggleSheetGrid

The “Collabora Online” Github is where you can make Feature Requests.

  • Press on green “New Issue” button.
  • Click on green button next to “Feature Request”.

But first let’s figure out a little more of what you mean + how it works in Google Sheets / others. :slight_smile:

3

Hmmm… can you link to documentation and screenshots of this in Google Sheets? What buttons do you press to get what you want?

You simply select the columns and rows you want to delete and press the delete key. They’ll be gone and won’t reappear unless you add them back yourself.

wZmiEqPJDF

And to be clear, you DO NOT want just hiding the cell borders with: View > ToggleSheetGrid**

No, I want to keep the sheet grid. This option is not what I meant.

Hope this helps understand this feature.

I created an issue:feature request on Github here.

1 Like
4

Fun :slight_smile: but basically it is just about the impression people get?

5

No need to be dismissive of people who use software differently than you do.

6

Sorry, that was not my intention.
I’m trying to get a real understanding.

7

Hmmm… interesting. Didn’t even know that was a possibility. First time I’m ever hearing of it.

Thanks for the GIF of it + instructions in Google Docs. :slight_smile:

I think what Google Sheets is actually doing underneath the hood is HIDING the rows/columns instead.

So, to accomplish the same thing, in all of these you would:

Hide All Columns to the Right

  1. Click the last column letter you want to remove.

    • For example, Column “D”.

  2. Ctrl+Shift+Right

    • This highlights everything to the right.

  3. Then, in…

  • Collabora Online
    • Right-Click > Hide Columns
  • LibreOffice 24.2 Calc
    • Right-Click > Hide Columns
  • Excel 365
    • Right-Click > Hide

Hide All Rows to the Bottom

Almost an exact repeat of the steps above, except:

  1. Click the last row number you want to remove.

    • For example, Row “10”.

  2. Ctrl+Shift+Down

    • This highlights everything to the bottom.

  3. Same as Step 3 above. Right-Click + Hide.

Except testing in Collabora Online 24.04.4, it seems to get very sluggish/angry with so many hidden columns/rows.

And it looks like it currently glitches out when reaching those far-off “edges” of the document.

For example, here it is in LibreOffice 24.2 vs. Collabora Online 24.04:

LibreOffice.24.2.4.2.-.Many.Hidden.Columns.Rows
LibreOffice.24.2.4.2.-.Many.Hidden.Columns.Rows1257×2088 41.7 KB
Collabora.24.04.4.2.-.Many.Hidden.Columns.Rows
Collabora.24.04.4.2.-.Many.Hidden.Columns.Rows1417×1044 46.6 KB

Collabora version:

COOLWSD version: 24.04.4.2 (git hash: 967b85ec)
LOKit version: Collabora Office 24.04.4.2 (git hash: 586d953)
Served by: Linux Mint 21.3
Server ID: 86706693

LibreOffice version:

Version: 24.2.4.2 (X86_64) / LibreOffice Community
Build ID: 51a6219feb6075d9a4c46691dcfe0cd9c4fff3c2
CPU threads: 8; OS: Windows 10.0 Build 22631; UI render: Skia/Raster; VCL: win
Locale: en-US (en_US); UI: en-US
Calc: CL threaded

I’ll bring up the massive amount of “hidden columns” use-case in the next COOL Weekly call.

+ We’ll definitely get this performance issue reported to the Collabora Github.

Looks like there’s definitely work that can be done in this area to match LO/Excel/Sheets.

Thanks for bringing this to our attention @SafeLamp. :slight_smile:

1 Like
8

Okay @SafeLamp, I just submitted 2 Github Issues on your behalf:

1 Like
9

Thank you so much for all the time you’ve put into this. In broadcasting we’re using a lot of custom “templates” like spreadsheets to run our shows. This is why I took the time to report that since that’s what I’m using in my daily work.

I could test the shortcut CTRL + Shift + {Arrow Key} and I was able to select and hide everything. As you pointed out this made the document slow and unusable. Also I could confirm the lines are staying there and there’s no background difference as you mentioned.

I hope that’ll get fix asap. I was a bit afraid of the 600+ issues opened on Github and left me wondering why. Is there still development for Collabora? Sorry for the question, I’m a new Collabora user and I’m simply trying to choose something that I won’t have to change from in a few months.

1 Like
10

Thank you @SafeLamp for taking the time to test/report and being so active in helping us make Open Source rock : )

Is there still development for Collabora? Sorry for the question, I’m a new Collabora user

No sweat. Yes! We are working daily on improving Collabora Online. I could try and show a comparison between code commits vs issues but that would be a bit unfair. So, here is a graph with issues vs pull requests (1 pull request has normally >1 code commits with fixes/improvements)

image
image1057×811 66.7 KB

I could test the shortcut CTRL + Shift + {Arrow Key} and I was able to select and hide everything. As you pointed out this made the document slow and unusable. Also I could confirm the lines are staying there and there’s no background difference as you mentioned.

Sorry for the inconvenience, specially when your workflow depends on that. We have the feature to hide rows and columns but not - yet - a way to do it for all empty rows/columns in one go. And as you mentioned, selecting all of them is easy via shortcut but these is still some improvements needed so, we can iron out any performance issues but also make it easier to discover/use.

And thanks for reporting it on GitHub. I think we can track the feature request there instead.

2 Likes