This thread is for discussion about workflows for reordering rows and columns in Collabora spreadsheets, since it is currently more difficult to do it than in many other spreadsheet programs. For example, there is no way to drag-and-drop rows/columns, nor are there options for “move rows/columns in direction”.
A very useful workaround was mentioned Use also Ctrl or Alt when dragging rows, columns, cells · Issue #8033 · CollaboraOnline/online · GitHub copy the row(s)/column(s) to the clipboard, and then use the “paste special” feature, which has an option in the dialog box to shift rows/columns out of the way instead of overwriting them. This is still unwieldy but is a lot better than the alternatives that currently exist.
For anyone who is wondering about use cases, there are plenty… For example, I maintain a spreadsheet of recurring monthly expenses. I keep the rows in an order that makes sense to me for reviewing easily, which means sometimes they have to be reordered when expense categories are added, removed, or changed. It’s also popular to work on puzzle hunts (Introduction to Puzzlehunts) using spreadsheets, in which case it is very helpful to be able to quickly move data from one place to another within the spreadsheet, to see if it produces novel insights.
Sometimes one wants to keep rows in a mostly sorted order, and it is possible to work around the lack of easy reordering functionality by simply sorting repeatedly. It is less convenient than drag-and-drop when there is only one row that needs to be moved, and fails when there is not an existing column that one wants to strictly sort by.
I wrote a “On Spreadsheets / Data / Tables / Charts / Graphs” heading, where I also covered one of my favorite books ever:
“The Visual Display of Quantitative Information” by Edward Tufte
In it, he describes how to more effectively/efficiently display data, and it includes “tricks” like:
Swapping rows/columns
Sorting largest->smallest
Removing “Chart Junk”
Useless lines!
The amount of “hidden” data/insights that are already sitting there—and can be found just by MOVING SOME DATA NEAR EACH OTHER and displaying it a little differently—is awesome.
Previously hidden patterns just pop right out.
Side Note 2: Last year, I also explained a few other methods like “Spellcheck Lists”/“List-Based Spellchecking”:
