Grouping rows and columns

What grouping is for

Some lists have rows that belong together. A wedding guest list has families, and each family has members. A housing society has flats, and each flat has residents. A tuition centre has batches, and each batch has students.

In an ordinary sheet you would type the family name and the city again on every row. With grouping, the family is shown once, as one block, and its members are listed beside it.

1. The rows are grouped by the Family column. The family's name is written once, with the number of members beside it.
2. City is a shared column: one value for the whole family, written once.

Nothing is lost by grouping. Every member is still a row of its own, so totals, filters, searches and exports still see each one. You can stop grouping at any time and the sheet looks ordinary again.

Please noteOnly people who can edit the sheet can set up grouping. Once it is set, everyone the sheet is shared with sees it grouped, on every device.

The three switches

Grouping is switched on from the menu of a column. Move your pointer to the column heading and press the three dots. At the top of the menu are three small square buttons with pictures.

Where to find itSheet›column heading›three dots›the three buttons at the top

A switch that is on is green. Press it again to switch it off.

Grouping rows by a column

1. Make sure the sheet has a column that says which group a row belongs to. In the guest list it is Family, and every member's row has the family name in it.
2. Move your pointer to the heading of that column and press the three dots.
3. Press the first switch, Group rows by this column.

• Rows with the same family name come together as one block, whatever order they were typed in.
• Capital and small letters do not matter: kumar family and Kumar Family are the same group.
• A row whose group cell is empty stands by itself.
• A sheet is grouped by one column at a time. If you press the first switch on another column, that column takes over.

To change a group's name, open the name cell and type the new name. It is changed on every row of the group at once.

To move one member to another family, press Open row on that member's row and change the family name in the form. Only that row changes, and the member moves to the other block.

A shared column: one value for the whole group

Some details are the same for everyone in the group: the family's city, their address, who invited them. Mark such a column as shared and it is written once for the group.

1. Group the rows by a column first. Until you do, the second switch is greyed out and says Group rows by a column first.
2. Open the menu of the column that should be shared, for example City.
3. Press the second switch, One value for the whole group.

• The value is shown once, beside the first row of the group, on a light tint.
• When you change it, it changes for every row of the group.
• You can share as many columns as you need.
• To go back, press the same switch again. It now says A value for each row again.

Folding a group, and adding a member

1. Press the small arrow to fold the group. Only its first row stays in view. Press the arrow again, which now says Show all 3, to open it.
2. The number says how many rows the group has.
3. Move your pointer to the group's name and a small button appears: Add a row to this group. Press it.

The new row is added at the end of that group. The family name and the shared values, such as the city, are already filled in. You only type the new member's own details.

• To start a new group, press Add row under the sheet and type a new family name in the group column.
• Folding is only for you, for now. It is not saved, and other people do not see your groups folded.
• A group with a single row has no arrow, because there is nothing to fold.

Column bands: a heading over several columns

A wide sheet is easier to read when columns that belong together sit under one heading. For example Member, Age and Phone under Member details. Such a heading is called a band.

To put one column under a band:

1. Open the column's menu with the three dots.
2. Press the third switch, Put under a heading band.
3. Type a name in the box that opens and press Add.

To put several columns under one band in one go, first pick them: hold Ctrl and click the name of each column. Then open the menu of any one of them and press the third switch. The name you type goes over all of them.

• Columns that sit side by side and have the same band name share one heading. To add another column to a band later, give it the same name and keep it beside the others.
• Click a band to fold it (1). Its first column stays and the others are put away. The band then shows how many are put away, such as +2 (2). Click it again to bring them back.
• To take a column out of its band, open the column's menu and press the third switch again. It now reads Take out of and the band's name.
• Bands work with or without row grouping.

Filters, search and sorting in a grouped sheet

A group is never cut in two. When you filter or search, and even one row of a group fits, the whole group is shown.

1. The rows that fit the filter or the search are drawn as usual.
2. The other rows of the same group are drawn fainter. They are there only so that you see the whole family.

• A group where no row fits is not shown at all.
• When you sort by a column, each group still stays together. The rows are put in order inside each group, and the groups follow the order of their first rows.
• The pinned row still stays at the bottom, outside every group.

Filters and search themselves are explained in Sort, filter and search.

A grouped sheet in Excel

When you export a grouped sheet as an Excel file, it leaves the way it looks on screen.

• The rows of each group are kept together.
• The group's name and its shared values are joined into one tall cell beside the group's rows.
• Heading bands become a row of their own above the column names, each one stretched across its columns.
• The pinned row comes last.

A CSV file is plain: it has every row with every value written out, in the order of the sheet. Exporting is explained in Import and export.

Grouped sheets on your phone

On a phone, a grouped sheet is best seen as records. Each group gets a card of its own.

1. The family's card shows the group's name, the shared values under it, and the number of members.
2. Under it, set in a little, is one card for each member, showing only that member's own details. Tap one to open and change it.
3. Tap a family's card to fold its members away. Tap again to open it.

The phone's grid view shows the rows one under another without the blocks. Setting up grouping, shared columns and bands is done from the column menu on a computer.

Stopping grouping

1. Open the menu of the column the rows are grouped by. Its first switch is green.
2. Press that switch. It now says Stop grouping rows.

The sheet becomes ordinary again. The shared columns stop being shared too. No row and no value is removed: every row still has its own family name and city in it.

Common questions

Does grouping change my data? No. It changes only how the rows are shown. Each member remains a full row.

Can I group by two columns, such as city and then family? No. Rows are grouped by one column. You can still sort or filter by any other column.

Why is the second switch greyed out? A column can be shared only when the rows are grouped. Group the rows by another column first.

I changed the city for one member and it changed for the whole family. City is a shared column, so it has one value for the group. If members can have different cities, switch off the second switch on that column.

Two families have the same name. They became one group. Groups are made from the name alone. Give them different names, for example Kumar family (Chennai) and Kumar family (Salem).

Does the pinned row total count every member? Yes. Every member is a row, so sums and counts include each one.

Can Flicx Companion set this up for me? Yes. You can ask it in plain words to group a sheet by a column, share columns and add bands. See Flicx Companion.