Ilumax Grid guide

Enter and edit data

• Type in a cell to replace what is there. To change part of it, press F2, or double-click the cell. Esc cancels what you typed.
• Return (Mac) or Enter (Windows) confirms and moves down; ⇧ShiftReturn (Mac) or ShiftEnter (Windows) moves up. Tab and ShiftTab move right and left.
• For a second line inside one cell, press ⌥OptionReturn (Mac) or AltEnter (Windows).
• To put the same entry in every selected cell, type it and press ⌘CommandReturn (Mac) or CtrlControlEnter (Windows).
• As you type text, Grid suggests matching entries from the same column. Backspace drops the suggestion.

Write formulas

Start a formula with =, for example =B2*C2 or =AVERAGE(B2:B10). While you type a function, Grid shows its arguments. Press F4 on a cell reference to cycle it through $ (fixed) forms.

To find a function, click Insert Function (fx) in the formula bar, or press ShiftF3. The Formula Builder has a Search: box; type what you want to work out, such as lookup or date. The Formulas tab lists functions by kind: Financial, Logical, Text, Date & Time, Lookup & Reference and Math & Trig.

Fill a series or copy down

Select a cell and drag the small square at its bottom-right corner (the fill handle). Grid continues numbers, dates, weekdays, months and quarters. Hold ⌘Command (Mac) or CtrlControl (Windows) while you drag to copy instead. Double-click the fill handle to fill down as far as the column beside it has data.

⌘CommandD (Mac) or CtrlControlD (Windows) fills down and ⌘CommandR (Mac) or CtrlControlR (Windows) fills right. Home ▸ Fill also has Series… and Flash Fill.

Format cells

The Home tab has the font, Bold, Italic, Underline, Borders, Fill Color, alignment, Wrap Text, Merge & Center, the number-format box (Number, Currency, Accounting, Short Date, Percentage and more), Percent Style, Comma Style and Increase Decimal. Cell Styles applies ready-made looks for headings, totals and figures.

For everything at once, press ⌘Command1 (Mac) or CtrlControl1 (Windows) to open Format Cells, with the tabs Number, Alignment, Font, Border, Fill and Protection.

Colour cells by their values

Select the cells and click Home ▸ Conditional Formatting. Highlight Cells Rules picks out values that are Greater Than…, Less Than…, Between… or duplicated; Data Bars, Color Scales and Icon Sets show the values as graphics. Manage Rules… lists and edits the rules.

Sort and filter

Click a cell in the column and choose Home ▸ Sort & Filter ▸ Sort A to Z or Sort Z to A. For more, click Data ▸ Sort: tick My list has headers, choose the column under Sort by, and click + Add Level to sort by a second column.

Data ▸ Filter, or ⌘Command⇧ShiftL (Mac) or CtrlControlShiftL (Windows), puts a button on each heading. Click one to sort, or to show only some values. Right-click a cell and choose Filter by Selected Cell’s Value to filter by it at once.

Sort before you add a total row directly under the data, or leave a blank row above the total, so the total stays at the bottom.

Turn a list into a table

Click inside the list and press ⌘CommandT (Mac) or CtrlControlT (Windows), or click Insert ▸ Table. Grid makes the whole list a table, with a table style; Home ▸ Format as Table picks another. On Table Design, tick Total Row for totals or Banded Rows for stripes, or rename the table in Table Name:.

Make a chart

Select the data, headings included, then click Insert ▸ Recommended Charts, or one of the chart buttons: Column or Bar, Line or Area, Pie or Doughnut, Scatter or Bubble, Statistic and Hierarchy & more. With the chart selected, Chart Design has Add Chart Element (legend, data labels, gridlines), Switch Row/Column, Select Data, Change Chart Type and Chart Title.

Summarise with a PivotTable

1. Click inside your data. It needs a heading on each column.
2. Click Insert ▸ PivotTable. Grid puts the PivotTable on a new sheet.
3. In PivotTable Fields, on the right, tick the fields to add. Text fields go to rows and number fields to values, which Grid totals.

Insert, delete and hide rows and sheets

Right-click a row number or a column letter for Insert, Delete, Hide, Unhide, Row Height… or Column Width… and AutoFit. Home ▸ Insert and Home ▸ Delete do the same for the selection.

Click + beside the sheet tabs, or press ShiftF11, for a new sheet. Right-click a tab to Rename, Duplicate, Move or Copy…, Delete, Hide it or give it a Tab Color.

Find and replace

Press ⌘CommandF (Mac) or CtrlControlF (Windows) to find, or ⌘Command⇧ShiftH (Mac) or CtrlControlH (Windows) to replace. The Find and Replace dialog has Match case, Match entire cell contents and Within workbook, and the buttons Find Next, Find All, Replace and Replace All. ⌘CommandG (Mac) or CtrlControlG (Windows) opens Go To.

Offer a drop-down list in a cell

Select the cells and click Data ▸ Data Validation ▸ Data Validation…. Under Allow, choose List and type the choices in Source:, separated by commas. With In-cell dropdown ticked, each cell gets a list to pick from. The same dialog can also limit cells to whole numbers, dates or a length of text, and show a message when someone types something else.

Name ranges, and add comments and notes

Select cells, type a name in the Name Box and press Return (Mac) or Enter (Windows); use the name in formulas instead of the cell addresses. Formulas ▸ Name Manager lists the names.

Review ▸ New Comment starts a conversation on a cell; Review ▸ Notes ▸ New Note, or ShiftF2, adds a simple note.

Print

Press ⌘CommandP (Mac) or CtrlControlP (Windows). The Print page has the Printer, Copies, Two-sided printing and Grayscale, a choice of Print Active Sheets or Print Entire Workbook, Fit Sheet on One Page, and a preview. Click Print.

The Page Layout tab sets the Margins, Orientation, paper Size, Print Area and page Breaks. For a header or a footer, click Insert ▸ Header & Footer and type it on the page.

Protect a sheet

Review ▸ Protect Sheet stops changes to a sheet, with an optional password. Tick what people may still do, such as Format cells or Sort. Protect Workbook stops sheets being added, moved or deleted.

Save automatically

Turn on AutoSave in the title bar and Grid saves a workbook that already has an .xlsx file every time you change it. AutoSave starts off each time Grid opens, so switch it on again, or save as you go with ⌘CommandS (Mac) or CtrlControlS (Windows). Save before you close a workbook or quit.