Skip to content

Transform Column

Transform Column reshapes your data with a single click, the way you would clean up a messy spreadsheet by hand. Open it via Data -> Transform column..., pick an operation, fill in its options, and press Apply.

Transform column

Operations

Operation What it does
Split column Break one column into several, by a delimiter, a regular expression, or a fixed width (every N characters). New columns are named <source>_1, <source>_2, ...; rows with fewer parts get empty cells.
Merge columns Join two or more columns into one new column with a separator you choose (for example join First and Last name with a space).
Fill down Copy the nearest non-empty value downwards into the empty cells below it.
Fill up The same, but upwards. Useful for exports that only show a group label on the first row.
Extract pattern Pull the first regular-expression match out of each cell into a new column (for example #(\d+) to grab an order number). Non-matching cells are left empty.
Replace in column Find and replace within a single column's cells, using Plain, Wildcard, or Regex matching (the same modes as the search bar).

How it behaves

  • Split, Merge, and Extract create new columns (Split and Extract insert them next to the source; Merge appends one at the end). Fill and Replace rewrite the chosen column in place.
  • For the column-creating operations you can set the new column name and the insert position (1-based, like the Insert-column dialog). Leave either blank to accept the default shown as the field's hint. For Split the name acts as a base, so the parts become name_1, name_2, ... A name that already exists gets a _2, _3, ... suffix so columns never clash.
  • Every transform is undoable with Ctrl+Z and is applied to the table in memory only - nothing is written to disk until you Save.
  • Transforms are disabled while read-only mode is on.
  • New cells are produced as text; column types are otherwise unchanged.

Conditional column (if / else-if / else)

Data -> Conditional column... builds a new column whose value depends on conditions, like a spreadsheet IF/IFS or a SQL CASE. You add an ordered list of rules:

IF   amount  >  100   -> "high"
ELIF amount  >   50   -> "medium"
ELSE                  -> "low"
  • Each rule tests one column with an operator (equals, contains, greater than, is empty, ...) and writes its output value when it matches.
  • Rules are checked top to bottom; the first one that matches wins (that is the "else if" behaviour). Reorder them with the up/down arrows.
  • If no rule matches, the Else value is used.
  • Outputs that look like numbers become numeric cells (so the new column can be summed or sorted as numbers); everything else is text.
  • The result is a brand-new column (name and position configurable) and is undoable with Ctrl+Z. Shortcut: Ctrl+Shift+J.

This reuses the same comparison operators as Conditional formatting; the difference is that conditional formatting colours matching cells, while a conditional column sets a value.

See also

  • Formulas add a computed column from an arithmetic expression.
  • Search & Filter finds and replaces across the whole table rather than within one column.
  • Editing covers manual cell edits, undo/redo, and column tools.