Sometimes it is necessary to create many Named Ranges and Expressions, such as when creating spreadsheets that will be parsed by software that uses the Named Range data to perform functions. When there are many worksheets in a workbook, and many ranges within each worksheet, the Named Ranges and Expressions Manager display is difficult to navigate. The list is only scrollable, and I may eventually have to scroll through hundreds of entries. Because of this, I request an enhancement where Named Ranges and Expressions Manager display as sortability by name, and preferably should have filterability by range name as well as by sheet name . Example: There are several regions in a worksheet that contain similar types of data, but is intended to have some variation in fields and placement. A software that relies on the data must be able to identify the regions in the spreadsheet to parse it. Because of this a naming convention is adopted where the type is combined with a serial number: MOD_0 MOD_1 ... MOD_100 When continuously editing the spreadsheet across different work sessions, it is not possible for me to remember the last index number, so I have to scroll to find it. I may also forget the current index number I am on DURING a work session and rely on the scrollbar to discover the last index used in a name. Furthermore, I want to capture two "subranges" within existing ranges. To do this I adapt the naming convention for compatibility with the existing range names: MOD_0 MOD_0_SUP MOD_0_SUB MOD_1 MOD_1_SUP MOD_1_SUB ... MOD_100 MOD_100_SUP MOD_100_SUB As I am adding two subranges to correspond with each existing range, I occasionally need to view the existing range area highlighted in the spreadsheet while inspecting it in the Named Ranges and Expressions Manager display so I can accurately select and name the subranges. This process would be more efficient if I could filter the list of Named Ranges and Expressions.
Thanks for the suggestion. Note that "Sheet > Named ranges and expressions > Manage" already automatically sorts by scope and name, and it already is possible (at least with the gtk3 VCL plugin) to type some characters to jump to a range name that matches, but sorting by any column and filtering with a search box (like has been done with the Options dialog and the Functions sidebar recently) could be useful. UX/Design team, if you agree, could this be an easyHack based on previous similar effort? See also: - bug 108516, which requests range comments, which could be displayed in the table too and help with annotating and finding ranges. - bug 158831 for making another table sortable.
Created attachment 192247 [details] Screenshot I could imagine to sort per click on the column header (likely an easyhack). And if a filter is really needed we could use an expander "> Filter range list" to hide this input control. Would this help you, Thomas?
For the time being I am going to use the keyboard typing effect described by Stephanie to match long lists from the Named Ranges and Expressions Manager. I am not sure what the best design solution is, honestly. I have worked with the software for several hundred hours and it suits my purpose well, but I do not know what kind of limitations a software programmer has to implement features. Alternate to my filtering enhancement request, there could be some kind of group management feature where a tree structure could be created to manage many Named Ranges under. Maybe my actual enhancement request is a user interface feature to manage large or very large volume of Named Ranges.
Hey Heiko - Yes, that is what I was imagining: click on the column header to sort alphanumerically. I am not certain about the other thing you mentioned. More specifically what I imagined was some sort of text input field (I am only familiar with web user interface concepts) that filters listed Named Ranges according to input text matches.
So let's sort on click at the header and add a filter input box.