Expanding and Collapsing Hierarchy/Outline levels

Paul J. Puzzanghera · 03/14/17

Very much would like to have the ability to expand the hierarchy to a particluar level such as 1,2,3 ... ALL. For my applicaiton Level 1 is PROGRAM, Level 2 is PROJECT, Level 3 is milestone, etc. I need to see the entire sheet open to a particular level. Looking for something that exists in Excel as well as all "outline managers". See below. Press 2 to see all programs; press 4 to see everything.

I would propose you just add another row to "Indent" (rename it Hierarchy) and have a dropdown list with the outline levels and maybe a plus and munus sign to expand all/collapse all. See below

I currently add a LEVEL formula to every sheet which I use to provide level specific conditional format Level 1 Level 2 etc.

Excel HIerarchy.PNG

Level CMD.png

Shaine Greenwood · 03/16/17

Hi Paul,

This seems similar to Excel's design. I like the idea, but we'd have to free up some real estate in the application first before we can make this type of change. Or possibly use a different method (keyboard shortcuts or direct toolbar buttons.

I've added your vote for a way to expand specific levels of indentation to our enhancement request list for further review by our Product team.

Paul J. Puzzanghera · 03/16/17

Keyboard shortcuts are a fine start. (I see CTRL + amd CTRL - are already used)

BTW many thanks for moving to CTR`L [ and CTRL ] for indent and undent. So much better.

I use a 20 year old outliner called Ecco. Here is the pop up dialog box they use:

Ecco Levels.PNG

J. Craig Williams · 03/16/17

! adding, not moving to.

If any app changes hot-keys after 3+ years, I would rage-quit on general principle.

That would be like the car mechanics coming in the middle of the night and changing my car to a right driving vehicle. I could get used to it, but would be quite upset by the change.

Craig

ps Glad you got the ones you wanted too.

Bill Brandt · 05/19/17

The ability to expand and collapse by level is really paramount. Especially since filtering undoes any collapse state. Our indenting follows a straight forward practice and there are times I need to collapse all the 3rd level and just see 1 and 2 as well as collapse 2 and 3 and just see 1. The "ALL" is too basic. Doing it by hand is time wasting.

Xavier LN · 05/31/17

This is so much needed indeed. As Bill Brandt explained, the fact that filtering doesn't save the collapsing states, it is really tedious to bring back a sheet to the way it was collapsed after filtering.

One way to implement it without harming the UI would be to add this option in the right click contextual menu of cells. So if we are on a cell indented at level 3 for instance, the menu would propose "Collapse all level 3 and below items" or something like that.

Ryan F · 12/04/17

I agree entirely - the absence of this feature is a real disappointment

Lee T. · 12/14/17

I signed up specifically to the community to say that it is unacceptable that this feature is not available.

I have a filter that collapses all at a certain level, if I want to see any children rows, I have to remove the entire filter and scroll through hundreds of line items.

Please do something about it!

jtallman · 01/14/18

I agree, this is a much needed feature. Consider this my vote unless there is a way to vote formally, in which case - How do I vote?

rock40926 · 03/29/18

+1 for this feature request.

ddietz · 04/13/18

This may help some people while Smartsheet is working on implementing the expand/collapse to [level].

Create a new column called "Outline Level" and use the following formula to give the level number associated with that row. Paste this formula in row 1 of the "Outline Level" column. You may have to change [Primary Column] if that's not the name of the indented column in your sheet.

=IF(ISERROR(INDEX(ANCESTORS([Primary Column]1), 3)), IF(ISERROR(INDEX(ANCESTORS([Primary Column]1), 2)), IF(ISERROR(INDEX(ANCESTORS([Primary Column]1), 1)), 1, 2), 3), 4)

Then just copy the formula down to the end of your sheet. Now, in order to "expand/collapse" to a certain level, just filter on the level(s) you want to view.

There may be a more elegant way of doing this currently, but it works for me.

I hope this helps!

ddietz

smackdab · 05/10/18

Perfect! Great workaround -- works like a charm. Thanks, ddietz. And +1 for the need to embed this capability into the product rather than requiring these kinds of gymnastics.

Paul J. Puzzanghera · 05/10/18

I find just =count(ancestors(primary1)) works just fine

Tanner Polzin · 03/26/19

There is no need for additional real estate (at least not on the main page). There is already a collapse all and expand all options in the drop down. All we need is another option in the drop down like "Expand/Collapse to level" which could then open a pop up window. (So we need a little real estate in the drop down.)

Something like the attached picture would work well.

Consider this my official vote for this feature.

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Expanding and Collapsing Hierarchy/Outline levels

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