This section describes general features of tables in the Maxsurf suite.

Using the scroll bars on the right and bottom-right of the window changes the displayed area. These will disappear if the whole table is visible. In addition, it is possible to use the zoom and shrink functions to increase or reduce the size of the table.

There are a number of ways of selecting data from the tables. You may wish to select data for copying or pasting to or from another application.

A single cell is selected simply by clicking once in the cell. The selected cell will be highlighted with a bold outline:

A single row is selected by clicking once in the grey, row number cell in the left-most column. The selected row will be highlighted by making the background black and the text white:

A single column is selected by clicking once in the grey, column-heading cell in the top-most row. The selected column will be highlighted by making the background black and the text white:

Contiguous rows or columns are selected by clicking in the grey, row number cell or the grey, column heading cell and dragging the mouse over the other rows or columns to be selected. Alternatively, you may click in the first row or column header and then click in the final row or column header with the Shift key depressed. All the columns between, and including, the first and last will be selected. You may also use the scroll bars if you use the second method.

A rectangular block of cells may be selected by clicking and dragging over the cells to be selected. Alternatively you may click in the first cell and then click in the final cell with the Shift key depressed. You may also use the scroll bars if you use the second method.

The complete table may be selected simply by clicking in the blank, grey, top-left cell:

The width of the columns may be adjusted by two different methods. In either case, the column widths will be save when you exit the program. When you re-start the program, the saved column widths will be re-loaded.

The column widths may be adjusted by placing the cursor over the line between the two columns, in the greyed column heading area. The cursor will chance to a re-sizing cursor and the column may now be re-sized by clicking and dragging the line to the new desired position. The column to the left will be adjusted. You may re-size several columns together by first selecting a group of columns and then adjusting the width of any of them. When you release the mouse, all the selected columns will be re-sized.

Alternatively, the column widths may be sized according to the width of the text displayed in the column's header. To do this, select the columns to be re-sized and then right-click in one of the grey header cells of one of the selected columns. Select Size Column/s to text from the context menu:

In some tables the format of the displayed data may be customised. In most tables it is possible to hide columns and sort rows. Some programs also have additional features, for further details of these additional functions please see the documentation for the relevant program.

To hide a column or selection of columns, select the columns and right-click in one of the grey header cells of one of the selected columns. Choose Hide Column/s from the context menu:

To unhide the columns, select the columns on each side of the hidden columns, right click and choose Show Column/s:

If all the columns are hidden, right-click in the top-left grey cell and choose Show All Columns from the menu:

The rows may be sorted according to the data in a particular column. Right-click in the grey header row of the column you wish to sort by, then select Sort Rows ascending or Sort Rows descending as required. To return the rows to their original order, right-click anywhere in the grey column header row and select Unsort Rows

The font used in the table may be changed using the Font command in the View menu.

There are several tools which aide editing data in a table. These are described in greater detail below.

Data may be typed in a cell by clicking in the cell and typing in the new data. This will overwrite the original entry in the cell. If you wish to edit the data in a cell, double-click to place the cursor at the position in the cell where you wish to start typing. Once editing, you can use the mouse to move the cursor by clicking once at the new insertion point or you can use the left and right cursor keys. If you wish to select certain characters in the cell, click and drag the mouse over the characters to be selected, these will be highlighted with a blue background and white text.

The entire contents of a cell or group of cells may be copied to the clipboard for pasting into another application or Maxsurf table. Select the cells to be copied and choose Copy from the Edit menu, or use the keyboard shortcut Ctrl+C or Ctrl+Ins.

If a group of cells have been selected, they will be copied in tab delimited format which enables direct pasting into applications such as MS Excel.

Data may be pasted from other tables or other applications such as MS Excel. Once the data has been copied, select the top-left cell of the area you wish to paste the data into. Choose Paste from the Edit menu, or use the keyboard shortcut Ctrl+V or Shift+Ins.

Make sure the table you are pasting into contains more or an equal number of rows and columns as the table you copied the data from.

The data from a cell, or group of cells, may be copied into the cells below it. Select the group of cells you wish the new data to be copied into; include also the cells which contain the data you wish to fill down with. Right-click and select Fill Down or use the keyboard shortcut Ctrl+D.

Selection and data before Fill Down

Modified data after Fill Down

In a similar manner, data may be filled to the right using the Fill Right command:

Selection and data before Fill Right

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Modified data after Fill Right

The tables used in the Maxsurf suite are similar to the Worksheets in MS Excel. Just like in Excel, you can switch between tables by clicking on the tab of the desired table at the bottom of the window (if there are multiple tables available in that window). Use the scroll arrows in the bottom left hand corner to view more tabs. The scroll bar on the bottom right is used to scroll through the currently displayed table.

Example of multiple tables in one window (from Hydromax).