Customizable spreadsheet table styles

• US 20070050699A1
• Filed: 08/30/2005
• Published: 03/01/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 08/30/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Ellis, Charles, Jayanty, Paavany, Hoke, Tom, Chamberlain, Benjamin, Simkhay, Roy, Gainer, David
• Granted Patent: US 8,549,392 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 715/235
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/177 of tables; using ruled lines
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/18 of spreadsheets form-filling G06F40/174

Abstract

Table styles provide a way to format an entire spreadsheet table quickly and easily. According to described implementations, table styles can be created and customized for repeated use in a spreadsheet application. As a result, a user does not have to manually modify multiple formatting options for each table included in one or more spreadsheets. A graphical user interface is also described that provides simple user access to existing table styles that can be modified according to the user'"'"'s requirements.

Claims

1. A method, comprising:

displaying a table style user interface;

receiving a table style selection;

receiving formatting instructions for the table style selection;

applying formatting to the table style selection according to the received formatting instructions;

storing the table style selection in a recallable location so that the table style selection may be recalled and applied to a spreadsheet table.

2. The method as recited in claim 1, further comprising receiving a table element selection and wherein:

the step of receiving formatting instructions further comprises receiving formatting instructions for the table element selection; and

the step of applying formatting further comprises applying formatting to the table element selection according to the received formatting instructions.

3. The method as recited in claim 2, wherein:

the table element selection further comprises a first table element selection;

the method further comprises receiving formatting instructions for a second table element selection and applying formatting to the second table element selection according to the formatting instructions received for the second table element;

applying formatting to overlapping table element cells according to a precedence order of table elements if the first table element and the second table element overlap.

4. The method as recited in claim 3, further comprising identifying whether formats of overlapping table element cells are compatible, and wherein the step of applying formatting to overlapping table element cells is executed only if the formats of the overlapping table element cells are incompatible.

5. The method as recited in claim 3, wherein the precedence order is modifiable.

6. The method as recited in claim 1, further comprising displaying a preview thumbnail image that shows an exemplary table formatted according to the received formatting instructions.

7. One or more computer-readable media containing executable instructions that, when executed, cause a graphical user interface to be displayed on an electronic display device, the graphical user interface comprising:

a table styles toolbar that displays one or more selectable table style thumbnail images, each table style thumbnail image corresponding to a table style;

a selectable modify option that appears upon user selection of a table style thumbnail image; and

a dialog that appears upon user selection of the modify option, the dialog further comprising;

means for selecting at least one table element of the table style;

means for selecting one or more formats to apply to a selected table element; and

means for saving the table style with the applied formats so that the formats can be applied to one or more spreadsheet tables by applying the table style to the one or more spreadsheet tables.

8. The one or more computer-readable media as recited in claim 7, further comprising a preview thumbnail image that is displayed on the dialog, the preview thumbnail image indicating an appearance of the table style according to the applied formats.

9. The one or more computer-readable media as recited in claim 7, further comprising a table name field for receiving a table name that will be associated with the table style with the applied formats.

10. One or more computer-readable media containing executable instructions that, when executed, implement the following steps:

receiving a user selection of a table style;

receiving one or more modifications to the table style to create a modified table style;

storing the modified table style so that the modified table style can be applied to one or more spreadsheet tables.

11. The one or more computer-readable media as recited in claim 10, wherein the user selection of a table style is made by selecting the table style from a table style toolbar of a user interface.

12. The one or more computer-readable media as recited in claim 10, wherein the modifications further comprise formatting modifications.

13. The one or more computer-readable media as recited in claim 12, wherein the formatting modifications are applied to one or more table elements, each table element including one or more table cells.

14. The one or more computer-readable media as recited in claim 13, wherein table cells in portions of two or more table elements that overlap and have different formatting are formatted according to a table element formatting precedence.

15. The one or more computer-readable media as recited in claim 14, further comprising determining if the formatting of table cells in overlapping table elements is compatible and formatting the table cells in overlapping table elements done according to a table element formatting precedence only if the formatting is incompatible.