VIEWING EFFECTS OF PROPOSED CHANGE IN DOCUMENT BEFORE COMMITING CHANGE

• US 20140281867A1
• Filed: 03/12/2013
• Published: 09/18/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 03/12/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Sinha, Avijit, Destrebecq, Olivier, Vogel, Matthew
• Granted Patent: US 10,140,269 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 715/212
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/18 of spreadsheets form-filling G06F40/174
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/197 Version control for software G06F8/71

Abstract

A tweak and view mode may be used by a user to see an effect of a proposed change to a document before the change is committed to the document. The application may automatically navigate to different portions of the document and/or display different sections of the document. Instead of the user having to search for the portion of the document affected by the change, the changed portions are determined for the user. The portions may be automatically displayed to the user and/or the user may determine when to move to each different portion that changed as a result of the proposed change. The proposed change may be accepted/rejected by the user. For example, a User Interface (UI) element may be selected by the user to either accept the change or reject the change.

Claims

1. A method for visualizing proposed changes to a document, comprising:

displaying a view of a portion of a document having data that is in a first version state;

receiving a change to the data of the document that changes the data to a second version state;

maintaining the first version state of the data until receiving a commitment to accept the change;

changing the view to display a changed portion of the document that is affected by the change as reflected by the second version state; and

committing the change to the document when the change is accepted.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the document comprises spreadsheet data that includes one or more sheets.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising receiving a request to enter a tweak and view mode before receiving the change that indicates to maintain the first version state of the data while allowing changes to be made to the data of the document.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein changing the view to display the changed portion of the document that is affected by the change comprises displaying the portion of the document before the change is made and displaying the portion of the document after the change is made in a same graphical window.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising determining multiple portions within the document that are affected by the change and automatically displaying each of the multiple portions.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising determining multiple portions within the document that are affected by the change and changing a display that shows one of the multiple portions to a display of a different multiple portion in response to receiving an advance command.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising receiving a request to view the portion of the document affected by the change.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising determining an ordering of portions of the document that are affected by the change and displaying each of the portions in the determined order.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein receiving the change to the document comprises receiving changes to different cells of a spreadsheet.

10. A computer-readable medium storing computer-executable instructions for visualizing proposed changes to a document, comprising:

displaying a view of a portion of a document having data that is in a first version state;

receiving a request to enter a tweak and view mode that indicates to maintain the first version state of the data while allowing changes to be made to the data of the document;

receiving a change to the data of the document that changes the data to a second version state;

maintaining the first version state of the data until receiving a commitment to accept the change;

changing the view to display a changed portion of the document that is affected by the change as reflected by the second version state; and

committing the change to the document when the change is accepted.

11. The computer-readable medium of claim 10, wherein the document comprises spreadsheet data that includes one or more sheets.

12. The computer-readable medium of claim 10, wherein changing the view to display the changed portion of the document that is affected by the change comprises displaying the portion of the document before the change is made and displaying the portion of the document after the change is made in a same graphical window.

13. The computer-readable medium of claim 10, further comprising determining multiple portions within the document that are affected by the change and automatically displaying each of the multiple portions.

14. The computer-readable medium of claim 10, further comprising determining multiple portions within the document that are affected by the change and changing a display that shows one of the multiple portions to a display of a different multiple portion in response to receiving an advance command.

15. The computer-readable medium of claim 10, further comprising receiving a request to view the portion of the document affected by the change.

16. The computer-readable medium of claim 10, further comprising determining an ordering of portions of the document that are affected by the change and displaying each of the portions in the determined order.

17. A system for visualizing proposed changes to a document, comprising:

a display that is configured to receive touch input;

a processor and memory;

an operating environment executing using the processor;

a display showing content; and

a change manager that is configured to perform actions comprising;

displaying a view of spreadsheet data in a first version state that is associated with a workbook including one or more sheets;

receiving a request to enter a tweak and view mode that indicates to maintain the first version state of the spreadsheet data while allowing changes to be made to the spreadsheet data;

receiving a change to the spreadsheet data that changes the spreadsheet data to a second version state;

maintaining the first version state of the spreadsheet data until receiving a commitment to accept the change;

changing the view to display a changed portion of the spreadsheet that is affected by the change as reflected by the second version state; and

committing the change to the spreadsheet when the change is accepted.

18. The system of claim 17, wherein changing the view to display the changed portion of the spreadsheet data that is affected by the change comprises displaying the portion of the spreadsheet data before the change is made and displaying the portion of the spreadsheet data after the change is made in a same graphical window.

19. The system of claim 17, further comprising determining multiple portions within the spreadsheet data that are affected by the change and automatically displaying each of the multiple portions.

20. The system of claim 17, further comprising determining multiple portions within the spreadsheet data that are affected by the change and changing a display that shows one of the multiple portions to a display of a different multiple portion in response to receiving an advance command.