Spreadsheet document tab conditional formatting

• US 9,311,289 B1
• Filed: 08/16/2013
• Issued: 04/12/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 08/16/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Google LLC (Alphabet Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Google Inc. (Alphabet Inc.)
• Inventors: Kaptur, Joseph John, Morash, Elizabeth Averill
• Primary Examiner(s): Paula, Cesar
• Assistant Examiner(s): Nguyen, Luu-Phuong
• Application Number:
  US13/968,879
• Time in Patent Office: 970 Days
• Field of Search: 715/217
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/103 Formatting, i.e. changing of presentation of documents automatic justification G06F40/189; automatic line break hyphenation G06F40/191
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/174 Form filling; Merging
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/177 of tables; using ruled lines
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/18 of spreadsheets form-filling G06F40/174

Abstract

A method of applying conditional formatting rules to a document tab. The method includes receiving an indication of a user input selecting a document entry in a document for applying conditional formatting to the document tab based on the document entry. The method also includes outputting, for display, a conditional formatting user interface for associating one or more conditional formatting rules with the document entry and the document tab. The method further includes receiving an indication of a user input of one or more conditional formatting rules linking a property of the document tab with the document entry. The method further includes changing the property of the document tab based on the one or more conditional formatting rules.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method, comprising:

outputting, at a computing device and for display, a spreadsheet document that includes one or more data cells and a document tab;

receiving, at a computing device, an indication of a user input selecting a document entry in the spreadsheet document for applying conditional formatting to the document tab based on the document entry, wherein the document entry is one or more of the one or more data cells of the spreadsheet document;

outputting, by the computing device and for display in response to the user input selecting the document entry in the spreadsheet document, a conditional formatting user interface for associating one or more conditional formatting rules with the document entry and the document tab;

receiving, at the computing device, an indication of a user input of one or more conditional formatting rules linking a property of the document tab with the document entry; and

changing, with the computing device, the property of the document tab based on the one or more conditional formatting rules.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the property of the document tab is one of background color, font style, font size, and font color.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the one or more conditional formatting rules include at least one of text-based rules, fill-based rules, date-based rules, and value-based rules.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the document tab identifies a document sheet including the document entry.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the document tab identifies a different document sheet than a document sheet including the document entry.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

subsequent to changing the property of the document tab, monitoring the document entry and updating the property of the document tab in response to a change to the document entry.

7. A non-transitory storage medium including program instructions executable by one or more processors that, when executed, cause the one or more processors to perform operations, the operations comprising:

outputting, for display, a spreadsheet document that includes one or more data cells and a document tab;

receiving an indication of a user input selecting a document entry in the spreadsheet document for applying conditional formatting to the document tab based on the document entry, wherein the document entry is one or more of the one or more data cells of the spreadsheet document;

outputting, for display in response to the user input selecting the document entry in the spreadsheet document, a conditional formatting user interface for associating one or more conditional formatting rules with the document entry and the document tab;

receiving an indication of a user input of one or more conditional formatting rules linking a property of the document tab with the document entry; and

changing the property of the document tab based on the one or more conditional formatting rules.

8. The non-transitory storage medium of claim 7, wherein the property of the document tab is one of background color, font style, font size, and font color.

9. The non-transitory storage medium of claim 7, wherein the one or more conditional formatting rules include at least one of text-based rules, fill-based rules, date-based rules, and value-based rules.

10. The non-transitory storage medium of claim 7, wherein the document tab identifies a document sheet including the document entry.

11. The non-transitory storage medium of claim 7, wherein the document tab identifies a different document sheet than a document sheet including the document entry.

12. The non-transitory storage medium of claim 7, the operations further comprising:

subsequent to changing the property of the document tab, monitoring the document entry and updating the property of the document tab in response to a change to the document entry.

13. An apparatus, comprising:

one or more processors; and

one or more memory devices for storing program instructions used by the one or more processors, wherein the program instructions, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to;

output, at a computing device and for display, a spreadsheet document that includes one or more data cells and a document tab;

receive an indication of a user input selecting a document entry in the spreadsheet document for applying conditional formatting to a document tab based on the document entry, wherein the document entry is one or more of the one or more data cells of the spreadsheet document;

output, for display in response to the user input selecting the document entry in the spreadsheet document, a conditional formatting user interface for associating one or more conditional formatting rules with the document entry and the document tab;

receive an indication of a user input of one or more conditional formatting rules linking a property of the document tab with the document entry; and

change the property of the document tab based on the one or more conditional formatting rules.

14. The apparatus of claim 13, wherein the property of the document tab is one of background color, font style, font size, and font color.

15. The apparatus of claim 13, wherein the one or more conditional formatting rules include at least one of text-based rules, fill-based rules, date-based rules, and value-based rules.

16. The apparatus of claim 13, wherein the document tab identifies a document sheet including the document entry.

17. The apparatus of claim 13, wherein the document tab identifies a different document sheet than a document sheet including the document entry.

18. The apparatus of claim 13, wherein the program instructions further cause the one or more processors to:

subsequent to changing the property of the document tab, monitor the document entry and update the property of the document tab in response to a change to the document entry.