# The grid and columns

The left-hand panel of the editor — the one carrying phases, rows and their cells. This guide covers columns and row organization; the blocks they carry are in *[The timeline: blocks, links and milestones](/docs/en/guides/timeline-blocks-and-links/)*.

## Columns

Every column header ("Activity", "Owner"…) carries a **⋯** button that opens its menu:

- **Insert left** / **Insert right** — places an empty text column right next to it, named "New column": rename it afterwards (**Rename**, or double-click the header).
- **Rename**
- **Change type ▸** — text, symbol, traffic light, start date, end date, duration, progress, status, auto-number. Date and duration columns are **computed** (they can't be typed into directly); changing the type of a column that already holds values clears the cells the new type rejects.
- **Move left** / **Move right**
- **Hide**
- **Delete** — the last visible column can't be deleted.

A **status** column carries its own list of values (name and color), set from the same modal as block colors — see *[The legend and the filter](/docs/en/guides/legend-and-filter/)*.

## Typing into and formatting a cell

Click a cell to select it, click it again (or type directly) to edit it, confirm with **Enter**. Right-clicking a cell opens **Formatting ▸** (bold, italic, strikethrough, text color, background color) and **Comment the cell**.

## Rows: the right-click menu

Right-clicking a row (or its number on the left) opens:

| Entry | Shortcut |
| --- | --- |
| Formatting ▸ | |
| Comment the cell | |
| Insert a row above | |
| Insert a row below | Ctrl+↵ |
| Insert a phase | |
| Indent | Ctrl+→ |
| Outdent | Ctrl+← |
| Move up | Alt+↑ |
| Move down | Alt+↓ |
| Copy the row | Ctrl+C |
| Cut the row | Ctrl+X |
| Paste below | Ctrl+V |
| Closure on this row… | |
| Add an absence… | |
| Delete the row | Del |

**Indent** makes the row a child of the one above: its numbering gains a level (a "2.2" row indented becomes "2.2.1"). A parent row with no block of its own shows, in the computed columns (start, end, duration), the period covered by its children. **Outdent** does the reverse — its descendants, if any, move up with it. **Copy** then **Paste** carries over everything the row holds (cells, blocks, markers, icons, comments, and links between rows copied together); pasted into another schedule, cells find their column by label and type — what has no match is dropped and named in the response, never silently recreated.

**Closure on this row…** opens the closure form directly, restricted to that row; **Add an absence…** opens “My absences”, a person's time off — see *[The calendar, closures and absences](/docs/en/guides/calendar-closures-and-absences/)*.

## Activities as a tree

**Dragging a row** by its handle moves it: vertically it changes place, sideways it changes level, one notch per indent. An offset line shows where it will land and at what level; **Esc** cancels; on a touch screen, a long press picks it up. Its children move with it, and a single **Ctrl+Z** undoes place and level together.

A row that contains others becomes a **summary activity**: its label turns bold, it gets a chevron, and the timeline draws it a summary bar, from the start of its first child to the end of its last. You don't put blocks on a summary activity. If it still carries some of its own, a ⚠ says so, and the right-click **Move its blocks into a sub-activity** fixes it in one gesture.

**The chevron** (or **Alt+←** / **Alt+→** on the keyboard) collapses and expands the activity. Collapsed, its row shows all its children's blocks in compact form. **Collapse all** folds phases and activities together; **Levels** collapses to level 1, 2… Folding is yours alone, in this browser; **Set as default view** keeps it for the other members. The print preview folds like your screen (otherwise like the default view); the XLSX export keeps the tree as an Excel outline, and its “+” brings collapsed rows back.

## A phase's tint

Every phase (the group that gathers rows) carries, under its name, six tint swatches: clicking one recolors the whole phase's background in the grid — a visual cue, with no effect on the blocks' own colors.

## What happens when you get it wrong

- **A row indented to the wrong level**: **Outdent** (Ctrl+←) brings it back one notch, or **Ctrl+Z** undoes the last gesture — a drag included, place and level together.
- **A column deleted by mistake**: **Ctrl+Z** brings it back, with its cells.
- **A paste that can't find a column** (a different name or type in the target schedule): the response names what was dropped rather than creating a column on your behalf.

## What this page doesn't cover

- **Drawing, moving, linking blocks**: see *[The timeline: blocks, links and milestones](/docs/en/guides/timeline-blocks-and-links/)*.
- **Naming a block color in the legend, filtering rows**: see *[The legend and the filter](/docs/en/guides/legend-and-filter/)*.
- **Placing a closure or an absence**: see *[The calendar, closures and absences](/docs/en/guides/calendar-closures-and-absences/)*.