Cell notes and hyperlinks in Grid by Zaweba

A number on its own rarely tells the whole story. Why is March's electricity bill so high? Where did this rate come from? Which document backs up this expense? Grid by Zaweba gives you two small tools for keeping that context with the figures: notes, which explain a cell, and hyperlinks, which connect it to something else.

Notes

A note is a short piece of text attached to a cell. Cells with a note show a small triangle in the corner, and hovering over the cell brings up the note in a pop-up. The figure stays clean on the sheet and the explanation is there for anyone who wants it.

Good uses for notes include the source of a figure ("from the March statement"), an assumption ("assumes 3% inflation"), an instruction ("type the total from the till receipt here") and a query to come back to ("check with the supplier"). In a shared workbook, notes are where questions and answers about specific numbers can live without cluttering the layout.

Keep notes short and specific. If an explanation runs to several paragraphs, a separate sheet of notes is easier to read and print.

Notes are searchable. Find and Replace can look in notes rather than formulas or values, which is the quick way to find every cell marked "check" or every figure with a source from a particular supplier. And when you copy cells within Grid, their notes go with them.

Hyperlinks

A hyperlink turns a cell into something you can click. Grid supports four kinds of destination. A web page opens in your browser, useful for a supplier's product page in a price list or an order tracking page next to a delivery. A file opens in its own program, which suits linking each row of an expenses sheet to the scanned receipt, or a project list to its documents. A place in the workbook jumps to another sheet or cell, which makes a contents sheet at the front of a big workbook possible. An e-mail address starts a new message to that person in your mail program, handy in a contact list.

Give a link meaningful text rather than a long address. "Receipt" or "Supplier page" reads much better in a table than a full path or web address.

A contents sheet

For any workbook with more than a handful of sheets, a contents sheet at the front is worth the five minutes it takes. List each sheet with a line about what it holds, and make each name a hyperlink to that sheet. Anyone opening the workbook can find their way straight to the part they need, and you'll thank yourself months later.

Keeping links working

Links to files rely on the file staying where it was. If you move a folder of receipts, the links point at the old location. Keeping the workbook and its linked files in the same folder, and moving them together, saves a lot of broken links.

Links within the workbook are sturdier, but renaming or deleting a sheet they point at will break them. Check the contents sheet after a reorganisation.

Notes and hyperlinks are both kept when you save, so a workbook from Grid by Zaweba arrives with its explanations and links in place when you share it as .xlsx.