Tag: Copying Data

Google Apps Script: Maintain Row Heights When Copying and Pasting Data in Google Sheets

Google Apps Script: getRowHeight, setRowHeight

Copying and pasting data while maintaining row heights and widths can be a frustrating business in Google Apps Script. You see, there is a difference in how to set column width and set row heights.

Let’s say we have already copied our data over with something like:

sourceDataRange.copyTo(destination)

Google Apps Script provides us with a great set of enumerators for copying and pasting, the CopyPasteType.

To ensure that we maintain the same column width in our destination that was copied from our source, we need to run another copyTo() method of our sourceDataRange with the CopyPasteType.PASTE_COLUMN_WIDTHS. So all together it might look a little like this:

Okay, okay, a little extra work, but pretty straight forward. We get our column width in the end.

Now by this stage, you might be thinking, Yagi, why are you even blogging about this. Seems pretty straight forward, ya just gotta do the same with heights!

Nope. This is the point where we just have to remind ourselves that we love Google Apps Script for her flaws and all. Right? Right?!

For, I am sure, a very logical reason for the developers of Google Apps Script, copying and pasting the width has to be done row-by-row.

Here’s how you would do it the long way.

Scroll down to The Shortcut if you just want to copy and paste the functions into your code.

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Google Apps Script – When I add a value to a cell in a selected column, I want it to move to another Google Sheet [update Feb 2022]

Google Apps Script: onEdit, Google Sheets

Sometimes you want to be able to automatically move a row from one sheet to another based on the value of a certain cell.

The Example

One of the first things that come to mind, and I am sure it does for you dear reader, is when I took advantage of the Great Chicken Transformation back in, oh, 2019, I believe.

Folk kept turning into chickens, while other folk were wanting eggs. It just so happened that I had the farm to make it all happen.

First, though, I needed to keep a tab of every person I knew and if they turned into a chicken. If they did, then they were destined for the pen.

…Note to self: it may be late at night, but dam Yagi, your analogies are tight!

Google Sheets and Google Apps Script to the rescue.

So first off I set up a sheet named: Plague. Here I put all the people I knew, so I could watch em good and propper.

Next, I set up a sheet named Farm. These are for the people who turned into chickens. No harm in profiting from a few newly formed egg layers, right?

Whenever a new transformation occurs, I find the person on the Plague sheet and then select “Yes”  to say that they have turned into a chicken and will now be spending their days on the farm. Upon editing (onEdit) this cell to “Yes”, the row is copied and pasted to the Farm sheet.

Just like this:

move to another sheet onEdit Google Apps Script

Continue reading “Google Apps Script – When I add a value to a cell in a selected column, I want it to move to another Google Sheet [update Feb 2022]”

Google Apps Script – Copy Selected Columns in One Sheet and Add Them To The Bottom of Different Selected Columns in Another [updated Feb 2022]

I recently had a legend (a.k.a reader) ask about how to copy selected columns from one sheet and append them to the bottom of different selected columns in another sheet. 

To me, this seemed like a pretty common task that one might face, so in response, I decided to create a template function to easily do this and reuse on the same project or in other projects. 

But first, let’s take a look a the problem a bit more. 

We want:

  1. the freedom to select any number of columns from one sheet.
  2. to select the same number of different columns from the sheet we want to paste to.
  3. to paste to the bottom (append) the receiving sheet.
  4. to take into account varying header row heights.
  5. to have a “Completed” or “Copied” column in our origin sheet so that we don’t continue to paste all the data instead of simply what has been updated.
  6. have the data with formulas that we only want to paste the values for.

The Example

Let’s say we have a sheet that is updated regularly and we want to be able to paste data from columns A, B and C of this source sheet and append it to columns C, E and A of the destination Sheet. 

  • Copy Sheet 1 Col A -> Append Sheet 2 Col C
  • Copy Sheet 1 Col B -> Append Sheet 2 Col E
  • Copy Sheet 1 Col C -> Append Sheet 2 Col A

Take a look at our two Google Sheets 

SourceSheet - Google Sheets
DestinationSheet - Google Sheets

You can see in the Source Sheet (Sheet1) that we have 3 data columns and one column market To Copy. The To Copy column will be updated with “Copied” once the code is run successfully.

In the Destination Sheet (Sheet2) you can see that we already have some data there. We don’t want to overwrite it. We simply want to append our data to the bottom of it. 

Continue reading “Google Apps Script – Copy Selected Columns in One Sheet and Add Them To The Bottom of Different Selected Columns in Another [updated Feb 2022]”

Google Apps Script – Copy and Paste Cells While Retaining Column Width in Google Sheets.

Google Apps Script: SpreadsheetApp, copyTo

Have you ever copied and pasted something in Google Sheets only to be frustrated with the fact that it stubbornly refuses to paste the column widths? I mean, everything else is perfect, the formatting, the formulas the comments, they all were pasted across just fine. However, that dastardly column width just does not budge.

copied Google Sheet
When you want to copy and paste this…

Paste without column widths.
…but you get this.

Continue reading “Google Apps Script – Copy and Paste Cells While Retaining Column Width in Google Sheets.”

Copy and paste ranges in excel with OpenPyXl and Python 3

OpenPyXl is a Python open library that allows you to read and write Microsoft Excel files. Specifically, the ‘*.xlsx’ file extension. It helps you to create programs to create and modify files and automate your processes in excel.

Python Logo

NOTE: This post requires that you have some knowledge of Python and the OpenPyXl library. The library also needs to be installed for you to use. 

Quite often, I find that I have to work with ranges of data that I need to either copy and paste into a new file or files, or copy > modify > paste into files.

The OpenPyXl library allows you to look at every cell of a file and either copy it or modify it by using the openpyxl.worksheet.Worksheet.cell() method. This method allows you to access each cell by the row and column as a numerical value. 

Note! Unlike everything else in coding, rows and columns start with one(1) and not zero(0).

To select whole ranges of our data we need to iterate through it by both row and column and then store that data in a list to be pasted to the new file, spreadsheet or location that we desire.

The following example will take you through the process. For your own data you will need to modify the file, sheet and range locations. Everything else should be good to go.

You can find the whole code at the end of the post.

Why does your MS Excel look weird?

To be honest my screenshots of the ‘.xlsx files will be in Libreoffice. But this simple example will be able to load without issue in MS Excel.

The Example

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