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Columns & Record View

In Table view, you can change which columns show and in what order, read a single cell or a whole row in full, and copy rows in several formats. None of these change the file.

The column menu

Section titled “The column menu”

Right-click a column header, or hover over it and select its ⋮ button, to open the column menu:

Item What it does
Sort ascending, Sort descending Sort the table by this column. See Sorting and filtering
Clear sort Remove the sort. Shown on the sorted column only.
Show stats Open the column’s statistics
Filter this column Open the filter bar at this column
Hide column Hide the column
Show all hidden columns Show every hidden column again. Shown when a column is hidden.
Move left, Move right Move the column one place
Rename column… Give the column another name
Copy column name Copy the column’s name to the clipboard
Autosize column Fit the column’s width to its values
Reset column width Return the column to its starting width

Arrange columns

Section titled “Arrange columns”
  • Move: drag a column header to another place. A marker shows where the column will go. Press Esc while dragging to cancel. Move left and Move right in the column menu move a column one place.
  • Resize: drag the right edge of a column header. Double-click the edge, or select Autosize column, to fit the column to the values loaded so far. Columns are between 8 and 60 characters wide.
  • Hide: select Hide column in the column menu, or right-click a row and select Hide followed by the column name. The last visible column cannot be hidden. The table state bar shows how many columns are hidden: select Show all to show them again. There is no way to show one hidden column on its own.
  • Rename: double-click a column header, press F2, or select Rename column…, then type the new name and press Enter. Esc cancels. A renamed column shows its name in italics, and hovering over it shows the name from the file. To restore that name, rename the column to an empty name. F2 renames the active cell’s column, or the first visible column when no cell is active.

What Vaste keeps

Section titled “What Vaste keeps”

Vaste keeps the column order, hidden columns, and new names for each file, and restores them the next time you open the file. Column widths are not kept: they return to their starting widths when you reopen the file or switch views.

  • Reset table layout, in the command palette, restores the file’s column order, names, and visibility.
  • Reset view, in the table state bar, does the same and also clears the filters and the sort.

Vaste drops the saved layout when the file’s number of columns changes, for example after you change the CSV dialect.

The row menu

Section titled “The row menu”

Right-click a row to open the row menu:

Item What it does
Copy cell Copy the value of the cell you right-clicked
Copy row as Markdown Copy the row as a Markdown table
Copy row as JSON Copy the row as JSON
Copy row as TSV Copy the row as tab-separated values
Record view Open the row in Record view
Send row to scratchpad Add the row, as JSON, to the scratchpad
Next ragged row, Next duplicate row Go to the next problem row. Shown after you analyze the table.
Filter column Open the filter bar at the column you right-clicked
Stats for column Open the statistics of that column
Hide column Hide that column

When you right-click inside a selection of several rows, the three copy items and Send row to scratchpad act on every selected row, and their labels show how many, for example Copy 5 rows as TSV. To select rows, see Table view.

The three copy formats are also commands in the command palette: Copy row as Markdown, Copy row as JSON, and Copy row as TSV. They copy the selected rows, or the active row when no rows are selected.

Copy formats

Section titled “Copy formats”

Each copy includes the visible columns, in their current order, with their current names, and a header line or field names:

  • Markdown: a Markdown table with the header and the rows. A | or \ in a value is escaped with a backslash, and a line break becomes <br>.
  • JSON: a JSON array that holds one object per row, with the column names as keys. Every value is a string, and an empty cell is null. When two columns have the same name, the second key gets _2, the third _3, and so on.
  • TSV: a header line and the rows, separated by tabs. A tab, line feed, carriage return, or backslash in a value is written as \t, \n, \r, or \\.

Copy cell and Ctrl + C on the active cell copy the value as it is in the file. After a copy from the row menu, the keyboard, or Record view’s footer, Vaste shows Copied to the clipboard.

One copy holds up to 10,000 rows. If more rows are selected, Vaste copies the first 10,000 and shows Copied the first 10,000 of followed by the number of selected rows. Sending them to the scratchpad works the same way.

Read a cell

Section titled “Read a cell”

Double-click a cell, or press Enter on the active cell, to show its full value in a popover below the cell. The popover shows the column’s name and type, and up to 40 lines of the value. A longer value ends with … N more lines (Copy for the full value).

When the value contains a JSON object or array, select JSON to show it formatted, or Raw to show it as written.

  • Copy copies the full value.
  • Send to scratchpad adds the value as shown, formatted or raw, to the scratchpad.

Press Esc or click outside the popover to close it.

Record view

Section titled “Record view”

Record view shows one row as a list of fields, one per column, with long values wrapped. Use it to read a row with many columns or long values.

To open it, right-click a row and select Record view, or press Alt + Enter on the active row. The title shows the row’s position, for example Row 12 of 250,000.

  • Press Alt + Up or Alt + Down, or select Previous row or Next row, to move to another row. The table follows, so the active row stays the one you are reading.
  • Select Copy value next to a field to copy that value.
  • Turn on Show hidden columns to add the hidden columns at the end of the list. The footer copies then include them too.
  • Select Copy as Markdown, Copy as JSON, or Copy as TSV to copy the row, or Send to scratchpad to add it as JSON to the scratchpad.

Empty fields show (empty). The row count and the row numbers follow the current filter and sort.

Next steps

Section titled “Next steps”