Planmaker: A new feature called “Delete empty cells without affecting other rows or columns”

[Formula Use]

Regarding the current situation:

Planmaker excels at helping users delete blank cells quickly and with pinpoint accuracy. But wait—this feature deletes all blank cells; it deletes any blank cell it encounters. Users only want to delete the blank cells in a specific row or column, yet this feature affects other rows and columns as well.

Alternative solution:

Users are naturally concerned that this feature will affect other rows or columns. Therefore, they have cut out the most important rows or columns. Leaving only the specific rows or columns where they want to delete the blank cells. After deleting them, users must navigate to each different location to... paste back the rows or columns they cut. While this prevents other rows or columns from being don't affected, it is inconvenient for users and very time-consuming if the data table is very long.

So what should be done:

No, there’s no need to remove the feature that affects other rows or columns. Keep this feature. But I think we should add a new feature: “Delete empty cells without affecting other rows or columns.”

How the “Delete empty cells without affecting other rows or columns” feature works:
1. The user simply selects the entire row or column.
2. Go to the Data tab, select “Remove Empty Rows.” A drop-down menu appears. Do not select “Remove Empty Rows”; instead, select “Delete empty cells without affecting other rows or columns.”
3. A dialog box appears, indicating how many empty cells are in the selected range
4. Click OK. And you’re done
5. The result is excellent. The empty cells in the selected range have been permanently deleted. Other rows or columns may still contain empty cells. This is normal because you didn’t select them

[Formula Use]

I have an example to demonstrate that the feature I’m proposing is truly useful:

Employee A was asked by the director to delete the empty cells in this row, on the condition that empty cells in other rows not be deleted. However, it’s clear that this employee selected the row where the empty cells needed to be deleted, went to the Data tab, and chose “Remove Empty Rows.” The result was:

The empty cells in the selected row were deleted.
As for the other rows or columns—even though they weren’t selected—Planmaker also deleted their empty cells.

Employee A had to use another feature to restore the data table to its original state, before the empty cells were deleted, to prevent the director from getting angry. Employee A used the cut feature to cut out the important rows or columns. Next, selected the rows where the blank cells needed to be deleted and used the “Remove Empty Rows” feature. Only then did dare to paste back the rows or columns they had cut. This approach has its benefits—the other rows or columns remain unaffected—but it seems to take a lot of time if the data table is very long.

But luckily, in this hypothetical example, Employee A had a very short data table. But just imagine: if the data table were as long as 2,000 rows and 600 columns, it would be a nightmare. It could take months, or even years, to finish the task.

If the feature “delete empty cells without affecting other rows or columns” were added to Planmaker (whether the mobile or desktop version), Employee A would certainly feel much more at ease. They’d simply select the range where empty cells need to be deleted and use that feature. That’s it—no more cutting or pasting. It saves a lot of time.

This is an example I came up with. Employee A's time and effort. From now on, Employee A will no longer have to work so hard. Those long, drawn-out spreadsheets are no longer a problem.