Rich Text Data Type with WYSIWYG Editor

I’ve been playing with adding various types of text files as attachments using the Attachment data type. One thing that could be really useful is the ability to directly edit a text file from within spreadsheet.com. I’ve been experimenting with the Attachment data type and trying different types of text files (.txt, .rtf, .docx). For the case I’m working on (video production), it would be even more useful if I didn’t need to add any separate text files and instead enter a script directly into a cell.

The problem is that putting a lot of text within a single normal cell is typically annoying (in Excel and Google Sheets also). So, what I’m proposing is a new rich text Data Type then opens up a separate WYSIWYG editor window when you click to edit the cell.

The point is to be able to use the cell to write and store a significant amount of text (a call transcript, a script for a video segment, etc.) such that you can easily edit it and apply basic formatting. And perhaps the text can appear as a thumbnail instead of how long text typically appears within a cell.

It would be handy if you could import a text file into the cell using drag-and-drop (like an Attachment data type). And maybe another option for this cell (in a contextual menu) could be an export option that would let you save the text within the cell to a local text file on your computer.

Being able to link/embed a Google Doc in a cell is an option, but the case where something like a rich text data type could be useful are those cases where you may have 100s of rows within your table and you don’t want 100s of corresponding separate text files.

This new type of data type could be an interesting additional evolution of the spreadsheet. It’s a pretty natural evolution of a database for this type of text editing, so it makes sense to add this feature in a database/spreadsheet mashup like spreadsheet.com.

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We agree re: the value of a rich text data type with WYSIWYG editor experience, and plan to get to this at some point in the not so distant future. Thanks!

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