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Ask HN: Help me find spreadsheet software I found on HN

by pbowyer on 6/1/24, 6:18 PM with 23 comments

Searching HN has failed me so...

I remember seeing an app that has a canvas, and on it you put individual 'sheets' or tables. You can reference between them as normal, drag and drop them around. The screenshots _may_ have shown math being entered too, I can't recall.

Because my calculations are made up of many mini-calculations this seems a much better idea than the normal Excel style of multiple tables on one sheet, as adding a row doesn't affect all the other tables in the sheet. And you can see them all at once, which you can't with multiple sheets.

I've checked out https://blockpad.net/ and https://soulver.app/ and I don't think it's either (based on their current websites). Blockpad is close but more linear.

Hivemind, can you help?

  • by pwg on 6/1/24, 6:26 PM

    Can't help with the tool you are looking for, but there's an old trick from the Lotus 123 days (i.e., the time before spreadsheets gained "tabs") that helps with this problem of adding a row or a column to one table messing up all the other tables.

    You arrange your tables diagonally on the sheet, such that no rows or columns of any one table intersect with any other table. You can then add/subtract rows or columns from any one table without changing the others.

    I.e., layout your tables like this (hopefully the box-draw artwork comes through):

       ┌─┐
   └─┘
      ┌─┐
      └─┘
         ┌─┐
         └─┘

  • by SushiHippie on 6/1/24, 8:36 PM

  • by repsilat on 6/2/24, 2:17 AM

    Maybe it was 6gu.nz (site broken) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=afXzeCuUuhU. I wrote it about 5 years ago and probably mentioned it in a couple of comments here. It had draggable tables on the normal 2d grid, with references between them.

  • by sethjgore on 6/2/24, 5:52 PM

    I've been trying to find this as well.. i remember it was tan-beige-gray canvas with connections between these, you could add formulas and even code inside these and generate results and variables which you could use in subsequent cells...

  • by stefanos82 on 6/1/24, 8:54 PM

    I have used the words "sheet canvas table" and selected All from "Search" and sorted them by Date: I have the impression what you are looking for is https://nino.app/

  • by izuchukwu on 6/2/24, 11:17 PM

    It was most likely Subset: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=36894939

    It appears they are re-engineering their product, as they've taken down their sign up link and their landing page now advertises an upcoming, more traditional spreadsheet product: https://subset.so/

    Their docs are still up, however, and has screenshots from their old infinite canvas spreadsheet product: https://docs.subset.so/

  • by johannesrexx on 6/2/24, 1:35 AM

    [TreeSheets](https://strlen.com/treesheets/) perhaps

  • by RecycledEle on 6/2/24, 6:07 PM

    Suggestion: Use Excel (or Google Sheets) and limit yourself to 1 table per worksheet.

    --A Microsoft Excel Specialist, Expert, and Master

  • by anonzzzies on 6/2/24, 6:24 AM

    So OP, which one was it?

  • by i_don_t_know on 6/1/24, 8:31 PM

    Apple Numbers?

  • by rubenvanwyk on 6/3/24, 5:04 AM

  • by mmerlin on 6/2/24, 4:17 AM

  • by stamourd on 6/1/24, 9:23 PM

    Matt Wensing had something like you are describing.

    https://usesummit.com/

  • by jasmcole on 6/1/24, 10:32 PM

  • by pax on 6/1/24, 8:22 PM

    strlen.com/treesheets ?

    via hackersearch.net

  • by nhatcher on 6/3/24, 9:49 PM

    Maybe grid.is?

    It's my favourite anyway :)

  • by FunnyGunther on 6/1/24, 7:44 PM

    Not sure what you saw, just making a pure guess, Notion/Quip?

  • by baidifnaoxi on 6/1/24, 10:18 PM

    Row zero?

  • by nuancebydefault on 6/1/24, 8:17 PM

    coda.io?

  • by j45 on 6/2/24, 6:14 AM

    teable?

    www.teable.io

    nocodb could be another