Google Sheets – Automatically Insert New Row with Functions/Formulas

google sheetsgoogle-apps-script

I have a table with cells that have functions/formulas, like this one:

enter image description here

I need a script that creates a new row, copying with it the functions/formulas of the last used row. I find this script which create a new row but it doesn't copy functions/formulas. How could I implement this formatting copy task in Google Apps Script without having to manually select and copy?

Best Answer

Use the code below to copy also formula's as normal values. Add the code by selecting Tools from the spreadsheet menu. Then select script editor and add the code. Make sure to press the "bug" button and authenticate the script.

Code

// global 
var ss = SpreadsheetApp.getActive();

function onOpen() {
  var menu = [{name:"Add New Last Row", functionName:"addRow"}];
  ss.addMenu("Extra", menu);
}

function addRow() {
  var sh = ss.getActiveSheet(), lRow = sh.getLastRow(); 
  var lCol = sh.getLastColumn(), range = sh.getRange(lRow,1,1,lCol);
  sh.insertRowsAfter(lRow, 1);
  range.copyTo(sh.getRange(lRow+1, 1, 1, lCol), {contentsOnly:false});
}

Remark

Setting the contentOnly to false will yield a standard copy. Setting it to true, will paste only values. The example script you found, does way more then pasting values.....

Example

I've created an example file for you: Add Row With Formula's

Comments

Comments cannot be copied. They are not considered part of the contents of a spreadsheet, they are more like chat messages, the record of a conversation that took place about that spreadsheet. If there was no such conversation about a copy of that spreadsheet, comments won't be there.

Alternative: use notes instead of comments. They get copied same way as cell contents.

Formatting

In the situation you have, it'd be better to create a blank template of grade report, with all the formatting, and then copy that to individual students. importrange is meant for importing data, not formatting. (Also, it does not import notes or comments.)

Google-sheets – Script to insert new row and copy down formulas that auto increase according to row index

Instead of getFormulas and setFormulas, use copyTo method:

range.copyTo(newRange);

This will have the same effect as if you selected the last row and copied it below. In particular, it will also copy down any values that were entered directly into cells. If you prefer such values to not be copied, use getFormulas/setFormulas combination on newRange:

range.copyTo(newRange);
newRange.setFormulas(newRange.getFormulas());

The effect of the last line: no change of formulas, but the cells that didn't contain a formula will become empty.

R1C1 approach

You can also try replacing the last three rows of addRow with

var formulas = range.getFormulasR1C1();
var newRange = sh.getRange(lRow+1,1,1,lCol);
newRange.setFormulasR1C1(formulas);

This will make sure the references in formulas are remapped as if you copy-pasted them. However, this has a major limitation: setFormulasR1C1 doesn't work correctly with empty string as its argument, which will result in #ERROR! messages in the cells that should be left blank.

The reason R1C1 works differently is that getFormulasR1C1 retrieves formulas in a relative form: for example, a reference from A3 to D2 becomes R[-1]C[3], meaning "one row up, three columns to the right". When the formula is set to, for example, E4 with setFormulasR1C1, the cell reference will appear as H3.