Workaround for Managing Height of Text Columns

I find it unwieldy navigating and working with tables that contain one or more columns with large row heights generated by text blocks in cells. The text should always be accessible (not in a hidden column), and yet, the full cell height need not be rendered for every cell at all times.

“Unwrap text” (right click on column header) isn’t terribly useful for large text blocks with many line returns (e.g., numbered/bulleted lists, multiple paragraphs, etc.) because it only wraps lines without returns, while all the lines with returns continue to render, generating a large row height… and we’re back where we started.

I built an imperfect workaround. It’s too much work to spin up for every table that might benefit from it. But I have a project where this is an acute issue, so I built it. In case others might find it useful, below is an example doc. Just click around on the buttons to get a quick feel for its purpose.

Hopefully a more streamlined solution will be implemented for managing row height of text columns. Here’s one idea: Can Coda replace a Wiki? :grinning:
@Al_Chen_Coda @mallika

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Dear @Ander,

Thanks sharing this creative approach. :handshake:
To be honest, I am using reference with a hyperlink to a section where are stored the related documentation and often also videos and pictures.

With a use case when only text is used, yours is a much more elegant way :diamond_shape_with_a_dot_inside:

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Hi there, the most straightforward work around for the row height issue is to hide it from the table, with a note to the readers that they should expand the row and then select “show hidden fields” to read all the relevant text.

The logic behind this workaround: if it’s too much to show in the Table format, you better read it in the Detail format.

Having said that, it would be cool to have an option to set a hard limit to a row height, like a “Max x-number of lines” setting.

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