The Grids Data Designer lets you deliver high-quality underwriting and marketing collateral in record time, and it’s included with any Marketing or Premium Marketing subscription.
- Full power of spreadsheets: formulas, formatting, and more
- Copy and paste data from Microsoft® Excel® or Google Sheets™
- Apply your company branding styles for a seamless presentation
- Build custom charts to highlight comps and demographics
- Direct integration into Buildout Marketing documents
Training Video
Here’s a brief video showing just how easy it is to level up your data design with Buildout Grids.
- Create a new grid and add your spreadsheet data (0:14)
- Style your data to match your company’s branding (0:48)
- Use the Grids page to add your branded data to a Buildout document (1:03)
- Edit your data directly from the document in three easy steps (1:45)
- Use layouts and options on the Grids page to include additional content (2:44)
How to copy data from Excel or Google Sheets
To paste content into a grid, use the following keyboard shortcuts:
- On PC: Ctrl + V
- On Mac: ⌘ Cmd + V
It’s a snap to copy data from Excel or Google Sheets into your grid. However, there are a few things to keep in mind, depending on the data that you need to copy.
By default, Excel does not copy formula content to the clipboard. If a cell containing a formula is copied into a grid, only the final value (not the formula) will be carried over.
- Copy: =1+1 → Paste: 2
- Copy: =SUM(A1:A10) → Paste: $35,000
One solution for this is to “View Formulas” in Excel (Ctrl + ~) before copy/pasting into your grid. Exposing the formulas prior to copying them should allow each formula to carry over correctly.
Another option is to upload your Excel file to Google Sheets before attempting to copy/paste. Google Sheets automatically copies formula content to the clipboard, which makes copying formulas from Google Sheets a breeze.
Note: If the copied formula includes a reference to cells on another sheet, pasting that formula into a grid will result in a #REF! error.
Why can’t I change the formatting of certain cells?
If the content of a particular cell doesn’t seem to do anything when you change the text color, font size, etc., it’s likely because one of your company’s branding styles is overriding it.
Your account will have at least four preset “Styles” based on your company’s colors and fonts, which you can access and apply to cells by clicking on the Palette icon in the top toolbar. These Styles are:
- Header — for the top row of a table
- Footer — for the bottom row of a table
- Side — for the first column of a table
- Body — for remaining interior table cells
If you’ve applied one of these Styles to a cell, then any one-off formatting changes you try to make to the cell will not appear, because the preset Styles take precedence over your changes. First, select the cell you’re trying to format, remove any applied Styles, and update the cell’s formatting as desired.
Need help with underwriting or modeling?
The Grids Data Designer is a fantastic way to help you style your spreadsheet data to match your company’s branding and incorporate that content into your Buildout marketing materials.
For assistance with formulas, we recommend ExcelJet.net. It includes clear examples and bite-sized videos to help you learn Excel.
At this time, Buildout can only provide 1:1 modeling support to customers that have purchased our Grids Data Modeler offering. If you are interested in learning more about the Data Modeler, please contact support@buildout.com or check out our website.
Note: Starting Friday, April 22, 2022, we will begin rolling out the Buildout Grids Data Designer to all Marketing and Premium Marketing users.
