Shared strings

Spreadsheet can store repeated text in a shared string table and reference it from cell data.

Shared strings let you store repeated text in a central list and reference it by index from each cell. This reduces duplicated text in sheetData and keeps imports/exports consistent with Excel-style shared strings.

When shared strings are enabled, a cell can store an ss index and the actual text lives in sharedStrings. If ss is present, it takes precedence over any string or formatted value on the cell.

// Before shared strings
{
  ue: { sv: "Hello" },
  fv: "Hello",
}

// With shared strings
{
  ss: 0
}
// sharedStrings[0] === "Hello"

Usage

const App = () => {
  const [sharedStrings, onChangeSharedStrings] = useState<string[]>([]);

  const { getFormattedValue, getEffectiveExtendedValue, getUserEnteredExtendedValue } = useSpreadsheetState({
    sharedStrings,
    onChangeSharedStrings,
  });

  // For YJS support
  useYSpreadsheetV2({
    onChangeSharedStrings,
  });

  // For search, so it looks for shared strings index
  useSearch({
    getFormattedValue,
  });

  return <CanvasGrid getFormattedValue={getFormattedValue} getUserEnteredExtendedValue={getUserEnteredExtendedValue} getEffectiveExtendedValue={getEffectiveExtendedValue} />;
};

Import and export

• Excel/ODS/CSV imports honor enabledSharedStrings.

• Exports use sharedStrings when ss is present (shared strings take precedence over cell-level string/format values).

Notes

• Shared string entries are not garbage-collected on delete, similar to Excel. Cells simply stop referencing their indices.