Patent ID: 7127672

Claim:
A method in a computer system for automatically creating a list in an electronic spreadsheet, comprising the steps of: receiving a user request for selecting a cell range in the electronic spreadsheet for displaying data, the cell range including one or more cells in one or more columns; identifying a list range for the selected cell range in the electronic spreadsheet, wherein identifying a list range for the selected cell range comprises: determining the number of cells in the selected cell range; if the selected cell range contains two or more cells, then identifying the list range as the selected cell range; and if the selected cell range contains exactly one cell, then identifying the list range based on the location of the cell in a current region of the electronic spreadsheet; determining a header row for the list range, wherein determining a header row for the list range comprises: determining whether the list range includes a field name for each column in the cell range; and if the identified list range does not include any field names, then automatically generating a field name for each column in the cell range, wherein the automatically generated field names comprise the header row for the list range; and generating a border for surrounding the list range to create the list.