JavaScript Data Grid Column moving

Change the order of columns, either manually (dragging them to another location), or programmatically (using Handsontable's API methods).

In this article

• Enable the plugin
• Drag and move actions of the ManualColumnMove plugin
• Related API reference

Enable the plugin

To enable column moving, set the manualColumnMove configuration option to true.

A draggable move handle appears above the selected column header. You can click and drag it to any location in the grid.

import Handsontable from 'handsontable'; import 'handsontable/dist/handsontable.full.min.css'; // generate an array of arrays with dummy data const data = new Array(200) // number of rows .fill() .map((_, row) => new Array(20) // number of columns .fill() .map((_, column) => `${row}, ${column}`) ); const container = document.querySelector('#example1'); const hot = new Handsontable(container, { data, width: '100%', height: 320, rowHeaders: true, colHeaders: true, colWidths: 100, manualColumnMove: true, licenseKey: 'non-commercial-and-evaluation' }); <script src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/npm/handsontable@13.0/dist/handsontable.full.min.js"></script> <link type="text/css" rel="stylesheet" href="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/npm/handsontable@13.0/dist/handsontable.full.min.css" /> <script src="https://handsontable.com/docs/13.0/scripts/fixer.js"></script> <div id="example1" class="hot "></div>

import Handsontable from 'handsontable';
import 'handsontable/dist/handsontable.full.min.css';

// generate an array of arrays with dummy data
const data = new Array(200) // number of rows
  .fill()
  .map((_, row) => new Array(20) // number of columns
    .fill()
    .map((_, column) => `${row}, ${column}`)
  );

const container = document.querySelector('#example1');
const hot = new Handsontable(container, {
  data,
  width: '100%',
  height: 320,
  rowHeaders: true,
  colHeaders: true,
  colWidths: 100,
  manualColumnMove: true,
  licenseKey: 'non-commercial-and-evaluation'
});

Move column headers

When you move columns, the default column headers (A, B, C) stay in place.

import Handsontable from 'handsontable'; import 'handsontable/dist/handsontable.full.min.css'; const container = document.querySelector('#example2'); const hot = new Handsontable(container, { data: [ ['A1', 'B1', 'C1'], ['A2', 'B2', 'C2'], ['A3', 'B3', 'C3'], ], colHeaders: true, rowHeaders: true, manualColumnMove: true, licenseKey: 'non-commercial-and-evaluation' }); <script src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/npm/handsontable@13.0/dist/handsontable.full.min.js"></script> <link type="text/css" rel="stylesheet" href="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/npm/handsontable@13.0/dist/handsontable.full.min.css" /> <script src="https://handsontable.com/docs/13.0/scripts/fixer.js"></script> <div id="example2" class="hot "></div>

import Handsontable from 'handsontable';
import 'handsontable/dist/handsontable.full.min.css';

const container = document.querySelector('#example2');
const hot = new Handsontable(container, {
  data: [
    ['A1', 'B1', 'C1'],
    ['A2', 'B2', 'C2'],
    ['A3', 'B3', 'C3'],
  ],
  colHeaders: true,
  rowHeaders: true,
  manualColumnMove: true,
  licenseKey: 'non-commercial-and-evaluation'
});

But, if you configure the colHeaders option with your own column labels (e.g., One, Two, Three), your headers move along with the columns.

import Handsontable from 'handsontable'; import 'handsontable/dist/handsontable.full.min.css'; const container = document.querySelector('#example3'); const hot = new Handsontable(container, { data: [ ['A1', 'B1', 'C1'], ['A2', 'B2', 'C2'], ['A3', 'B3', 'C3'], ], colHeaders: ['One', 'Two', 'Three'], rowHeaders: true, manualColumnMove: true, licenseKey: 'non-commercial-and-evaluation' }); <script src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/npm/handsontable@13.0/dist/handsontable.full.min.js"></script> <link type="text/css" rel="stylesheet" href="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/npm/handsontable@13.0/dist/handsontable.full.min.css" /> <script src="https://handsontable.com/docs/13.0/scripts/fixer.js"></script> <div id="example3" class="hot "></div>

import Handsontable from 'handsontable';
import 'handsontable/dist/handsontable.full.min.css';

const container = document.querySelector('#example3');
const hot = new Handsontable(container, {
  data: [
    ['A1', 'B1', 'C1'],
    ['A2', 'B2', 'C2'],
    ['A3', 'B3', 'C3'],
  ],
  colHeaders: ['One', 'Two', 'Three'],
  rowHeaders: true,
  manualColumnMove: true,
  licenseKey: 'non-commercial-and-evaluation'
});

Drag and move actions of the ManualColumnMove plugin

There are significant differences between the plugin's dragColumns and moveColumns API functions. Both of them change the order of columns, but they rely on different kinds of indexes. The differences between them are shown in the diagrams below.

Both of these methods trigger the beforeColumnMove and afterColumnMove hooks, but only dragColumns passes the dropIndex argument to them.

The dragColumns method has a dropIndex parameter, which points to where the elements are being dropped.

The moveColumns method has a finalIndex parameter, which points to where the elements will be placed after the moving action - finalIndex being the index of the first moved element.

The moveColumns function cannot perform some actions, e.g., more than one element can't be moved to the last position. In this scenario, the move will be cancelled. The Plugin's isMovePossible API method and the movePossible parameters beforeColumnMove and afterColumnMove hooks help in determine such situations.

Related API reference

• Configuration options:
  • manualColumnMove
• Core methods:
  • colToProp()
  • isColumnModificationAllowed()
  • propToCol()
  • toPhysicalColumn()
  • toVisualColumn()
• Hooks:
  • afterColumnMove
  • beforeColumnMove
• Plugins:
  • ManualColumnMove