Hi! http://poi.apache.org/spreadsheet/quick-guide.html#Outlining Quick guid told me how to creat grouped rows but not how to know the row is grouped or not? I looked the source and got an idea how to know the informatioin. Making HSSFRow.getOutlineLevel public is that. If an application knows outlinelevel of row, it can handle grouped row. http://poi.apache.org/apidocs/org/apache/poi/hssf/usermodel/HSSFRow.html#getOutlineLevel() As you can see HSSFRow.java, there is no reason the method is protected. /** * Returns the rows outline level. Increased as you * put it into more groups (outlines), reduced as * you take it out of them. * TODO - Should this really be public? */ protected int getOutlineLevel() { return row.getOutlineLevel(); } How do you think make it public for users to know the row is grouped or not? or Do you have better idea about it? Thanks.