I've looked into partitioning, although I don't use it in any production app. FWIW, here's my understanding regarding some of your questions.
@CaptainEon wrote:
1. If the rule defining a partition is changed does data move between different partitions?
I assume that revised a table's partition expression would affect only future actions involving the table's data--e.g., existing rows that no longer fit a partition's definition would not be moved while new rows would be added to the partition that's' appropriate according to the partition expression in effect at the time of row creation. I imagine there could be complications in accessing and editing existing rows that don't meet their partition's current definition.
@CaptainEon wrote:
2. Is there a default partition that is used if a rule partitioning the data is not met.
I don't know, and the Scale using data partitions - AppSheet Help article doesn't address this point. Regardless, it certainly seems prudent to explicitly account for a fallback default in a table's Partition Expression property.
@CaptainEon wrote:
3. Which is better... file partitioning or worksheet partitioning for Google sheets. Which one is faster? Do they bith overcome the cell limit in a Google sheets? What is the current limit?)
Per Files you can store in Google Drive - Google Drive Help the Sheets 10M cell limit is per file. So, if that limit is your concern you need to partition (at least) across spreadsheet files--not (only) across worksheets within a spreadsheet file. Regarding performance differences between the approaches, review the explanations in How to use multiple sheets in your app - AppSheet Help; while that's not specific to partitioning, it explains what AppSheet does with each file an app's tables reference and how to consider those actions' impact on performance in the context of the files' contents and the app's design.
@CaptainEon wrote:
4. What if a user needs to access data from different partitions?
Don't partition by user--e.g., partition by company or by ranges for some data value (e.g., alphabetic ranges for customer names: A-E, F-J, K-O, etc.). Don't partition by any other factor that would segregate data that any user needs to access simultaneously.
@CaptainEon wrote:
5. I can't find any information from appsheet docs on the costs of partitioning does anybody know why they don't publish this information?
Indeed, pricing information about AppSheet Enterprise plans, which are required for partitioning, is characterized by opacity and unresponsiveness on the part of AppSheet Sales. If you have a Workspace account, try going through Workspace Billing Support--they follow up reliably, even if they also have challenges getting information from AppSheet Sales.
@CaptainEon wrote:
6. Is an AppSheet database better than a Google sheets in terms of capacity and speed? Should I just use that new feature instead?
In terms of capacity, not necessarily. See the current limits. Also, bear in mind that this currently remains a preview feature.
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