Select which columns to copy or move from one sheet to another

Sonya F

I would like an enhancement to automation that we can select certain columns to copy to another sheet. We only want to see the selected columns in the destination sheet.

iLoveData

Title says it all. When I'm moving rows or columns to different sheets I'd like the ability to select which columns of information I'm moving. Not all of them are relevant to the other sheet and it adds for a lot of bloat and clutter. Especially because if I delete the columns on my new sheet when the next batch of rows comes in they re-add all the columns.

KCI

This would be quite valuable!!

ZennerJ

Our sheets continued to get too big because we only have the option of moving the entire row (usually 30-45 columns or more). Because we are not able to choose which columns to copy/move, I found my own workaround I titled "Single Cell moves":

1. Single Cell sheet - copy the row to this sheet with automation rule(s) - allows for certain criteria to determine occurance.

2. Create a Mesh to move only the columns/cells you want on the new processing sheet (I usually only move the primary key/ID field and mesh in any other info from our primary database sheets - we have over 25 so it get's a little problematic to do these, but they rarely break).

3. Clear off the Single Cell Sheet once a day (I chose at 2am each day) to an "archive" sheet for the info

I have this work around in place for over 20 processing sheets. It works pretty well, and you don't have to worry about formulas or automations breaking to any great extent.

Dan Wilson

It would be nice if in a Copy Row workflow action, you could select which columns to copy. This would allow for new entries on one sheet to create new rows in another related sheet, where the target sheet only needs partial information. Currently all columns are copied, and columns are created if they don't already exist in the target sheet, even if those columns are unwanted (or contain confidential data). This would reduce the need to enter data in one sheet, and then enter a unique identifier in another sheet, and then set up a Mesh to move only specific columns over.

Amanda Fulbright

Yes! This workflow is incredibly valuable. I have noticed that it has been frequently requested on the forums, with suggestions for workarounds such as using vlookups and helper sheets. Implementing this feature would significantly enhance SmartSheet's functionality.

Amanda Fulbright

Adding this feature would significantly enhance SmartSheet's functionality. It has been requested many times over the years. Do you have any updates on when we might see this feature rolled out?

Miguel Bejarano

I just want copy some of the columns when moving a row in automatization section instead of all of them.

JenniferN

Yes, please add the enhancement to move only selected columns. When moving all columns, it makes our destination sheet too large and cannot handle enough data with the current cell limitations. This would be a great improvement to help, especially if the increase on cell limits is still a long time coming.

Cathy Salscheider

Definitely would use this functionality. We have two different sheets for tracking enterprise and department level project portfolio, with different needs so we have different columns. They were intentionally set up to be different sheets. Due to the growing need to share some data between the sheets, we ended up copying some rows, which of course brought all of the extra source columns with it. We have some overlap in column names so some of the data that we did not want was brought in and now messes with our recipient column data. And we have a lot of "crap data" now in our recipient sheet.

Please implement this! thanks

vinjett

Moving all the columns often causing the "cells limit reached" issue. Which could be solved by being able to selectively move or copy rows in the automation setup.

Chris_C

This would be a huge benefit for my team. While I know that INDEX and Datashuttle are potential options, I'm looking for something simpler.

Being able to select (or even map) copied columns and automating a copy of those columns using a manual trigger (like a checkbox for "Copy to target sheet"), would save my team quite a bit of time because we don't need (or want) all columns from the source sheet moving to the target sheet.

Danielle Wilson

@Chris_C You might want to look into DataMesh! It does this, particularly if you make the source a report (where you're filtering against items that are checked).

Chris_C

https://community.smartsheet.com/discussion/comment/458771#Comment_458771

Based on what I've seen Data Mesh requires some form of unique ID to already exist in both places, correct?

Our use case is new team member information being submitted, then we need to have them transferred to a new sheet manually to track onboarding requirements. Not everyone added to the main sheet needs to be onboarded and we will not already have their employee ID (nor do we want it) in the target sheet to match with the source. At the start, the unique ID could be anything from their name, position code, or employee ID. We may have all of that information, but we many also only have one of them (and need to track down the rest).

Instead, I'd like to be able to click a checkbox when I decide someone needs some sort of onboarding help, then have it shift over common fields like name, manager, team, project, start date, location, etc.

Samuel Mueller

DataMesh can add a row if the unique value does not exist on the target sheet. You can also use a report as a source so you can control when a record gets sent via checkbox or something assuming you set the report filter up accordingly.

But it is true you need to determine a unique column at least on the source sheet.