Problem with Multi-sheet Report interpreting identical columns as unique

Andrew Doran

I am having difficulty with not understanding how to force SmartSheet row reports to understand that a particular column I have on multiple sheets is indeed the same thing, and I want it displayed on the report as a single column. It somehow does this automatically and sometimes correctly identifies this, other times not. I've tried deleting columns and recreating them, coping and pasting column names and properties with mixed results, sometimes fixing the issue sometimes not.

The basic symptom is the following:
I have two sheets that are the source data for my report. Both have a column entitled "Important notes". When I go to the column selector drop down at the top of the page, I can scroll through all the possible columns to include in the report based on all the columns in the two source sheets. Many many of those column names, when I hover over them, pop up a help bubble that says [column name],[column type], found on 2 sheets" but other columns with identical names are listed twice and the pop up only shows them as "found on 1 sheet" as it thinks they are distinct things rather than the same data from two sources.

How do I "tell" smartsheet that those columns are the same thing? As stated above, I've managed to do it a couple times, through trial and error, but not consistently. There seems to be no way to "copy/paste" whole columns across sheets (that I have found) so I find myself needing to "recreate" these columns in both source sheets (for example, when I decide I want more info captured) and here is where I run into my troubles. Obviously, if I had my info "set in stone" I can just duplicate a master source sheet and this works out of the box since I start with an exact copy, but I need to continually edit my stuff and add functionality slowly over time.