Remove Primary Column From Report

Sgiovinazzo

I am running a report from my sheet however the primary column shows up even though I did not select it and I cannot hide it. I don't want/need it in my report. I was wondering if there was a way to remove or prevent it.

 

Thanks!

 

Andrée Starå

Hi @markh10

I hope you're well and safe!

When you're starting with a sheet or similar, it's the leftmost column most of the time, but you can move it/hide it, but you can't delete the Primary Column.

You can delete the contents and replace them with other content as needed.

More info.

https://help.smartsheet.com/articles/504645-primary-column

Did that work/help?

I hope that helps!

Be safe, and have a fantastic week!

Best,

Andrée Starå | Workflow Consultant / CEO @ WORK BOLD

✅Did my post(s) help or answer your question or solve your problem? Please support the Community by marking it Insightful/Vote Up, Awesome, or/and as the accepted answer. It will make it easier for others to find a solution or help to answer!

Andrée Starå

Hi,

You should be able to hide it.

Please see the attached link/screenshot for more information.

https://cl.ly/062X1a2Q143g

I hope this helps you!

Best,

Andrée Starå - Workflow Consultant @ Get Done

Teri Bledsoe

I am having the same issue. I tried to hide the primary column from my report, but when I linked the report onto the dashboard, the data from the primary column still appeared.  I need to not have the primary column data to show up on my report at all.  Does anyone have any ideas for this?

Andrée Starå

Hi Teri,

Did you get it working?

If you hide the Primary Column on the Report that you are showing on the Dashboard, it should not show up in the Dashboard.

Happy Holidays & Happy New Year!

Best,

Andrée Starå

Workflow Consultant @ Get Done Consulting

wsnow11

Hey Andrée,

I'm having the same issue. Even when I hide the Primary Column it shows up on my Dashboard chart. I have no option to remove the primary column.

Andrée Starå

Hi @wsnow11,

Can you describe your process in more detail and maybe share the sheet(s)/copies of the sheet(s) or some screenshots? (Delete/replace any confidential/sensitive information before sharing) That would make it easier to help. (share too, andree@getdone.se)

I hope that helps!

Have a fantastic week!

Best,

Andrée Starå

Workflow Consultant / CEO @ WORK BOLD

Sandra Murray

if the report is grouped I'm unable to remove the primary column -why?

Steve Holt

@Sandra Murray I'm having the same problem. Even after rearranging the columns, adding a Group moves the Primary Column back to the beginning.

Rocci Doria

Same. Also resizing the primary column resizes the groups, which defeats the purpose of grouping.

MaryJo Maddison

Has there been a response to this question?

As soon as you add grouping to a report the primary column is shown and you cant remove it. Any fix or work around for this?

Genevieve P.

Hi @MaryJo Maddison

There currently isn't a way to remove the Primary column when you Group a Report. Grouping automatically brings the Primary column to the left of the Report, as the first column. See the Tips and Tricks section of this article: Configure grouping to organize results in report builder

markh10

Primary Column is suppose to be the Left most column but I moved another column to the left most side but it did not change the Primary Column.

What gives?

Ideally I want to delete the contents of the Primary Column or replace it with other contents.

Andrée Starå

Hi @markh10

I hope you're well and safe!

When you're starting with a sheet or similar, it's the leftmost column most of the time, but you can move it/hide it, but you can't delete the Primary Column.

You can delete the contents and replace them with other content as needed.

More info.

https://help.smartsheet.com/articles/504645-primary-column

Did that work/help?

I hope that helps!

Be safe, and have a fantastic week!

Best,

Andrée Starå | Workflow Consultant / CEO @ WORK BOLD

✅Did my post(s) help or answer your question or solve your problem? Please support the Community by marking it Insightful/Vote Up, Awesome, or/and as the accepted answer. It will make it easier for others to find a solution or help to answer!

markh10

@Andrée Starå

Thank you. I found another posting where I needed to copy the Primary column then as you suggested, copy another column's contents and paste it onto where the Primary is. Plus I can then rename the Primary column.

Thank you for your response.

Andrée Starå

@markh10

Excellent!

Happy to help!

✅Remember! Did my post(s) help or answer your question or solve your problem? Please support the Community by marking it Insightful/Vote Up/Awesome or/and as the accepted answer. It will make it easier for others to find a solution or help to answer!

Angela Setiadi

In order to add a chart to my dashboard, I need to delete the primary column, but doing so would result in an error. I just want to display a pie chart of domestic and international travel, but I can't since the primary keeps displaying the names of the travelers. Can the primary be made removable so that we can genuinely create a dashboard with just the components we require?