Different columns with the same name ?

LONG

How can i make several columns with one same name???

JamesR

Hi,

Column names must be unique within a sheet.  nearest you can get is to add a numeric to the end of the column name.

 

James

Tony Davidson - SmartSheet Certified User 2016

Can you describe what you're trying to d exactly?  The structure of the sheet is intended that each row is independent on purpose so you might just need to structure your sheet differently 

Kennedy Stomps

Hi-- Just to confirm what other users have mentioned, it isn't possible to have two columns with the same name because Smartsheet requires discreet column names for reporting, formula cell references, and Conditional Formatting. This is not something we are planning to change in the application, so I would suggest using numeric values as JamesR mentioned to differentiate your columns!

J. Craig Williams

Also be aware that columns with the same name in different sheets could function differently. One could be a Dropdown List and another a Text/Number column.

These are treated differently in Reports and need to be accounted for properly in the Report Builder.

 

Craig

Jeff Zumaris

One way you can do this is to add spacing after the column name.  Now a regular spacebar won't work it deletes it out but you can use an ascii character (alt key) to make this happen.  I recently wrapped up a project that has about 8 sheets with cell-linked data spitting out almost 100 different reports to build 25 executive summary in the new Sight function.  

Being that my column names or descriptors were much to long like "% of population receiving 1 award min" coupled by the fact that you cannot center headers in SmartSheets, Reports or the Sight's they are embedded in I needed to find a loop hole around it.

"  " <-- copy and paste that into a cell and see if you can save it as a essentially black cell.  Not sure how this reply form will take that.

I was able to create blank columns and use the first row in the smart sheet as my actual header.  This allowed me to center and use conditional formatting to make it stand out a bit more with a blank grey header across the reports.  

Now my project was pretty complex as after i finished it, it looks beautiful on a Mac (which is odd) and all discombobulated on PC's.  Chrome specifically gave me a weird view when i had 3 reports side by side by side it doubled and tripled the grey area in the 2nd and 3rd reports.  I went back and changed those column names to less fake spaces but alas i could not make it work.  I ended up having to duplicate my master page into 2 more and changing the column names for them to play nicely with each other in the sight.

What that means is you could do the following

"Available"

"Available "

"Available  "

"Available    "

I have used this in other projects and the space you actually use is about 1/3 the width of a regular space so you really do have some wiggle room.  Now figuring out all this after building much of the background proved annoying when I changed column names and the reports do not update dynamically to the current column name. (looking at you smartsheet)

All in all here are a couple screenshots of what the above rambling produced.  Hope that helps somebody.

-Zuma