Many columns on sheet - not all appear as options in a report?

Happy faux Friday!

I'm working with a very large (about 30 columns) data sheet in Smartsheet. I'd envisioned it as the one source of truth to feed multiple reports.

The problem is the latest report I'm trying to build, the 5 columns that I need to appear and provide data, are not showing up in the columns from which I can select. I've refreshed, I've saved, I've waited a couple days... it still isn't working. Help!

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Accepted answers

Genevieve P.

Hi @KLM

To add to the great advice above, you may also want to make sure you're creating the right type of Report as well.

A Row Report (see here) will have the columns available like how Matt has pictured. It's looking at the rows in the sheet, or the actual Grid data.

A Sheet Summary Report (see here) will only have the System Columns & the Sheet Summary Fields available to select.

Hope this helps!

Genevieve

All comments

Matt Johnson

Hi @KLM

Are you looking in the Columns button circled in red below? If not, it could be that the 5 columns are contact (who) or date (when) columns and you are looking in the "what" section. I hope that helps.

KLM

Hi Matt - you know what? I don't understand WHY it works (I was looking in the What column) but when I looked in Columns, the fields showed up. So strange, and what a frustrating reminder that I need to level up my Smartsheet game.

Regardless, you got me unblocked - THANK YOU!!! Have a wonderful weekend.

Genevieve P.

Hi @KLM

To add to the great advice above, you may also want to make sure you're creating the right type of Report as well.

A Row Report (see here) will have the columns available like how Matt has pictured. It's looking at the rows in the sheet, or the actual Grid data.

A Sheet Summary Report (see here) will only have the System Columns & the Sheet Summary Fields available to select.

Hope this helps!

Genevieve

Laura Bartlett

Hello- I am having a similar issue. I am attempting to add a date field to a report. This field has been on the sheet for at least a year-- and likely the entire history of the sheet. But it is not an option to be added. I tried to create a new report and the "date submitted" is still not an option. Does anyone have any suggestions?

Genevieve P.

Hi @Laura Bartlett

What type of Report are you selecting, are you choosing a Row Report to look at the columns in the sheet, or a Summary Report to look at the Summary field panel on the right of the sheet?

Laura Bartlett

Row report

Genevieve P.

Hi @Laura Bartlett

Is the "Date Submitted" column a System Generated column? (Ex. the Date Created System Column?) If so, it will appear in the Report column dropdown with the System title of "Created" instead of your custom title:

Screen Shot 2022-03-09 at 7.21.59 PM.png

If this isn't the issue, it would be helpful to see screen captures, but please block out sensitive data.

Cheers,

Genevieve

Laura Bartlett

Yes, Genevieve, it is a system-generated column. Thank you for clarifying. I will see if there is some workarounds we can do to get a better capture of the date.

thank you!

Genevieve P.

Hi @Laura Bartlett

Glad I could help! Just a note - your column will still be available in the Row Report. If you select "Created", it will show the data from the column you titled "Date Submitted". You shouldn't need to use other workarounds.

Cheers,

Genevieve

Jeff Casto

Hi @Genevieve P. !

This is not directly related to the above issue, but I couldn't find a closer issue.

I am creating a report that shows a list of projects and the list is pulling from multiple sheets.

My question is, when I add the column, "Sheet Name" there are way more rows showing up than I need. I only need the sheet name to show up once.

In this screenshot, you can see I have a "Project Name" field that performs the action I want. I created that as a work around to this "Sheet Name" column issue. However, it would be better to use the sheet name and not the project name as project name is extra work to avoid the multiple row sheet name issue.

Is there a way I can not see all those other rows with the sheet name in them? I tried filters and groups and summaries, but no dice and I'm not even sure why the report shows more than one row since there is only one place the sheet name exists and that's on the top of the sheet.

Anyhoo, any help is much appreciated per the usual!

Jeff

Genevieve P.

Hi @Jeff Casto

Happy to help!

It looks like your Report is picking up rows at the bottom of your sheet that perhaps used to have content in them but don't anymore. They're still active rows, so the Report brings them in if they meet your filter criteria.

Can you try adding a filter that excludes blank rows? Something like "If Active = not blank".

If I'm misunderstanding and this was just an example, then to clarify, there isn't a way to stop the sheet name coming in on specific rows. This will appear on every single row as you may have multiple sheets all mixed up together in a report. 🙂

Let me know if that helped!

Jeff Casto

Hi @Genevieve P. ,

You are a friggin wizard. That If Active = not blank worked like a charm.

Thank you again and I will have more dumb questions on the way!

Genevieve P.

Haha! Glad to hear it. 🧙

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