Set up your project sheet

In Smartsheet, the primary column is the single most important column in your sheet—it’s essentially the anchor for your rows. It’s a required, unique column that every Smartsheet sheet must have. You can't delete it from your sheet.

Here are a few reasons why primary columns are helpful:

• Keeps your sheet organized: Lets you quickly find and recognize a row’s purpose.

• Improves visibility in other views:

  • In Card View, the primary column value becomes the card title.

  • In Calendar View, it becomes the calendar entry title.

• Enhances automation & communication: When you get an email alert, the subject line and row link will show the primary column’s value—helping you instantly know what the alert is about.

• Works with hierarchy: If you indent rows for subtasks, the primary column shows that hierarchy clearly.

When you create a new item in Smartsheet, the primary column appears automatically — in Grid View, it is the left-most column. When you create a new sheet by importing data from another program, you can designate the primary column.

Double-select the column name to rename the primary column and type a new name.

Once you've set a primary column, you can’t change it. 

If you want to change the entire contents of your sheet's primary column and preserve its values, you can insert a new column, select and cut the primary column content, paste the content into the new column, and then paste your preferred content into the empty primary column.

Primary column properties

Here are some key details about the primary column properties:

• The name is the only column property you can change.
• The name is in bold text (it's the only bolded column name).
• It has the expand and collapse buttons
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  for creating and managing row hierarchy in your sheet.
• The primary column type is always Text/Number. All other types (including Auto-number) are unavailable.
• The column values are left-justified.

Primary column name: Best practices

Naming your primary column effectively is the foundation of a clear, functional sheet. It serves as the unique identifier for every row, especially when communicating with others.

Here is a breakdown of why this matters and how to do it right:

Use descriptive names

Avoid generic titles like "Name" or "Title." Instead, use a specific identifier that tells the reader exactly what the row represents.

Why it matters

The primary column is more than just a label; it is the "face" of your data in several key features:

• Communication: When using Send Row or Request Update, the primary column is the first thing the recipient sees.
• Context: A descriptive name ensures the recipient immediately knows which specific record requires their attention.
• Clarity: It reduces errors by making it impossible to confuse a "Project Name" with a "Task Name."

Think of the primary column as the "headline" of your row. If it were the only thing someone saw in an email notification, would they know what it refers to?

Primary column name in reports

Because reports can return data from multiple sheets, each having a different primary column name, information from the primary column consolidates into a single column named Primary.

Reports don't display hierarchy.

Primary columns in forms

Here are some noteworthy points about forms and primary columns.

• You can rename the primary column from the form. Note, it's the only primary column property you can change.

• When you create a new form, the primary column gets pulled from the intake sheet. You can add a new column with any column type that you need.

• If you don’t want to use the primary column in your form, you can deselect it from the Fields panel or delete it from your form canvas.

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You can insert, rename, delete, and clear columns in a sheet.

You can undo any action until you save the sheet's changes.

A sheet can contain up to 400 columns, 20,000 rows, or 500,000 cells (whichever limit is reached first). 

Insert a new column

1. In your sheet, hover over a column header. 
2. Select the Column Menu 
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3. In the Column Menu, select Insert Column Left or Insert Column Right. The New Column form appears.
4. In the New Column form, set the following fields:

   • Name: Enter a name for the column.
      

     You can enter a column name with up to 50 characters. 

   • Column Type: Select a column type. See Column types for details on each type.
     • Text/Number 
     • Dropdown list 
     • Date
     • Duration  
     • Contact list 
     • Checkbox 
     • Symbols 
     • Auto number 
     • Created by 
     • Created date 
     • Latest Comment 
     • Modified by 
     • Modified date
5. If the column type has additional options, they appear below the Column Type field. Set them as you like.
6. Select OK.

The new column appears next to the column you selected.

Insert multiple columns at once

You can insert up to five new columns in a sheet.

1. Highlight the number of existing columns (up to five columns) you want to insert by holding the Ctrl key (or command key, if you’re on a Mac) and selecting existing column headers individually.
2. Hover over any selected column header.
3. Select the Column Menu 
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4. In the Column Menu, select Insert x Columns Left or Insert x Columns Right.

The new columns appear. Each new column has the Text/Number column type and is named Column[column number] (e.g., Column12). 

To change the column settings: 

1. Double-click the column header.
2. In the Edit Column Properties form, change any of the following fields:
   • Name

   • Column Type

      

Change the column width

You can adjust the column width if you're not satisfied with it. 

Note that you can’t modify the width of default columns, such as the attachments, discussions, or indicators columns. 

To change the column width:

1. Hover your pointer over the column header's side border. 
2. When the column border icon appears, press and hold the icon.
3. Drag the column border icon to create the desired column width. 

Delete a column

You can delete columns or their content. 

You cannot, however, delete these default columns:
- Attachments
- Comments
- Proofs
- Row Action Indicators

To delete a single column

1.  Hover your pointer over the header of the column you want to delete.
2. Select the Column Menu 
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3. In the Column Menu, select Delete Column.

To delete multiple columns

1. Press and hold the Ctrl key (or the command key if you’re on a Mac). 
2. Select up to five column headers.
3. Hover your pointer over any of the highlighted column headers. 
4. Select the Column Menu  
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5. In the Column Menu, select Delete Column.

To clear the content from columns without deleting them 

1. Select one or more columns. 
2. Press the Backspace or Delete key on your keyboard.

The content disappears without deleting any columns.

Rename a column

If you rename a column that reports include, the reports no longer include the column. You must reset the column in a report's criteria to restore the renamed column to a report. 

To rename a column

1. Hover your pointer over the column header. 
2. Select the Column Menu 
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3. In the Column Menu, select Rename Column...
    

   Double-click the column header to open the Column Properties form.

4. In the Name field, enter a new name.
5. Select OK.

You can create a hierarchy on your sheet by indenting rows. When you indent a row, it becomes a child of the row above it (the parent row). 

Hierarchy creates relationships between rows; it doesn't control row formatting.

Indent a row

Select a cell in the first row you’d like to indent, and then select the Indent icon on the left of the row. The row above it will become the parent row.

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If the Indent button is unavailable, you may be trying to indent a blank row. In order to create a hierarchy, data needs to exist in both the parent and child rows. Make sure neither row is blank before indenting.

To indent a row, you can also use the keyboard shortcut Ctrl + ] or Command + ] on a Mac. 

Indents are displayed only in a sheet's Primary Column; however, the relationship is applied to the entire row.

Remove hierarchy

To remove the parent-child relationship, select a cell in the child row and then select the Outdent icon on the left of the row.

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To outdent a row, you can also use the keyboard shortcut Ctrl + [ or Command + [ on a Mac. 

Expand or collapse indented rows

When you expand or collapse rows and then save the sheet, this changes the sheet structure for all collaborators who share it. Everyone who uses the sheet sees the same rows collapsed and expanded as you do.

To show or hide the indented items beneath a parent row, select expand/collapse in the parent row’s Primary Column.

To expand or collapse all sub-items on a sheet, right-select on the Primary Column options menu 

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Hierarchy best practices 

Keep the following in mind as you work with hierarchy:

• There is no fixed level of indenting; you can continue indenting rows on your sheet to create multiple levels of hierarchy.
• When you select and drag a row that has indented items below it, the child rows move with the selected item.
• You can’t delete a parent row without also deleting its indented child rows. To delete the row without deleting the child rows, remove the parent-child relationship first.
• When dependencies are enabled on a project sheet, parent rows reflect a roll-up summary of the start date, end date, duration, and % complete values entered for the indented child rows.