When viewing the columns in your table, you'll see the column structure that AppSheet has deduced and created for your data. This may not always be what you want. The best way to change it is to change your spreadsheet, but if that isn't possible, you may decide to change the data schema directly.
The following table summarizes the column properties. You can edit a subset of properties for all columns directly in panel. Access and edit all properties for a specific column by clicking Edit .
| Property | Description |
| Column name |
Name the app uses to refer to the column. Note: There should rarely be a reason to change the column name. The column name should match the column's name in the underlying data source (that is, the column header in the spreadsheet). See also Column basics: Name and data type and Display name setting (below). |
| Show? |
Toggle or |
| Type |
Type of data contained in the values of the column. The choice of data type affects the behavior of this field in the app. For example, you might want a particular text column to be a In addition, you can modify the Type Details based on the data type selected. |
| Valid if | Expression that defines whether there is valid data in the column. |
| Invalid value error | Expression that defines the error message that is displayed if the value is invalid. |
| Require? | Toggle or Required_If expression that specifies whether the field is required. |
| App formula |
Expression used to compute the value for the column instead of accepting user input. See App formulas and initial values. Note: If a column has an app formula, the user of the app cannot provide a value to override the formula. |
| Initial value | Expression used as the default starting value for the column. The expression must match the column type. If an expression, it is recomputed until the user provides a value. See App formulas and initial values. |
| Suggested values | Expression that defines a list of suggested values for the column. |
| Spreadsheet formula | Formula on the backend spreadsheet that is calculated (and the result shown in the app) once the user clicks Save (or Sync if the app is set to Delayed Sync). |
| Key |
Key column value that uniquely identifies the row within the table, and should be chosen with care. Only one column of a table can be the table's key column. See also Keys. Note: You'll find composite columns at the bottom of the column list, and one of them may also be chosen as a key. |
| Editable? | Toggle or Editable_If expression that specifies whether a field is editable. |
| Reset on edit? | Toggle that specifies whether this column should be reset to its initial value when the row is edited. |
| Label | Toggle that specifies whether this column represents rows from this table in lists and refs |
| Display name | Expression that specifies the user-visible name for the column if different than the Column name. |
| Description | Expression that specifies the description of the column. |
| Searchable |
Toggle that sets whether the data values in the column can be searched using the Search field in the app. By default, this field is enabled for most text columns, but disabled for no-text values. Search is text-based. It is both case-insensitive and diacritic-insensitive. Search is performed against the entire table, including column data values that aren't currently displayed on screen. |
| Scannable | Enable the field to be filled by scanning a barcode or QRCode. See Use a barcode scanner. |
| NFC Scannable | Enable NFC scanning on the field. See Use NFC scanning. |
| Sensitive data (PII) |
Mark the field as containing personally identifiable information. See Sensitive Personally Identifiable Information (PII) data policy. |
Video
Watch a video that describes how to edit your column structure.