Control column order in a view

AppSheet does its best to automatically order columns by their importance. If you’re using a detail, form, or table view, you can manually control the column order.

The following sections describe how AppSheet automatically orders columns and how you can manually control the column order.

How AppSheet automatically orders columns

AppSheet automatically orders columns using the following rules:

• Rule 1. AppSheet always shows the key because by definition it uniquely identifies each row. Without the key, it is unclear which data entry is being shown. If the key is hidden (by disabling the Show? toggle in the editor), AppSheet does not show the key and instead shows the data left to right. See What is a key?
• Rule 2. Next AppSheet shows any fields that call for actionable icons (such as a phone number, email address, and so on). AppSheet assumes these items are things you'd want a quick click action on.
• Rule 3. Then AppSheet proceeds left to right in spreadsheet column order. Position the more important columns to the left in your spreadsheet.
• Rule 4. Many spreadsheets have a rightmost column that is computed by a formula-- such as, cost of items. If AppSheet recognizes this pattern, it makes sure to include this column.

Manually control the column order in a view

If you’re using a detail, form, or table view, you can manually control the column order.

From a table view, if you click on one of the rows, it will expand to show the whole row in a detail view. Currently, that detail view will not maintain the column order you specified for the table view. You can set that up separately by creating a detail view for the table, mark its position as Ref (to indicate that it isn't actually shown using a view button but only displayed when referenced), and define its column order as well.

To manually control the column order:

1. Open the app in the editor.
2.  Go to App  > Views and click the view you want to edit in the View panel.
    We've made some improvements to the app editor.
   You are opted in to the new editor by default, but you can switch back to the legacy editor at any time.

   If you are using the legacy editor

   Go to UX > Views and expand the view you want to edit.  
3. Expand the view you want to edit.
4. In the Column order field, the columns are ordered automatically, as described in How AppSheet automatically orders columns. To change the column order, do any of the following:
   • Click Add to add columns that you want to display in the order you want them to appear.
   • Click  to delete a column.
   • Click  to drag a column to a different order.
   • If you want to control the order of a subset of columns, but include all columns, you can add an All other columns at the desired location.
   • If you changed the column order, click Reset to switch back to the AppSheet automatic order.
5. Save your app.

Note: Make sure that you add the Show type columns that you want to be displayed.