By default, our spreadsheet detects all the compatible fields and generate columns automatically.
However, on rare scenarios, some columns might not appear in the spreadsheet by default, and you have followed all the steps to make missing columns appear and they still don’t show up.
In this case, the “custom columns” feature are a way to add those missing columns manually. For example, if you have a field called “product price” created by “product prices plugin” and the spreadsheet doesn’t show the “product price” column even after following all the steps on the missing columns guide, you can create a new custom column and the spreadsheet will show it and let you edit it as long as the value is saved within the same post table and not a custom table.
You can create a new custom column by going to your Dashboard > WP Sheet Editor > Custom Columns
When you open the custom column creator, you will see several fields, here’s an explanation of each field
Column name: This is the “friendly” name you give to the column, this is the name that will show on the header of the column when you use the spreadsheet. This value can be whatever you want as the column header.
Column key: This is very important. By creating a custom column, you want to edit an existing field on your database with our spreadsheet. When we say “existing field” we mean that the field must already have been created by another plugin (like product prices like in the previous example) or field creator (like Advanced Custom Fields). In this field, you need to input the key of the corresponding metadata field. For example, if the spreadsheet wasn’t showing the field “product price” automatically, but you know the field exists on the database, you have to look for the key on your database, it could be something like product_price (for more information on how to find posts meta keys, click here)
Data source (only shows when clicking “advanced mode” at the bottom): A clear explanation on source types can be found here. The data source must match that of the meta key for the column to work. For example, if you are adding a meta field, select “post meta”. If you are adding a taxonomy column, select “Post terms”.
Notes
- You can learn more about how to find meta keys fields in this article
- If you input an “invented”, non-existent or incorrect key on this field, the spreadsheet will create the column anyways, but the column would be for the sole purpose of seeing that column on the spreadsheet, it will have no active effect on the frontend or post behavior.
Post Types: In this section, you are going to see all the active post types where you can add this custom column, you can select one or many. The checkboxes you see depend on the post types you have on your site
Advanced Mode
If you click on the “advanced mode” box at the bottom of the editor, you will see more options, the explanation for each one follows:
Is read only?: Makes the column “read only” (not being able to edit it) when active, most of the times it will be deactivated.
Allow to edit using custom formulas: Uncheck it if you don’t want the user to be able to use custom formulas on the spreadsheet
Allow to hide column: Uncheck it if you want the column to always be visible and not have the option to hide it.
Allow to rename columns: Uncheck it if you don’t want to allow other users to rename the column
Cell Type
- Normal cell: A regular cell designed to hold regular text and values
- TinyMCE Editor: A cell with an standard text editor
- File upload Single: Allow to upload one file on that cell, holds only one file at a time
- File upload Multiple: Allow to upload multiples files on that cell, holds several files at a time
Plain Text Mode
When you go to settings > show cells as simple text, the column will show the info as follows
- Simple Text
- Calendar
- Taxonomy dropdown, only if data source = post terms (understand more about data sources on this article)
- Unfiltered HTML
Formatted Cell form: Suggested to always keep it as simple text, if you want to achieve something else with this field contact us on our live chat
Column width: By default, it’s 150 pixels