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A sheet configuration names a set of columns. Any one of them can be wrong — a misspelled field, a path that cannot be followed, settings the sheet rejects, or two columns bound to the same field. Powersheet treats each of those as a problem with that column, not with the sheet.

Each Column Is Loaded on Its Own

Powersheet builds the sheet column by column. A column that cannot be built is left out; every other column, and every row, is built as usual. The sheet opens, and the rows keep the structure and hierarchy the configuration asks for. This is the difference that matters in daily use: a sheet with one broken column still shows the other twenty. The reader sees the data. The person who maintains the configuration sees exactly which column is missing and why.
The count is kept, so nothing goes missing quietlyPowersheet records how many columns the configuration asked for and how many were loaded. A column that was dropped is always reported — it never simply disappears from the sheet.

What Is Detected

Four kinds of problem are recognised, and each is explained in its own words rather than as an error code: Every report names the column the way the configuration does — by its title, or by its binding when it has no title, or as its position in the configuration when it has neither.
A duplicate used to stop the sheetTwo columns bound to the same field previously raised a blocking browser message and the sheet went no further. It is now handled like any other configuration problem: the first column wins, the second is reported, and the sheet opens.

The Issues Chip

When at least one column failed and at least one loaded, the bar above the sheet carries a chip stating how many configuration problems there are. It is a standing statement about the sheet, not a message that fades — the problem is true for as long as the configuration is unfixed, so the chip stays for as long as the sheet is open. Opening the chip lists the problems one per row, each with the column’s name and the area it belongs to. Expanding a row gives the plain-language reason, and — where they add anything — a hint at what to change and the technical detail underneath. A problem whose own message is already written for a configuration author is shown once rather than repeated in two tiers. The whole report can be copied in one click, for passing to whoever maintains the sheet. The panel is closed when the sheet loads, for everyone. The chip states that something is wrong; reading the detail is a decision the reader makes.
What you can do about it depends on who you areA user who is allowed to configure the sheet is offered a button straight to its configuration. A user who is not is told to ask whoever set the sheet up. The same problem, described the same way, with a different next step.

Why the Sheet Becomes Read-Only

A sheet that loaded only part of its columns could be saved back in that reduced form, and the columns that failed would take the data they carry with them. So a configuration problem makes the sheet read-only until it is fixed. The lock is on writing, and on writing only:
  • Saving, the edit menu, adding a row, and removing a row are all withheld.
  • Reading, sorting, filtering, searching, and export all still work.
  • Find still works; only replace is withheld.
A duplicate field is the exception. Nothing is lost by dropping the second of two columns that show the same thing, so a duplicate alone is reported without locking the sheet.

When No Column Loads at All

If every column in the configuration fails, there is no sheet to show and no partial view worth offering. Powersheet replaces the grid with a message saying the sheet cannot be displayed, stating how many columns were configured and that the configuration has to be fixed first. There is no chip in that case — the message is the report.

Scope

These diagnostics cover the columns in a sheet configuration. Problems in row grouping or in a view’s own definition are not reported through the issues chip.
Last modified on September 14, 2026