> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://learn.nextedy.com/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Column Configuration Diagnostics

> How Nextedy POWERSHEET opens a sheet whose configuration contains invalid columns, reports each problem, and protects the data while it is unfixed.

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    year: "numeric",
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    day: "numeric",
    timeZone: "UTC"
  });
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      Last reviewed on {formatted}
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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.

<Note>
  **The count is kept, so nothing goes missing quietly**

  Powersheet 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.
</Note>

## What Is Detected

Four kinds of problem are recognised, and each is explained in its own words rather than as an error code:

| Problem                 | What it means                                                                         | What the sheet does                                                                |
| ----------------------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| Unknown field           | The column points at a field that does not exist on the work item type it reads from  | The column is omitted and reported                                                 |
| Path cannot be followed | A step in the column's path is not a link to another work item, so the path dead-ends | The column is omitted and reported                                                 |
| Invalid settings        | The column's own settings were rejected while it was being set up                     | The column is omitted and reported, with the rejecting message shown as the reason |
| Duplicate field         | Two columns show the same field                                                       | The first column is kept, the later one is dropped and reported                    |

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.

<Tip>
  **A duplicate used to stop the sheet**

  Two 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.
</Tip>

## 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.

<Note>
  **What you can do about it depends on who you are**

  A 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.
</Note>

## 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.

## Related Pages

* [Fix Column Configuration Issues](/powersheet/guides/troubleshooting/fix-column-configuration-issues) -- Working through the reported problems one by one
* [Sheet Configuration Reference](/powersheet/reference/sheet-config/index) -- Every column property and what it accepts
* [Data Model vs Sheet Config](/powersheet/concepts/data-model-vs-sheet-config) -- Which of the two a given problem belongs to

***

<LastReviewed date="2026-09-14" />