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Set a view column's properties

Goal​

Change how one column of a view is shown — the header it carries, how wide it is, the format a date renders through, how the cell is aligned — without changing the field itself.

Prerequisites​

  • You are signed in as a maker with permission to edit the view's solution.
  • The view is open in the View Designer, with the column already on the grid header.

Steps​

  1. Select the column's chip on the View columns row. It highlights, and the Properties panel on the right switches to that column.
  2. Set any of:
    • Header — the text the column shows. Leave it blank to use the field's own display name.
    • Width (px) — a fixed width in pixels. Leave it blank to let the column size itself.
    • Date format — offered only for a date column. Use yyyy, yy, MM, dd, HH, mm, ss; anything else passes through, so dd/MM/yyyy and yyyy-MM-dd HH:mm both work. It is the same format you type on a form's date control.
    • Alignment — Start, Center, or End. These follow the reading direction, so "End" is the right edge in English and the left edge in Persian or Arabic.
  3. The preview grid under the header row updates as you type, so you can see the effect before saving.
  4. Select Save.

What happens behind the scenes​

A view stores which columns it has as a plain ordered list, and how they are presented as a separate list beside it — holding only the columns you actually configured. A column you never touch stores nothing and renders from the field's own metadata, exactly as it did before this screen existed.

Both lists are part of the view's canonical definition, so column properties are versioned, validated, and travel in your solution like the columns themselves.

None of it changes the data: a header override renames the column in this view only (the same field can be "Owner" in one view and "Assigned to" in another), and a date format changes how the stored instant is displayed, never what is stored.

Removing a column removes its properties with it, and so does deleting the field — a view is never left configuring a column nobody can see.

Troubleshooting​

  • The Properties panel says "Select a column or an action". — nothing is selected. Select a chip on the View columns row, or an action chip above it.
  • There is no Date format box. — the column is not a date. A format that its value cannot take is not offered, because it would do nothing.
  • The date still shows as stored. — the format is only applied when the stored value is a real instant. If the cell shows something like not-a-date, that is what is in the record; the grid shows it rather than blanking the cell, so you can see why.
  • The width had no effect. — a very narrow width is overridden by the content's own minimum. Widen it, or shorten the header.