Grids

Smartsheet Select All Columns

Smartsheet has no select-all shortcut for columns. To apply the same formatting change — such as text alignment, column width, or wrap settings — to every column, users must click each column header individually while holding Shift or Ctrl, which becomes tedious on sheets with more than a handful of columns.

Without Grid Tools

The daily workaround

Shift-click every column header: Users hold Shift and click each column header in sequence to build up a full selection, one column at a time.
Miss columns mid-selection: A misclick or a scroll during selection deselects everything, forcing the user to start the click sequence over from the beginning.
Repeat for each formatting pass: When multiple formatting changes are needed, the entire column-selection process repeats for each one since Smartsheet clears the selection after each action.
Skip wide sheets entirely: On sheets wider than the viewport, users give up on selecting all columns and apply formatting column-by-column instead.

Screenshot: Shift-clicking column headers one by one

Shift-clicking each column header individually

Screenshot: Selection lost after a misclick

Selection cleared after accidentally clicking wrong area

Screenshot: Wide sheet with columns outside the viewport unselected

Off-screen columns missed because they weren't reachable

With Grid Tools

How Grid Tools handles it

Select all columns instantly: One click in the Grid Tools toolbar selects every column in the sheet regardless of how many there are.
Apply formatting to the full sheet: With all columns selected, alignment, wrapping, and width changes apply uniformly across the entire grid in a single action.
No scrolling required: The selection covers columns beyond the current viewport, so off-screen columns are included automatically.
Works as a starting point for subsets: Select all first, then Ctrl+click to deselect specific columns before applying a formatting action.

Screenshot: Grid Tools select-all-columns button in toolbar

Select All Columns button in the Grid Tools toolbar

Screenshot: All column headers highlighted after selection

Every column selected in one click

Screenshot: Formatting applied uniformly across all columns

Uniform formatting applied to all selected columns

Frequently asked questions

Does Smartsheet have a select-all-columns shortcut?

No. Smartsheet requires manually clicking each column header to build a multi-column selection. There is no Ctrl+A equivalent for column headers. Grid Tools adds a single-click select-all option.

What actions can I take after selecting all columns?

You can apply any column-level formatting action — including text alignment, wrap settings, and column width — to all selected columns at once using Smartsheet's standard formatting toolbar.

Does Select All Columns include hidden columns?

Grid Tools selects all visible columns. Hidden columns are not included in the selection since they cannot receive header-level formatting while hidden.

Can I deselect specific columns after selecting all?

Yes. After using Select All Columns, hold Ctrl and click any column header to remove it from the selection before applying a formatting change.

Smartsheet Select All Columns

The daily workaround

How Grid Tools handles it

Frequently asked questions

Related solutions

Smartsheet Select Subset of Columns

Smartsheet Resize Columns

Smartsheet Reorder Columns A-Z