Cell formatting
To set or read formatting programmatically, Smartsheet uses a compact format string, cell.format, which looks something like this: ",,1,1,,,,,,,,,,,,,". The position and sample values in this string are explained in the following format descriptor table:
Format Descriptor Table
| Position | Lookup Property | Example Value | Format String |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0 | fontFamily | 0 = Arial, default | "0,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,," |
| 1 | fontSize | 0 = 10 pt, default | ",0,,,,,,,,,,,,,,," |
| 2 | bold | 1 = on | ",,1,,,,,,,,,,,,,," |
| 3 | italic | 1 = on | ",,,1,,,,,,,,,,,,," |
| 4 | underline | 1 = on | ",,,,1,,,,,,,,,,,," |
| 5 | strikethrough | 1 = on | ",,,,,1,,,,,,,,,,," |
| 6 | horizontalAlign | 2 = center | ",,,,,,2,,,,,,,,,," |
| 7 | verticalAlign | 2 = middle | ",,,,,,,2,,,,,,,,," |
| 8 | color (text) | 4 = #FEEEF0 | ",,,,,,,,4,,,,,,,," |
| 9 | color (background) | 8 = #E6F5FE | ",,,,,,,,,8,,,,,,," |
| 10 | color (taskbar) | 9 = #F3E5FA | ",,,,,,,,,,9,,,,,," |
| 11 | currency | 13 = USD | ",,,,,,,,,,,13,,,,," |
| 12 | decimalCount | 3 = three decimal places | ",,,,,,,,,,,,3,,,," |
| 13 | thousandsSeparator | 1 = on | ",,,,,,,,,,,,,1,,," |
| 14 | numberFormat | 2 = currency | ",,,,,,,,,,,,,,2,," |
| 15 | textWrap | 1 = on | ",,,,,,,,,,,,,,,1," |
| 16 | dateFormat | 1 = mmmm d yyyy (December 8, 1997) | ",,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,1" |
NOTES:
- Formats that have not been explicitly set are omitted in the descriptor string. For example, a cell that has been set to bold and italic, but has no other formats applied to it, has a format descriptor of
",,1,1,,,,,,,,,,,,,". - Use
GET /serverinfoto return the FormatTables object, which tells you both the default settings and what formatting options are available.
Applying Formatting
Use the "include=format" query-string parameter on API operations that return detailed objects, such as GET /sheets/{sheetId} or GET sheets/{sheetId}/rows/{rowId}. If there is formatting other than default settings, the return includes a format property. If an object has conditional formatting, the format property returned will have a conditionalFormat value.
Setting the format of a row object or column object through the API simply sets the baseline format for new or blank cells in that row or column. It does not affect cells that already have a value.
If you want to change the formatting of cells that already have content, for instance you want to make a row bold, then you have to set the format for each cell individually.