Just talked with support about this! We love the idea and it's a great first step, but we really hoped that we could label the summary fields instead of comparing the file to the export layout and manually changing the field names.

Of all of the fields I'd like to be able to rename, the exported Summary fields are the most important. We often export multiple phone fields (Home, Cell, Spouse, Business, etc), as well as multiple Summary Fields (Amt donated in Year 1, Amt donated in Year 2, etc). These are the fields I'd MOST like to rename to save confusion on the spreadsheet!

This is what was announced for the Raiser's Edge 7.93 for Export column headings. This description does not do what I think it says it does.

You can rename export column headings to make them more user-friendly and accurate. For example, if you are exporting multiple Gift Amount fields, but each has different criteria, you can create descriptive column headers to differentiate them in the output. This feature helps eliminate manual editing of column headers before you share a report and smooths integration into other systems.

I would like to be able to change the column heading on Summary Gift Total Amount (and I use this field multiple times for various FY, Campaign and Gift Types and you can't change the column heading to be different for each output of the specific criteria selected. Try again to address this issue please

Column headings for multiple phone numbers can't be renamed either. If you change one, they all change. I posted a suggestion specific to this here: http://rediscovery.uservoice.com/forums/137015-raiser-s-edge-discovery-topics/suggestions/4547270-customize-phone-number-column-headings-in-export

Oh, my, no this isn't going to work for us either. Who would ever have thought to make it so limiting ?!? I suppose asking the actual users is not being done.

What is the point of this if they can't be specifically named????
I have an export for 5 year giving, with columns for different appeals and different date ranges.
Annual 1 Annual 2 and annual 3 doesn't work!!!!
This is just plain frustrating.

I was thrilled with the uprade to 7.93 that allowed for customizing the headers in an export. Now I'm finding out that the headers I need to customize the most, multiples of the same output but different criteria, doesn't work.

I agree with the comments so far. When I am exporting multiple years of giving, I thought the whole point was to be able to identify FY13 vs. FY12 or FY13, etc. I've also tried with phone numbers. I often export a single phone number of one type, and if I need another, I export just that single phone type. But all phone columns are labeled "Home". If I change the second phone type to "Cell", it also changes the first phone type to "Cell".

Given what I have seen so far, I just don't see the point of this. It doesn't work the way users need it to work. If I export multiple gift summaries, I need to be able to rename EACH gift summary column header. Same for phone numbers. I haven't tried it with much else yet, but those are the two things I was most excited about and this enhancement has done nothing from a usability standpoint.

I was excited about being able to add column names to exports with the new upgrade to Raiser's Edge. However, not being able to specify different column names for each field when exporting multiple columns of giving information (i.e., FY14, FY13, FY12, etc.) is incredibly disappointing. The same is true for phone types and addressee/salutation information. This feature, as currently designed, definitely does not meet the needs of the user.

We were excited about the new ability to rename column headings instead of having to remember or dril back into the export to figure out which column contained which phone type or address type and which column contained Foundation giving, Athletics giving, or Alumni giving. To read in the Knowledgebase that renaming one phone number column renames all of them and that this functions as designed is very disappointing. Plus, I can't get back all the time I wasted trying to utilize a feature that doesn' really work. I still can't send the file out without editing the header row first.

I kinda feel bad that they tried to fulfill this request and missed the mark so terribly.

I agree with Melissa - I feel bad that they got this so wrong. Yes, being able to clean up single column headings in the export is "nice", but the real need was to be able to label multiple columns of the same type. We'll be glad when it's really here!

Totally agree. Even multiple attributes from the same category have to have the same name. It's not particularly useful the way it is.

Hopefully the developers will fix this issue in a faster time than it took to have the feature added to RE. Everyone has stated the issue perfectly - it works fine if you only are pulling one field from an export node, however when pulling multiple criteria from the same node they all have the same header. Please fix BB, should not be a difficult thing to address but hopefully one that gets put on the backburner.

I agree. Thanks for your comments, I thought I was making a mistake trying to get it to work. This is most disappointing and somewhat confusing because the RE Walkthrough for this new feature says "... For example, if you create an export with multiple gift fields, all with different criteria, you can rename the column headings to provide information about the criteria for each field, such as Gift Amount and Gift Date.”

So why say that you can change headings for "multiple fields with different criteria" if you can't? Like everyone else, I was excited but expect that this won't get fixed in a hurry. So we have to keep working around the limitations. It would have been a fantastic feature for users with limited understanding of the intricacies of RE.

We need to be able to rename each column heading individually. This feature would be most helpful when exporting the same field multiple times such as phone numbers, total giving for different date ranges, conscodes, etc. It is also helpful to be able to rename the fields we are only exporting once, but not nearly as useful as the multiple ones with similar criteria. It is very disappointing this new feature wasn't completely executed to its fullest potential. Please look at updating it asap.

I agree, this is only a "great" feature if your can change headings for "multiple fields with different criteria". What's most needed is to be able to identify the specific criteria for each field without referring back to the export.

Absolutely agree! This "fix" was a major fail.

I agree that this fix is a major fail The whole point of wanting to change the field headers is to distinguish between (for instance) the seven different Constituent Codes I need to Export, or several Solicit Codes. Once again, Blackbaud got me all excited about a change only to discover it missed the mark in a major way.

I agree! I was so excited about this feature to discover it doesn't work. I hope it will be fixed in the next patch.