Display Description field in table

Man I hope this isn't instantly visible the second I post this, but how can I display the description field in the table view? I want to export a table with only the columns I want, in the order I want, instead of the mega-dump of everything. But I can't select description as a valid column.

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Elizaveta Bogdanova

Hey Vivek, your post is now visible on the Community, though you can delete it if you want. As for you question, I'd suggest creating a Custom Field ("text" type) and copy the description into the field - it will be exported to the Excel file. Please let me know if that'll work for you 🙌

Vivek Bhatia

Thanks for the answer, but won't work. I could have hundreds of items, doesn't make sense to create a custom field and then spend hours copying a perfectly functioning field (description) into it. Even if this is automatable i'm going to have a custom field that people could see and get confused by.

Hopefully this shortcoming is addressed in a future version. It's obviously possible since the full megadump has it, so it shouldn't be too hard to add it to the custom view dump.

Elizaveta Bogdanova

Vivek, I understand aren't ideal, so please check out this Product Feedback post by Bien - you can +1 it and also share your use-case there 🙂

Vivek Bhatia

ok will do. It's not that it isn't ideal, it's not a viable option.

Paul Cook

Would I be wrong in suggesting that this functionality has not been implemented in order to get users to upgrade to Business tier from Pro or Free?

Cansu Yetisgin

Hi @Paul Cook, thank you for taking the time to share your feedback. Our different tiered plans offer different features, I'll pass on your feedback to the relevant team.

Jamie Dickinson

How in the world is this not standard? Not being able to view the description of your task in the table view basically means we have to "just know" what the task is about...

Elizaveta Bogdanova

Hi @Jamie Dickinson, welcome to the Community 👋

Have you tried using our new Table View? In it, a task is opened on the right side (like in the List View), and not in overlay. Can it help?

Chris Hill

Still can't add the Description as a column in the Table view ?

Elizaveta Bogdanova

Hi @Chris Hill, welcome to the Community 👋 It's not possible to add description as a column, but you can use our new Table View where a task is opened on the right side (like in the List View), and not in overlay (please see the screenshot in my previous comment above.) Can you please let me know if that's helpful for your use case?

Jamie Dickinson

That does absolutely nothing to solve for exporting though. Also with the new table the fields don't wrap the text of the fields so can read all the text in them - very infuriating.

Chris Hill

@Elizaveta Bogdanova Thank you for commenting but this does not solve the issue.
For reporting purposes and exporting, the description data is key

Elizaveta Bogdanova

Thanks a lot for clarifying, folks! I'll move this thread to the Product Feedback forum now 👍

Barrera, Paola

Hello,

Is now available any option to add the Description? Or still in progress/revision the enhancement?

thanks!

Elizaveta Bogdanova

Hi @Barrera, Paola, welcome to the Community 👋

It's not possible to add description as a field at the moment. Our team is aware of this feedback and we continue sending all new inputs here to them.

Please let me know if I can hel pyou with anything else 🙂

Paulette Mastio

Is there any update on being able to export the description field? Or show it in a table view? For backup purposes, this is a pretty vital request.

Rohan V

Hi @Paulette Mastio, thank you for taking the time to post your comment and explain your use case. There haven't been any new updates so far. As suggested in the comments above, a possible workaround might be to create a "text type" custom field and copy the description into that field.

Rest assured, if there are any new updates in the coming months, we'll be sure to let you know. Thanks!

Luis Hernandez Mireles

Hello dear Wrike team:

Just wondering, is there any update to display directly the description from a task in the table view? or is it still needed to copy paste the information to a "custom field" column?

Dylan Alvarez

Echoing Luis' comment above - I am honestly surprised that this has been a requested feature for 6 years now and this functionality still doesn't exist. As others have noted, having to copy descriptions into a custom text field is not feasible when there are thousands of tasks across the platform. Additionally, it creates a confusing situation for users where it isn't clear whether it's best to add notes into the custom field or the description field. AND when the task is then open, you have to dig into the custom field dropdown to find the notes and there won't be any stream history of any changes made.

If we are going to be forced into the table view because of the list view being deprecated, then at the very least you would hope that efforts would be made to clean up the table functionality.

Rohan V

Hi @Luis Hernandez Mireles and @Dylan Alvarez 👋

Thank you both for reaching out. We understand that it's been a few years since this suggestion was posted, and that copying descriptions into a custom text field may not be an ideal solution. Please be assured that all your feedback and comments are being forwarded to the responsible team, although there is no new update at present.

Could you please add your upvotes to a similar Product Feedback post? This post currently has 51 upvotes, and once it reaches 60, we will be able to add a relevant status after consulting with our product team. Thank you again for your patience and understanding.

James Stone

Hi @Rohan V The post that you linked has hit the 60 upvote threshold that you indicated several weeks back. Hopefully this functionality is now something you and the product team are able to assign a status to.

Rohan V

Hi @James Stone 👋 thanks for the heads-up! 👍 I’ve reached out to the relevant team and will update the status as soon as I hear back.

Marco Ortega Luna

Hello @Rohan V and @Elizaveta Bogdanova,

Do you have any update regarding the request? It is really difficult to copy paste since it is not automatically updated and it doesn't really work for hundreds of tasks.

Thanks for your support.

Marco

Rohan V

Hi, and welcome to the Community, @Marco Ortega Luna 👋

Thanks for reaching out. At the moment, there’s no new update available on this suggestion. Your feedback is helpful and has been shared with our Product Team. If anything changes, an update will be posted here in the Community.

Alexandra Torres

Echoing what many have already shared here, this is a significant gap from an enterprise governance and reporting perspective.

In our environment, we do use text custom fields for quick notes when appropriate, but they are not a true substitute for system fields like Description. Text custom fields:

Have no timestamp or audit trail, so we can’t tell when or by whom content was changed
Require users to decide where to document information, creating inconsistency and user confusion
Break down entirely at scale (hundreds or thousands of tasks)

From a reporting and compliance standpoint, the limitations are even more pronounced. When exporting:

We can include the task description, but there’s no way to include comments
There is no reliable way to understand change history or context without manually opening tasks

The “new Table View” improves visibility but does not solve:

Export requirements
Backup needs
Audit or governance use cases

This has been requested for many years now, and the continued workaround suggestions (copying descriptions into text fields) introduce real risk: duplicated data, loss of change history, and inconsistent documentation practices.

At an enterprise level, being able to:

Display Description as a column
Export it cleanly
Preserve system-owned metadata (timestamps / history)

really feels like baseline functionality, not an enhancement.

I appreciate the admins consistently acknowledging and passing this feedback along, but I want to add another strong +1 that this is a core usability and governance need, not a cosmetic one.

Thank you for continuing to escalate this.