How Water LLM Reads Your Sheet

Before anything else, understand this: Water LLM finds every column by its header name, not by its position. This shapes everything about how you can safely interact with the sheet.

Action	Safe?	Why
Drag columns to a different order	✅ Safe	Water LLM looks up columns by name, not A/B/C position
Hide columns	✅ Safe	The data is still there — just not visible. Nothing breaks.
Sort rows using the Data menu	✅ Safe	Water LLM identifies each contact by Contact ID, not row number
Filter rows	✅ Safe for viewing	Hidden rows are still processed on the next sync or refresh
Rename column headers (row 3)	❌ Breaks things	Water LLM can no longer find that column — it becomes invisible to the system
Type into formula columns	❌ Breaks things	Overwrites the array formula — the entire column stops working
Delete rows by right-clicking	❌ Risky	Can shift array formulas and misalign data across the row

Freezing Rows and Columns

Freezing Rows & Columns (2 min)

LOOM_FREEZE

Freezing keeps certain rows or columns pinned while you scroll. In the CRM — which has 60+ columns and hundreds of rows — this is essential.

Freeze the header row

1

Click View in the Google Sheets menu bar
2

Hover over Freeze
3

Choose Up to row 3 — this keeps the CRM column headers visible as you scroll down

Freeze the name column

1

Click View → Freeze
2

Choose Up to column 1 (or however many left-side columns you want pinned)

Shortcut method

Hover over the thick gray border at the top-left corner of the sheet (between the row numbers and column letters). When your cursor changes to a hand, drag it to set the freeze point.

Hiding Columns You Don't Need

The CRM has 60+ columns. You almost certainly don't need to see all of them at once. Hiding columns keeps things clean without deleting any data.

To hide a column

1

Click the column letter at the top to select the whole column (e.g., click "M")
2

To select multiple columns, hold Shift and click additional column letters
3

Right-click the selected header(s) and choose Hide columns

To unhide columns

Look for small arrow icons (◀▶) between visible column letters — these mark hidden columns. Click the arrows to reveal them, or go to View → Hidden columns to see a full list.

Hiding columns never breaks Water LLM

Because columns are found by name, not position, you can hide anything you want. Water LLM will still read and write those columns correctly on the next sync.

Sorting Your Data

Sorting & Filtering the CRM (3 min)

LOOM_SORT_FILTER

Sorting helps you prioritize outreach, spot patterns, and find contacts quickly.

How to sort (the right way)

1

Click any cell in the column you want to sort by
2

Go to Data → Sort sheet by column [X] and choose A→Z or Z→A

Watch out: never click the column header arrow to sort

Clicking the small sort arrow on a single column header sorts only that column while leaving all other columns in place. This silently scrambles your data — phone numbers, email addresses, and notes end up on the wrong contacts.

Always use the Data menu to sort. This moves the entire row together.

Useful CRM sorts

Days Since Last Contact (high → low) — who you haven't reached out to recently
Last Contact (newest first) — see your most recent interactions
Company (A → Z) — group contacts by organization
Last Edit (newest first) — which contacts you recently changed

Filtering Your Data

Filters let you temporarily show only rows that match specific criteria — for example, only contacts at one company, or only contacts you haven't spoken to in 90+ days.

Create a filter

1

Click any cell in your data
2

Go to Data → Create a filter
3

Small dropdown arrows (▼) appear on each column header. Click the one you want to filter.
4

Uncheck values to hide them, or use Filter by condition (e.g., "greater than 60") for range-based filters

Remove a filter

Go to Data → Remove filter to show all rows again.

Filter views — recommended if others access your sheet

Use Data → Filter views → Create new filter view instead of a plain filter. Filter views are private to you — other users see the sheet unfiltered while your view stays focused.

Great for outreach planning

Filter the CRM by "Days Since Last Contact > 60" to quickly see who might need a check-in. Combine with a sort by Company to group your outreach by organization.

Don't type into formula columns Most Common Issue

Typing into a formula column overwrites the formula for that entire column

Two CRM columns use array formulas that auto-fill down from a single formula in row 4: Name (combines First Name + Last Name) and Days Since Last Contact (today minus Last Contact).

If you type or paste anything into one of these columns — even in a blank cell below your last contact — you replace the formula and the entire column stops working. You'll see #REF! or #VALUE! errors propagate down.

How to recognize formula columns

Formula columns have a gray header background. Do not edit any cell in these columns. Water LLM writes to them automatically during sync and refresh.

If you accidentally typed into one

1

Undo immediately
Press Cmd+Z (Mac) or Ctrl+Z (Windows) to undo the edit. Do this before doing anything else.
2

If undo isn't available
Delete the content you entered, then go to cell row 4 of that column. If the formula is missing, you'll need to restore it — contact support with your sheet ID and the column name and we'll help you recover it.

This applies to copy-paste too

Pasting a block of cells that includes a formula column will overwrite it just like typing. When pasting contact data, use the Contact Composer instead of pasting directly into the sheet.

Use the dropdown for phone and email types — don't type them

Free-text in a type column can break the Google Contacts sync for that contact

Every phone number and email address has a companion "Type" column (e.g., Phone 1 Type, Email 1 Type). These map to the label fields in Google Contacts — which expects specific values like Mobile, Work, Home, Other.

If you type something free-form into a Type column — like "cell", "biz", or anything not in the dropdown — Google Contacts may reject the sync for that contact entirely, silently skipping the update without an error message.

The right way to set a phone or email type

Click the Type cell — a dropdown appears with the valid values. Always pick from that list. The approved values are:

Phone types: Mobile, Work, Home, Main, Work Fax, Home Fax, Other
Email types: Work, Personal, Other
Website types: LinkedIn, Work, Personal, Blog, Other

Use the Contact Composer to avoid this entirely

The Contact Composer ( Water LLM › Create › Contact) only offers valid dropdown values — it's impossible to enter an invalid type there. If you're bulk editing contacts, the Composer is safer than editing cells directly.

Don't rename column headers

Renaming a header makes that column invisible to Water LLM

Column headers live in row 3. Water LLM looks up every column by its exact header text — case-sensitive, spaces included. If you rename "First Name" to "Given Name," the system can no longer find that column and will skip it during every sync, refresh, and AI feature that uses it.

What you can do instead

Reorder columns — drag them anywhere. Position doesn't matter.
Hide columns — columns you don't want to see can be hidden without losing their function.
Rename user-defined fields — you have 8 custom fields (columns whose names you set in ⚙️Settings). These are the only headers safe to rename, because you define them through the proper settings UI.

Don't delete CRM rows by right-clicking

Deleting a row directly can break array formulas and skip the backup

When you right-click a row and choose "Delete row," Google Sheets shifts all rows below it up by one. This can cause array formulas to recalculate from the wrong starting cell. More importantly, the contact is not backed up to the suppression list — meaning the same person could be re-imported from LinkedIn or Google Contacts on the next sync.

The right way to delete a contact

1

Find the contact's row in the CRM
2

In the Delete Contact? column, open the dropdown and select DELETE
3

On the next Sync to Google run, the contact is: deleted from Google Contacts, removed from the CRM, and backed up to the Deleted Contacts sheet (which prevents re-import)

The Deleted Contacts sheet is your suppression list

Contacts backed up here are automatically skipped during LinkedIn imports and Google Contacts syncs. This prevents people you've intentionally removed from reappearing in your CRM.

Don't copy-paste entire CRM rows to create new contacts

A copy-pasted row carries the same Contact ID — creating a "ghost duplicate"

If you copy a CRM row and paste it below to create a new contact, the paste carries the original contact's Contact ID. Now two rows share the same ID. On the next sync, both rows will try to update the same Google Contact — one will win and overwrite the other, and you'll end up with data loss you may not notice until much later.

How to create new contacts

Contact Composer (recommended): Water LLM › Create › Contact — fills in the Contact ID automatically
Sync from Google Contacts: add the person in Google Contacts first, then run Sync to CRM to import them
Manual row entry: leave the Contact ID blank — it will be assigned on the next sync cycle

Don't edit gray-header columns — your changes will be overwritten

The CRM uses a color-coding system for column headers:

Header Color	Meaning	What To Do
White	Editable — your data entry fields	Enter and update freely
Gray	Auto-calculated by Water LLM (email dates, meeting dates, sync timestamps)	Do not edit. Changes will be overwritten on the next sync or refresh.
Blue	System column — the header name is used by Water LLM to find this column	Don't rename the header. You can reorder or hide the column safely.

If you notice a gray column showing a stale date, running Water LLM › Contacts & Sync › Communication Refresh will update all email and meeting date columns. Don't try to edit them manually.

Quick Reference: Safe vs. Unsafe Sheet Actions

Action	Safe?	Notes
Sort from Data → Sort sheet	✅ Yes	Moves all columns together as a row
Sort by clicking a column header arrow	❌ No	Scrambles data — sorts only that column
Hide/unhide columns	✅ Yes	Columns are still found by name
Reorder columns (drag)	✅ Yes	Water LLM doesn't care about position
Rename column headers (row 3)	❌ No	Column becomes invisible to Water LLM
Type into the Name or Days Since Last Contact columns	❌ No	Overwrites the array formula — breaks the column
Paste into formula columns	❌ No	Same as typing — destroys the formula
Delete contact via Delete Contact? dropdown	✅ Yes	Proper backup and suppression list entry
Delete CRM row by right-clicking	❌ No	Shifts formulas, skips backup, allows re-import
Type in Phone/Email Type column	❌ No	Invalid values silently break sync for that contact
Use dropdowns in Phone/Email Type column	✅ Yes	Only valid Google Contacts values appear
Filter rows	✅ Yes	Hidden rows still sync — filter is view-only
Copy-paste an entire row to create a new contact	❌ No	Copies the Contact ID — creates a sync collision

Google Sheets Basics

Watch-Outs — Habits That Prevent the Most Common Problems

📊 Google Sheets Basics

⚠️ Watch-Outs — Habits That Prevent the Most Common Problems

Google Sheets Basics

Watch-Outs — Habits That Prevent the Most Common Problems