diff --git a/src/modes/common.rs b/src/modes/common.rs
index 0da264f..6af5bfb 100644
--- a/src/modes/common.rs
+++ b/src/modes/common.rs
@@ -73,6 +73,29 @@ impl ColumnType {
             ColumnType::Meta => "meta",
         }
     }
+
+    /// Returns a Result with error message if the string is not a valid ColumnType
+    pub fn from_str(s: &str) -> anyhow::Result<Self> {
+        Self::try_from(s)
+    }
+}
+
+impl TryFrom<&str> for ColumnType {
+    type Error = anyhow::Error;
+
+    fn try_from(s: &str) -> Result<Self, Self::Error> {
+        match s {
+            "id" => Ok(ColumnType::Id),
+            "time" => Ok(ColumnType::Time),
+            "size" => Ok(ColumnType::Size),
+            "compression" => Ok(ColumnType::Compression),
+            "filesize" => Ok(ColumnType::FileSize),
+            "filepath" => Ok(ColumnType::FilePath),
+            "tags" => Ok(ColumnType::Tags),
+            "meta" => Ok(ColumnType::Meta),
+            _ => Err(anyhow!("Unknown column type: {}", s)),
+        }
+    }
 }
 
 pub fn get_format_box_chars_no_border_line_separator() -> TableFormat {