I’m not sure if this is what you mean but that is done usually by setting an autosave name in IB inspector for the table view. The column positions are then saved.
When you select the TableView and do a (Cmd-1) to get to the Table View Attributes you will need a name in the Autosave field near the top of the dialog. You can use something like “tableView_autosave”, and make sure the “Column Information” checkbox is checked.
Then for each individual column in the same dialog which should now show “Table Column Attributes” in the Identifier field, enter an appropriate name that will be used to autosave the settings the user sets by dragging the column dividers.
I can’t remember if it has to be lowercase, but anyway give it a name “recno”, “firstname”, etc.