Help with Column formula for Parent rows only.

Coltan Engman

Hello, I am trying to implement a Column formula that will only register on the Parent rows. After some research on here I have assembled a formula that I believe should be working, but instead leaves all Columns blank. (Formula works as intended in individual parent rows, but once I apply the formula to the entire column, all of my cells become blanked out. No errors are shown). The formula is intended to reference the child row with the highest Row ID of each parent, and copy that cells value to the parent row.

The formula is: =IF(COUNT(CHILDREN()) > 0, INDEX(CHILDREN(), MATCH(MAX(CHILDREN([Row ID]@row)), CHILDREN([Row ID]@row))))

Paul Newcome

That is because your formula has no output for what to do on child rows.

Coltan Engman

Hey Paul, thank you for taking the time to review my problem. Would you be able to further elaborate? I would like to utilize my child rows for inputting data manually, and not have the column formula interfere with the cells, only look at them to make the parent row match the latest child row (Using the Row ID). Would this be doable somehow?

Thanks again.

Coltan Engman

https://community.smartsheet.com/discussion/comment/368927#Comment_368927

After some more research it looks like what i'm requesting is impossible with the way Smartsheets is programmed. Would you be able to assist in a work around using additional columns to accomplish the same end result?

Paul Newcome

That is correct. If you have a column formula, you cannot have manual entry.

You can use a "Manual Entry" column alongside the column that has the formula, and then adjust your existing formula to have an output on child rows that just copies over the cell data from the manual entry column.