Auto Populate field based on selection

Peppey

Good morning everyone! i am hoping you can please assist me. I am trying to create a form that if a person selects a name their position auto populates. Can anyone help me with this? Peppey

Paul Newcome

Make sure you are following the proper steps to create a cross sheet reference:

https://help.smartsheet.com/articles/2482644-create-cross-sheet-references

Matt Johnson

Hi @Peppey

Great question. Let's confirm the ultimate goal: A sheet is filled out with user information including name and position (and other stuff). The user fills out a form, enters their name, but they shouldn't have to enter their position since its in the system already, somewhere. If that's the case then here's an option:

Don't include "position" on the form. Have another sheet that lists all the users and their positions. On the sheet in question with the Form, do an INDEX MATCH column formula in the "Position" column to bring in that value in based on the User's Name that will appear once the Form is submitted.

The challenge now is to get the employees to fill in their name exactly how it appears on the personnel sheet that they can't see. So for small businesses you could make the name field be a drop down list. For larger companies, help text in the name field on the form could be useful like "Enter your legal name" or "Match this field to your DL" something like that. Or maybe even bypass the name entry altogether and restrict the form to where you have to be logged in. Then use their email (which is captured automatically) to pull in the position on the sheet.

I hope that helps.

Matt

Peppey

Hi sir! Thank you so much for the response. Sir, I want to use a dropdown for the name field, and then have their position auto populate. I have never done index and match before so any guidance would be appreciated.

Peppey

Hi everyone. I am trying to use an INDFEX MATCH formula but for the life of me cannot get this working. I have a shet named INDEX MATCH and on this sheet I have two columns. First column is titled "Name" and the second column is named "Project". On another sheet I am trying to auto populate the project based on the name field. I keep getting an INVALID REF error. Any help would be appreciated. Peppey

Paul Newcome

Make sure you are following the proper steps to create a cross sheet reference:

https://help.smartsheet.com/articles/2482644-create-cross-sheet-references

Peppey

Thank you so much sir!

Paul Newcome

Happy to help. 👍️