Allow a Global Update for a Reference

Sarah123

It would be nice if I could create a new reference in the template and have that reference added using the global updates. Right now I can push a formula out using the global updates but in order to have the formula work I have to go into each sheet individually to add the references.

Chizu Hieida

YES PLEASE!!! THIS IS A MUST!!!! We have to do this a lot since our process changes constantly and we have over 200+ projects provisioned. We would love this function!

Chizu Hieida

There are often times when I want to create a formula with a cross-sheet reference where that referenced sheet is always the same. I want a way to create a Global (reusable) range reference that anyone can use in their formula without having to define that reference in every sheet. For instance, let's say I have a central list of products and I have 100 different sheets which also have one or more of those products and I want to create a lookup formula in those sheets to return information about the products. In an ideal state, as a system admin I would create Global references for the various columns of data in that central sheet and then ANY user could reuse those global references in their formulas without having to set up the same cross-reference each time - Smartsheet would be able to recognize the {range} as a global reference and automatically direct the formula to the central sheet. I expect this would require that when a Global reference is created, it's name becomes reserved so it cannot be reused for a non-global reference. This is similar to how named ranges work in Excel.

We regularly have to build formulas in existing sheets with cross-sheet references and we have to set the exact same cross-sheet reference up every single time. This is a tremendous waste of time.

jessica.smith

Agreed. It would be nice if we could add cross-sheet references using global updates in the control center.

Not for other users, this can be done in Bridge. I essentially run a parent workflow to find all of my active projects then run a child workflow on each to create the cross-sheet reference. I'm happy to share my method with anyone who isn't sure how to set it up.

Steph Quijano

Up on this! This is indeed a must. I also have issues on this where I need to update a thousand projects :(

Alan Buss

I agree. This would save significant time and effort.

Falan Rowe

Recently, we had to do an overhaul to some of our columns in a project blueprint which consisted of about 8 columns needing an index-match formula added. We had about 40 projects to edit. Adding the index-match formula manually was painful.

Rachel Beck

@jessica.smith Could you share your process on how to set this up in Bridge?

jessica.smith

@Rachel Beck

I created an example of one way to do this and wrote up some instructions with screen shots (attached). I'm honesly not sure how clear it's going to be, but feel free to direct message me if you want to set up a meeting to walk through or talk about how to apply to your use case.

Cross-Sheet References in Bridge.pdf

jbaltao

+1 and yes please.

Chizu Hieida

Hmmm…. I don't know what happened to my submission for this new product idea back in 3/14/2023. (Link: https://community.smartsheet.com/discussion/102630/global-cross-sheet-references/p1?new=1
I know it was active a while since my coworkers voted on this link….

It has been deleted.

100% Agree on @Falan Rowe

Here is what I submitted in this New Idea section (Mar 2023):

There are often times when I want to create a formula with a cross-sheet reference where that referenced sheet is always the same. I want a way to create a Global (reusable) range reference that anyone can use in their formula without having to define that reference in every sheet. For instance, let's say I have a central list of products and I have 100 different sheets which also have one or more of those products and I want to create a lookup formula in those sheets to return information about the products. In an ideal state, as a system admin I would create Global references for the various columns of data in that central sheet and then ANY user could reuse those global references in their formulas without having to set up the same cross-reference each time - Smartsheet would be able to recognize the {range} as a global reference and automatically direct the formula to the central sheet. I expect this would require that when a Global reference is created, it's name becomes reserved so it cannot be reused for a non-global reference. This is similar to how named ranges work in Excel.

Impact:
We regularly have to build formulas in existing sheets with cross-sheet references and we have to set the exact same cross-sheet reference up every single time. This is a tremendous waste of time.

Chizu Hieida

oh wait.. I found another voting link that covers it:

https://community.smartsheet.com/discussion/99634/allow-a-global-update-for-a-reference

David Carattini