Contact Column Losing Formatting

dsherwin · 03/07/24

I am using control center to provision projects and one of the pieces of information being pulled into the project is the Project Lead which is a contact. I have a helper contact column that has the Project Lead listed in every row. This is populated using =[Project Lead]#. For the most part, the column shows the correct Project Lead as a contact when the project is provisioned. At some point, the contact changes to just a text string of the person's name. The column remains a contact column. I've looked at the activity log and there doesn't seem to be anything specific that is causing the value to change. I'm forced remove the column formula and manually change the value back to the project lead contact. Any thoughts on what could be causing this?

Gia Thinh · 03/09/24

Follow these steps:

Gia Thinh · 03/08/24

Hi there,

It's weird. Can you provide a screenshot including the helper contact column and the summary field "Project Lead"?

Andrée Starå · 03/08/24

Hi @dsherwin

I hope you're well and safe!

Are both single select columns?

Can you share some screenshots? (Delete/replace any confidential/sensitive information before sharing) That would make it easier to help.

I hope that helps!

Be safe, and have a fantastic weekend!

Best,

Andrée Starå | Workflow Consultant / CEO @ WORK BOLD

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dsherwin · 03/08/24

Hi @Andrée Starå and @Gia Thinh,

Below are screen shots with descriptions above each for what they are. The Project Lead in the project plan and metadata sheets should be coming from the same source (intake sheet). It's very odd because the issue happens randomly which makes my think potentially a bug in the system. It also does not happen for every project.

The template sheet that gets populated when the project is provisioned. The Project Lead is a contact specified on the project intake sheet. On the intake sheet it always shows as a contact value

The project metadata sheet template

Activity log from an actual project plan sheet where the contact changed to plain text

Activity log from the metadata sheet for the same project which shows no change to the project lead

Thanks in advance!

Gia Thinh · 03/08/24

I saw that the Project Lead column has a formula =[Project Lead]# that refers to a "Project Lead" field in the summary field. You may want to check the property and the formula of this "Project Lead" summary field

dsherwin · 03/08/24

@Gia Thinh,

Yes, this column is pulling from the sheet summary which is referencing one specific cell that shows the project lead. The project lead in the cell being referenced does show up as a contact and the properties of the Project Lead summary field is a contact list.

Gia Thinh · 03/08/24

It seems every setting is correct and it should be working as we want.

You said "... For the most part, the column shows the correct Project Lead as a contact when the project is provisioned. At some point, the contact changes to just a text string of the person's name".

I assume this is a Smartsheet's bug.

One option, I suggest to modify the formula of the Project Lead summary field:

Old formula : = Resource15
New formula : use cell-link to the range of Resource15 cell (use IF function then remove "IF" text later)

Andrée Starå · 03/08/24

@dsherwin

Happy to help!

I saw that Gia had answered already!

Let me know if I can help with anything else!

Best,

Andrée

✅Remember! Did my post(s) help or answer your question or solve your problem? Please support the Community by marking it Insightful/Vote Up/Awesome or/and as the accepted answer. It will make it easier for others to find a solution or help to answer!