Adding "as of" or "last update" dates to dashboards

Helen Allen

I have a dashboard with 6 to 8 charts that are based on pivots of data in a Sheet that is mostly updated via Smartsheet Forms from other departments. I would like to add an "as of" or "last updated" date to the charts so that users know when the data was last refreshed, and I want it to be dynamic — meaning I want the date to refresh on the dashboard when the data is updated on the Sheet/Pivot. Is this possible? I'd appreciate any guidance/tips. Thank you.

Lauren Y

I do this by creating a sheet summary field and pulling the latest "created date" and then posting as a metric to the dashboard.

Helen Allen

Thanks for the speedy reply, Lauren. I know how to create a field on the sheet summary but how do you 'pull the latest "created date" into the summary sheet field?

I think I know how to add the metric to the dashboard — just cannot figure out how to set the summary sheet field.

Helen Allen

More info:

I have a column in the Sheet where the header is "Created" and the field type is Created Date. I have this formula in Summary Sheet field: =MAX(Created:Created) but I'm getting an error (INVALID COLUMN VALUE). If I change the formula to =MAX(Created), I get a different error (UNPARSEABLE). What am I doing wrong?

TerriS

I've been trying to do this as well, interested in what a workable solution is.

Helen Allen

I figured it out. The INVALID COLUMN VALUE was referring to the field I had added to the Summary Sheet, not the field in my active Sheet. Once I changed the Type on the Summary Sheet to "Date", my MAX (=MAX(Created:Created) formula worked. Then, I went to my dashboard and added the Summary Sheet field above my chart by adding a Metric. This date should be dynamic now and update as the data updates. Here is how it looks: