Date not recognized as actual date after row copy

Steve Sikorski

Hello,

I am trying to use Gantt view to display project timelines. I recently figured out that a Formula Column cannot be used to display Gantt timelines. We used the Copy Row automation to make a second sheet with all the data, but none of the formulas. We formatted the columns as Date, and switched on "Date Only." However, Smartsheet won't recognize the date for Gantt use UNTIL I click in the cell, and hit enter. I don't change anything in the cell, but as soon as I do that the date populates on the Gantt chart. Is there a way to fix this, or get around this? It seems vaguely familiar to an excel issue where you would have to run Data Validation on copied data to make excel recognize it for what it is.

I want to avoid adding MORE formulas to the original sheet that aren't Formula Columns because rows are constantly added to it. I am using a basic Index/match to pull the date value from another rollup sheet. Any insight would be appreciated.

Example: First I clicked inside the cell and hit enter, Second I did not yet.

SSFeatures

Hi Steve,

This definitely looks like a bug to me, that the gantt view doesn't work until you manually click in the dates.

Going back a step, it might be possible to solve your problem by using 1 sheet, rather than trying to copy the rows over to a second sheet without the formula.

It's true that Gantt View cannot handle date columns if they have a column formula set. However, if you apply the formula to the entire column, and then switch the formula back to a Cell Formula, SmartSheet will automatically add the formula to future rows as long as the row is inserted:

• Directly between two others that contain the same formula in adjacent cells.
• At the topmost of the sheet if it’s above two rows that have the same formula in adjacent cells.
• At the bottommost of the sheet if it’s below two rows that have the same formula in adjacent cells.
• Above or below a single row that is between blank rows and has formulas.

So even though the formula is a cell formula, depending on how you use the sheet, it might still work for your use case.

You can find more information about this in Genevieve's answer in this thread:

https://community.smartsheet.com/discussion/82448/why-cant-gantt-charts-have-a-formula-in-the-start-end-date-columns

Hope this helps!