Use system column in gantt view

valentink

Hi folks,

I remember there was a way to use a system column (auto creation date, for example) in the gantt view...the trick was to create another date column and use the =created2 (or the number of the row).... but it will not work (smartsheet will transform the formula in text). I tried the same formula in a normal number/text column and I got this : #INVALID COLUMN VALUE

Any ideas?

Chris McKay

Hi valentink,

If I'm reading what you're trying to do and what you've experienced correctly, you want to use the Created (system column) date as a component of your Start or Finish date in a project plan and plot the results on a Gantt. Is that correct?

If so, you're out of luck. When you allocate particular columns to Start date or End date in Project Settings, Smartsheet embeds hidden formulas in these columns to calculate values based on predecessors, duration etc.

Any formulas you enter in these columns will be converted to text (if they aren't in a date format).

valentink

Yes this was the goal. The part I don't understand is that I used to do that (last year). I was using a column that was simply linking (=) to a system date, since there was no way of using the system column directly.

That way I had a gantt chart of all my tasks with then they started and when they were done (in my case, last modified)

I guess this option doesn't work anymore

valentink

OK SOLVED!

The problem was that my column that was referring to the date of the auto system column was already used by the gantt chart! 

If you have the same problem, make sure that your column is not used by the gantt chart