Can I set a dynamic default value in a form?

egrigson

I use a form to help my team record a log of completed work but I have an issue with recording the date. There's a date field on the sheet and I've added it to the form but I want it to default to today's date (whatever that may be when someone uses the form) and I can't find a way to do so. I can set a default value in the form but it'll be the date the form was edited - hence the only way to avoid everyone entering the date every time is for me to edit the form daily and update the default value. 

Does anyone know how I can achieve this? Thanks.

Andrée Starå

Hi,

You could use the system column called created and rename it.

Would that work?

Have a fantastic week!

Best,

Andrée Starå

Workflow Consultant @ Get Done Consulting

egrigson

I thought about that but it means my team can't specify a different date (ie if they want to enter work they completed last week). Of course they can always go into the sheet manually and amend the dates but I was hoping for a simpler option.

Thanks for the quick reply.

Andrée Starå

Happy to help!

You could add another date column (Earlier date) for when they want to add an earlier date and then use a second date column with a formula that would show the created date if the earlier date cell is empty.

Would that work?

Let me know if you need any more help!

Best,

Andrée

Ezra

I am trying out something right now... might be a solution to always have today's date auto-fill in a form's date field. Will let you know the results tomorrow.

egrigson

Looking forward to it. Thanks for the help.

egrigson

That might be a workaround - somewhat inelegant but better than I have right now. Thanks for the suggestion.

Andrée Starå

Excellent!

Happy to help!

Best,

Andrée

Ezra

didn't work... was trying to get it to either: 

a link in from a specific cell in another sheet that is always =today()

or a date field with the keyboard shortcut for today "t" as the default

egrigson

Thanks for trying! Back to the workaround I guess.