Cell links lost when column type is changed on destination sheet

Paul Newcome

Has anyone else run into this? Is this a normal function?

 

I had a checkbox column in my source sheet and one on my destination sheet.

 

The theory was that a box would be checked if certain criteria was met at least once anywhere on a sheet. This was put into a lot of sheets. The sheets were then listed out as sort of a directory. The single checkbox cell in each sheet was linked to a checkbox in the directory in the same row as the sheet name.

 

I was checking for errors, but apparently the ISERROR function doesn't register all errors, only some of them.

 

Other errors just produce a #BLOCKED error even when using an ISERROR function simply to check to see if there is an error within a cell and then use that to produce a true/false value for a checkbox column.

 

But I digress on that. It doesn't affect the root of this particular post.

 

Anywho...

 

When I realized that the #BLOCKED error was being populated, I realized there was no reason to have it as a checkbox type column, so I switched the source sheet's column over to text/number. Everything was fine.

 

I finished going through each sheet within the workspace adding this text/number column and then linking to my directory (which still had it set as a checkbox column but was pulling the #BLOCKED error). Since this sheet is not for display, I wasn't worried about the error message being prominent, and I was still able to use it to drive what I needed it to drive.

 

So now that I have linked all of the cells in the individual sheets to the directory sheet, I decide to convert the checkbox column to a text/number type. Not really needed but just a personal preference.

 

So I go ahead and double click on the header, switch it over, absentmindedly save.

 

Then groan in frustration as I see all of my cell links have now disappeared. The data is still there, but it's static data. The cell links were gone.

 

Changing the column type of the source didn't affect anything, but apparently changing the column type of the destination does?

 

Ugh. While I wait to see if anyone else has run into this, I'll be going through and re-linking hundreds of individual cells one at a time from hundreds of sheets. Hahahaha. Gotta love Friday's.

Andrée Starå

Hi Paul,

My condolences for the lost cell-links!

Have to get those cell-links back before Monday!

Hope you got a laugh!

Have a fantastic weekend!

Best,

Andrée Starå

Workflow Consultant / CEO @ WORK BOLD

Paul Newcome

 

HAHAHAHAHAHA! Definitely a good laugh.

 

Have you ever had this happen to you before though? I haven't tested yet to see if it was a one time thing or consistent or what, and I haven't reached out to support yet either to see if it is an intended action or not.

Andrée Starå

Fortunately, I haven't had it happen to me, but it could just be because I never changed it when I set it up.

Let me know your findings!

Paul Newcome

It seems to have been a one time glitch (go figure). I haven't been able to replicate on the same sheet or other sheets. I switched the column type back to checkbox, re-linked everything, saved, then switched back to text/number type which is what triggered the cell links to be lost the first time, and nothing happened.

 

Thank goodness it isn't something that I have to regularly keep in mind because I change things up pretty regularly during builds.

Andrée Starå

Thanks! That's excellent news!