Populate a cell using a formulae without adding the formulae to the cell you populate

Kate_

I don't know enough about formulae to know if this is possible. What I want to do is populate a cell based on a checkbox in another column being selected but without adding a formulae to the cell I want to populate (so adding the formulae somewhere else). The reason is that any cells that are not populated will have a dropdown and users will be assigned manually. When the project is over I would like to reuse the sheet so i don't want to have to go back in and add all the formulae to the cells that were manually changed.

The first part is easy:

=IF([Include in update]62 = "TRUE", "N/A")

I put this formuale into the 'Person assigned' column and when the box is checked it writes 'N/A'. I want N/A to be written to this column when the box is checked but I want to do this by writing the formulae in another hidden cell. Is that actually possible? If not is there another way to reset a sheet to its original state without having a copy (bearing in mind that most of the rows are populated with text at the start of the project).

Paul Newcome

If everything is within the same folder or workspace, then links should be maintained.

I have a "Folder Template" that my team uses in much the same way. When they "Save As New", the links that are coming in from a different sheet within the same workspace are maintained, and the links going out to different dashboards within the same folder are also maintained.

So it hangs onto links to the same sheet and it also hangs on to links to newly created sheets/dashboards.

Paul Newcome

You could set up your "blank" that you start from and then just "Save as New" instead of erasing the data and having to start over from scratch. Sort of like using a template.

Andrée Starå

Hi Kate,

Unfortunately, it's not possible at the moment to have a cell populated without a formula, but it's an excellent idea!

Please submit an Enhancement Request when you have a moment

As a possible workaround, the third-party service, Zapier, is an excellent option for this scenario.

Is that an option for you?

Would that work?

I hope that helps!

Be safe and have a fantastic week!

Best,

Andrée Starå

Workflow Consultant / CEO @ WORK BOLD

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Kate_

Thanks for your response Andrée. I'll definitely log it as an enhancement. I don't know much about Zapier but will have a look into it now :-)

Kate_

https://community.smartsheet.com/discussion/comment/253652#Comment_253652

Thanks Paul. This is what we currently do but all the data is linked to other sheets and dashboards so we are trying to avoid the extra work of setting these up again too. I'm trying to condense a lot of our project sheets into one so that should hopefully help a bit :-) If Andrée's idea of Zapier isn't an option then we may need to go back to copying from a template. Control Centre blueprints was an option we considered too but its very expensive.

Andrée Starå

@Kate_

Happy to help!

Let me know if you have any questions, or if I can help in any way!

Paul Newcome

If everything is within the same folder or workspace, then links should be maintained.

I have a "Folder Template" that my team uses in much the same way. When they "Save As New", the links that are coming in from a different sheet within the same workspace are maintained, and the links going out to different dashboards within the same folder are also maintained.

So it hangs onto links to the same sheet and it also hangs on to links to newly created sheets/dashboards.

Kate_

@Paul Newcome good point! Our sheet are currently set-up across different folders but if we change the structure then this could work - it might be easier than developing something in Zapier!

Paul Newcome

If you don't want to change your structure up too much, you could possibly move all folders into a workspace. That may be an option that would provide minimal change in structure but still allow links to be maintained.

Kate_

Thanks @Paul Newcome lt won't be such a bad thing to change it as we are revamping our sheets anyway :-)

Paul Newcome

Great! Happy to help! 👍️