Formulas are not copying to new entries for forms.

JD Ridenour

Every now and then, new form entries in my sheet will have some or all formulas missing. I add all new entries at the top of my sheets, so there are never any "blank" rows between that and the one below. I have an integration solution set up keying off of some of these formulas, so whenever they fail to copy, that gives me issues and confuses those who don't see the back end.

 

I've seen plenty of discussion related to blank rows sneaking themselves in, but this strikes me as a bug. Anyone have and overcome this issue?

 

Thanks!

J. D.

Jeremy Myers

Oh, that....  This is a longstanding issue.  

 

About the best I have been able to come up with is a test for a blank cell and then conditionally format so I can see that something is missing.  

 

Testing with (ISBLANK) only works if the formula in the source cell produces a result, <ISBLANK> does not respond to a formula only wihout a rresult.  

 

If the formula in your cell is based on an <IF> then you should report both conditions, ie if <yes> then the calculated answer, if <no> then "BLANK" or something similar so that when <ISBLANK> sweeps through, it will catch any truly blank cells.

 

=IF(ISBLANK([Date Start]6), "Blank", "Valid")

Jeremy Myers

JD:  Something I forgot to mention in the previous:

 

The auto formula paste functionaly may error out if you do not have someting coming into the Primary Column.  It may also be sensitive to the order in which the fields are filled on the Form or how they come into Smartsheet.

 

I have not checked, is it even possible to have a form that does not have the Primary Column as a mandatory field?  Or that the Primary Field has been shuffled around on the form so it is not first in line?  I would look at those as possible problems.  Other than that, you'll have to check in with Smartsheet TS to see what they have to say.

JD Ridenour

Thanks, Jeremy! It turns out, my primary column is one of the ones with a formula. It isn't even in the form. It concatenates two other fields. I suppose I'll just have to replace that with a piece of static info to see if this solves it. 

Jeremy Myers

Yeah, that is bad Juju for sure.  They don't call it the Primary Column for nothing, it has a big ego.

JamesR

Please note that when adding a row to the bottom of a sheet that is using Hierarchy’s, and the preceding 2 or more rows are child rows; it will not copy the formulas down when added via a Web form.

If you add new rows manually it will copy the formula.

Gregory M

I'm curious if this is an issue that is being, or has been, addressed.

What are people's solutions to using web forms with a hierarchy?