How to autopopulate today's date in a column
I would like to know if I should use a formula and where, in order to do the following:
When one dropdown menu choice is selected (in this case, 'incomplete'), the date column populates today's date automatically within that row. It doesn't seem that complicated, but yet a workflow doesn't appear to be the way to do it, nor do I think I can do it with conditional formatting? Thanks for any help.
Mary
Best Answer
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Answer to your other question.
Also I am wondering why forumlas can do things 10x more complex than that (I know because I have them in my sheets) they couldn't do this?
Unfortunately, no, because there isn't a timestamp/datestamp formula function or similar at the moment.
SMARTSHEET EXPERT CONSULTANT & PARTNER
Andrée Starå | Workflow Consultant / CEO @ WORK BOLD
W: www.workbold.com | E:andree@workbold.com | P: +46 (0) - 72 - 510 99 35
Feel free to contact me for help with Smartsheet, integrations, general workflow advice, or anything else.
Answers
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Hi @Mary Vogt
Please have a look at my post below with a method I developed.
More info:
I hope that helps!
Be safe and have a fantastic week!
Best,
Andrée Starå | Workflow Consultant / CEO @ WORK BOLD
✅Did my post(s) help or answer your question or solve your problem? Please help the Community by marking it as the accepted answer/helpful. It will make it easier for others to find a solution or help to answer!
SMARTSHEET EXPERT CONSULTANT & PARTNER
Andrée Starå | Workflow Consultant / CEO @ WORK BOLD
W: www.workbold.com | E:andree@workbold.com | P: +46 (0) - 72 - 510 99 35
Feel free to contact me for help with Smartsheet, integrations, general workflow advice, or anything else.
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This seems needlessly complex to me? I would think a formula could say if you select "completed" in one column, a date would auto-populate in the date column? I do not want to create a separate sheet to control it. Thank you for your input though!
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Happy to help!
Unfortunately, it's not possible to do it natively at the moment. The TODAY function will always show the current TODAY date.
There will soon be a time feature of some kind, and then my workaround probably isn't needed.
Until then, you can use my method, the Smartsheet API, or a 3rd party solution.
Make sense?
SMARTSHEET EXPERT CONSULTANT & PARTNER
Andrée Starå | Workflow Consultant / CEO @ WORK BOLD
W: www.workbold.com | E:andree@workbold.com | P: +46 (0) - 72 - 510 99 35
Feel free to contact me for help with Smartsheet, integrations, general workflow advice, or anything else.
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I'm having a tough time believing that can't be done given the 'timestamp' option when you enter data through a form? That date stays... it's pretty much the same thing I want to do, except without a form. Also I am wondering why forumlas can do things 10x more complex than that (I know because I have them in my sheets) they couldn't do this? I'd love to talk to a SmartSheet engineeer about it.
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Yes, you're correct. You can use the modified date system column, but only if nothing else changes on the row.
To add. It works with form a because we can use the created date column, and that never changes.
SMARTSHEET EXPERT CONSULTANT & PARTNER
Andrée Starå | Workflow Consultant / CEO @ WORK BOLD
W: www.workbold.com | E:andree@workbold.com | P: +46 (0) - 72 - 510 99 35
Feel free to contact me for help with Smartsheet, integrations, general workflow advice, or anything else.
-
Answer to your other question.
Also I am wondering why forumlas can do things 10x more complex than that (I know because I have them in my sheets) they couldn't do this?
Unfortunately, no, because there isn't a timestamp/datestamp formula function or similar at the moment.
SMARTSHEET EXPERT CONSULTANT & PARTNER
Andrée Starå | Workflow Consultant / CEO @ WORK BOLD
W: www.workbold.com | E:andree@workbold.com | P: +46 (0) - 72 - 510 99 35
Feel free to contact me for help with Smartsheet, integrations, general workflow advice, or anything else.
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Thanks for your responses, Andree! We will just manually add the dates for now.
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You're more than welcome!
SMARTSHEET EXPERT CONSULTANT & PARTNER
Andrée Starå | Workflow Consultant / CEO @ WORK BOLD
W: www.workbold.com | E:andree@workbold.com | P: +46 (0) - 72 - 510 99 35
Feel free to contact me for help with Smartsheet, integrations, general workflow advice, or anything else.
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