Using formula output in another formula- problems?

AFlint

Hi All-

I have an IF formula that I am using to compare before/after a date. All columns are dates (column type), but 2 of the columns are calculated dates- meaning, the dates are calculated from other sources (i.e. Date1+ 30)

When I try to use that output in my formula, it will not correctly calculate the True/False values if the criteria changes. However, if I write the IF formula against a date column that is not a formula result, it works perfectly.

Is there a limitation for using formula outputs in another formula?

Paul Newcome

Are you able to provide some screenshots and your current formulas for reference?

AFlint

I think I may have figured it out. I was using a =DATE(VALUE formula to generate the first layer date values. The IF formula was reading these, but not seeing them as true dates. Once I switched the sources to "true" dates, everything worked as expected.

It is curious that the system doesn't see the formula results from the =DATE formula as a true date.

Paul Newcome

It usually does. I have done it quite a few times. Are you able to provide examples of the formulas that were not working? I am curious to see exactly how they were put together and if I have any similar to it.

AFlint

I overrode the formulas when I converted the column type, but here is the Activity log for one of the cells

You can see that the output of the original formula was correct, but when I tried to reference that value in a subsequent formula, the result was unpredictable.

Paul Newcome

It may have had to do with the [Episode Start Date] data. It looks to me like the original formula should have been working to output the correct date assuming each data point was in the correct place and stored on the back-end properly. I personally have used very similar formulas to successfully (and predictably) output date values and referenced those with other formulas.

Either way, I'm glad you got it working.