Override column formula for a cell
I have a sheet with a total column that I have a column formula set in. I would like to sum the total column in the parent column. is there a way to override the column formula for just one cell?
Best Answer
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I hope you're well and safe!
Unfortunately, it's not possible now (It's all or nothing), but it's an excellent idea!
Please submit an Enhancement Request when you have a moment.
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 support the Community by marking it Insightful/Vote Up or/and as the accepted answer. 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.
Answers
-
I hope you're well and safe!
Unfortunately, it's not possible now (It's all or nothing), but it's an excellent idea!
Please submit an Enhancement Request when you have a moment.
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 support the Community by marking it Insightful/Vote Up or/and as the accepted answer. 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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Thank you for the quick responce. Not being able to override to sum children makes it harder to use column formulas but I like the column formula. Just need a little tweaking.
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Happy to help!
You could add a so-called helper column, make the calculation there, and then reference it in the column formula.
Would that help?
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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@Andrée Starå has this request been updated? I need the same thing.
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I haven't tested it, but can you maybe have a helper column to identify if it's a parent and then in your column formula do the sum children operation if your identifying column shows it's a parent, and then another calculation if the helper column indicates the cell is for a child?
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I have had success with column formulas with parent/child rows by nesting IF statements. Without knowing the formulas you are using, consider something like this. You'll have to update the five spots inside * * to what matches your needs.
=IF((COUNT(CHILDREN(*Column*@row))) > 0, *parent row Formula*, IF((COUNT(CHILDREN(*Column*@row))) = 0, *child row Formulas*, *If false*)
Happy to hear anyone else's feedback on this
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Can you explain how this works further please? I've been away from Smartsheet formulas for a while so my heads not seeing what it does. I would like column formulas to add multiple columns together but also allow me to =sum(children()) the parent row. Felt super rusty when I was trying to pull something simple together the other day hah
Appreciate if you have time to respond :)
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@handmadetsunami One area I use this nested if formula is for formatting hierarchical tables, for example:
"=IF((COUNT(CHILDREN(Building@row))) > 0, ".", IF((COUNT(CHILDREN(Building@row))) = 0, *Children formula*, 1, 0)))" -This is used for a checkbox column, were i don't want a checkbox to appear in the Parent row. So the formula, Children greater than 0 replaces the checkbox with a period so its not obvious.
Based on your description, an example could be, "=IF((COUNT(CHILDREN(Column@row))) > 0, SUM(CHILDREN(Column@row)), IF((COUNT(CHILDREN(Column@row))) = 0, SUM(alternate columns in row), Statement if false)))" If you have a better example of what you're working on, i can help with the syntax.
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Thanks! I'll give it a go today and see where I get.
Interesting use to remove the checkbox from parent rows. Might try to incorporate that too as currently I have to manually put a , in, which isn't a problem but some people are less diligent with parent row creation!
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