Override column formula for a cell

Bobby Huckabay

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?

Andrée Starå

Hi @Bobby Huckabay

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

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Andrée Starå

Hi @Bobby Huckabay

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!

Bobby Huckabay

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.

Andrée Starå

@Bobby Huckabay

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?

NikkiOno

@Andrée Starå has this request been updated? I need the same thing.

Heather_Verde

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?

S.Caleb Thomas

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

handmadetsunami

https://community.smartsheet.com/discussion/comment/379461#Comment_379461

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 :)

S.Caleb Thomas

https://community.smartsheet.com/discussion/comment/386637#Comment_386637

@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.

handmadetsunami

https://community.smartsheet.com/discussion/comment/386667#Comment_386667

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!