Cell Link or Formula for Start and Finish Dates

Matt Toews

I'm looking to find a solution to populate the start and finish date columns based on info in another sheet. However, because I have dependancies turned on the date columns cannot use a vlookup or other function to pull the dates from another sheet where they are stored. Here is the basic setup:

Grid 1 includes dates significant to the project including a column for each of four "Build Waves" and the Start and End date for each. My hope was to populate those start and end dates once on this "Set up" grid when initially setting up the project in SmartSheet. Then I would have used Column Formulas to look-up and populate the Start and Stop dates for hundreds of line item tasks that are spread out over several additional sheets used by multiple teams.

Is there a way to go about this that I haven't considered? Your help is greatly appreciated!

Genevieve P.

Hi @Matt Toews

There currently isn't a way to auto-populate start and end dates with a formula or cell link if you're using dependencies. Dependencies essentially use their own formula in those columns so you can't put in a second one. (See: Areas where formula use is restricted)

Instead of using multiple sheets that display dates from this main Grid 1, what about using multiple Reports to pull the relevant information? That way the rows are linked directly to the source sheet so if you update anything in the Report it will update the sheet, too.

Based on your account it looks like you have access to Pro Desk sessions. I would recommend booking one of these 30-minute coaching sessions so that you can show your process via screen share and ask for advice based on your specific use-case.

Cheers,

Genevieve