Cell Link issues? - helpful workaround tool

Debbie Sawyer

If you are experiencing any issues with cell links returning blank entries (when there is data present in the source file) the current resolution is to manually remove the link, save the sheet and then put the link back.

Whilst this activity needs to be logged to Smartsheet Support and their experts are working on a resolution, we have an interim tool that can help identify the "blank cells" and relink them for you.

Reach out to me if you'd like more information.

Kind regards

debbie.sawyer@smarterbusinessprocesses.com

Stefan

Hi Debbie,

as discussed before, a customer of ours also had so called "stale cell link issues" which were hard to identify. So very welcome tool from SBP!

Christina France

Hello,

I am wondering if there is resolution to this problem. I have a large project I am working on and I am using the desktop app. Each cell link is taking 1-3 attempts before it finally brings the data over. I have tried saving and refreshing, but then have to remove the link and try again. I have tried logging in and out and even rebooting, which does not appear to resolve the problem.

Thank you

Debbie Sawyer

@Christina France

It is certainly worth a conversation Christina to see if our tool is able to help you.

The best person to contact at SBP would be our CTO @James Harris

j.harris@smarterbusinessprocesses.com

I hope this helps.

Kind regards

Debbie

axelrodo

Hi Debbie,

I have a similar problem, but it's random. Sometimes the linked cell doesn't show any data and remains blank or some sort of a conversion happens between the data from cell A that calculates progress percentage on children shows "100%" changes to "1" in the linked cell B. Should I contact James Harris as well?

Kind regards,

Axel

Debbie Sawyer

@axelrodo Would you like a quick zoom to just expand on this update, then I can see if this is something that we might be able to help you with?

There is an explanation for the 100% turning into 1, but I just would like to see this in action before saying the initial explanation!

My email is debbie.sawyer@smarterbusinessprocesses.com

axelrodo

Thank you Debbie, I have emailed you.

PSExcellence

Why does this still happen?? It makes Smartsheet near unreliable/unusable as a system.

Stefan

Hi @PSExcellence

Do you have currently have a problem with cells not updating?

I ask because the last issue reported in this thread was in 2023. Since then, Smartsheet has raised limits significantly and I did not hear about the described problems in the past months

Best regards

Stefan

PSExcellence

https://community.smartsheet.com/discussion/comment/458216#Comment_458216

Yes, we have this issue intermittantly but it doesn't have anything to do with limits. Just randomly cell links on project sheets will not pull in the information from the linked cell (even though when you double-click it opens up to show the data right there). Smartsheet support's only answer every time is to delete the links, save, and then recreate. With a company the size of ours, it's not scaleable for me to keep doing this. They either need to figure out (and fix) why it happens in the first place, or give "update reporting" via Control Center the ability to repair "broken" links.

Stefan

Hi @PSExcellence ,

Bad news!

I was really hoping this has been fixed in the backend.

Did you contact Debbie regarding the tool she mentioned above?
Might be able to reduce manual work for you. And did you contact Smartsheet support about your intermittent problems, so they know the problem is not fixed?

greetings

Stefan

Debbie Sawyer

@PSExcellence

Oh dear, I too thought this issue had been resolved at root by Smartsheet.

Please do get in contact, we still have the tool and can discuss how to identify the broken links across your plan and then fix them.

The behaviour you have identified is the behaviour that we experienced before (which is why we built the tool to identify and fix the links).

I'll lookout for an email from you.

Kind regards

	Debbie Sawyer debbie.sawyer@smarterbusinessprocesses.com CSSO (Chief Smartsheet Solutions Officer) Smarter Business Processes Smartsheet Community Champion & Ambassador
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Julia L Rumburg

@PSExcellenceI hear you! Those pesky sheet references can be tricky sometimes. You're dealing with a frustrating intermittent issue where cell links on sheets aren't always pulling in the information they should, even though the data is there when you double-click.

.Hang in there! These hiccups can be annoying, but I'm sure you'll get it sorted out. Let me know if you'd like to brainstorm any other potential solutions or workarounds.

BlakeCarlson

I feel like this is still very much an issue. I'm only linking 2 cells from another sheet and it's not working at all. I tried all the fixes in this post but no dice.

Debbie Sawyer

@BlakeCarlson

Are you free for a zoom meet up so that I can see the issue? If so, we might be able to help you out further. My email address is in my profile data.

Kind regards

Debbie

Darian Klare

Smartsheet Blank Linked Cells Issue:
My experiences for what they are worth, hope it helps some. If linked cell references are needed, please realize that Column naming is very RIGID (do not change column names after linked cell references have been setup).

I have found that Cell Links that return Blank are primarily due to Column Names being changed somewhere in the process. The result of changing the column name, may leave @row formulas/nested formulas broken/stale referencing the prior column name, and then subsequent cell link return blank values to their target cells.

To fix the target "blank" cells, rename the Column(s) name to the original/previous values used (aka, the name shown in the @ row formula(s)) and magically all of the reference cell links work as designed and the previously "blank" target cells will immediately populate with black text of the referenced/linked value.

The blank linked reference cell issue has been both repeatable/reproducible and always seems to point back to a column name change effecting the @row formulas being used in the adjacent columns from the cell the cell reference links. This has proven that it is neither random nor intermittent, but rather the typical culprit of unintended user error for us ;) Good luck!