Is there any way to AutoNumber where the children are incremented from the Parent

I have Parent tasks that have the Auto-numbering for a unique Request ID. I have children under the Parent that are related to the Parent request. Is there a way to have the Child increment by 1 if a checkbox is checked?

Request ID is Auto-numbered "20010000". "20" for the year and then 4 digits for the Parent ID to increment and 2 digits that only increment for the children. If a child is added under a Parent can it auto-number only the last 2 digits from the Parent?

Parent 1: 20010000

Child 1: 20010001

Child 2: 20010002

Child 3: 20010003

Parent 2: 20010100

Child 1: 20010101

Child 2: 20010102

Child 3: 20010103

Parent 3: 20010200

Child 1: 20010201

Child 2: 20010202

Child 3: 20010203

I created a Child? checkbox to check and I can join or add the Request ID with the Child number but not sure how to get it to work where it is fully automated and using Column Formulas.

The below image is what I want the numbering to be but I can only get it to work with having formulas on the initial row which then I need to drag down the formulas in the helper columns and could cause user error.

Any ideas or changes to make it very user friendly where they only need to check a checkbox would be awesome! Also, sometimes a child may need to be inserted to an existing parent and we would still want to numbering to work.

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Accepted answers

Lori Hight

I figured out a way with the checkbox. Thanks everyone!

All comments

Ben Goldblatt

Hi @Lori Hight,

Column formulas would work if the same formulas are used on every cell in those formula columns and this would remove the need to drag-fill the formula down. I think the tricky part here, whether you're using formulas to generate the numbers or the Auto-Number System Column, is that the auto-numbering will likely need to be reset for newly inserted rows that aren't coming into the sheet directly underneath the last used row.

More information on column formulas and auto-numbering can be found in the following Help articles from the Learning Center:

It's possible that some of the formula gurus here in the Community, such as @Paul Newcome and @Andrée Starå, may have some ideas for this but it may be worth Submitting a Product Enhancement Request to see about implementing some more Auto-Number settings to allow for more control over the numbers generated on newly inserted rows.

I hope this helps!

Thanks,

Ben

Paul Newcome

There are a few WBS solutions floating around here in the Community. You could take a look at those for some ideas as well. The ones that I have seen leverage hierarchy functions, so users would only need to indent and wouldn't have to worry about the extra checkbox.

Andrée Starå

Hi @Lori Hight

@Ben G Thanks for the Guru title! 👍️🧙‍♂️

Yes, I agree with Paul, and I might have an old solution that might work for this. I'll take a look in the archive and get back to you if it could work/help.

I hope that helps!

Be safe and have a fantastic weekend!

Best,

Andrée Starå | Workflow Consultant / CEO @ WORK BOLD

Lori Hight

I figured out a way with the checkbox. Thanks everyone!

Andrée Starå

@Lori Hight

Excellent!

Glad you got it working!

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