Allow Gantt view to use Date columns with Column Formulas for Start/End

Jamie Bedford · 06/29/24

I'm kind of flabbergasted that this is not currently possible in a Sheet, and I'm struggling to explain to my users why.

It is already possible to populate a Date column with a Column Formula and then convert it to a Cell Formula, and then use that column as the Start/End for Gantt view / Project Settings, so the issue is not the formulas in the Date column. So why does converting it back to a Column Formula for some reason no longer work for this purpose? Given it works with Cell Formulas, I am entirely confused as to why this should not work with Column Formulas.

Please make Smartsheet smarter by enabling this functionality.

(I know that using a Report can be a workaround, but Reports have limited functionality and flexibility relative to Sheets, so this is a significant usability issue for us. Also, if it works in Reports, why can't it work in Sheets?)

Laura Ablasser · 03/05/25

Date-related functions, e.g. Gantt or Timeline, don't accept columns that use formulas but have dates as the output. This limits the functionality and at times makes date-related formulas obsolete.

Rich Coles · 03/05/25

If you have DataMesh, you can use this to populate those columns. It's not a fix, but it is a workaround as there are times when we need to do this… it's on my list to do a YouTube demo on when I get to it. But yes, would be good to be able to do this natively without needing to have to create a DataMesh. Same applies for the primary contact column used in Resource Management.

Laura Ablasser · 03/11/25

Unfortunately, I find it difficult to justify spending extra to ensure a basic feature of the program works as it should.

earl_bennett · 03/24/25

I am having a similar issue.

I have sheet where the customer enters the fiscal years associated with a project, and with a simple column formula I update the Start and End Dates derived from the Fiscal Years they selected.

From my scenario I can't open the sheet in Gantt View when using Column Formulas, and when I changed them to Cell Formulas then changed to Gantt View and setup dependencies, the Cell Formulas were blown away…

A date column is a date column right? Why should it matter if the date is manually entered or entered via a formula?