
Avoid Frustration with Column Formulas

Converting a formula to a Column Formula in Smartsheet is a great feature. It copies a formula to all cells in the column AND protects the column from edits 😂 But, frustratingly if your formula contains an absolute cell reference (a column name or row number preceded by a $ to fix the cell address) then the column formula feature is not able to be used. 😩
There is a solution! 🙌
Simply set up a Sheet Summary field in the Sheet Summary Pane which points to the cell that you had fixed in the formula. Then update the absolute cell reference in the formula to point to the Sheet Summary Field instead. This way you still get the single point of reference in the formula, BUT you CAN convert it to a column formula to help copy and protect the column.
Example:
=\[Column1\]$1 \*\ [Column2\]\@row
This ideally this would take the contents of Column 1 row 1 and multiply it with each cell in Column 2 going down the column (answers being written to Column 3).
Set up a Sheet Summary Field in the Sheet Summary Pane called Fixed Value and type in the formula =\[Column1\]1
Update the original formula from =\[Column1\]$1 \* \[Column2\]\@row to =\[Fixed Value\]# \* \[Column2\]\@row
You will now be able to convert to a column formula.
Feel free to make contact if you’d like me to demo this for you.












