Possible to trigger formula field built on values already in other fields?

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1

I have two numerical fields. They are already populated with numbers. I’ve added a formula field that calculates the product of those two numbers. Nothing happens. As I understand it, the formula acts like a rule, only running when a new action (i.e., entering a new number in one of those two number fields) triggers it. Is there a way (a) to manually trigger that formula to calculate from all existing entries or (b) to trick Asana into thinking that I’ve changed the numbers in one of those columns so that the formula runs?

2

@Daniel_Cohen-Vogel,

This should happen automatically, either upon creating the formula field, updating its calculation, or updating the fields used in the calculation, so long as there’s no error showing the formula field dialog.

Try these troubleshooting steps, then please create a support ticket: see How to contact our Support Team.

Thanks,

Larry

3

Hi @Daniel_Cohen-Vogel , you could try editing your formula field and enabling the Advanced formula editor to simply add a +0 at the end. That should ‘trick’ Asana into re-running the calculation on every task.

If that doesn’t work, make sure you have indeed selected the right number/date fields in your formula.

Otherwise, try support as @lpb suggested.

4

As far as I can tell, it should happen automatically when you create a new record or enter the numbers into the cells that feed the formula. But if those columns are already populated with numbers and I create a formula that refers to them, there has to be a change in one of those cells to kick off the calculation. I figured out a way to create a new column and a formula that mimics one of the existing numbers that then subsequently feeds into my formula. And then I change all of those cells in the new column in bulk to kick off one formula that then feeds the other. It’s a ridiculous way to have to trick the program, but their literature suggests that that is the only way to do it.

5

It’s not clear if you tried @Richard_Sather’s suggestions, nor mine to report to Support (sounds like a bug).

Please provide a link to this so we understand what you’re referring to; it doesn’t ring a bell.

Thanks,

Larry