Calculated (but editable) default column values

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Basic Idea:

TLDR: Columns which are both user-editable and calculated.

Something similar to Value for new rows which is dynamically applied to any blank cell in that column. (* with some caveats, see “Bonus desired features” below)

This would be a game changer for me, but curious what others think.

Example use cases:

  1. a generated Name column for a given table which includes (say) an emoji based on a “type” column, and some combination of other columns - but with the ability to override this with manual text
  2. a relationship column which includes a set of inferred values but which can be overridden manually
  3. a rich text field which is generated, but if edited becomes a concrete value (ie. even if the formula for defaults is changed, this field would be unchanged unless you cleared the cell’s content)

Some (perhaps less obvious) benefits:

  • Currently if you have a calculated Name column for a table you lose the convenient ability to create new rows inline from a reference column (Works fine with non-calculated Name columns). With this feature you’d get that same helpful experience even for tables with dynamic name columns. (Still not as nice as having alternate display types for rows, but that’d be a separate feature request)

Bonus desired features:

  1. For any column type which is a collection (eg. relationships or selects with “allow multiple” enabled) include a toggle which allows specifying that the calculated default values can’t be removed. So users can amend items but can’t remove any of the calculated ones.
  2. Allow Blank to be a valid override value, so if a given cell has the inferred content [@A, @B, @C] I can hit delete on the cell to remove the default content. (This seems like it might be a more breaking change than the rest of this post though, and probably has some nefarious UX consequences which would need finesse)
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This would be a game changer for me as well. I’ve tried for a long time to achieve something similar, but without success.

In my case, I use Coda to manage projects. The dependency tool in Coda is great, but it has some limitations, which force me to use calculations to determine the start and end dates of tasks. However, there are times when you want to manually set a date, but this isn’t possible in Coda since it’s a calculated column. Currently, I use a workaround with two columns: one for the manual date and one for the calculated date. The calculated column uses either the calculated date or the manual date, provided it is valid according to the dependencies.

Regarding the feature’s structure, I envision an “editable property” that you can reference in a formula. This would allow the user to edit the column, and as soon as they press enter, the formula would compute the output data, being the user input or some result of calculation.

Best regards,
Arnhold

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I like to have that option too!

Current workarounds with automation, Coda AI, form+automation or confirmation button are not ideal, although that I use them a lot.

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