Request a column as a required field in a table

[Brian_Kudera]

I need my end users to populate all columns and leave nothing blank. How do I make them required?

[Thierryvm]

@Brian_Kudera
Hello,

Indeed, you can force people to fill in the boxes by creating a form with mandatory fields.

Kind regards,

Thierry

[Brian_Kudera]

Thank you @Thierryvm for your interest in assisting me!

I am looking for a way to make a column a required field in a table. Do you know how to do this?

[Thierryvm]

If you fill in the form with the name of the columns in question and if I’m not mistaken, you can force the filling in of each column by activating required there or those necessary. But, I’m just a beginner so maybe there is a formula to do what you want more easily

Sincerely,

Thierry

[Christiaan_Huizer]

hi @Brian_Kudera , I like the suggestion of @Thierryvm , but in case you do not want to work with a form view of the table (as you know, tables can presented in various ways) and you want to stick to the classical view, there is no technical solution. But the below might be an option, you turn blank cells red: using conditional format.

hope it helps, Christiaan

[Thierryvm]

@Brian_Kudera
I also think that once the form is filled by the concerned people, you just have to go back to Table view too, well it requires one more action but the result is in accordance with what you are looking for and if not the solution of @Christian_Huizer is very good too

You have this solution too:

Sincerely,

Thierry

[Brian_Kudera]

Thanks! Can this thread be moved to the suggestion list then to add this capability?

[Scott_Collier-Weir]

To add to this thread:

The only reason you can make fields mandatory in a form is because the form is in an intermediary state - and to create the row it is submitted. Therefore there is a final action (the submit button) that creates a row.

Inside a doc, a row either is or is not - there is no intermediary state. Therefore you can’t really make them “mandatory”

The only way to encourage users to fill out columns is to either

• Annoy them everywhere
• Have a button that is the “next desired action” that is disabled if certain columns aren’t filled (but this is only applicable in certain workflows)

If you want to annoy them into completing columns your options are:

• Conditional formatting (like @Christiaan_Huizer mentioned)
• conditional canvas based warning messages
• notifications to the row submitter every hour if they miss a column - run by an automation
• and more!

[steph]

Hey Brian, by request, I’ll move this topic to the Suggestion Box.

Cheers!