It would be great to have a text column type that stays text.
Or alternatively an option that will force a text column to stay text, even in the formula editor.
Thank you very much,
Rambling Pete
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If this SOLVES my issue with pasted in filenames being turned into hyperlinks, then Iâm all for it!..
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This is a huge annoyance especially with tables that are replaced and rebuilt from automations or webhooks.
The workaround is simple. Create the table and add a row that âtrainsâ the table to adhere to data types by adding example values. Then hide that row with a standard filter. Once done, you are able to add numbers to text fields without it converting the column type.
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Hi Bill
That is what I did in the example.* The column type was Text, but when I used the column in formulas, it was numeric. So I could not use lenght() formula to identify cells of length= 3 to add a leading zero. Leftpad() worked, but it is annoying to have column types change on you.
*I copied a table from Excel, with the first row = text entries. It could be that if I only copied the first row, that it would have worked better.
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Thatâs been my experience - for some reason, tables âlearnâ about proper data types from the first row, not from the field meta specification (apparently).
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This is something that really really annoys me.
@Coda, please, stop messing with my column type.
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Same here! Just today I was demoing a document to a client, where I had deleted all the sample data, and the text column took my input and converted it to a number column without me asking.
I entered a tracking number, but it abbreviated it in the column since sample data wasnât there to confirm it was a text column⌠But Iâd rather it just stay a text column if thatâs the way I set it.
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When it automatically changes the column type to âDateâ , itâs not just an annoyance.
It makes my doc unusable. You just canât enter any other type of data until you change it back to text.
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^^^ Misery Loves company⌠- Mephastophilis, The Tragical History of Doctor Faustus
Thanks everyone for chiming in on this - Iâve been BUGGED by this problem for a long time now; it robs me of manyâa-minutes EVERY DAY⌠
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Or better -
It is absolutely a basic technical requirement to define data types and cement them as sustainable expectations. Who builds a database that decides on a whim that the chosen data type should be ignored?
Customers hate surprises unless they are magical. This isnât one of them.
@Codans - I think this is not a support issue; itâs a usability crisis.
4 Likes
Related (to hopefully help anyone else affected by this issue):
- Ask the Community ⸠Accidentally converting text fields in a form to date fields
- Bugs ⸠Columns types changing on their own
- Bugs ⸠Text field turns into a date field when I type text with a date in it
Trigger:
There is no other row in the table with a non-blank value in this field. In other words, this conversion will happen if the table is empty, or if every other row in the table has no value for this column.
Current workaround:
Have a row somewhere with a non-blank value for this column, and filter it out of view.
I just tried creating a new table w/a text column and the toggle button column (hidden) as mentioned.
Unless I implemented this incorrectly:
[ this is plain text ] | [ â0 ] â (toggle turned on w/filter to hide âtoggledâ rows)
When I paste in a filename into the first column, as per my original post about this all day / every day issue:
( BUG:Filename pasted into TEXT fields are interpreted as Hyperlinks )
The text still ends up as hypertext.
Having that hidden row with âsimple textâ in the Text column, doesnât prevent the pasted in filenames from being converted into a hyperlink.
I still have to manually click the pencil to convert it back to plain text.
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+1 bump
This keeps happening to me. I donât understand the idea of keeping a row with a value and filtering it out as some have suggested. I have hundreds of rows that are text type but if the user puts 1 date in, everything switches. I understand interpreting types but this is a BUG and user hostile.
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PROPS, John!
Iâm STILL suffering as well!
I see Simple Tables are coming online soon - I WISH Coda would tackle this next, this problem is so crippling and such a time waster!
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@Coda,
This is still a problem, and actually more than simply a problem:
I am posting a bank statement file from a South African bank.
First problem is that Coda does not support international date formats.
Second problem is Datum automatically get converted to number. Even if I create a new column, Datum ABSA, first enter âtextâ in the column and then copy in the dates below. the column STILL gets converted to Number.
Third problem, because Coda insists in turning the column into Number, I cannot use string manipulation formulas to create a Date().
This is highly frustrating, and the first bug reports on this date back to 2019!!
PLEASE!!
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Yes, this is highly annoying âfeatureâ. I dont really get it. If you choose a type of column there shouldnât be any case in which it should change its type. I mean YOU AS A BUILDER have decided what it needs to be.
I spoke few times with support about it, but they where like responding something like âit was designed that way on purposeâ , which to be honest left me more confused than before xD
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Itâs clear that this issue with column type changes is a significant pain point. Ensuring that once a column is set to âtext,â it remains that way is crucial for maintaining data integrity and reducing frustration. It might be worth raising this as a formal feature request to the development team, emphasizing how this inconsistency impacts workflow and user experience. Also, sharing specific examples and use cases could help illustrate the urgency and breadth of the problem.
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Iâm having the same problem with a client and itâs very annoying. The only solution at the moment is to press ctrl+z after copying the data so that coda undoes the automatic formatting. But itâs something that should be able to be configured so that it doesnât change.
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This feature bug is sĂł disruptive that I just canât believe it hasnât been addressed by Coda.
I wish they could give us an update on this matter.