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Overriding a default date

  • January 28, 2025
  • 5 replies
  • 53 views
H
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I have a board for projects and one for tasks. Team members are pretty good about entering their project due dates on the project board, but we need to have due dates on the tasks as well. Id like the task due date to default to the project due date, with the ability for override. Ive created a lookup field on my tasks board to find the project due date (default date), but often the tasks need to be done before the project is due so i would like it if the field could be manually overwritten. I was thinking if i created another column in my task table with a formula that allowed team members to overwrite the lookup field this could work. It would say something like {lookup date} OR manual overrride.

Is there a way to create something like this?

5 replies

ibayub
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  • ibayub
  • Participating Frequently
  • January 28, 2025

yup! you could keep your lookup field (e.g. project due date) as default, and create a new date field (e.g. Manual Due Date). Then add a new formula field (e.g. Task Due Date) to show either the manual date if there is one, or fall back to the project due date (e.g. If ({Manual Due Date}, {Manual Due Date}, {Project Due Date}). 

Hope that helps! 🙂

H
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  • haileyfleury
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  • Inspiring
  • January 28, 2025

yup! you could keep your lookup field (e.g. project due date) as default, and create a new date field (e.g. Manual Due Date). Then add a new formula field (e.g. Task Due Date) to show either the manual date if there is one, or fall back to the project due date (e.g. If ({Manual Due Date}, {Manual Due Date}, {Project Due Date}). 

Hope that helps! 🙂


Is there a way to do it without an additional field? We have been using interfaces and i would only like one date field to show on the task level instead of having to put the new date in a different field

ibayub
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  • ibayub
  • Participating Frequently
  • January 28, 2025

not sure how your interface is set up but you could display 1 Task Due Date only, which is the formula (e.g. if manual, manual date, else project date). The Manual Date would be the editable one so either would need to display that too or in your interface you could have an edit button to let users edit the manual date, which would then be displayed as the Task Due Date since the formula displays that date if its not empty. 

or another option could be whenever a new task is created, have an automation that puts the project date as the Task Due Date if its empty, then you'd just have 1 Task Due Date editable date field

M
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  • Marvel_digitals
  • Participating Frequently
  • January 28, 2025

Yes, you can achieve this in Airtable using a combination of fields. Here's how:

  • Keep the Lookup Field: This field pulls the project due date into your tasks table.
  • Add a Manual Override Field: Create a new date field where team members can manually enter a task due date if it needs to be different.
  • Create a Formula Field: Use a formula field to decide which date to use.
    This means if a manual override date is entered, it will be used. Otherwise, the lookup date will show.

If this feels tricky to set up, feel free to ask, and I’ll guide you step-by-step! 😊

M
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  • Marvel_digitals
  • Participating Frequently
  • January 28, 2025

Is there a way to do it without an additional field? We have been using interfaces and i would only like one date field to show on the task level instead of having to put the new date in a different field


Unfortunately, Airtable doesn't allow you to directly overwrite a lookup field because lookup fields are read-only. However, here's a simple solution:

You can use an Editable Field in an Airtable Interface:

  • In your interface, add a single editable date field for tasks.
  • Pre-fill this field with the project due date by using automations when a new task is created.

This way, your team can manually change the date if needed, and you won’t need multiple fields.

If this feels hard to set up, let me know, and I’ll explain step-by-step! 😊

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