Edit specific cell in formula field

[Zeke_Fraint]

Is it possible to edit a specific cell of one record in a particular formula field?I have, Contract Start Date and Contract End Date (formula of Start + 1 year). Some contracts are 18 months or 2 years. Can I adjust those specific instances accordingly?

Thanks!

[Justin_Barrett]

I’m afraid not. With a spreadsheet, each cell is independent of every other cell, but databases don’t have cells (even though Airtable’s grid view might make you think otherwise). They operate at the record level, and all records share common properties across the fields that they use. All date fields will contain dates, all formula fields will run the same formula, etc.

That aside, you can still get what you want with one small change. Consider adding a {Contract Term} field, making it a number type (integer) and using it to store the number of months for a contract. You can set the default number for new records (in the field properties) to 12, and manually change to any number you want for other contracts. Then alter your {Contract End Date} formula to be:

DATEADD({Contract Start Date}, {Contract Term}, "months")

[Zeke_Fraint]

Thanks, @Justin_Barrett - that is exactly what I was thinking/doing. Worked perfectly.
Thank you very much!

[Kelly_Haydon]

Hello! I have this same question. I understand Airtable is a database and not a spreadsheet. However, it would be great to understand what kind of workarounds there might be.

I have a field that auto-creates a unique identifier based on a prefix selected in another field. Here is the formula.

IF(FormatCode=BLANK(),“Unspecified”,CONCATENATE(FormatCode,RIGHT(‘1000’ & ID,5)))

The result might be something like VHS00001.

However, there are cases where the ID or FormatCode fields are blank. In these cases, I would like the user to be able to create their own ID. Right now I have a dummy “unspecified” field that creates a dummy unique identifier, but this is not ideal for our business. Any thoughts?

[Justin_Barrett]

Welcome to the community, @Kelly_Haydon! :grinning_face_with_big_eyes: There may be other options, but it’s tough to know what to suggest without knowing more about your business and your specific use case. Would you be able to share more details?