Forum Discussion
Dependent columns
Yung_man, Unfortunately Multi line text fields cannot be used in formulas in SharePoint.
However, I will suggest you to consider one of the solutions from below:
Solution 1:
You can trick calculated columns into referring to a Multiple lines of text column by first creating a single lines of text column, using it in formula and then change its data type to multiple lines of text (or delete this column and create new column with exact same name). Refer below links:
- How to use 'Multiline Text Field' in calculated field?
- How to trick a Calculated column into referring to a Multiple Lines of Text column
This is a kind of hack so you should use it with caution. Also, if you try to modify the formula or update the calculated column after this setup probably it will through an error.
Solution 2: Use SharePoint designer workflow/Microsoft flow (Power Automate) on list item creation and item update to check if the multiple lines of field is blank or not and set the other column value accordingly using condition actions.
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Thanks for the quick reply, this looks promising. However, for some reason I can't find my column name in the "Insert Column" beside the formula text box. They show all the ones that are of type "Choice" but the columns I want to refer to do not show - which are of type "Multiple lines of text". I tried forcing the column name by typing it in but didn't work. Any ideas if the columns I want to depend on are not shown in the list?
Yung_man, Unfortunately Multi line text fields cannot be used in formulas in SharePoint.
However, I will suggest you to consider one of the solutions from below:
Solution 1:
You can trick calculated columns into referring to a Multiple lines of text column by first creating a single lines of text column, using it in formula and then change its data type to multiple lines of text (or delete this column and create new column with exact same name). Refer below links:
- How to use 'Multiline Text Field' in calculated field?
- How to trick a Calculated column into referring to a Multiple Lines of Text column
This is a kind of hack so you should use it with caution. Also, if you try to modify the formula or update the calculated column after this setup probably it will through an error.
Solution 2: Use SharePoint designer workflow/Microsoft flow (Power Automate) on list item creation and item update to check if the multiple lines of field is blank or not and set the other column value accordingly using condition actions.
Please click Mark as Best Response if my post helped you solve your issue. This will help others find the correct solution easily. It also closes the item. If the content was useful in other ways, please consider giving it Like.