Expanding Address Field to Multiple Fields

1

Hi,

We’ve been using a single line address field for our job locations for years. This has allowed us to have a clickable address that technicians can select for a mapping program. We are interested in expanding this field to it’s components: Street Address, City, State, and Zip Code. Then using a formula to combine the components to a clickable address in a read only field. This change will allow us to sort projects by city/states/zip codes and to mail merge the components in a more useful manner.

image

to

image
image870×124 8.64 KB

However, we have 20,000+ records without the components. If someone were to press “Apply all formulas on this sheet to saved records” during future development, or if someone were to enter data into the components and save an older entry, the existing address will be deleted.

Can we lock all entries all entries with this older feature to prevent this accidental overwriting of Job Location, or at minimum, prevent entry into the component fields for a range of entries?

Or is there another way we can implement this change without future risks of overwriting old addresses?

I will gladly offer more details to solve this problem.

2

Hi,

We recommend that you consider creating a new field to apply the formula.

It is not advisable to apply formulas when field values already exist. If someone accidentally edits the record or recalculates the formula, the existing value will be overwritten.

If you wish to combine the old field (manually entered) and the new field (formula calculate), such as returning the value of the old field when it is not empty, otherwise return the value of the new field, you can refer to this article: Combine the formula calculated field with manual input.

3

Hi Jenny,

I think this solution will work. I can hide the original field, and us the ISBLANK() method to input the old field when it contains a value.

Thanks!
Josh